Parkhurst Family

Party Boy

2012-02-07T06:04:00.000-08:00

Last week Harrison decided it was time for a party. He had just gotten his new basketball goal so he wanted to have a ball party..... Well it rained most of the day so we pulled out craft stuff for inside. We did play basket ball for a few mins at the end of the "party". Since it was a "party" we had to make decorations, and food :) Harrison had a LONG list of food to have but I talked him into just having chocolate popcorn and fruit and veggies :) He is so Funny.

SCORE

2012-01-31T17:12:00.000-08:00

John has been watching for a GREAT basketball goal deal for weeks now. And Finally this past weekend we found a good deal at a liquidation store and Harrison is super excited. He wants to practice all the time which he needs :) His team plays on a 6 foot goal and this one only goes down to 8 foot so it is still bigger but a good for practice.

Lamb in Neighborhood

2012-01-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my parents came and Dad had a new baby bottle feed lamb so Chomper the lamb came too. I am sure this broke all the homeowners association rules for our neighborhood but Harrison LOVED having him here and all neighbor kids thought it was pretty cool. We had kids come see the lamb that we had not even seen before :)

Sleepy boy

2012-01-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when a 5 year WON'T nap ever and sleeps very little at night... he falls asleep at the dinner table. This was at 4:30 one evening. I let him sleep there for an hour and could not wake him up. I went on and carried him to bed, changed his clothes and he stayed in bed till 5 am the next morning.

My Boy

2012-01-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

Lately I have really been thankful for how far my boy has come. 3 years ago our prayer was that Harrison would be able to start kindergarten without pull ups (we were told it he may be 6-9 before potty trained, we still wear at night but we will glady do that), and being able to tell his simple wants and needs, and to just be able to function at all in a normal school setting. AND TODAY I took him his second kindergarten screening for magnet schools here in our town. NO speical education meetings making the decsions on where he needs to go, NO pull ups, able to go with people he did not know, check in by telling his whole name and writing his name and doing all of that with a SMILE.

Harrison in the past 6 months has moved, started a new school, visits churches and classes in those churches, played soccer when he knew not one person, played basketball (which would have not been possible even a few months ago with the LOUDNESS and craziness of all that goes on around during practice and games). 3 years ago, 2 years ago each of these activities could have been a deal breaker, and he has handled it all with such ease, and has adjusted so well. What an answer to prayers.

I have been watching Parenthood on netflix I am just on season one and with the first episode one of the families discovers they their son has Aspergers (you can find more info here about Aspergers.) And going through all the trials that a family has to deal with. These type of disorders affect the WHOLE FAMILY, and you HURT for your child and are willing to do ANYTHING to make their life the best it can be.While Aspergers is on the autism speculum it is higher functioning. Of the 11 symptoms Harrison has 7... if he had had more social delays he would have this label... this Mama kinda had to fight a bit to keep this label off his records. I was FINE with Harrison having issues that we needed to work on and I was the one that FOUGHT to get him any services at all, his doctors did not think I needed to worry, they keep telling me he was just slower because he was a boy. But I KNEW there was something not quite right... but just as I KNEW there was something wrong I KNEW he was higher functioning than having the label Aspergers. So his official papers say he has Sensory Processing Disorder and Verbal Apraxia.
A little about Sensory Processing Disorders, from http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/ again Harrison shows 7 of these.
•Do you wonder why they are excessive risk takers - jumping and crashing into anything they can ?
•Why they can’t do puzzles - write well - or find the coordination for riding a bike or hitting a ball?
•Why they cry or cover their ears with every loud sound - even vacuums, toilets or hairdryers ?
•Why they don’t like to be touched or can’t be touched enough?
•Why they will only eat macaroni and cheese and pizza?
•Why they will only wear certain clothes or need you to cut the tags out of their shirts?
•Ever wonder why you can’t seem to calm them down or get them to sleep?
•Why they won’t put their hands in anything messy or use glue, Play Doh, or play with mud?
•Why they fear playground equipment or being tipped upside down?
•Why crowded stores bother them so much leading to major meltdowns in public places?

And add that to Verbal Apraxia-- Oral apraxia indicates that the child has difficulty with volitional control of nonspeech movement. For instance, perhaps the child will have difficulty sticking out and wagging their tongue when requested to do so. Or the child may have difficulty sequencing movements for the command, "Show me how you kiss, now smile, now blow". Verbal apraxia indicates that the child has difficulty with volitional movement for the production of speech. This can be at the level of sounds, syllables, words, or even phrases (connected speech). The motor struggle is most typically seen with sounds sequencing. from http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=chKMI0PIIsE&b=787891&ct=464119

We had a VERY angry little boy that could NOT tell us anything that he needed or wanted. Throw in an intolerance to wheat/gluten which is VERY common in children with Sensory issues and Apraxia along with ADHD and Autism our little boy needed HELP. Harrison is still a little behind what is considered "Normal" in his speech, but everyone can understand him or most of what he says :) his speech still sound a little "baby like" I really don't know what else to call it. But other kids his age sound bigger or older when they talk if that makes any sense.

We are so Blessed that we were able to give him the help that he needed in the form of therapies and the RIGHT therapists to give him AND us the skills he needed. And I am so thankful that I was able to stay home so he could go to the clinic that was not close to our house but a great fit for him.

I am still brought to tears when Harrison does something that would have been very hard or impossible in the past. The first basketball practice was one of those times. The Gym was CRAZY LOUD and lots and lots of people around and he was able to go and did a great job.So all of this is said to thank GOD for bringing my boy so FAR and to make this Mama so PROUD. And the Blessing that all these milestones are... YES it has not always been easy, the meltdowns, the years of NO sleep, the months of none stop screaming and throwing up, all the Speech, and OT appointments, seeing your child HURT physically, mentally, and emotionally, it is a strain on the family BUT it is SO WORTH it and we would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

If you are new the blog or interested in more info here are some past posts
Harrison's World
Harrison's World part 2
Harrison's World Part 3
Harrison's World part 4
Video from 2 years ago
Last Day of Speech

A few Harrison Sillies... right from the facebook status for the week.

2012-01-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

I just told Harrison to take the recycling out ( one of his jobs) he said no... I asked don't you want to save the earth? Re replies with "not today one day won't matter " This is the same kid that yesterday had to bring his glass sparking juice bottle he from Starbucks because they did not have recycling .... So he brought it home so he could recycle it.

He also told me this morning that he sure hopes State Farm does not move us for Daddy's Job until AFTER next week since it is dinosaur week at school and he has been looking forward to it all year ( and NO we have no plans of moving anytime soon )

So Harrison just informed John and I need to have a date night.... And he said no worries Abbie (the 4 year old neighbor that he took the rose to ) could babysit him. Lol. He is a mess. The little girl Abbie came to play yesterday then after her big sisters came home he went down to their house. When I went to pick him up there where 8 girls playing and Harrison. John was proud but I am scared :)

Basketball

2012-01-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today was Harrison's first basketball game. They were too cute. Harrison Loves it now if we can only get his to shot. He says he is best at passing so he only passes and does not try to shot.

And they even had these cute little cheerleaders.

Flower

2012-01-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Harrison had a birthday party for the 4 year old girl down the street. When I told him about the party he said "I wish it was summer so I could pick her some flowers." So we got a little gift and a single pink rose. How sweet is this boy?

Roomies

2012-01-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

Some of my college roomies and I try to get together a couple times a year and since all our kiddos are close to in age and get along really well so we bring them all along for ride.

Movie time

Breakfast time

spending the afternoon at the science museum.

and while the kids have fun I am sure the mamas have even more catching up and picking up right where we left off. And this time we pulled out the old photos and all decided we wish we could at least get our bodies back that we had 10 plus years ago :)

100

2012-01-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

The other night while I THOUGHT Harrison was asleep.... he came out with this paper and simply said, "Do you know that 10 groups of 10 make 100" then turned around and went back to bed.

Just a boy and his Snow

2012-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

Harrison has been asking when the snow would come for MONTHS. We keep telling him that we may not get snow where we live now. He wants to sled, and build snowmen, and snow angels. And this past week we had a light dusting and he was SO EXCITED. He ran out as soon as it started and stayed out till dark collecting as much snow as he could in hope we would make snow cream... but no luck with that.

Working on his experiments... making ice in the water table compete with Boats to see how long they will float.

What a cutie...even if I say so myself...

Cold feet

2012-01-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

The other day while we had our light dusting of snow I came into the kitchen to find this... what is he doing you ask? Well, it sees it seems Mama was right.... you should NOT go out in the snow bare footed... It seems he did not listen to my advice and went out in the snow and ice so he came inside and got a bowl of warm water to warm his cold feet.

Not ready

2012-01-13T08:07:00.001-08:00

This morning I watched my heart walk down the hall of an elementary school. He is having one kindergarten assessment this morning all hour and half of it... He as another one on the 23 rd At another school. This Mama is SO not ready for this... I will be such a basket case come August.

My boy is getting so big... He did a great job going and doing this screening. He said it was easy peasy... so either he did REALLY well OR he knew NOTHING.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2012-01-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

So Yesterday we played OUTSIDE in huge water puddles with Friends... NO Coat, and water up to the kids knees.

And TODAY SNOW... Harrison was SO excited he has been waiting and dreaming of snow... sure it is just a dusting but he was SO EXCITED.

He collected all he could in hope I would make the dirty snow into snow cream when I said no he put it in the freezer to save it. I LOVE this boy.

Healthy meal

2012-01-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

a couple of weeks ago at snack time Harrison said he wanted to fix a "healthy meal" all by himself and this is what he did ( I did peel the carrot). An orange, almonds, chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, carrot, ham, and a banana, blueberry, spinach smoothie.

Breakfast

2012-01-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

This is what I found this morning.... Harrison eating his breakfast.

This boy

2012-01-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

Basketball Camp

2012-01-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

Worn smack out

2012-01-01T17:26:00.001-08:00

On our way home from John's parents house Harrison fell asleep... How uncomfortable does this look ?

Movie Night

2011-12-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

Just a little peek from our family movie night... the even for one day from Harrison's Advent calendar.

Christmas 2003

2011-12-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from our first Christmas as a married couple in our House in Franklin.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Running Down the steps on Christmas Morning

Uncovering the goodies from Santa

Stocking...

starter bow and arrow from Grandpa

Scooter like the big kids from Grammy

Mario Kart for John and Harrison from Papa and Nini

Race Car Track from Mommy and Daddy

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

My parents always come to our house on Christmas Eve so they will be here for Christmas morning. I do a lot of cooking all the time and when we have company it adds a bit to the cooking, and I love it but it is nice to go out and NOT have to do dishes some times. The Past 4 years we have went to PF Chang's for Christmas Eve dinner this year we did Hibachi since we don't have a PF Chang's in town.

Then it was Home to set up and decorate our "Santa Tree" we set up a read tree Christmas eve with all homemade ornaments that we add to each year and that is where Santa drops his gifts.

We also all open one gift on Christmas eve. It is usually a small gift but since Harrison only really had one item on his list this year we just got him a couple of things and nothing really small so he opened this super soaker... but he picked this gift because he thought it was his race car track.

About 4:30 he informed us that while at Grammy's the weekend before that he FOUND a race car track.... this was the ONLY thing he asked for and it was to be from SANTA. We had it shipped to Grammy's so he would not be home when it showed up. Well we went into panic mode, so John and I made a mad dash to Walmart to find another Santa worthy gift, since nothing else we got him was very exciting :) and Home we came with a Large remote control car. He had mentioned a few times he would like a remote car. And we were VERY glad we had planned on a smaller Christmas so we were able to grab a new gift. NO fear he did get the track it was just from Mommy and Daddy instead of Santa and he had to wait to find it after everything else was done for the day with a treasure hunt.

Ready for bed.

And goodies left for Santa and the reindeer too.

Work Day

2011-12-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

I forgot Harrison was out of preschool this week and had made appt. John was going to come pick him up and take him to lunch but then John asked he wanted to go to work with him and Harrison said yes. And you know if you go to work with Daddy you have to dress like Daddy.

Thomas is at it again

2011-12-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

Thomas the Elf has been at it again....