Updates

Well yesterday we traveled down to Amarillo for Ethan's hearing test. I really didn't feel like it was necessary, but that's what ECI wanted. So down we went. Drove a little over an hour. I signed us in, about 3 minutes later we were called back. The doctor put this pen like instrument into his ears to measure the amount of fluid, if any, in his eardrums, and he didn't have any. And then you know how usually, for hearing tests, you wear these headphones and you raise the hand on that side you hear the noise? Well I was wondering how they were going to do this with Ethan. We went into this sound proof box. On our right hand side, and our left hand side, and right in front of us on a table, were some black boxes, with a stuffed animal inside. The doctor left the booth, closed the door and one at a time, lit up a box. And that animal would make barking noises or clap its hands, and it was actually kind of funny to watch Ethan. The one on the right would start going off, and Ethan would snap his head to look at it, and then the box on the left would light up and make noises and Ethan would snap his head over in that direction and point and oooh and aaah. After a few minutes of this, the doctor came back in and said that she doesn't feel like he has any hearing problems. I said ok thank you, and we left. WOW a whole 15 minutes in her office, just to confirm something I already knew. Then we drove the hour plus back home. And then today ECI came over again today. They just asked me more questions and they'll come back on May 6th for his first session. They asked if I was opposed to sign language, and I said no. So they'll start teaching him some basic sign language so that he can have an easier time telling me what he wants or needs. I will also be meeting with the school board to see if they feel like Ethan qualifies for school this fall. Which I didn't even know was a possibility. But we'll all meet with them and that will happen sometime in May. Thats about it for Ethan.

Jayson's schedule changed yet again. Surprise surprise. When we get back from our trip to Florida, he'll be working 10 hour shifts from 3pm till 1am. And twice a month he'll get 5 day weekends. The other two weekends, he'll work for one, and the other he'll have 2 days off. I'm not so sure about the 10 hour days, but we'll see how it goes.

I had to take legal action today. Do you remember how I was babysitting a little boy? Well his mother decided she didn't like me or something. She never called to say he wasn't coming over, and she was just making up excuses left and right. Well we finally took her check to the bank. Cashed it and everything. Well a few days later, we found out that her check wasn't good, so the money came back out of our account. And then today we got the canceled check notice in the mail, and instead of NSF stamped across it, it said PAYMENT STOPPED! Yes she stopped the payment on her check! Me and Jayson were not happy at all. He's tried calling her numerous times, tried talking to her at work, and I called her today and left her a not so nice message on her cell phone. So i called Bank of America and asked what I could do. They suggested I take the check over to her bank and see what THEY can do. So over to her bank I went. They told me there was nothing I could do, except maybe take it over to the DA's office. Well I had no clue where that was at. So over to the Courthouse I went, walking thru the maze till I found someone who could help me. And then SHE suggested I go over to the County Attorney's office. She told me where it was, so I drove over there, and finally got the right place. Hahahaha They were really nice to me, and even though the check was for $100, she still handled me and my case like I was important. She said she'd send out a letter to the lady and say that she has 14 days to pay. If she doesn't, they'll send out a 2nd and final notice, saying that if she doesn't pay within 7 days, they'll file some kind of hot check suit against her or something. But either way, she seemed confident she'd get the money for us. And best of all? This doesn't cost us a dime :) And then she said she'd keep us updated.

Ok guess that's all for now!

Ethan

Well today ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) came over to evaluate Ethan. Ethan is 2 1/2 (29 months) and doesn't really talk. The extent of his vocabulary is dada/daddy, mama, uh-oh, no, peh (please), beh-beh (blanket), deh (cup) and thats about it. So anyways, after about 2 hours of evaluation, they determined that Ethan's cognitive skills are at an 18 month level and his language skills are at a 15 month level! So they'll come back in two weeks to start speech therapy and we'll also be seeing an ear doctor in Amarillo in a couple weeks. ECI will set that appointment up for us. Just wanted to let you all know.

Fawah News

Well, our poor little Fawah didn't make it :( Yesterday afternoon, Jayson and I were looking at the cocoon, and were both thinking he died as a cocoon. We figured we'd give him 2 more days to hatch before we gave up. Well today between 10 am and 12 pm, our little Fawah hatched into a beautiful butterfly! His life was short lived however. He passed away. We're not sure if the jar got too hot, and he died from the heat, or if he got stuck in his waste and died, but either way, he's in heaven now with Jesus. Poor Audrey though. Right as I was looking at the jar, to inspect him, Audrey walked in and asked about her cocoon. She immediatley saw that he wasn't a cocoon anymore and got all excited and said, "mommy! Did he turn into a butterfly? Can i see?!" And i said, "oh Audrey, I think he died!" We were both so sad. Audrey cried and cried, and I almost cried because she was so heart broken. We told her though that we would look into getting her some more caterpillars so they can turn into butterflies. We found this one website, that for $30 plus shipping (OUCH), they send you 5 caterpillars, food, a butterfly net, and a dvd. That may be our only option. But you know, I was really excited when Audrey brought home her caterpillar from school, because I had never done this when I was a kid. Anyways, I'll post a picture of Fawah as a butterfly when my camera phone decides to stop giving me fits (since my camera is dead).