Image So another year has passed, Cayden is now 6 years old.  It’s hard to imagine that six years have gone by, and so quickly.  We’ve come a long way since the beginning.  There is no guide to parenting and certainty no guide in detecting a child that has delays or a disorder.  There is no real preparation that you can do to brace yourself for parenthood.  You can have everything ready, take all the classes, save all the money, but there will always be situations that you are not prepared for.  However, there will also be rewards that you are not prepared for.  Lizzy and I knew around 6 or 7 months that something was different with Cayden.  He had hit some of his milestones in those few months, however, there were still some other milestones that he just wasn’t reaching.

His birth for the most part was normal, when he was born the cord was wrapped around his neck.  We were told that it happens and they were prepared for it.  He wasn’t recovering as fast as they liked and he required an overnight stay under an oxygen hood.  He then got Jaundice and had to stay a few more days in the hospital.  For the first couple of years I wondered if these were the reasons for Cayden’s disability.  I kept questioning if we did things differently if Cayden would have turned out differently.

When we changed pediatricians our new doctor wanted genetic testing to determine if anything was going on with Cayden.  Up until that point we knew he was “different” but had no idea what it was.  We didn’t have a name, a diagnosis beyond delays, or an idea what was really going on.  After the genetic testing we found out he had a duplication of his 7th chromosome.  We are still learning about his duplication and what we can expect in the years to come.

This past year we have seen huge improvements in Cayden’s vocal speech, he has picked up new words from kindergarten and speech.  He is loving to communicate either vocally or with his DynaVox.  He is starting to put three words together and make connections.  This upcoming year Cayden will be in 1st grade, it’s hard to believe but he is growing up.

And with growing up are new task to be learned, we are venturing down the road of potty training.  I fear it may be a long and challenging road.  I’m still wondering if Cayden knows when he has to go to the bathroom or if he is just stubborn.  I’m leaning towards a stubborn little boy who doesn’t want to go to the bathroom on the toilet.  We’re hoping that the potty training road ends this summer and Cayden will be able to use the toilet.  That will be our main goal for these next few months.  I’ll try to keep up on his progress and any new information we find out about Cayden and his disorder.