Welcome To My Life With Sam

When Sam was 4 I enrolled him in the Speech Therapy program run by our public schools. I had no trouble understanding him, but by the advise or our Family Physician and out of courtesy to his Sunday School teacher we dove in, meeting twice a week throughout the school year with Mrs. Streckenbach.

On Sam's IEP the examiner stated "Sam does not care to articulate".

Welcome to my life with Sam.

The first year went smoothly with only minimal disruption to our homeschooling day. The twice a week sessions slowed in the spring to once a week meetings. His therapist was happy with his progress and agreed to my request for less involvement with the program. Two particular sounds that still grieved him were /G/ and /R/, we spent most of our time on those. Mrs. Streckenbach had many tools to teach with including picture cards whose images contained the sounds Sam needed to work on.

On one particular day she held up a cartoonish picture of a pink one-piece swimsuit and asked Sam "Who would wear one of these?"

"Not me!" he answered.

I think "Girl" was the answer she was looking for.

Welcome to my life with Sam.

This week, while preparing the 3 younger boys for their Well Child Checkups I mentioned, as well as their immunizations, the genitourinary check that would have to be performed. They were grossed out and none of them remembered having them before (Good thing!)

Sam asked "Why do they have to do that?"

My first line of defense for fielding these types of questions is to be as vague as possible and only go into a detailed explanation if absolutely necessary.

"Just to make sure both your testicles are there." I said in my best Marcus Welby voice.

"Well, where else would they be?" He asked matter of factly.

Obviously a detailed explanation was in order.

Welcome to my life with Sam.

During that phase of Sam's exam Dr. Lemkuil explained what he was going to do and was about to launch into the Why when Sam interrupted saying, "I know, my mom already told me."

It's good to be prepared.

Our doctor is very homeschool friendly and he sees quite a few families who are showing great success with their children, but it doesn't stop me from feeling like my kids being tested whenever they have their Well-Child exams.

He goes over basic safety rules and asks them questions like "What kind of job does your Dad have?" and "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Sam (who is not normally shy) was not cooperating and just shrugged his shoulders when it came time to answer, stating he didn't know my cell phone number, didn't know what he had to wear on his head when he rode his bike, and had no clue what his dad does when he leaves the house. Luckily Griffin was there to answer or Dr. Lemkuil might have started to wonder if I teach them anything.

Very patiently he moved on to the next question, "What do you wear when you ride in the car?"

Sam declared without hesitation, "A shirt."

I offer nothing more than humor to a busy man's day.

Welcome to my life with Sam.