Late night confessional

                                                     CHAPTER 6

      So it's nearly midnight and I suddenly am stricken with paranoia. I just realized I hadn't posted yet today and I am not about to break my promise of a post a day.

     Where do I begin? AW YES! In the beginning......no that isn't right. WAIT I'VE GOT IT, " There was a man"..no,no,no that isn't right either. "Call me Ishmael".....Yeah definitely not it.

    How about I just go over some history tonight,sound good?Tonight I will tell the tale of our first born, Paul Tomas.

     Paul arrived unexpectedly early though not much, 38 weeks to be exact. I wasn't even sure I was in labor. I was under the assumption that Los Dos Amigos had killed my gut once again. He arrived on December 14th, 2001. The first weeks of Paul's life where extremely difficult, he cried non-stop and I litterily went without sleep for two weeks. I thought I was going to go mad. Later on we found out that all that screaming was attributed to a neck injury he sustained during delivery. The poor guy was in pain and despite my best efforts in voicing my concerns to doctors I was repeatedly told "your young and raising a baby is hard work"........mmmhmmm thank you for your words of wisdom doctors and nurses. Finally around three months of age the neck injury manifested into a massive flat spot on his head which he still has to this day. He then began physical therapy at four months and that lasted nearly a year, his physical therapist cried when he left apparently he got a little attached, he was a very sweet guy.


         At around 2 we noticed Paul was not talking yet and had some other odd behaviors. Again I was told "You  are young and raising a kid is hard and that he will be fine." As the years passed Paul still displaying some odd behaviors like screaming and hitting his head, banging his head against walls and tables and chairs to the point he was hurting himself and breaking things. Staring off into space,didn't respond to his name and doing weird motions with his hands. Finally I found help for him but it took a teacher in his Kindergarten class  and several aids,test and exams to help me get Paul some help. Paul was diagnosed as being autistic towards the end of his kindergarten year. The following year he was placed in a specialized classroom called  "communications class" and it has helped  emmensly. He is now studying the same curriculum as his average 2nd grade classmates and doing it well. His only real big hurdles at this point are his speech which is hardly noticeable to most but to the trained ear their is some work that needs to be done there. Then his ability to control his emotions is also a hard spot for him but he's getting better daily.

    Today, was a good day!