Kinast Connection: Rivers Ripple

Well, this is a long overdue update as I completely missed our post in July between conference and vacation.

The 2018-2019 school year is off to a good start. We are finding a new normal routine with both older girls in school full day.
Dan is busy with work and finishing up his Master's degree. He has one class and a paper left to go! He will be done in December. He has been playing regular gigs this year with 90 Proof and then switched over to the Llew Brown Band (he played with them before Emily was born) when they called a few months ago. Playing music is definitely what he enjoys! He hasn't ran much competitively this year, but plans to run a half marathon next week.I am finding the benefits of Emily's nap time and getting things done during that 2 hour window. Dan is gracious enough to keep an ear out if needed. I started helping the Down syndrome Society of Wichita provide new parent outreach (deliver welcome baskets and answer questions and provide follow up). It involves snuggling new babies and chatting with parents. They seem to come in waves, I've had 3 new babies in the past 4 weeks. There is another gal helping, but she is going to nursing school right now so that means she's not very available. I'm continuing to work one Saturday a month, sometimes two and in between if it works out for Via Christi Rehabilitation Hospital. Most of my days are spent playing with Emily, doing therapy with her, going to playgroups, cleaning, organizing, learning, and sneaking in a couple of workouts at the YMCA a week. I've managed to finish six books since school started between afternoons and workouts, so you can tell that my time is becoming less small person care driven.

Olivia is in 2nd grade. She seems to really like her teacher and enjoys all of the socializing that comes with school. Math is definitely her strength as she is in the highest combined math group in 2nd grade and the only girl in the group. Her reading really improved last year, although she's not much of an independent sit and read kind of gal. She is trying some dance this fall through the Y and says she likes it. She's also taking swim lessons. Both Olivia and Kinley are doing church on Wednesday evening, which includes a children's choir this year and sing 1x/month in church (the good oldies).

Kinley is in Kindergarten. She was so excited for it to start. Since it's started, she's been tired but I noticed last week I think we've finally found the balance for her. She must do well at school because she received the Student of the Month award in her class for August. She has a lot of friends and talks about them. At the Walk-A-Thon on Friday she said good-bye to a whole row of them, and kissed a boy on the cheek! (We had to have a chat about that.) Kinley really wanted to do studio dance (as she calls it) again, so she is taking dance on Thursdays. She does enjoy it, although has had some reluctant days I think because she is tired. She is doing swim lessons this month too.

Emily is now 32 months old. She is a busy little girl. Her favorite things to play right now are baby dolls and kitchen. We moved the kitchen up to her room and are rearranging a bit. She will just spend time in there playing away. We have a transition meeting set up with Maize School District to have paperwork signed for Emily to be evaluated to attend preschool when she turns 3 in February. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and sad all at once! We've continued Rainbows therapy and private speech therapy. Emily got a new speech therapist in July since her other one moved to the school district. We've been working on more vowel sounds and individual sounds, transitioning from a pretty intense focus on imitation. I just took Emily out to visit with my speech therapist friend to have her take a look for apraxia, which we are pretty sure Emily has. This means there is a disconnect between her brain and what her motor movements should be to make speech sounds. It is not uncommon in children with Down syndrome, but not readily diagnosed. We are going to try breaking down the words to just beginning sounds throughout our day and at snack and see if we can make some more progress. It takes intense and frequent practice to make progress. Emily's sign language skills are quite good, she's picking up as many signs as I can give her. And she's impressed our PAT lady with her attention and recognition using signs during story time at playgroup. Emily is identifying colors by matching them, can do a 9 piece peg puzzle, and really has some nice foundational skills. Emily has the Buddy Walk coming up on Saturday!

Brisco is not aging gracefully. He's showing his older doggie age in the past few weeks and is about to earn himself something! He still enjoys being right in the action and occasionally takes a stroll down the block.

Overall we are all doing well and enjoying life. We are looking forward to a trip with our neighbors, the Hesses, to Disney World in December.