(Please take note of Ammon's choice of shoes)
What a treasure it is to be able to share with you fabulous news about Ammon's language growth.
He gave us quite a scare 5 weeks ago when he stopped breathing during a seizure and had to be intubated in the emergency room and then put on the Life Flight to Primary Children's Hospital. As I look back on that very traumatic day, I wonder that of all the days in the year this could have happened, why did it happen that day? You see, he came extremely close to leaving us two year to the day that we realized that he was an Ellison. On Friday, 2/28/06 my husband and I had the very strong confirmation that this child was OUR son and made the commitment to welcome him to our family. On Friday, 2/29/08 we almost had to say goodbye to our little guy and watch him leave our family. Just such strange timing.
When Ammon had the bad seizure, the doctors increased his Topomax level and added Dilantin. This combination seems to work the best for him. We have notice a marked decrease in his aggression level, and a substantial increase in his ability to focus and stay on task. And excitedly, a huge leap forward in his language. Let me give you some examples...
He got these Batman croc like shoes that he thinks are THE BOMB. He has to wear them everywhere and was quite upset that he couldn't wear them to church with his Easter suit. Anyway, he was sitting in the cart as I wheeled through Walmart and his shoe fell off. Without a thought he shouted, "Mommy stop! My shoe!" You can bet I stopped dead in my tracks. Ammon had never used "my" before, ever. And he used it spontaneously and correctly. Now when his school bus pulls on to our street, according to his bus driver very proud bus driver, he will shout, "Mommy! Watch out! I home!~" He has just started to understand me, I, my, etc. He can clearly say his name.
The other day his big sister Makayla jumped out from behind the stairs and he shrieked, "You scare me!" When he wakes up on the morning he will say, "Mommy, come on! I hungry. Eat noodles an eggs an cereal an sandwich. Lets go!" Each night he demands to kiss and hug each brother and sister and tell them, "Love you". No one gets to leave Ammon without a hug and a kiss. Doesn't matter if you are the FedEx man or one of the children's friends.
Each day when I get Ammon off the bus he gets so excited to see me walk down the driveway. He squeals and giggles and shouts, "Ammon mommy!" Every day is to him as if he won the jackpot. His mommy is waiting for him. HIS mommy. He knows what it is like to have no mommy. He has lost a birth mother, SWI mommy and foster mommy. The knowledge each day as he sees me appear at the top of the driveway that he has his mommy for another day, instills the greatest delight and joy in him. It can't help but fill me with joy too.
