Ammon

Ammon. When we were thinking of names for a baby while I was pregnant with our second child the name Ammon came up. He was a favorite missionary from the Book of Mormon for both of us, he is a favorite for a lot of people because, well, he's awesome! We had never intended to name one of our children something unusual  but Ammon just felt right. I was induced at 40 weeks and had what appeared to be a normal delivery. Ammon was a big baby, everything about him was big, hands, ears, head circumference. He slept through the night from day one and only woke up to nurse once every three hours during the day. I thought he was too tired though, I knew enough about babies to know that he was too sleepy.

When Ammon was about 3 months old he started to be more alert and was happy. It was easy to get a grin from him. He was fun. He was a floppy baby, carrying him was exhausting! It was even more exhausting as he didn't walk until he was 2. We also had trouble understanding anything he was saying. About this time we moved and we found a new pediatrician who began to suspect something was wrong. By this point I had a complex about Mothering! We moved again and joined the Air Force and met a nurse practitioner who referred us to a neurologist who informed us Ammon had suffered a stroke inutero or at birth, an MRI confirmed her diagnoses. I will always remember the moment the Doctor said stroke, I was shocked, can that happen to a baby? I was also relieved to know what was wrong, it was a like there was a weight lifted for a moment but then came the crashing reality that it was brain damage, it was permanent but fortunately it was mild . He began more occupational and physical therapy, he was already in speech and language therapy.

Ammon had the dearest most wonderful pre-school special education teacher in the world, Miss Patty, she was such a blessing. Miss Collette was his speech teacher, she taught Ricky as well, she was gifted. I think we moved to North Dakota for the boys, they needed Dakota Elementary on Minot Air Force base. Minot-now that's a whole other story!!

Ammon is 14 now, he is in 8th grade in middle school. He is the sweetest 14 year old I know. He is blessed with the very best of natures, he is handsome with dark brown eyes, he is a big guy! He is a little bit stubborn but has a great sense of humor, he is fun! He doesn't like school but he goes and the teachers like him. He would rather be home looking at his Pokemon collection and eating sandwiches and hanging out with his best friend, his brother Ricky. Ammon has taught us many things about patience, like, we need more of it. He detests contention of any kind and has a hard time when there is a trouble maker about. He also likes to point out the obvious. I remember sitting in a waiting room when Ammon started talking to a young man next us "Why is your nose so big?" says Ammon "I don't know" says the nice young man. I guess most kids do this but when your kid is not 4 anymore you are hoping and praying for the patience of the person on the spot. We learned recently from a respected pediatric neurologist that even if Ammon had not had a stroke he still would have had learning disabilities. We have decided Ricky and Ammon had come to this life the way they were supposed to, we are grateful for all they have taught us!

The photo below was taken at the Lincoln Museum, you should go, it was amazing. This photo of Ammon is a typical moment for him, with Ricky enjoying the joke!