A New Schedule

We are trying hard to adjust to this new schedule we have.  Right now I’m tired!  Preschool is wearing me out!

Will had a great first day of preschool.  Tuesday was a busy day.  We picked up Lindy from preschool and then picked up Will from his school.  We got home, ate lunch and I put the kids back in the car.  Lindy had a 2pm physical therapy appointment.  I didn’t want to put them down for a really short nap in their beds so I put them back in the car and drove around.  They both fell asleep and they got a little nap.  I woke them up and we headed into her appointment.  Lindy got new braces made and they were in.  Heather had to cut them down and get them ready for her.  Her right one is an SMO (a low ankle brace) and her left one is an AFO (a tall ankle brace).  They seem to fit well although we are slowly letting her break them in.  I had to go out and buy her new tennis shoes.  Now I am going to have to start the search for shoes that will fit these new braces.  Something I dread.  It’s so hard finding CUTE shoes to fit over her braces.  The kids did pretty well at the appointment.  Will must have been really tired because he pretty willingly stayed in the stroller the whole time.  That doesn’t usually happen!  Our PT is about to give birth so that was the last time we’ll see her for awhile.  She has decreased Lindy to once every four weeks so we’ll see another therapist until the end of the year but it’ll only be a few times.

In addition to Will starting preschool, he also started speech therapy.  I have to take him to one of the elementary schools in town for him to get therapy twice a week. Wednesday was his first session and it went well.  His therapist had a kitchen and a cash register and he loved playing with those.  I didn’t think he talked as much as normal but she was brand new and he was interested in playing.  She did say that he seemed to be doing pretty well. 

We enrolled Will in speech because we thought it would be good for him to continue it.  He qualified based on his evaluation from December, where he was only saying about 25-30 words.  Well, Will is talking in full sentences these days.  He has come really far, really fast.  He has continued to talk up a storm this summer, singing full songs, repeating full books.  By the time school started it seemed like he didn’t really need speech therapy, but we had written his IEP in May.  I wanted this new therapist to come to her own conclusions and on Friday she confirmed what I suspected -- that he’d met his goal on his IEP and that he was doing well.  She said his vocab is good, his grammar is good, his articulation is good, and he said letters like s and z perfectly.  She was working with him on blends, which she said she doesn’t usually do until kids are 7 or 8.  I think Will has caught up and maybe even gone beyond his age in speech!  The plan is to retest him soon and see if he qualifies.  But his teacher pretty much said he won’t.  So it looks like Will might be getting discharged from speech soon. 

He also had his second day of preschool and he did just as well.  He didn’t cry a drop and was happy when Lindy and I picked him up.  I’m so proud of him.  I hope he is a good boy in class.  I can’t wait to talk to his teacher and see how he is.  I wonder if they act the same as they do at home or are they different?

Lindy went all four days to school this week.  It’s worked well with her starting school.  Last week she went three days and this week four days.  She is working up to her first full week this week.  Lindy had a great first day of school but has cried almost every day since.  She cries every morning when I drop her off.  Friday was the first day she did not cry.  Her teachers assure me that it is very short lived, but it’s still hard to walk out of there knowing she is crying!  They got two new students this week so there are now 6 kids in their classroom.  Although the attendance for the other kids is very spotty.  They have never all been there at the same time!  I’ve only seen one kid twice since Lindy has been going. 

Lindy’s vision therapist made her first visit to her school this week.  She said Lindy did well.  She said Lindy saw some small items in a book and they were surprised about that.  She seemed very pleased with how Lindy did.  She stayed in the classroom after her session with Lindy and talked with the classroom teacher about how to make modifications for her regarding her vision.   Pam, her vision teacher, said that Mrs. Asbury, her classroom teacher, was very open to doing what she could to help Lindy.  We are so happy that they all seem to be working together so far to make it a successful time for Lindy.  Lindy is getting speech three times a week.  We haven’t seen or heard from her physical therapist or occupational therapist yet.

We made it through the school week and celebrated yesterday with a Wake Forest football game.  We tailgated with GrandBob and Anna, and our friends Kris, Katie, Micah and Claire.  The Deacs won but it rained almost the whole game. It was pretty light for most of the game.  We all had our raincoats on and were fine.  In the 4th quarter it started getting a little heavier so I took the kids out in the concourse so we didn’t get completely soaked.

We came home to a crazy situation.  When we got home our power was out.  I assumed the whole street was out.  After about 30 minutes Drew asked if I’d called to report a power outage.  I’m glad he said that because when I did call, I was informed that our power had been disconnected.  WHAT???  She said that someone with the last name Parker had called on Sept. 7th to set up service.  This person gave them our address and said they wanted it connected on the 9th.  In order to connect service here on the 9th for this Parker person, they ended our service.  Without ever having been contacted by us.  She said what probably happened was that this Parker person gave the wrong address.  How dumb do you have to be?  We got home around 4pm and we didn’t get power back until 8:30pm last night.  We’d been gone since 10am that morning so we have no clue what time it went out.   That was definitely a first, and I hope a last. 

A few pictures from our week:

Crazy girl! My cousin Lauree sent us a package this week and there was a hat in there.  Will claimed it for himself and wore it around one day.  I eventually had to get Lindy her own hat so they both had one. I consigned clothes in a sale this weekend so I went through all the kids’ old clothes.  I found some preemie stuff and I tried it on some dolls.  These outfits use to swallow the kids when they were first born! Lindy came in the kitchen one day with her sweatshirt, purse, and phone and said, “I go Wal mart!” The kids were sporting their ‘Go Deacs’ gear for the game Saturday.  They also got their first tattoos!  Temporary Wake Forest tattoos.  Lindy also sported her first real ponytail for the game. They weren’t too sure about these tattoos at first. They kept saying ‘Go Deacs’, but at different times. Finally, same time! Tailgating with their new Wake chairs. Hey Claire, wanna see my tattoos?  I’m cool ya know! Avid cheerers, even in the rain! Getting out of the rain.  Lindy hardly touched the ponytail so she may be sporting it more often.  She pulls everything else out!