Hello
to everyone! I think our post was due in August...which I sat down to
write and then...let's just say days are full and long, even with two
hours several days a week to myself!
Olivia
started 3rd grade this fall and seems to be doing well. She has been
recognized as Student of the Month and also for Responsibility. At the
beginning of 2019, she started piano lessons and has been really
enjoying them. This summer and fall she has been doing gymnastics.
Although earlier in the year she did some Tae-kwon-do and swim lessons,
so she continues to have a lot of interests. Olivia researched and
requested gerbils. So, two gerbils joined our family in May. Snowflake
and Ginger. They are entertaining to watch and tolerate handling
well. As they get older, Ginger seems to be a little more adventurous
even jumping out of the bathtub where she was for a "play" break. Olivia
had her pet sitting business again this summer and did quite well,
watching several neighbor pets and a few family pets too. This past
Sunday, Olivia was blessed in church for acolyting. She's excited to
participate in this way. Last Monday she had two solos and ensemble
solos in her school music program---she did fantastic! Olivia enjoys
playing with the American Girl doll things, LEGOS, and also any type of
pretend!
Kinley started 1st grade this fall. She
is slowest to warm up to change and although she has a very nice teacher
and several friends in class, has had times where she just doesn't want
to go to school. Kinley choose to dance again this fall, picking
tap/jazz class as her choice. She tried Hip Hop over the summer and
decided it wasn't her favorite. In the spring she had her second dance
recital and really enjoyed performing on stage. She has also taken
gymnastics and swim lessons this year. This summer Kinley had speech
therapy to address her L and R sounds. She's made progress and the
speech therapist that saw her is the one at our school so continues to
check in every few weeks. We may add an IEP for speech, but at this
point are trying remediation without. Not pronouncing your speech
sounds correctly makes it a challenge to spell and sound out some words.
Kinley enjoys drawing and writing and you can often find her doing one
of these things. She was recognized last week for Student of the Month
for showing the character traits of Vermillion. Kinley also enjoys the
American Girl dolls and her Lalaloopsies and Shopkins.
Emily
started her first full year of preschool this fall. She started two
days a week in February and spent that time adjusting to a preschool
routine and learning some good skills. It also allowed us to do speech
the other two days a week. This fall, Emily goes to school 4 days a
week and enjoys it! She's in a fully blended classroom, taught by a
regular education preschool teacher (the ideal inclusion model) and
supported by a special education teacher, plus PT, OT, and Speech.
She's grown a lot in the past few months--cognitively, physically. Two
days a week, Emily goes for Speech therapy at Erin is Hope to
specifically address her childhood apraxia of speech and work intensely
on learning sounds. Those two days, Emily has just enough time after
school for lunch and a car nap before being woken up to work. Between
her and Kinley this summer, we spent 3 days a week visiting a speech
therapist. WHEW! Emily continues to love music, dancing, playing
kitchen, and painting. Emily got her tonsils and adenoids out in June
and ear tubes placed. Hopefully the tonsils and adenoids being removed
will solve her sleep apnea--follow up study in December. Her favorite
things are playing with the Barbies/car, music of any kind, and also
playing kitchen.
Dan has been hard at work. He's
continued to work for Gray Communications doing app and web development
for them. He's received recognition for streamlining and reducing the
need to use outside developers. To keep him sane, he plays with the
Llew Brown Band about 2x/month plus rehearsals. We've had the
opportunity to see him play at Botanica and the Zoo.
I've
continued to be primarily at home, although have picked up a few extra
work days a month this fall thanks to mom. Managing all of the
appointments, school things, house stuff, and etc can easily fill my
time. I've volunteered in Kinley's class both in Kindergarten and 1st
grade. I've also been doing new parent outreach for the Down Syndrome
Society of Wichita--visiting new parents of children with Down
syndrome.
We took a vacation to Minnesota in July and
visited with Aunt Lynne at the Lake, plus swung through the Mall of
America and Omaha Zoo. We took a short trip to Tulsa in July with the
Johnstons. And spent 20 consecutive days in February with someone
sick.
In July we found out that our church would be closing, so
have transitioned to Aldersgate United Methodist Church (main campus)
and are finding our place there. I'm helping with Sunday school
rotations, the girls are regular Sunday school attenders again, and we
will see how it all works out.
In
October we said goodbye to Brisco. His health had been declining since
our return from vacation in July. At the middle of September, we knew
we had limited days with him having deemed him on Doggie Hospice. He
was a big part of our lives and routines and we've definitely missed
him. He'd have been 13 this month.
Our days are full and we enjoy our time together.
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