Happy Birthday To My Youngest Son!

To my little man that has been through so much and come so far.  Happy Birthday!!!!, my big five year old!

Timmy and Billy came to our home as a sibling group when Timmy was only 1 year old and Billy was 2 years old.

I had tried to suppress a deep desire to adopt more children and move into a new season of my life but just could not.  We had not had any small children in our family for years, so it was very nice to have little ones in my arms again.

 
They both had extreme issues from the abuse and neglect they had went through before coming here.

They were both exposed to drugs in the womb.  They also both had meth smoked around them regularly.  There were many more issues with Billy as he was a year older and had gone through a lot more.  Also, there personalities are very different and they learned to cope with things differently.

Timmy is a sweet, sweet soul with many issues.  He was heavily drug exposed in the womb and has autism.  Combine that with the neglect and abuse he want through and we have one sweet little boy, who is stuck as an 18 month old child.
 

Most of the behavioral issues he had from his past, have resolved over the years, glory to God!  The things he is struggling with now, are from the damage done by drugs.
 

He fusses when he has to make transitions throughout the day and when he has to do something he does not want to do.  When he came here, he used to throw many, terrible, long, tantrums daily but now he just cries it out and is over it.  Praise God.
 

He used to pull his hair out, not play with toys properly, kick everything hard so he could hear the sound of it for long spells, repetitively bang his head on things when upset, pull strings out of clothing and cry a lot.   He still fusses a lot but now can play with toys properly for the most part, if they are age appropriate for his mentality.

He can play with others, if supervised for redirection in sharing and not hitting and hurting others with toys, like a toddler needs.  He is potty trained, in that if we take him frequently, he does good but has trouble telling us if he needs to go.  He has several accidents a week.  He can not use metal utensils as he pokes himself with forks leaving marks and can not stop looking at the reflection in a metal spoon and waving it before his face back and forth. (self stemming with it from the autism)  It is such an issue, it slings food everywhere and keeps him from eating his meal. 

He has very little danger awareness so needs to be closely supervised or shadowed by an older child/adult when we go places in public.  We just recently graduated him out of a stroller as he will hold someones hand now and not jerk it away and run.
 

He has trouble learning but does learn with a lot of repetition and structure.
 

He really has a sweet and loving heart.  He makes me cry almost nightly.  He wants to kiss me good night.  I will squat down to his level and he hugs me and kisses my left and right check and then takes his little hands and rubs those kisses in a circle and says..."rub rub rub...stay forever"  I tear up every time.

He is doing structured school work daily.  He is doing Pre -K and really enjoys it.  Carolyn partners with him and they work very well together.  He get discouraged and needs frequent breaks.  He can stay focused in short bursts but gets distracted very easily.
 

We try to keep it light and fun with lots of positive reinforcement and verbal praise.   He just beams when you tell him you love him or that he is doing a great job.

He loves all things boy...cars, trains and things with wheels, machines and robots, dinosaurs and sharks.  He likes to color and build with toddler duplos.
 

He loves to ride ponies but has very poor balance.  He can not seem to tell where his body is in space and trips and falls a lot.  When we ride ponies, I have one of the other kids lead the pony, while I spot him and have a hold of him, so he does not fall off.  I have to do this with all three of our youngest for various reasons.  I am hoping in time the riding will help with their balance and ability to walk and run better.

 He tries very hard to please us but has a rebellious side that will not budge at times.

He is very bonded into our family and loves his brothers and sisters.

Sometimes it is hard to get his attention, as he spends a good deal of time, if not kept engaged, playing with his hands in the air.

He loves to be read to and has a ready smile.

Even though sounds, some contact and clothing is irritating to him, He is cuddly and loves to be held and hugged by us all.

He is growing up so fast.

He does have a sense of humor and tries at times to say funny things and make us laugh.  :)

He had a very hard time when we went on vacation.  He had a fun time while we were out at the beach or were busy but back at the vacation house, he really struggled in all areas and his potty training, eating and behavior just fell apart.

As soon as we got home everything just fell back into place for him and he was fine.

He does not like showers or water being splashed around him but did really well at the water park we went to on vacation.

Timmy is a joy to have in our home and a sweet child who tries hard to be a good boy.

We all love him dearly and want the best for him.  I pray he keeps learning and growing every day.

For our children's birthday, we let them either choose a place to eat out at (as we hardly ever eat out) or a special meal to eat at home.  I have been having conversations with Timmy for about a month, trying to help him understand favorite foods or a place he likes to eat at and he just did not understand.  We finally decided to take a picnic to a local park and let him play on the playground.  He is so easy to please and that just made his day. 

We don't encourage superhero type play but this year he wanted a certain superhero cake.  My sister did an excellent job making a happy cake for him.  It was perfect and made him feel very special.  Thank you Aunt "S", for your loving care in what you do for the children, to make them feel special.

Happy birthday my sweet boy!  We love you so much and I am so pleased that God brought you to us to be our son!  May God bring healing and health to all areas of your body, mind and life.  May you learn to love and serve Him with your whole life and heart.  May God always have His mighty hand on you, my youngest son!

James 1:17  ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Love, Dad, mom, Stephen, Antonio, William, Carolyn, Zeke, Elizabeth, Billy, Kinsley and Anna-Kate