I lost my keys.  I LOST MY KEYS! I CAN’T FIND THEM…I’M ABOUT TO COME UNDONE!  I LOST MY KEYS!

Has this ever happened to you?  It is about to make me lose my religion!  Why is it (other than the obvious reason) that we get so upset when this happens?  I think it’s about more than ‘keys’…it’s about…“I can’t drive my car”…“I can’t go where I want to go”…“I will have to stay in my house forever”…“If I get locked out, I’ll have to live on the patio for the rest of my life.”  All these things and more.  Which, when you continue boiling it down, adds up to a loss of independence.  And, I am independent, if I am anything at all. And, it’s also because I have had the same key chain since I was in high school.  I found this large brass clothespin long,long ago.  And, I bought 2 of them.  I gave Joy one and I kept one.  It is basically the only thing we have ever used.  She, being a pianist, she doesn’t like to play with her rings on.  So, she always hooks her rings on the clothespin to keep them safe.  I, working with children and art and craft projects, have had a safe place to keep my rings.  And, when I was working in nursing, I could keep my jewelry pinned and safe also.  And, it’s perfect to clip your keys onto those little rings they now have in most purses, or onto the straps.  Well, perhaps that’s reading more into the ‘key’ situation than necessary, so, I’ll go on with my story.

My housekeeper was here and Don was here and Levi was here…and me.   Levi was here for the day and we were all having breakfast.  My housekeeper was ironing in the laundry room and she called me.  I went to see what she needed.  My iron had chosen that moment to die.  And, it died a quick and immediate death.  No hanging on long enough to iron my favorite linen shirt or Don’s work pants…nope.  It was over in a second.  So, since Don was still here, I decided to run up to our local T*rget store and get a new one and get right back. ( Well…I wan’t going to ‘run’…I was going to drive! ) Put on some lipstick, put on some shoes, pick up my phone and purse, pick up my keys…NOooooooooooo!  Where are my keys?  Who moved my keys?

Now, friends, when I say I went into search mode…it’s a true story.  My houskeeper helped me, while Don entertained Levi.  At first we blamed Levi.  We looked IN every toy, UNDER every toy, everything that had a place for a set of keys to be…we checked! Every toy was touched and looked at.  I actually asked Levi so many times, “What did you do with my keys?”  He actually began echoing me “Keys?  Keys?”.  Then we checked everywhere he usually runs to when he knows he not suppossed to.  No keys.

Of course, Don had a word of wisdom,  “Tonja, you cannot keep up with anything.  I’m going to get you one of those beepers that helps you when you lose your keys!”  So he, obviously, was going to be of zero help in this crisis.  Anyway…I did not lose my keys.  See I always put them on the round foyer table when I come in.  It is a habit I made myself get into because…I tend to lose things.  But not my keys!

Next we thought Levi may have thrown them into the garbage can.  He likes to do that.  I have found one of his shoes, a hard backed book, a sippy cup,  unopened cans of food, a few clean diapers…all in the garbage at one time or another.  So, Otelida, my housekeeper, went through the garbage.  Which had already been collected for tomorrow’s pickup.  And was already at the street.  In the big can that holds a weeks worth of garbage.  Bless her heart, she went through every piece.  Twice.  No keys.

Into the closet.  Check the pockets of every pair of pants I’ve worn lately.  Looked all over the floor.  No keys.

So, I decided to sit down and pray.  And think.  Do you have to just sit quietly, sometimes, and let your thoughts have room to run from here to there and back again in hopes of running up on the information you are looking for?  Well, I do. So, I did.  And I prayed.  I prayed for the keys to turn up.  I prayed for us to run across the keys while we were searching.  I prayed Levi would bring them to me.  I prayed they would magically appear in my purse…when I looked in there…for the fourteenth time.   None of those things happened.  But, I did think about the people who had been in the house since I last drove.  The only others…Adam and Suzanne.

So, I texted them both.  Adam texted back “Nope, don’t see them anywhere.”  I texted Suzanne, “Do you, by any chance, have my keys?”  Almost immediately she texted back “No.”  Otelida said, “She didn’t even look…that was too quick!”   But, I knew Suze would look if I asked her to, especially since I never asked her that before and she knew it must be important or I would never have bothered her at work.  So, that was another dead end.

I didn’t have anybody else to ask.  We had looked over and under and around everything in the house.  So, I took my extra key and went on to T*rget and bought an iron and another hundred dollars worth of junk I didn’t need (except the eggs).  I was so bummed about my keys and it is not safe for me to go shopping when I’m bummed about anything.

Levi is in the midst of swimming lessons (post coming about that…amazing)…and they are giving a class for 6 at our pool.  Usually Levi and I go out and sit on the screened porch when the lessons start about 3:00.  He likes to watch the other children while they swim and he can’t reach the door handle to get out of the porch, so I can relax, too.  We wait there for Suzanne to come from school and then she has about 20 minutes to rest and visit and then they get ready for Levi’s lesson at 4:10.

She asked me about my keys…did I ever find them.  I told her I didn’t.  She then said, “Why would you think I had them?”  “I didn’t really think you did, but I was just asking in case you had picked them up by mistake,” I said.  “Well, yeah, I didn’t even bother looking…I knew I didn’t have them, “ she replied.  I laughed and said, “Otelida said you didn’t even bother to look.”   Then she offered, “Well, you sit out here with Levi and I’ll go in and look around and see if I see them.  Maybe a different set of eyes can spot them,” she said.

And she went in the house.

Less than 30 seconds later, I felt her presence next to me at the French door.  I turned to look.

There she stood, with a guilty, impish grin.  She was swinging my keys in her hand!

I jumped up and opened the door and she came outside and said, “I’m not even going to tell you where I found them.  You just really don’t even want to know.”  First,  I thought for sure I had them in some obvious place and that Otelida and I and Don and Levi had all overlooked them.  Then I was afraid that perhaps I had put them in the freezer or something and this was going to be the first clue that I was, in fact, getting senile.  Which my boys accuse me of quite often.  I just knew I was going to feel so dumb if she told me.  But, the mystery got the better of me.  “You have to tell me.  I can’t stand it”, I begged.  Then she said……

“They were in my purse.  I thought I’d just humor you and look there first.  I must have picked them up by mistake and thought they were mine ’cause they were right where I keep my keys.”

I really didn’t hear much after she said, “They were in my purse.”  I thought of how I had searched all morning and all afternoon.  I thought of how my mind was coming unglued because I was so afraid I had put them in a crazy place.  I thought of how my very soul was at unrest.  I took my phone and looked at it and told Suze  “I sent you that text at 11:55…it is now 4:00.”  She hung her head…in shame.  She was guilty…and she knew it.  It is only because I am the kind and gracious, loving mother-in-law that I am, that I didn’t heap more guilt on her.  “Please forgive me,” she said.  And, I did.  Because the only thing that really mattered in the situation was that I was not senile I had my keys back.

Oh, and another good thing that came out of the whole situation…Levi can now say “KEY?”!

I talk.  I talk too much.  I sometimes get in trouble for not keeping my mouth shut, but I just love sharing what’s going on with me with those I care about.  (You do know that includes you, my faithful readers.)  I don’t know why I think everyone should be interested in what goes on with me.  And, it’s not that exactly, it’s just that I like to talk.  A lot.

Well, I’m not into making big changes here in the ‘mature’ years of my life.  Today, I wish to continue to share with you the story of my grandson, Levi.  You walked the way with me as we waited for him to be born and have shared my joy as I have spent days with him here at home.  You have shared his birthdays and Christmases with me.  He has been such a joy and continues to delight us day after day with his determination and spunkiness!  He is a wonderful gift to this family.

We began to notice, when he was 10-14 months old, that he was not verbally where we thought he should be.  He was not saying those first words that we were all waiting to hear…”MaMa…DaDa…ByeBye…Go…Ball…you remember.  When it was first mentioned to a pediatrician (not his regular one), he said “no problem…he’s just a boy.  He’ll talk soon.”  His parents and we grandparents noticed how he was often frustrated when trying to communicate with us.  He would go to the refrigerator and make sounds…loudly…but there was never any “BaBa”.  I began teaching him some very simple sign language.  He quickly learned “please, thank you, cookie, more, eat, drink, all done, help. ”  He picked these up and soon it was easier for  him to communicate with us.  This seemed to make him less frustrated.  However…it was always obvious to us all that he fully understood all that was said to him.  We slowly began to hear Ma and then Da…finally he began to wave bye bye…but not say it. Still, he was not making the sounds that seemed to lead into recognizable speech.  He surely tried…always making lots of sounds…but they weren’t the right sounds.

I suppose since I have worked with young children all my life, I noticed it first.  And, also, having the history we do with our 3 boys, we know the importance of watching carefully and picking up things early.  Early intervention and early diagnosis is what saved Adam’s life.  And Ian came into this world fighting to eat and suck.  And, we knew if there was a problem with Levi, it needed to be discovered early.  Adam and Suzanne are such good parents and have been closely watching Levi.  They read with him every night and he knows many words…when they say them, he will point to them.  We have all worked with him to get him to speak.  And, he has recently rewarded us all with ‘tact-tor’.  His Papa rides on one to cut his yard.  He’s has his own version of ‘turtle’ also, but I couldn’t express it to you how he says it.  It is obvious to us how badly he wants to speak.

When he went to his two year check up, Suzanne and Adam talked to his regular pediatrician about this and fully conveyed their concern, and he suggested that the first step was a hearing evaluation.  Levi seems to hear well, but there are times when he doesn’t acknowledge us at all.  It’s as if he’s turned his hearing off.  But, the evaluation showed his hearing was normal.  It was then suggested that he go to a speech pathologist for a full evaluation.  And, that was where we found ourselves on Friday.

Because Ian was born with a cleft lip and palatte, he spent much time in speech therapy.  But, both my other boys did, too for short times.  We were so fortunate to have the therapist that we did.  And, even more fortunately, she was willing to take on Levi.  We know what a blessing this is and are so excited to have her guiding our sweet Levi.

So, does he have just a problem with pronunciation or a lisp or stuttering?  No, none of those and we knew it wasn’t that before we went.  He has a disorder called Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  Bet you never heard of it.  Well, we know lots about it now.

“Developmental apraxia of speech is also known as childhood apraxia of speech. This condition is present from birth, and it affects a child’s ability to form sounds and words. Children with speech apraxia often have far greater abilities to understand speech than to express themselves with spoken words.”

“Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words”.  From the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association

“With apraxia of speech a person finds it difficult or impossible to move his or her mouth and tongue to speak. This happens, even though the person has the desire to speak and the mouth and tongue muscles are physically able to form words.”

So, this is where we find ourselves now.  We have a diagnosis which is always the best first step.  And, so we begin to tackle Levi’s speech.  He will require extensive speech therapy for years.  Another thing that is a concern is the speech in CAS often aquires a monotone sound with no inflection.  So, as we work on the proper pronounciation, we also have to work on the inflection he uses.  Inflection to me is like the ‘music of speech’.  It is almost like a melody line as we speak normally.  The highs and lows we use in our speech (such as in “UH! OH! or BYE-BYE) is like the melody line in a written piece of music.  (This is a Tonja explanation.  If it doesn’t make sense…consider the source!}

Some children may require sign language on a permenant basis or a word pad that says the words as you type them or touch pictures.  We, however, are believing that God is going to help  Levi  have the best outcome possible!    This is not on the autism spectrum or a form of Asperger’s.  Levi is very intelligent and quite strong willed.  He has a determined spirit and loves to figure out ways to do what he wants.  (This sometimes gets him in trouble.)  We are, at this point, teaching Levi how to listen to speech.  He has to learn that what he hears can be spoken. This seems to be his greatest need at the present…to learn how to listen.  Funny thing… I can hear myself saying “You need to listen”…or “Why don’t you try listening?” to my own boys through the years.  But, in this case, Levi actually has to be taught how to listen.

We have such a wonderful opportunity here to show just how God works.  We had a problem, and at first, we did not know which direction to travel.  After prayer, God impressed upon us the need to talk with the pediatrician and to continue on with the followup.  When it became known to us that we needed a speech therapist, we knew who we wanted to use, but I also knew she did not take many patients anymore.  We all prayed about it and she agreed to see Levi for evaluation and for therapy.  Isn’t God good?  He is meeting every need as it comes up.  I have seen Him do this before.  And, since we know that He never changes, He will continue to help us as problems comes up.  I do not know about you, but this is one of the dearest truths that I hold onto in my life.

 “And, my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of

His glory in Christ Jesus”  Phillipians 4:19 NIV

This little boy is so fortuate to be surrounded by family and friends who will be constantly helping him.  So we walk this new path with thanks and gratitude for his determined spirit and strong will.  We give thanks for his fine hearing and for his ability to learn.  We give thanks for the ability to pay for his private lessons.  Nothing, nothing, nothing good comes to us by any means other than God.  So, Levi will learn to talk slower than most children…and he will learn to talk a whole new way from most children.  And, we parents, and grandparents and aunts and uncles will all learn how to help him and encourage and all will be well!  We claim that promise!

“Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy

the fruit of their deeds.”       Isaiah 3:10 NIV

Spring!

What a fun weekend we have had!  Levi turned two on the 29th and we had his party on the 30th.  I could tell you all about it, but I’ll just show you a few pictures.  Well….maybe more than a few.  But, hey!  I did whittle them down from 148!  The theme of his party this year was Little Red Wagon…be sure to notice his shirt!

Oh and one more for his Lulu…

Betcha can’t guess what his favorite gift was?  Took him a little while to realize how to make it go, but he finally got it!  However, he did not want to sit in the wagon for a picture like John Thomas!  Too busy for that!  It was a fun party…Suzanne did a wonderful job decorating and putting it all together!

Two years with this angel…God has blessed us so much, and we are grateful with our whole being!  He has brought such joy and laughter into our lives.  He can make us laugh even on a dreary day.

                               “God has given us these times of joy.”  Nehemiah 12:43