A SUMMER UPDATE

It's been awhile!  So much has been going on in the last few months and I thought I'd take a moment, while the little ones are sleeping, and the big ones are playing to update our family and friends on the going ons here in our little corner of the world.

Major changes:

*Since Isaiah was diagnosed as intellectually disabled this past spring we have *finally* gotten his waiver services approved!  The waiver is available for any individual with intellectual disability and will give Isaiah access to all sorts of amazing resources when he is older, and now gives us access to respite services, SCL services (working on independent living skills such as potty training, self dressing ect), and medicaid which will be a huge financial blessing as it will cover all of the co pays and out of pocket expenses we have to make with our private insurance.  We met our case worker yesterday, and are now just deciding who we want to hire, or what agencies we want to work with.

*SCHOOL:  We are on track with the school for Isaiah to start anytime after his 3rd birthday, which will just be in a few short months.  We are not sure which elementary building he will be in, but are hoping to find out in September.  Next month we will head to the playground at one of the prospect schools and meet with our current PT, and hopefully the school PT and see what he can and can't yet do on the playground and in the classroom.  We are hoping this will give us a better idea of what we need to work with him on before he starts in November.  Our big team meeting with our early access team, and the school team should take place in September/October.

Minor changes:

*Physically, there isn't a whole lot to report.  He is getting better at walking (actually, he's pretty awesome at it now) and is starting to turn his fast tottle into more of a run, but that will still take a little time and hard work to master :)  He is going down stairs wonderfully, but still crawling up them.  In PT he is working on kicking and throwing a ball, and mastering those stairs!

*His speech is getting better!  His vocabulary is continuing to expand, and he's getting very good at repeating words we ask him to say.  He still speaks as a very young toddler would ('ma' instead of milk, 'buh' instead of up, ect) but he's only getting clearer.  There was even a word he spoke the other day and I swore it was Eli talking!  He's starting to put more 2 word phrases together, but is still very hard to understand if you aren't used to hearing him speak.  We would like his language to get a little better (both in expanding his vocabulary and putting more words together, and becoming clearer to understand) before school begins so he is better able to communicate with peers, but he's always been a slow and steady kind of kid when it comes to development.

*Isaiah graduated OT at the therapy center in May.  He was going mainly to work on some separation techniques (anyone can tell you that he's a little extra attached to mom).  He did really well the last month and hopefully some the things we tried and learned will help make the transition into the preschool program easier for him.  We are also adding OT through early access to begin the brushing program.  If you aren't familiar with the program you can read about it here.  It's different and strange, and there are no scientific studies backing it up, but tons of anecdotal support for it.  It either works for a specific child or it doesn't. Isaiah very much enjoys the brushing, which our therapy center OT introduced us to, so we are giving it a try.  There really isn't anything to lose aside from the time you spend doing it, so if it works awesome, if it doesn't, nothing is lost.


BIG BROTHERS

*Believe it or not, Noah is starting kindergarten in 4 short weeks.  He's very excited!  We have been taking walks in the evening up to the bus stop and home to practice walking along the grass (no sidewalks here) and checking for cars backing up at each driveway.  He's doing okay, but he's 5 so his ability to pay attention to his surroundings has me nervous.  Most days myself, or our neighbor will be able to walk him up in the mornings, and home in the afternoon, so I'm trying not to worry too much!    Eli will be home with mom for another year.  I know he is going to have a hard time without his big brother home, and later without his little brother home, but I'm excited to spend some time with just one!  I of course love all my boys, but very rarely do I get to spend one on one time any of them.  The big boys are still enjoying taekwondo.  Noah is getting pretty darn good, and Eli is at least enjoying it :)  It might be a few months before Eli masters his form, but he likes his classes, and he likes practicing at home, so I'd call it a success!