Speech Therapy, and Good Hair

Ali went to the Orthodontist a few months ago. He did a thorough examination, took x-rays, and talked at length about his assessment. The First thing he instructed us to do was to make an appointment with a Speech therapist. Huh? I thought we were looking at her teeth? He explained that the way her teeth and tongue were sitting he suspected that Ali is a tongue thruster. Even with braces you can’t fix teeth unless you fix the tongue thrust or the tongue just messes up all the work the braces did. The molars in the back of her mouth don’t even touch when she bites down! The Orthodontist was baffled at how she actually chews her food. I felt bad that I’d never noticed.
Last night We met the speech therapist.. A 40-ish woman who works from her home. ( A HUGE 5,500 square foot GORGEOUS home I might add) only a few miles from our house.
She led Ali through a series of exercises that included eating graham crackers, and swallowing water. She confirmed the Orthondist’s theory telling us that Ali has a “moderately severe” tongue thrust. We will spend the next 7 weeks seeing this Therapist once a week for Oral exercise and treatments, which Ali will be assigned to do as homework on the remaining days of the week. For one Grand 400 dollar fee (which insurance does not pay for thank you very much) she will follow Ali’s therapy for the 7 weeks, (and more if needed included in that 400) and will also follow her progress through the entire span of her braces. I think Ali will be a good little pupil, and it will be interesting to see the results. I wonder if it will change the structure of her jaw at all? ( I doubt it, but I still wonder).
I do have to mention too that Megan was there at the appointment with us (as she was with EX) and she sat quietly on my lap the entire time listening and watching Ali through the entire testing process. She was also starving and didn’t complain once that Ali was munching on crackers and drinking water not three feet away from her famished little body. What a good girl! I was quite proud of both my girls last night.
So Fast-forward to this morning.
I awakened to voices at the crack of Dawn this morning. I looked at the clock and it was only 5 am. I thought for a moment that maybe one of the girls was talking in their sleep or having a nightmare.. (or perhaps it was Craig on his phone)? I got out of bed, and both the girls bedroom and Mattie’s room lights were on.. Ali was sound asleep in her bed, but Megan was missing. I knew exactly where she was.
I pressed Mattie’s door open a little wider and there sat Megan on the bed next to his crib, dressing her bear in Mattie’s clothes and telling Mattie stories to keep him occupied. She’s done this a couple of times but it’s been at our regular waking hour. She goes into his room and entertains him by putting whatever he points to into his crib for him. By the time I arrive his crib is full of various items from his room. Toys, socks, blankets……
I told Megan it was still nighttime, and sent her back to bed. I cleaned out Mattie’s crib, snuggled him for a nano- second and laid him down. (I am pretty sure he thanked me with his sleepy eyes). Meg fell back asleep within minutes, Mattie was out.. But there I was. Wide-awake, and only 35 minutes till my alarm was to go off anyway.
So up I was.
And my Hair got special treatment today.. I actually CURLED it! That’s a pretty big feat for someone who LIVES in ponytails!
Here I am at work. A wee bit tired, but with great hair!