NOAH'S NOGGIN

Please be our friend
Something that is becoming more apparent as Noah is getting older is that having a special needs kid can be socially isolating. It's a weird situation when someone, either an adult or kid is trying to engage with Noah and they don't get why he's not responding age appropriately. I really don't want to go into his convoluted medical history with a stranger or near stranger ("well, he's developmentally delayed, and has epilepsy, but we don't really know what's wrong. . . ). Another issue with that is he does love people, especially other kids. So much so that he wants to pat them, harder and harder, because he doesn't know how to play with them. We don't do many play dates because it's too stressful with me chasing Noah around to monitor his behavior. I spend anytime he is around others apologizing for him hitting their kid (adults get a warning, and then are on their own). This has been hard for Owen too. He doesn't really know how to use playground equipment because I could never take him. First Noah was such a delayed walker I couldn't help Owen and hold Noah at the same time. Now, all my focus has to be on Noah. So, we really never go to library story times, restaurants, playgrounds when other people may be there, play cafes, the kid pit at the mall . . . .
But in happier news, we went to the zoo and both boys had a great time. It was the first time we'd been to the zoo since Noah has been walking. Now, instead of passively sitting in the stroller he was running around and really engaged with the animals. Owen, of course was more interesting in the old tractor than any of the animals that he misidentified (really, what otherwise very bright 4 year old can't recognize a cow?). Until next time--Amy