Nominations, Relfux & Speech Therapy

So, this has been an interesting week... Yay!! I don't often get the chance to say that my life is interesting... Usually just work, home, work, home, work, home... you get the picture!

On Tuesday I received an email from a friend saying that she had voted for my blog on the South African Blog Awards... thanks but what? I had no idea that I was finalist, never mind nominated! So - needless to say that started a frenzy of emails on my side, asking all my loyal friends to vote for this blog (if they felt the urge)... OK - so I was all of a sudden desperate to win! Also, I was just thrilled to be nominated under the "Parenting" category. Please take note of the lack of 'special/disabled/different' in that title... just. plain. simple. parenting. I think it's great that my life with my son is lumped along with all other lives! As it should be.

I didn't win though. *sob*

But I was a runner-up (shiny gold badge to follow soon - keep an eye on the right bar of my blog...). I was listed second from the top... Now, whether it was 'in any order' or 'in order of votes' is anyone's guess. But I'm sticking with 'Second Runner Up' and that's final! LOL!

OK - so moving along...

Malakai has been an unhappy little muffin of late. You know when you get home from a long day at work and you don't even get a smile? Breaks my heart right in two! I had noticed that lately Malakai would bring up milk, even 2 or more hours after a feed. So off to the Pead we went and (1 hour in the waiting room, and a minor tantrum from me, later...) we got some meds for reflux - worked like a bomb! Now my little man is happy, smiley and is even making leaps and bounds in communication and reciprocation! He is laughing more (with sound), he is smiling more, he is just overall a happier little person!

Then, lastly, our first Speech Therapy session was on Friday. I didn't know what to expect, but I had read on some other blogs about ST's helping with feeding, so I thought it would be a good idea to take some food with, so that the therapist would see how Malakai was eating. The session went well - the therapist was very happy with Malakai's eating (so am I - he's a real trooper)! After a million questions she also told me that Malakai's receptive language is at about 6-9 months (great!), and that his expressive language is at about 4 months (ok... not the best... that's about half of his actual age).

I thought that I would be more upset. I thought that it would really hurt to hear that my child is behind. I wasn't and it didn't.

I have known for some time that Malakai was not expressing as much as other babies do at his age, so it was not a shock. I am glad that we are now going to start working on the process of language. But I know that my angel will do his thing in his time. Just like everything else. He leads the way and I follow.

It's still kinda hard to imagine Malakai as older. But I have honestly found that my key to sanity (and happiness) is Staying in This Moment and Accepting What Is. This is my key (it may not work for everyone). Trying to paint pictures of a future that I know nothing about can only lead to unfounded fears - and as I have learned with my little man, he continues to surprise and amaze me as long as I leave my expectations at the door and let him lead the way.