Back to School!

Well, Kiddo is now a kindergartener!  Man oh man, does time fly.  His teacher, Ms. Collins, seems just perfect for him, and he is so very excited that his best friend is in his class.  (Her mama and I both requested that they be in the same class, and were so relieved when the request was granted.  Both of our kiddos have a hard time making friends, but have found great friends in each other).

Kiddo meeting his teacher, Ms. Collins

First day of Kindergarten! 

He had a great first day!  We asked him what his favorite thing at school was and he said playing with his friend, sitting next to Ms. Collins, and riding the school bus.  We asked him what he learned and he said nothing.  Well, it is the first day after all.  He was excited to go back the next day, and is now off on his third day of school.

So now it's just Little Brother and me during the day.  We have him on a waitlist for a preschool, but until then, he goes to a mother's day out program once or twice a week for social fun and they have a curriculum they do with the kiddos too.

Just me and the little stinker who wouldn't let me put my arm around him for this picture.
But we're both smiling and looking at the camera, so win!

Here's to a great 2016-2017 school year!

End of Preschool!!

Oops, it's been a good amount of time since I posted.  To make up for it, I'll be writing a few posts spaced out over the next few days.  Today's post is about Kiddo finishing up preschool and will be told in pics with captions.  Enjoy!!

Kiddo and his AMAZING preschool teacher, Ms. Jessica

Kiddo and his 'girlfriend' at their end of year "Water Day!"

More Water Day fun.

On the left, Kiddo's open house for preschool, August 2015.  On the right, Kiddo at kindergarten registration, May 2016.  The difference in his social skills, language, and behavior is evident in these pictures.  I am so proud of how much progress he has made. :)

Flourishing

If you've read my previous post, then you know we were in the process of moving. Well, with the awesome help of my brother-in-law and nephews on move-in day, Hubster and I are all moved in, yay!!  We are busy setting up our new little place in our new town.  Pictures are going up, boxes are going out, we're learning our way around the area, and the kiddos are having a blast.

Hubster and I felt God gave us a word about moving to our new corner of the world.  We feel like we've been in survival mode for the past three years and we were tired of being tired, tired of contending for everything in our life.  And God gave both of us the word FLOURISH to mark our time here.  Not that everything would be easy, but that this was where we could find a little more rest, a little more fruit in the kiddos progress with all the extra therapies, the amazing school Kiddo is going to, and who knows what else the flourishing entails, but we are looking forward to it.

And in fact, we see the fruit already.  Kiddo has only been in school for a week, but he is communicating so much more.   He is telling us what he learned in school.  He is telling us the things he is doing in school.  They may only be one or two word answers about what he did at school, but he is telling us.  He is excited to go to school, excited about his Minion backpack and Star Wars lunchbox with his beloved peanut butter and jelly inside, excited to play and learn and to make friends.  He's playing more with his toys and Little Brother, and not even asking for his tablet, a device he was addicted to and we needed to limit.  It's like he's becoming more aware of the world and he wants to soak it all up.  Totally random, but the other day I heard him in the bathroom and went to check on him.   I was amazed, because he was peeing standing up, toilet seat up and all, as he's always insisted on sitting to do his thing.  He saw me, grinned proudly and said "Pee stand up.  Big boy!"  Yes, Kiddo, you are right, and I'm guessing you learned this from your peers, because no matter how much we encouraged, you did not learn this big boy skill from us.  He is flourishing before our eyes, and we're only two weeks into the school year.  He started his therapies this week, so I'm expecting even more progress.  If this trend continues, well I can't imagine what he will be like on the last day of school.  :)

He may not look happy in the pictures, but Kiddo LOVES school!

I had an IEP meeting for both kiddos, and I couldn't be happier with how things are turning out.  They still need to evaluate Kiddo for PT and OT, so for now they're keeping those services at twice a month, like his previous IEP in our previous county.  But they evaluated him for speech, and they are changing it from two sessions a week for 30 minutes, to four sessions a week for 20 minutes.   Shorter, more frequent speech is what is recommended for children with apraxia, and is exactly what his new speech therapist wants for him.  So he'll essentially get twenty more minutes a week, and twice as often, woot woot!  The therapist wants to do three sessions a week of individual speech, and one session a week in the classroom, working on socially interacting with peers, responding to his teacher, etc, which I think is awesome.  I'm hopeful that the OT and PT evals indicate he qualifies for more services, but if he doesn't, he's getting a lot of opportunity to practice his skills on their playground and in the classroom.  Kiddo's teacher is great and she tells me how smart and sweet Kiddo is.  She insisted on several of his IEP goals being made a little more challenging because she's confident he can master them.  I love everything about that.

As for Little Brother, he qualified for speech twice a week.  So I will be taking him to the elementary school in our district where he will receive speech.  I'm enjoying getting some one on one time with this guy.  We've found a few awesome playgrounds, indoor play areas, and a fabulous preschool story time at the library we plan on going to weekly.

Hubster is all set to go with his grad school class this week.  And I'm registered for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) to get to know some Christian mamas in the area.  I found it awesome to know that this years theme at MOPS is "A Fierce Flourishing."  Coincidence?  I think not.

Anyway, things are going well, we're excited about what the future has in store, and we're looking forward to flourishing fiercely.  :)

Big News!

Yes oh yes, we are, and we couldn't be more excited about what our future holds.  We only wish we could take our house with us.  And Ms. Blessing.  And a few other things, but you get the picture.

Why?  We've been talking about it for over a year now.  Hubster is going to grad school about an hour away from where we live.  All of Kiddo's therapies are anywhere from 20-45 minutes away from where we live.  The commute has been taking it's toll, and I commented a while ago on how maybe we should move closer to Hubster's university.  But we LOVE our house and church and being near my family and all of the kids' therapists, so we were willing to sit tight.

But then, I started hearing more about how much better the school systems were where Hubster's university is.  So I casually asked Kiddo's school speech therapist what she knows about the school system there and speech services.  She looked at me point blank and said (I will never forget this) "If I were you I would go in a heartbeat.  He'd receive more services and there is a wonderful preschool there just for kids with special needs."  She then told me all about the preschool and gave me their contact info.

The Decision Process: I went home and told Hubster what the therapist had told me.  He told me to call about the preschool she mentioned.  So I did.  I asked a lot of questions, and the more I heard, the more convinced I was this was the perfect place for Kiddo.  He would receive all of his therapies at school, the preschool curriculum is structured around communication and social skills, there is one teacher and two aids (trained in special education) for each small class, and they are inclusion classes, so he would have the ability to interact with neurotypical kids, and they go on lots of field trips, etc.  I asked about coming to tour the school and we set up a time to do so.  And then I asked the question I dreaded.  "How much does it cost?"

"He has an IEP that requires more than just speech services right?  If he does, it's free for him."

Wait, seriously?  My son could go to this wonderful preschool, receive his speech, PT and OT therapies, rather than me driving him to all of them and waiting for them to finish, and he could receive even more therapies than he is now because it's a county with more resources?  Uh, sign us up, please!

The tour of the school further convinced us it's where we want him to go.  In fact, neither kid wanted to leave when the tour was over.

There was one obstacle.  Since he would be five before the school year started, he should be enrolled in Kindergarten.  But, if I could get letters stating he needed more time in preschool before starting Kindergarten, they might be able to make an exception.  So I had two of Kiddo's therapists and his IEP case manager write letters recommending another year of preschool.  And this wonderful preschool accepted him!

Where we are now: So, we've rented out our house and are currently living with my parents (Thanks Mom and Dad!) until we move into our new place in less than two weeks!  Kiddo starts school August 6th.  I am so excited about what he could learn and how he'll grow at this place and with the constant ability to grow in social skills and language, wow, I can't imagine what a year of that would do for him.  August 11th I'll go for his IEP meeting, where I'll learn exactly how many services they'll be able to offer (I'm hopeful it's a lot more than the twice a week he currently has on his IEP, and that they can give him more PT than twice a month).  I have been assured he would receive more services from the director of this preschool.  She's amazing.

We will keep doing his private speech and OT with the therapists I love so much here twice a month, and we'd be able to hang out with my parents afterward, so that would be nice.

Have I mentioned I'm excited?!  This seems like such an answer to prayer.  We'll be ten minutes from Hubster's university, ten minutes from Kiddo's school, and I'll have from 8:30-2:00 Monday-Friday to just hang out with Little Brother and take him to his speech appointments and play dates and love on the little lad who hasn't had a lot of individual attention from his mama.  Plus, maybe, just maybe, I'll actually have time to get back into writing.

This tired mama can only hope!  Stay tuned for pics and updates about our move, the first day of school and about his IEP meeting. :)

First Day of Preschool!

Kiddo is enrolled in a preschool!
We've been on the waitlist for a while at one Christian preschool, all the other preschools in our area were either sketchy and I refused to have my child go there, or would not accept him since he is still not potty trained yet, or was a forty minute drive from our house.  BUT, God has provided an affordable Christian preschool....get this...right across the street from our neighborhood.  Yeah.  It used to be a day care that went out of business, and I kind of jokingly told the hubster it would be awesome if they made it into a preschool Kiddo could go to.  And they did!  A Christian one at that!

All of his therapy appointments through the county (twice a week speech, once a month physical and occupational therapy) will be occurring at his school.  This is huge folks.  A total answer to prayer.  I just have to take Kiddo to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8-12 each week and he will receive his therapy by the therapists he's been working with since August right there at his school.  His appointments used to take me 20 minutes to get to, I'd wait around with Little Brother during the half hour appointment, talk to the therapists for a minute or so, then it'd be a 20 minute drive back.   But did I mention this is across the street from our neighborhood?    I strapped the boys in their double stroller and walked over one day to tour the school and get the paperwork and timed how long it took me.  Nine minutes.  Pure awesomeness.


Kiddo's first day of school:

Kiddo was so excited to pick out his Angry Birds backpack this past weekend.  This morning, on his first day, when I told him we were going to school he ran to get his shoes and his Angry Birds "kackkack".  He went into his classroom and immediately began playing, not even bothering to give me a wave goodbye.  No tears.  I was proud of him.

When I went to pick him up, (I'll admit I got there 10 minutes early, I was eager to see/hear how he did on his first day) his teachers said he did just fine.  That he had fun with the other kids, had a blast playing outside on their playground, and painted a picture.

So excited about the opportunities he'll have to learn and grow at his new school. :)