Meeting With Alex's School

We had a great meeting with Alex's teachers today. We met with his teacher, speech therapist, and a person in charge of the program. They agreed with us that we needed to revamp his IEP so we could set goals that he can actual reach. His old IEP was dealing with him talking and of course he is not doing that so I was really glad when they said that we could make changes. I just LOVE! his new teacher. She was doing some music time yesterday and was having them do some instruments with the song and Alex actual participated and had fun the teacher wanted to talk to him and say "good job for participating today", but she knew that would not work for him. They are afraid that he would have shut down again. They are telling me that when he is called upon to do something then his body will get all tense. We asked is they could tickle him because we feel that would help him to open up more. They also told me that if there was something that he liked to do at home that he could bring it to class. I will be sending Micky Mouse Uno with him on Tuesday so he can play it with the speech teacher and see if he will talk to her. We are going to teach him how to write his name, and see if he will show them somehow that he knows his colors and shapes. They are also going to see if they can get him to play with the other kids by playing with a ball or having him play duck, duck, goose. He has not ever passed a hearing test so I will be taking him with me when I take Becca on the 27th so they can have both of there hearing tested. We will go back in two weeks and see how things are going and then write an official IEP.

How I FEEL!

I am so Glad to be able to read all of my family and friends blogs because they inspire me so much. They help me to know that I can be a better person. Thanks for all your words and inspiration that you give ME!

I have been feeling like I am lazy around the house. I feel like I need to clean the house more, but I feel like I have no energy. I know that I have a lot going on, but I need to be better and I am going to really try and do better. At work they have let me become a CT again after months and months of people working there asking me every shift if I was a CT they finally decided that they would let me. I am glad. I do LOVE working and getting out to be able to talk to adults.

My hubby was so good to me for Christmas and bought me a Wii with the Wii active so I can work out. I have been telling him that I was not happy with the baby belly that I have been having so I wanted to do something about it. On Monday after the kids were in bed he worked out with me and he thought that he was going to die. He ran on the treadmill for about 30 minuends before the workout with me. The workout does a lot of stretching your hamstrings and he was hurting after we were done. IT was fun to spend time with him working out. I know that he would like to loose some weight and then he would feel better about himself so I am glad that I can workout and he will to. I have been trying (not to hard like I should) to cook better for him so he will not eat unhealthy things. I have to report that I have lost 2-3 LBS. I usually work out 3 days a week and then I work 3 days a week so I think that I am working out enough. I just would like to get rid of my baby belly and be able to eat my sweets that I want too and then I will be happy.

I know that I need to be better when I work with the Young Women's I need to pray more and ask the Lord to guide me so I can help all the girls FEEL that I care for them so they will be able to talk to me and know that I care for THEM. It has been fun doing this calling and hope that I can keep the girls working hard to do there Personal Progress because I know that setting goals is a good thing. You have something to look forward too.

I am also going to try and write more in my blog because I feel that it is important to keep a journal and this is mine. May the Lord bless you in all that you do. I love you all for all that you do for me and my family. I know one day Alex is going to walk into the school and talk to his teachers and then I will be the happiest mother in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! I pray that his teachers will be guided to know how to help him so he can progress in this life. We will be meeting with his teachers and school member tomorrow to see what they and us can do to get him to talk.

Rebecca's Testing!

We were thinking that we needed to get Becca tested for early intervention. I have been thinking about doing it for a long time, but just kept putting it off until I took her to the Dr. last week when I took her in for her 16 month check up and the Dr. told me that she was behind and I should do something about it. I called the school and they were able to come today and they told me that she is doing most things at 11 months. He then told me that she should be walking in 4-6 weeks. We will be having her do the program and hope to get the same person that we had for Alex. Eunice Chen and I have been in contact and she said that she would like to be able to see us and work with Becca. I told the guy doing the testing that she would like to come so he is going to talk to her and set it up. We are so happy that she is going to come even though she has cancer she has been working really hard. The guy doing the testing said that because Becca is being tested for the same syndrome that Alex is then he felt that it was necessary to hurry and get her in. How nice is that I hope to hear from the school soon. We will be taking her in to get her hearing tested and to talk to a nurse. That will have to happen before the person can come to our house I think.

Alexander and Pre-School!

Well I went to Alex's school yesterday to try and help him so that he would be able to talk to the teachers/aids. He started out not wanting to talk and then he would mouth the word to me. I then told him that mommy was the only one who was listing to him talk so that he would feel comfortable enough to talk to me so the teacher would know that he could talk. He then stared to whisper to me and then he finally started talking normal. the teacher was sitting next to a child who was next to me. She was pretending that she was not listing to him and was talking to the other girl next to me. I was pleased to know that she was in fact listing to him. When it was snack time she then called me into a room with curtains and then we began to talk about him. the teachers then told me that they thought that he has what is called selective mutisum. Meaning that he will only talk when he feels it is comfortable for him. They are going to make pictures for him to point to so he has to make a choice for what he is going to do so at least he is doing something. I LOVE his new teacher because when she is telling them something like the word sit she will sign it to. I think that is wonderful because if the kids do not feel comfortable talking then they can learn the signs to communicate. I told them that I didn't want him rocking. I then broke down and cried as I was telling them that I felt like he would be going to Kindergarten and he would be rocking back and forth and the other kids would make fun of him. I told them that I was sorry that I cried and they told me it was OK because he was my baby and I just wanted to do what was best for him. They told me that I should get him a toy that has sand in it and when he is on the school bus that he can put this on his lap so he will not rock. He can have it at school too.They have also encouraged me to take video of him at home and email it too them so they can see what he can do at home because he basically just site there and does nothing. Not even something as simple as smiling. I am going to research more and go from there.

Christmas

We had a good Christmas. I for got to take photos. The kids had fun opening there gifts. The older kids finally knew that it was christams. We told them that we would not lite a fire becuase we didn't want to burn Santa. They thought that was funney. Alex and Lizzy were happy to get new sleeping bags that they were able to take with them when we went to Idaho. We also got them all books and some new crayons and paper that they can draw in at church.Issac had to take his mom to the Airport and then we headed for Idaho. I drove most of the time and Issac watched a movie with the kids. We had fun in Idaho. We stayed with my sister Celeste in Rigby. Her hubbie has a old, but BIG wharehouse that he had just made part of into a theater with staduim seating. We had fun watching a few movies. We also took some photos of the familes while we were there. The trip went by to fast before we knew it, it was time to come back. Issac was nice enough to let me pick out a bead set that I wanted what he didn't know was that I was getting some new pillows too. We have not had our own bed set in the five years that we have been married. I said that it was time. Issac was happy becuase he got a 12 gallon aircompressor and some air tooles to go along with it. This was a very busy year for us and it went by so fast. We a excited to see what the next year will bring for us. We wish you all a good and happy new year.