Kinast Connection: Rivers Ripple

We are already well into 2018! It’s been a good start to the year for our family, and hard to believe we are looking ahead to summer already!
We enjoyed a family ski trip to Ski Cooper in mid-February. Aside from some unforeseen hiccups, we had a fun time. The girls learned to ski and we got to spend some time with Grammy and Grandpa too. The hiccups included a very cold first night, some delays for Grammy and Grandpa, and Spring winds!
Dan is hard at work most days. He’s working from home for Gray Communications still building touchscreen apps, supporting products, and doing web work. He’s also nearly done with his Masters degree coursework! He’s had a band break since the New Year, but they are hopefully going to have a lead singer soon. His knee surgery in October went well, but it has limited his winter running.
Sarah added a few new things over the past few months. She continues to drive the Rivers taxi five days a week. She’s been volunteering in Olivia’s class every 6 weeks and helping with the class parties. Recently she’s started New Parent Outreach with the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita. Basically when a new family is referred, one of a team makes contact to share resources and welcome the new baby. They seem to come in waves, we just had three new families. Sarah also helped with the connections date in February (make it and take it activities). Teaching Sunday school for Kinley’s class (and often Olivia and a few other older kids) has been a good use of time. In the in between there is music class, playgroups, playtime with Kinley and Emily, exercise at the Y, and the daily laundry and house stuff. She reduced her work Saturdays in 2018, so is now working 2 Saturdays every other month and just one Saturday on the other months. Sarah recently found out she received a scholarship to attend the Down syndrome Conference in Dallas, TX in July!
Olivia is enjoying first grade. Her reading has really improved since fall and she likes math. Her favorites at school are recess and lunch, she's pretty social. Olivia recently had her first grade music program and had a line in it. Olivia has taken swim lessons, gymnastics, and is currently participating in soccer. She hopes to take ice skating lessons this summer. On Wednesdays, she and Kinley attend Elevate at church. In her free time you will find her playing outside in the sandbox or rollerblading, playing with Kirsten doll, pretending house or some other elaborate scenario. She also loves to draw.
Kinley is having a good year in preschool. She is excited for Kindergarten next year! She will have Kindergarten Connection at the end of April. At preschool, she has several friends whom she enjoys playing with. Kinley is taking swim lessons and is in dance academy at the Y. She is excited for a recital in May. On Tuesdays, Kinley goes to music group and every afternoon Kinley has soaked up time with Mommy playing. Kinley enjoys pretending with various small figurines, playing house with Olivia, and playing Barbies. She also enjoys games, puzzles, and coloring. She just got a scooter at the consignment sale, so is excited for warm weather to ride it.
Emily turned two on February 1st. She has been walking since shortly after she turned 25 months. But, was starting to take steps before then. :) Since starting to walk, she has grown up so much! She has a bit of a sassy attitude and is enjoying getting into anything she can. Emily has therapy on Mondays (Rainbows Early Intervention and private speech therapy), music group on Tuesdays, playgroup on Wednesdays, and sometimes swimming on Thursdays (when our schedule allows). She loves music best. She currently has 20+ signs that she can use. She's imitating so much in terms of signing and actions to songs right now. Her favorite songs are Roly Poly, Ring Around the Rosy, Oh, Elephant!, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and 5 Little Monkeys Swinging From A Tree. She uses a handful of words. Emily's thyroid level came back high, indicating hypothyroidism in February so she has started on a thyroid medication. This is not uncommon in Down syndrome, however we will visit the pediatric endocrinologist at the end of April to be sure it is managed well. The cardiologist felt like it may have been off for awhile as she's had the fluid around her heart for no reason for awhile. It was better at the check up in March which he felt like might be because of the medication.
Brisco is an older doggie, costing us big bucks in October, but still gets around just fine most days. He spends his days sleeping on the couch in Dan's office and leisurely enjoying life.

Whew! I think that's a pretty good overview of what our lives have involved in the past few months.