Rob's 37th Birthday

Today was Rob's 37th birthday. We celebrated at home by having mom and dad and Grandma over for dinner. I cooked his favorite meal (King Ranch Chicken) and we had cake and ice cream. Emily spent a good part of the day making several cards for her daddy. Ethan wouldn't make any cards today because he couldn't touch the paper and I'll get into that later in this post. Most of Rob's gifts were some new clothes. He has lost so much weight in recent months, ever since he started doing his daily running before he joined the Reserves, that he had very little clothes that fit him anymore. Now he finally has something he can wear that doesn't make him look like a clown. :)

Ethan has started coughing the past couple of days and I'm getting a little worried about him. His oxygen level is staying good, but his peak flow meter isn't where it should be. I hope he isn't getting sick again. Thankfully, our Tricare military insurance became effective yesterday, July 1st, and so I can rest easy knowing that our family is covered under that plan. Rob's healthcare under his old insurance will end on July 18th. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for us for the medical stuff. Ethan is supposed to see his pulmonologist on Tuesday and we will check out the new plan then.

Next week I also plan to call the school and start the process of setting up the kids' 504 plans for the new school year. Emily had one in place from last year. For her it should be just a matter of renewing the old plan. Ethan, on the other hand, never had one, but should have. He was out so much due to illness and the nurse was the one that told me he needed it for this year. I hope and pray that he has a better year this year, but I worry that it isn't going to happen. We haven't accomplished anything new over the summer regarding his treatment plan. We still haven't seen the allergist, and I'm not even sure now if we will get the chance to see the allergist before the school year starts.

I have another big concern regarding Ethan right now. It is about his sensory issues. We have always dealt with sensory integration dysfunction with him ever since he was an infant. He has come a VERY long way. There have been several times this summer that I have tried to get Ethan to write something or draw something on a piece of paper either by using pencils, crayons, or markers. Each time I have asked him to do this, he refuses and tells me that he can't do it because he can't stand the "feel" of it. He tells me that he can't stand to touch paper with his hands. He can't hold a piece of paper down with one hand while writing something with the other hand. During Vacation Bible School a few weeks ago, they had some time left during arts and crafts where the kids were just coloring on paper with markers. Ethan literally sank down in his chair and held his hands over his ears because of the sound of all of the markers on the papers. This is all a new issue for him because Ethan has always been the "artist" in the family. I have pages and pages of artwork of his that he has done. I have no idea why he has suddenly stopped being able to touch paper. And how in the world is he going to be able to go to school and not touch paper? I am VERY concerned right now!!!!