4th of July

Now most kids I know love fireworks Dacotah loved watching them last year, this year was a little different. Two hours before it was dark we had a really nice storm blow in with a lot of lightening without the booms. He would look out and then go back to what he was doing. Usually with storms he's snuggled up again me or his daddy wondering if the house is going to fall in. (No, I don't know that for sure I can only imagine that's what he thinks)! We had debated going downtown which is all of 3 miles for us, but after big sister decided to go to a friends house after we had told her no, the decision was made we would watch them the best we could from our sunroom. (There is a tree line that about 1 in 10 fireworks makes it above so you can see them. The other nine changes the color of the sky around them which still looks pretty neat and you still hear the boom. Dacotah had me pick him up to walk out on the back porch, one look and he covered his face and pointed to go back inside.   Between the colors and the sounds it was too much and he was done for the night. We run a fan and a sound machine in the bedroom which thankfully created enough white noise to drown out the neighbors setting fireworks off to all odd hours of the night.
Dacotah loves the outdoors, not a big deal except in the late evening "no see ums and mosquitos are out 100 fold" which of course leaves his arms and legs covered in big bites. :( but here is the interesting fact: bug bites itch me to death, Dacotah scratches the areas with no bites whatsoever, and the scratching is excessive even in his sleep, despite essential oils and steroid creams.
I would be lying if I didn't say I have had a lot on my mind in the past few days. If you have read my Facebook you would have seen where a family member said some pretty harsh things. I will be honest if it were just an outside family member I would have told them to shut up, but this one struck close to home. My dad is 71 and he had never been one to verbally attack me or say anything offhand to me or the kids. All of that changed when he told me I was wasting my time with speech and OT and nothing was going to change Dacotah. That was his point in a nutshell. I wonder if I heard him wrong, I know I didn't, I wish I had, then maybe it wouldn't have felt like he had slapped me across the face (which he has never done) but his words stung so much I had a very hard time processing it. I guess back when he was growing up there wasn't services widely available and that's what he was referring to, I don't know, quite honestly I don't care. After this post I'll never care to bring it up again, I will talk to my psychologist, process it and be rid of it.
So on to the good news, we had a privacy fence built around the front of our yard last summer as I've mentioned before. Dad came up yesterday evening and braced the door so it now opens and shuts so much easier. Before it would shift and get stuck on the sidewalk and we could barely get it open and shut. The problem has been fixed.
Amazing news: I've been working with Dacotah on signing thank you, and after about a week he had asked for a cookie and out of instinct (I still tell his sister even though she always beats me to it) "Say thank you" and he signed thank you!!!!!! Talk about one super proud mommy and daddy! It's honestly the small things that are the absolute best. I've thought about "baby signing time" and have brought it up on his YouTube he almost instantly loses interest in it. So maybe just one at a time will be good enough. He did notice the PECS cards on the fridge last night as well. It held his attention at least 2-3 minutes (age appropriate) and he pointed to all of the cards and had me say them over and over and over! *fingers crossed* we can start implementing it along with signing.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous for his appointment on Friday, prayers would be greatly appreciated.
I'm contemplating on trying to find an audiologist to see if they could possibly do a hearing test when he's under general anesthesia in August. I'm not sure how to get that set up so if anyone has experience with it, please feel free to share!
I'm getting a second opinion on his dental work just to make sure it's the best thing to do, putting your kid to sleep is not an easy decision so I want to make sure it's the right call.

I turned in is application for daycare in the fall, it's not so much that I need the daycare as I have a fabulous job that works with his needs and I am very greatful to have. We are sending him a minimum of 2 half days (he won't join his friends for lunch we will pick him up due to allergy concerns) so he can get more socialization with kids his age. We had the option for head start (which is free for kids like him), but I didn't feel it was the "best" option. I like the idea of him being in the same building with friends and church family who are familiar with him and who are willing to meet up to find out what needs to be done in the event of an emergency etc.

He's sleeping 2-4 hours at a stretch on any given night! This is a nice change since he was waking up every 2! Generally he will sleep 3.5-4 hours then wake up every 2.5-3.5 the rest of the night. So far tonight he started out with 3!

Disclaimer: I know I have a lot of grammar and run ons in the blog, please understand this is not suppose to be complete sentences as most are run on thoughts going through my head which causes me to be wide awake in the middle of the night. So I type it all out on my phone so I have notes for updates when he does new things or when I have concerns.