Field Trip - Oct 16 to Duke Homestead - Retropost (again!)

We continue to enjoy wonderful field trips with our Five in a Row homeschool group.  I'm thankful to be a part of the wonderful group of families.  We go on field trips every other month and I enjoy these so much.  One of our trips this month was to Duke Homestead which is one of our State Historic Sites.  (Click on the name if you'd like to visit the website.) 

Because we had a large group, we were split in half to participate in the planned activities.  We started with a film in which we learned what life was like on a farm in the early 1900s.  Next, the children learned how to play townball.  It is similar to baseball in some ways, though different enough that the younger children were not at a disadvantage in playing.  It was a lot of fun!

Listening to instructions.

My biggest and smallest boys.

It is hard to tell, but the bat is longer than a typical bat and flat.

The children ran clockwise around 4 bases (not including "home").  The tall sticks in the ground are bases.

Next, we did an archeology project.  The children worked in groups to discover things hidden in a box of sand.  They learned about measuring and recording data.  They then discussed what they might learn from the things that they found.  My younger boys loved doing this!

Lastly, we learned about food preservation.  They talked about types of foods eaten and how to save or preserve them.  They helped to churn butter and then ate some buttered bread.

When we finished, we had a picnic lunch at the site.  It was a beautiful fall day and it was a great time to relax, play and spend time with friends. 

Blessings, 

Leslie

Catch-up post for Oct

SPORTS

We spent a lot of the month involved in sports - soccer for Rebecca (practice once per week and games once per week) and football  for Christopher (practice twice per week and games once per week). 

Soccer is a sport we've been involved in for the last 12 years.  I just counted, has it really been that long?  Christopher started playing the year he was 4.  One year we had 3 children playing - and Roger was the coach for 2 of the teams.  That was a nutty year!  This year, Rebecca is the only soccer player.  She enjoys the sport and is a good player.  I enjoy watching her run, pass, score - and just have fun!

Football is a new sport of us.  Christopher is playing in the homeschool football league.  There isn't a team in Durham, so he joined the Raleigh team that he played flag football with in the spring.  Unfortunately, the practices ended up being moved about 30 min away in a new location - which was about an hour away for us!  It was worth the drive though.  The focus on learning the sport, while also learning the importance of your relationship with God was wonderful.  They stressed being good team players, respect for others and basics of the game.  The spent time in devotions and prayers at every practice and game. 

Christopher plays defensive end.  He enjoys defense.  His team is strong - they were undefeated this year.  In some of the games, when they got off to a strong and early lead, the coaches would scramble their positions to try to balance things between the teams.  This helped to balance things out a little bit.

At one of the games, Christopher's team was off to a very strong, early lead and the positions were again scrambled.  Only this team the offensive players were on defense and vice versa!  It was fun watching Christopher play a different position - and really exciting when he caught a pass for a touchdown!!!  We were sitting at the end of the field and had a great position to view it all.  There was lots of cheering going on!  Eliana has even learned to sign "touchdown" which is really cute.

FRIENDS & FAMILY VISITING

We loved having our friends from VA come down to visit.  We enjoyed lots of activities from watching football and soccer, making cards with our Keepers group and just hanging out having fun.

For those who are curious, we are eating paella and tapas to go with one of our FIAR book titles - The Story of Ferdinand.  It was a yummy meal!

We also enjoyed having my sister and niece visit us while Daniel was having his MRI.

Keepers of the Faith

We met in October to learn about card making.  This was my class to teach and it was a lot of fun!  We learned to work with different tools and do different techniques.  I had planned for each girl to make 4 cards.  It was fun to see how they did things their own way to add in their creative style.  Here's a picture of the girls with their cards.

If you want more details on this class, you can visit my KOF blog HERE.

I just thought this was a fun picture of Joshua and Isaiah being "spies" with the new spy kit they received for their birthday. 

Just a fun couple of pictures of Eliana.

 I love this cute little outfit on her. 

When we ask Eliana a question now, she will often do this.  LOL  It doesn't really help answer the question, but it does give us one more thing to chuckle about.

I still want to add in another field trip and some pics of our time at the State Fair - then I'll be caught up with Oct - and on to Nov.  ;-)

Blessings to you and yours!

Leslie

 

Therapy Updates

I thought I'd share a little bit of what we've been up to here.  Therapy takes up a lot of time in our week - with 2 children in several therapies.  I'm thankful for the progress I'm seeing and thankful the the things I'm able to learn from these therapists.

Speech

Both Daniel and Eliana are seeing the same therapist in our home.  (I love that we are able to be home for this!)  Daniel will be doing speech therapy for a short amount of time.  He loves it as it is mainly like focused time to play.  Our therapist does a great job making things fun and really working with the child's interests.

Some of the things we are working on with Daniel are his vocal qualtiy (he sounds high pitched and a little nasal at times) and breathing quality (able to sustain long breaths).  Some of the things we've done include blowing on whistles and practicing using a deep voice. 

Eliana is still working on communicating.  She has a few words - bye, gentle, hi - sometimes mama.  She has many, many more signs!  We have all been learning signs - thank you Signing Time  ! We practice these with her often.  I will frequently ask her to repeat several words in a string - for example, milk please mommy.  She is very good at repeating things she hears.  She does sometimes initiate them on her own.  The most used sign - PLEASE.  It's a nice one. 

This week she has started combining a sign with a word!!!  Big grin here.  She loves Baby Signing Time and sometimes will walk up to the tv and sign "baby" (which is what we call the DVDs) and say "ba-ba".  Of course she is rewarded with the movie. 

One of the things that I need to do more of is working on her oral motor skills.  This falls into speech and also OT.  It seems that there is a lot of overlap between the therapists which is also nice.  Eliana really dislikes any types of exercises involving her mouth which makes it hard to do things.  I need to do a better and more consistant job at working at it anyway!

PHYSICAL

This is just for Eliana.  She is doing well.  She has reached a lot of the milestones and is fun to watch.  The main thing we are working on now is trying to strengthen some of her inner thigh and core muscles.  She walks with her feet spread too wide.  She needs to learn to bring them in more and have a smaller base.  This will help her as she grows older and may want to do sports and games. 

We've tried several things thus far including the following:

*Theratogs - a velcro contraption that seems neat, but is very difficult to put on a wiggly baby.  Not sure why we didn't try this longer.

*Tape - A specialized tape across her stomach muscles and her inner thighs to her knees.  We tried this brielly.  She didn't seem to really mind the tape, but it really irritated her skin!  Reminded me of the days of much tape and feeding tubes.  (I'm so glad we aren't dealing with that now!)

(If someone is curious about this and wants to see a picture, please email me.)

*Lycra skirt thing that I made which goes from her chest to mid-calf.  It's to try to force her to keep her legs together.  She doesn't mind at all and it does seem to help.

(Same thing with a pic here.  I don't have a good one or I would post it.)

*Exercises - This involves me holding her, usually in my lap, and keeping her legs and feet together.  It helps if I can get her to move and exercise her core muscles.  It's a challenge to do for long.  If I can keep her entertained, she does much better with it.

OCCUPATIONAL/FEEDING

This is another dual therapy appointment - though this one is outside the home.  We start out in a really fun room with balls, foam mats, swings, and much more.  The therapist works mainly with  Daniel in here to help him experience new things.  As a sensory avoider, there were many things that he would not even try.  He is definitely improving in this area and seems to have fun here too.

Afterwards we move to another room for feeding.  Daniel is being exposed to new foods.  It is a slow and sometimes tedious process.  We look at food, talk about it, describe and touch it.  It's an improvement just to have new foods on his plate!  The next step is smelling or licking it.  Obviously the goal is to try to eat it. 

While this is slow, we are seeing improvment.  Just recently he has eaten some peanut butter and jelly (though not together yet).  Some days are hard and frustrating for him, but he is trying.

Eliana is learning some self-feeding.  One of the techniques we use with her is "hand over hand" where you just place your hand on hers to help guide her in doing whatever it is you want her to learn. 

Though messy, she is doing a good job.  We are still working on drinking from a cup.  In terms of food, she still likes things pretty mashed and will gag or spit out food that has too much texture or is too big of a chunk.  (Not my favorite meal activity - the spitting.)  In terms of variety she does pretty well.  One of her favorites is spaghetti.  She actually does well with a variety of pasta as long as there is some sauce (I often used pureed veggies) with it.

Daniel is also doing some listening therapy.  We do this 5 days per week.  He listens to specialized tape and does fine motor activities while listening.  He doesn't seem to mind this at all.  One of the improvements we've seen in this area is his tolerance of noise.  When we first started with therapy he had a very difficult time if other people were in the same room with us (hard in a large therapy room).  He was very bothered by any noises they made.  Now, he is better able to handle these noises and people    and just tune it out or ignore it. 

PIC

Well, this has gotten long - and may not be all that interesting.  Maybe though it's helpful to someone.  I thought I'd share an article on milestones for children with Down syndrome.  It was written by a local therapist that has a great reputation in our community.  He did a free evaluation of Eliana and I was impressed with his knowledge and skills.

 Developmental Chart

 This chart might be helpful for others working with a child with Down syndrome - or perhaps someone just wanting to understand more.

I'm grateful for all that these sweet children are learning and thankful for the assistance I'm receiving!  I was planning to add more pics - but in the interest of getting this posted, I'm going to go as is.  :-) 

Blessings,

Leslie

Buddy Walk - Retropost - Oct 12

 Well, I’m behind – and going to try again to catch up. So, you’ll probably be seeing a few "retroposts" from me for the month of October. I really want to catch up so we can share what we did TODAY! We were part of an awesome event with our homeschool group and I can’t wait to share pictures! More later.

On Oct 12, we attended our local Buddy Walk. We went to our first one last year. I remember not knowing what it would be like and not really knowing many people. We went anyway and I am so glad that we did. This year, we were all very excited to go. Our local group does an awesome job in putting on the event! So many things going on and not nearly enough time to do it all!

We arrived and checked in – receiving a goody bag and t-shirt to wear. I was amazed by the size of the event. There was a very large tent with tables for eating lunch. There were games and rides for the children, clowns, face painting, booths with information and goodies and more!

There was various entertainment – including a drum group with one member being a young man with Down syndrome. The highlight of the day was Rachel from Signing Time! She was there with Alex and Leah to perform a variety of songs. We had front row seats and loved the entire show!

If you aren’t familiar with these DVDs, please check them out here. The company was started by a mom (Rachel) to help teach others signs. She was motivated to help her daughter was was born deaf. She in turn is helping many other families to be able to better communicate! While Eliana does have a couple of words, she has many, many more signs! This is a fabulous way for all of us to learn to communicate with her. As a family – we are sold!!!

After the show was the walk. It was a short walk around the grounds on a paved path. Last year Eliana was in a stroller. This year, I carried her and then decided she could probably do part of the walk herself.

My favorite part of the walk is the signs. There are signs all along the walk with pictures of children with Down syndrome. We bought one for Eliana this year which she found interesting.

This is the picture that we used for her sign.

 We were thrilled to be joined by some dear friends at this year’s walk. We’d love to have more of you join us next year. It really is a neat time of celebrating a special group of people. Last year, I remember just crying at seeing all of the beautiful faces of other children with Down syndrome. Having spent much of the first 10 months of Eliana’s life at home, we hadn’t gotten out much. I am thankful for the support we have here locally – and the support we have personally.

And while I wasn’t sure I’d ever say this soon after Eliana was born – I can say it completely now. I’m so glad to have a precious little girl with Down syndrome in my family. She is a delight!!! I’m thankful for the amazing gift of children – all of them!

Blessings,

Leslie

Results are IN!!!

Normal!  Normal.  Normal.

What sweet words which caused instant tears of gratitude.  Thank you God!  Thank you!

Waiting has been hard.  One more opportunity to trust in God.  I am thankful for the peace He gives even when the unknown can be frightening.  God is good.

We will get the full results and reports some time next week.  Sorry this is brief, but I wanted to post for those who are waiting to hear. 

In His Love,

Leslie

No News Yet

Still waiting.  I called our eye doctor yesterday.  Since she is the dr who asked for the MRI, the information will be sent back to her.  She was out of the office yesterday at a meeting.  I was told she would need to complete some paperwork today to send to Duke requesting the results.  She will hopefully receive them back today - maybe tomorrow.  I'm hoping we will hear something today, though it may be tomorrow.

All this to say, we don't know any more and are just waiting.  Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Leslie

MRI Update

Hi Friends,

Thank you for praying.  We had a good day - a really good day.  I'm going to write a lot of the details, just to share our day.

We started the day early (for us).  We had to make sure Daniel had eaten before 8am - and nothing afterwards.  I thought it might help to have some distractions, so we drove to the State Fair to pick up Rebecca's entries.  It was crowded and hectic, but we found all of her things.  Thankfully we were able to sign for the items for which we had lost the tags.  She found a note on one of her items - the Christmas ornament.  The note told her that the ornament was beautiful!  It also said she would have won money if it had not been so fragile.  (I'm glad she was told that as it is an encouragment for her.)  She did win 4th place.  (More pics of her entries when I get to our State Fair post.)

On our way out, Laura (my sister)'s driving skills were tested as trucks, trailers, etc. were trying to dodge in and out and around everything.  I'm surprised one didn't run into us!  (One almost did.)

When we arrived home it was time for therapy.  Daniel usually goes first, but since he had some time left to drink clear liquids, I thought maybe he could watch a movie and drink some sprite which he opted to do.  He watched a new movie that Christopher purchased for him.  Christopher thought it might be hard for him to have so much time when he couldn't eat and that this would be a good distraction.  Wasn't that sweet?!

Daniel took the whole eating/drinking limitations very well.  He even explained to his therapist what he was doing and why he couldn't have more to eat/drink.  He did a great job.  We left for the hospital shortly after therapy concluded. 

Roger and I drove with Daniel over to Duke.  Our appt was at 2.  We waited for a short time in the waiting room, filling out forms and playing with the toys there.  More questions when we were taken back into one of the cubbies.  Our nurse, Christy, was fabulous!  I was excited to meet her as a friend had told me she was great.  I was glad to see her stay even through the shift change at 3 - our blessing!

The dr came in to explain sedation - the types and the benefits and risks of each.  After discussing it, we then have to sign a release.  Roger did this.  A list of all the things that could go wrong - and thankfully don't usually happen. 

Next we exchanged his shirt for a hospital gown.  (He was not thrilled with this, but didn't put up a fuss.)  The sedation was done with an IV.  In order to make it easier for Daniel, they put a numbing cream (emla) on 2 places - his right hand and left elbow (to give them options).  They let this sit for about 30 minutes to take effect.  While this was going on, they let him pick out a movie to watch while we continued to discuss what would be happening.

When it came time for the IV, 3 nurses came into the room.  I was really concerned about this part.  Daniel watched them preparing his hand and then I distracted him while they inserted the needle.  He didn't move at all!  He was just perfect!  What a sweet answer to prayer.  After getting it taped to his hand, they used this to administer his meds.  He was given 2 different meds and the first went in easily, the second one burned.  I saw tears well up in his eyes as he looked up at the nurse.  She was very comforting to him and thankfully it soon passed.  He was such a trooper!

The drugs began to take effect very quickly.  Roger lifted Daniel and carried him to the MRI room after we had removed all the metal we could from our bodies.  Shortly after he was layed on the table, he began to move and even tried to get up.  They tried to settle him, gave him more meds to sedate and let me talk to him.  He settled quickly and was great for the remainder of the test.  He looked so very tiny on that table positioned to go into that tube.  I'm thankful he won't remember this part of it.

Roger elected to stay in the room and I stayed just outside of it.  The scan started about 3:45.  At about 4:10, the put contrast dye into his IV which helps them to see things with greater accuracy.  Things were complete about 4:30.  We saw a peep of an eye, but he wasn't ready to wake up.  Roger carried him back to the first cubby we were in and we waited as he slept.  We were told that it was best if he woke on his own.  We let him sleep for about an hour.  We then tried waking him - and tried and tried.  We offered a variety of things to entice him - but sleep was winning out!  Poor little guy was just out!

He did finally wake enough to take a few sips of apple juice and a few bites of graham cracker.  They were satisfied that this was good and also that this was a good sign that he was not going to react negatively to the meds.  He opened a gift from my sister - a cute book - but was really too tired to read it.  The nurse offered him a toy - cars - which he took but was still so very sleepy.

We left the hospital about 6pm.  We arrived home to friends and our children.  My sister and niece had left earlier.  We are grateful to both families for being here with our children!

Daniel continued to sleep until about 8:30.  He then ate some pretzels and drank some sprite.  He tried to get up to walk and fell.  A few more times he would try to stand and was just very wobbly and woozy.  They had told us it would be like this today - and possibly into tomorrow as well.

We are to keep an eye on him tonight for any unusual reactions and any vomitting.  So far, no signs of problems.  He is sleeping with Roger and I tonight to be on the safe side.  Tomorrow is to be a calm day for him - "no rough-housing". 

In terms of news, now we are going to have to wait.  We were told that it will take about 24 hours for a preliminary report.  Since the scan was done late in the afternoon, I'm not sure if it will be done by tomorrow afternoon.  The report will be sent to our eye dr since she is the one who requested the test.  I'm planning to call tomorrow to let them know that the test was completed and hopefully to hear something.  If not, we'll just wait.  We were told that it would take several days for a completed report. 

Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Thank you for your prayers for our precious Daniel and for our family.  When we have more news, we will update.  For now, I'm headed to bed.  It's been a long day and I'm exhausted.

Love,

Leslie

Daniel's MRI

Is scheduled for 2pm tomorrow (Monday October 27).

My wonderful sister and niece are here to be with the kids which is great fun!  They have had a blast playing together and I'm thankful that they were able to come! 

Here's a little of what I know - and there is still a lot that I don't know.

Anything that Daniel is going to eat must be eaten prior to 8am.  No food after that.  He can have clear liquids (apple juice, sprite - not sure what else may be included?) until noon.  Our appt is at 2pm.  He will be sedated for this.  I'm not sure what method they will use to sedate him.  He has sensory issues wihch may limit some of our choices.  I'm not sure if he'll drink something, but the other option is an IV which I don't think he'd be fond of either.  I'd love prayers for this.

The scan itself should take about 40 minutes.  We are not expecting to hear anything tomorrow.  That will be hard!!!  I'm hoping we will hear something on Tuesday and definitely by Wednesday at the latest.  We'll know more tomorrow.

Please join us in praying for clear, good results. 

Also, I don't know if this will clear up any of my questions about the shape of Daniel's head (it's shaped differently than normal and on the larger side), but I'm planning to ask.  I'm wondering (though not too much) if this may be part of the problem. 

Thank you for praying with us.

Blessings,

Leslie

PS.  Roger took some pics with his cell phone.  We should have brought a regular camera.  If they turn out, I'll post some.

Making a Difference - 31 for 21

A friend sent me this link (thanks Sharon!) and I wanted to share it.  (Just click on the title below.)  I love the idea that everyone is important and can make a difference.  Everyone can be a blessing.  So many times in our world, someone is valued based on things that don't really matter.  I love this story about a young man with a heart to serve, bless and love others.  I think you'll like it too!

The Simple Truths

Blessings,

Leslie

Salamander Room ... and a field trip or two

I'm thinking that this is my last retropost for September.  Then I can focus on the month at hand - for a fwew days anyway.  lol

We have had an extended study of this fun FIAR title (The Salamander Room).  I love the story and it's been a big hit with all of my children.  We've learned about various aspects of nature and had some fun field trips that tied in beautifully with our lessons. 

We visited the Stevens Nature Center and went on a hike to learn about mammals.  The younger children first played a game.  Each child was given a picture of an animal tied onto a necklace.  The photo hung behind them and they were to ask questions to figure out what type of animal was on their card.  We then went on a lovely hike and stopped all through the hike to learn about each of the animals on their cards.  It was interesting and informative.  The only live animals we saw were not mammals - we saw a skink and a frog.

Love this picture of my girls!

I enjoyed finding a couple of neat books in the gift shop to add to our library.  Some that we read to go along with this study include A Skink's Tale, Are You a Butterfly? and Are You a Grasshopper?  All have great illustrations and were helpful in learning more about those particular animals. 

For a fun activity, the children made clay salamanders and painted them.  (Thanks Candace for the great idea!)  I enjoy watching them create and to see their strengths, talents and interests displayed in this way.

We had a second field trip with our Five in a Row group to the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.  As I'm typing this, I'm remembering that this one happened the first week in October!  (Makes me feel a little more caught up.) 

The children were split into 4 groups by age and led on a tour of plants of our state.  They specifically learned about the "Pitcher Plant" (carnivorous plant) and were able to dissect a leaf (to see what the plant had eaten!).  I don't have many pictures of this as I wasn't with these groups.  I'm thankful that others were though so I'll get some later.

The youngest children went on a scavenger hunt/tour through the herb garden with the moms and the older teens. 

It was a beautiful day and everyone had a great time.  We went to a nearby park afterward to picnic and to play. 

I'm thankful for this wonderful group of families with which to go on field trips!

Blessings,

Leslie