Updates

Stroke News:

J.J. saw Dr. Acula (the neurologist, for those of you who are new to our story) today about the memory issue I mentioned a couple of posts down. The doctor seems to think that J.J.'s brain may still have some slight swelling and this may be putting pressure on the parts of his brain that assist with memory. It's also possible that since he has to "rehearse" what he's going to say to come up with all the words, he thinks he's already said those things out loud. Dr. Acula wants to do some testing to see if he can figure out what the deal is. Of course, we have to find out if our insurance will cover the tests, then away we go.

J.J. also (sort of) started speech therapy on Tuesday. As in, he went, but the therapist was sick and just saw him for a few minutes, then rescheduled. He'll start for real next Tuesday.

Family News:

Eli's had two gymnastics classes now and loves it. He's getting to actually work on the equipment (he was on the high bar and vault tonight!) and is really dedicated to practicing at home. I love seeing him this enthusiastic. He's also joined the Origami Club at school. No really, there's really an entire club dedicated to Origami. If this doesn't get him beat up, I don't know what will. In the meantime, I'm finding tiny paper swans all over the house.

Oh, and we think Eli had chicken pox this week. He started getting a rash that would come and go early last week. The one day I almost kept him home, he had ISTEP, so I sent him. Over the weekend, the rash came back. J.J. took him to the pediatrician on Monday and he said it looks to be viral, probably chicken pox, but he's most likely not contagious now anyway, so don't worry too much about it. I feel like Mother of the Year, let me tell you. But he seems to be much better now.

Leah's just back from a few days of claiming all of her grandparents' attention. She's still loving her swimming class and is spending most of her time stressing about the fact that she goes to Kindergarten in the fall and she wants to make sure she knows how to read before she goes. She's already reading a lot more than she wants to admit, but we're going to keep working with her. She has also decided that she's deathly afraid of all buzzing insects because they might be bees. This has made playing outside VERY interesting.

Other:

At 6:30 a.m. I will go to Prometric to test to become a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (otherwise known as the monkey on my back...this is the certification I've been trying to find time to study for since shortly before J.J.'s stroke). Why Prometric thinks I will even be able to recall my name, much less IRA contribution deductibility limits at 6:30 a.m. is beyond me. But anyway, I'd appreciate any good thoughts, prayers and/or extremities-crossing that anyone would like to offer to the cause. I'll update tomorrow evening!