OctoberFest

While Brian was having fun with his friends in West Virgina riding 4 wheelers this weekend, the kids and I went to Farmer Smith's and Paul's Pumpkin Patch. We could have spent all day at the pumpkin patch but time ran out and we will probably go back before the season is over.

These pictures were taken at Farmer Smith's.







These pictures were taking at Paul's Pumpkin Patch

Maleah's Early Intervention Evaluation Report

Maleah has been receiving services from the Office of Child Development Infant/Toddler early intervention program since she was 7 months old. She was delayed in her Gross and Fine Motor Skills so she had Occupational Therapy until she was roughly 14 months. When she transitioned out of OT, she was found to be delayed in her speech and qualified for Speech Therapy. She continued with Speech Therapy every two weeks until present. The services that are provided to her by this program end at age 3.

She was evaluated on September 10th (at 35 months) to determine if she qualified for the next (3-5 year old) program. Her results follow:

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT - According to the Battelle Development Inventory -2 (BDI-2) Maleah's strengths include finding an object hidden under one of two cups (3 years old), selecting the hand hiding a toy (4 years), showing interest and enjoyment in age-appropriate books or printed materials (3 years), pulling a cloth to obtain an object (3 years), identifying familiar objects by their use (3 years), and identifying big and little shapes (4 years). Scores indicate age appropriate skills.

COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT - On the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4) auditory comprehension subtest, Maleah identified categories of objects in pictures (42-47 months), understood pronouns (36-41 months), and understood quantity concepts (36-41 months). Expressively, responded to where questions (48-53 months), used possessives (36-41 months), and described object-function (36-41 months). Scores indicate age appropriate skills in language.

On the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 (GFTA-2), Maleah correctly produced all age-appropriate sounds. She demonstrated very few errors on the test and in conversation. Maleah's speech was easily understood when the context was both known and unknown. Score indicate age appropriate skills.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT,PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, AND ADAPTIVE DEVELOPMENT - A Battelle Development Screen was conducted on 9-10-08 while Maleah was 35 months of age indicated age appropriate skills in the area of Personal-Social Skills, Motor Skills, and Adaptive Skills.

Observation of Maleah in the Classroom - Maleah was very cooperative and attentive for the speech therapist and teacher. She sat at the table and performed the requested tasks for 35 minutes. After the assessment Maleah said, "I go in there and play." This statement seemed to refer to the other play room. Maleah played in the kitchen center. She played with the toy fruits. She took them apart and put them back together. She also said, "I need baby." She held the baby doll and pretended to feed the baby doll. After 10 minutes of play Maleah indicated to her mother, "I go outside."

The results of this evaluation show that Maleah does not have a developmental delay, is demonstrating skills similar to children of her age and is not in need of early intervention services. I am thrilled with her development. She is starting to explode with words and phrases. It just took her a little while longer to get to this point but I'm so happy to be done with in home services. I'm glad they were available for her but I'm happy to get on with our lives and know she is caught up with her peers.

Mom is coming Home

WELCOME HOME MOM (Thursday)!!!! We are all so happy to have you back home with us.

As everyone already knows, Mom had a heart catheterization that revealed 85 and 90% blockage. They admitted her into the hospital Wednesday after the catheterization and did the double Bypass surgery on Friday morning. The surgery took 5 1/2 hours and she did amazingly well.

She stayed in the surgical ICU through Sunday afternoon. Around 1pm on Sunday, she was moved to a semi-private room. After a few hours, she was readmitted to the ICU for low oxygen saturation levels. On Monday, she was sent to a private room and has remained there with assisted oxygen.

Justine, Shane and I visited with Mom yesterday and she is looking and doing great! She sat in her chair during our whole visit and can take short assisted walks with the nurse.

We are so happy to see you on the road to recovery Mom. This has been a very stressful week for many who love you dearly. You are our rock, Mom! I am so happy this was detected early. I feel like you have been thrown a life line. Thank you, God! And as always, I love you Mom!

Yet another funny position

I thought for sure there wouldn't be anymore photos of Maleah sleeping in another hilarious position for some time but we captured another one last night! Wow, three nights in a row. It's funny how she has to have her pillow facing the wrong direction and rarely will she sleep with a blanket covering her. I know everyone has commented on her sleeping and getting a kick out of these, I hope you enjoy this one as well.

Priceless

Believe me when I say I'm not making this up... These pictures are priceless.

This was the way I found Maleah last night before going to bed



And this was the way I found her tonight. Brian and I cracked up over this one...

Finding time...

Once I finally have time, I have several things to blog about. I'll try to catch up tonight. :) Life's just been a little crazy around here. Hey ~ I updated almost everything. I will update soon about my moms surgery...

2 weeks under Connor's belt

It's been 2 weeks now since Connor started Kindergarten and I'm happy to report that he really likes going to school. He is adjusting really well and has made a lot of new friends, both boys and girls. His friends seem to stretch outside of his KB class because he talks about friends in KA and KC.

He brings home several work sheets a day with neatly colored objects. He explains what he has done on every sheet and it appears as though he is following directions well. He hasn't had any bad behavior notes come home in his back pack, so I would say he is listening. : )Listening is a major accomplishment for Connor! Last week he focused on the letter C, this weeks letter is O.

The first Thursday into his first week of school he woke up telling me his stomach hurt him. I wasn't sure if he was being truthful since he wasn't running a fever or spitting up. I talked with his teacher later in the day, and she said he was playing quietly with his friends and didn't seem to be bothered by his stomach. I chalked it up to nerves. I still felt horrible sending him to school but would have been there in an instant if he would have been sent to the nurse.

So far Connor isn't having any issues regarding me being home while he has to go to school. I figured that he would put on a show in protest of having to go to school but so far he enjoys getting on the bus and being with his friends all day. I can't tell you how relieved I am of this!

Open house will be very soon, September 16th. I'm looking forward to talking to the teacher and see how Connor is doing in class.