Oh Sweet Mason!!!

Mason is such a sweet and funny child. I wanted to share with you 2 things he has said in the last couple of days. Tom was encouraging him to pick up his snail pace of getting pajamas on after a shower and he pooted (one of his new favorite past times) and Tom commented on the sound of the poot (a wet sound) and jokingly asked about content and Mason said with a wonderful smile on his face, "Why don't you look and see". Where does he come up with this stuff. Tom just laughes of course because he is a boy he thinks pooting is hilarious, I on the other am not as impressed.

Now the next comment is so much sweeter. We were sitting on the couch today and Mollie jumped up on us. Mason and I were loving on her and she yawned and I commented on the odor of her breath. Mason said, "I like her just the way she is, even if her breath stinks." We have have had her for 1 year today and they love each other so much.

Mason's teacher at preschool told me about a month ago that she though he might need some Occupational Therapy to strengthen his fine motor skills. I have know that he has been struggling but thought he would catch up. She suggested someone to come and do a preliminary evaluation. She came and evaluated him and typed up a lot of stuff he needs help with.

Some of the things that were detected were that he had excessive blinking, had a difficult time tracking a ball across midline and maintaining consistent eye contact and that he appeared visually defensive. She commented on his difficulty drawing shapes, and his visual motor forms such as 3 circles in a pattern were inaccurate. His grasp on the pencil was incorrect which cause small letters with light pressure and his cutting was not accurate.

I was very shocked by the vision problems. He passed the vision screening at school and I have not noticed any troubles. It was brought to my attention that he is sensitive to light and rubs his eyes a lot. We are currently trying to get an appointment with the only pediatric opthamologist in Knoxville as soon as possible or we will drive to Nashville to see the group there. I have decided to use Children's Hospital Rehabilitation center for his OT. I will report the official results from the evaluation and results from the eye dr. I am hoping by this time next month we will be on our way to getting him ready for Kindergarten.

I will tell you that all this info came as a large blow for me. It is hard to hear that my baby has trouble that needs outside help. I struggle with worry all the time and have always worried a little extra for Mason and last week I spent the latter half of the week consumed by it. I feel much better now that I have a plan and hope to get some official diagnosis soon. Mason is just so precious, funny and loving. I know that he will be OK and all this could be so much worse.

I will keep you posted.