Friday, February 29, 2008

Our Crazy Week

Illness - bleh

We have been struck with illness in this house...the last week we all over came one virus and now I am pretty sure Jamie has the flu. Jamie even came home early from work yesterday and his home today. He has all the classic signs of the flu...he seems to be doing ok but he feel pretty crappy.

I am praying that Kian's flu shot holds - that's it the right strain....bleh I am so worried about him getting it.

Craziness with Kian

This week has been an interesting one in our household. Kian’s speech therapist has been forceful with me again about giving him a full team assessment. This is something meant for kids that have severe issues – Kian does not fit the bill. I even spoke to his preschool teacher this week to get her feel on things and she doesn’t have ANY concerns about him. In fact, she told me he’s the head of the class and he already knows everything he needs to know for kindergarten! In fact, she’s trying to find things for him to work on that will challenge him – she is working on writing with him now! Since the preschool teacher spends 3 hours two times a week with Kian and his therapist only spends 20 minutes once a week with him.

Here are the things that the speech therapist brought up with me on Tuesday. Keep in mind that he is a 3 ½ year old:

- He holds a crayon with his fist (but not all the time) - she thinks he has poor motor skills. At home he can shoot a basketball, undress and dress himself without really any aid (unless he has buttons like on a shirt) even on down to socks and shoes with velcro. This is what she thinks he needs physical therepy for, which I do not.

- He does not know how to start and end a conversation.

- He changes the subject when talking sometimes. (who doesn’t!??!)

- Her son babysits for us and the last time he did so she told me that Kian was trying to injure our dog. What he was doing was running his HUGE monster truck near our dog - he does this when we are home and I think he does it because the dog will get up and move suddenly. She told me he was hurting our dog, and I have never seen Kian hurt our dog since he was probably 1 year old and poking our dog in the eyeball (lol!)

- He has poor eye contact. With this I have to be honest and say he's improving. He didn't see the therapist one week and he seemed dramatically improved. Now he's kind of reverting back...I don't use the techniques that she has asked me to use with him. I just make sure that when I talk to him that i am looking at him in the eye and he does it even though I do not demand it from him like she does.

Anyway, I decided to call the district's speech pathologist. She does all the evaluations for the school district and is familiar with Kian. I told her about how Kian's therapist wants him to have a full team assessment (which means he see four different specialists in a 2 hour period of time). But I don't feel like there is a reason for him to go in. It's apparent to me that Kian's therapist has no idea what this assessment is for. It's really just to see if a child qualifies for the special ed preschool - which it's clear that Kian does not need. The pathologist listed off a bunch of things that Kian would have issues with....let me tell ya that none of them are even remotely a concern.
Unfortunately, the pathologist does not know Kian's therapist personally and is not even sure if she is employed by the district or if she is out sourced (since speech is done as a state deal, they have to provide service for all the children in need so sometimes they have to outsource).

I also shared with her that the therapist does not really listen to me when I try to tell her that things are not the way she is representing them to be. She has also discussed Kian with her school's psychologist (without my permission) which really did not sit well with the pathologist. Then after I informed her about how the therapist's son babysits Kian and about the dog incident that I mentioned above, the pathologist said that there is not a clear set of boundaries here and she asked if I would feel more comfortable with Kian seeing a different therapist since I am feeling like I will pull Kian from speech all together because of the attitude that this therapist is taking with him. I guess it's impossible for me to pull Kian from speech and then later try to get him back in – so she finally suggested that she try to find an opening for Kian to see a different therapist.

I honestly do still feel like he needs improvement with his speech, but I do not agree with some of the stuff that she is doing with Kian and how she goes about it. Especially the eye contact thing, it seems like she is making it worse! Ugh!

This afternoon I got a call from the pathologist saying that they are working on getting Kian a new therapist! WOOT!

I guess they are wanting to talk to this off-her-rocker therapist to tell her what is going on and let her know we are switching. She is going to be out of town this week but on Friday she will be back and I will get another phone call letting me know what is going on exactly.

I am very encouraged. The pathologist said it looks like he is going to be paired with someone she knows and trusts which makes me feel very relieved!

She also told me, therapists are supposed to be working on speech - nothing else. His first therapist that is not what this person was doing.

Anyway, I feel like I'm not crazy and good about where we are headed with this :)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Jameson and Sarah - 6 Years!!!

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago this weekend I married my best friend :) I wouldn't have imagined the crazy road life has taken us! Even though the road was crazy it has been good and we definately have been blessed :)

Tonight, Jamie and I went out for our anniversary celebration. Kian had our speech therepist's son, Kevin, come over to "play" with Kian while we went out. Kian was SO excited for Kian to come over! He was playing a new video game when Kevin arrived. Kian quickly abandoned it and bolted down the stairs! That speaks volumes to how much he loves being with Kevin :)

Jamie and I went to a movie and had dinner at a non-Kian friendly place. Boy it was nice!! We are going to try to make a monthly deal.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Some Good News - Some Bad News

Good News

Kian is THRIVING in preschool. Today I went to pick him up and he actually cried because he had to leave lol He really loves school and it's been so neat to watch him interact with the other kids when I pick him up. This preschool is definately a great find and I am so grateful for it! He's enjoying himself so much that he actually cried when I went to pick him up LOL!

Bad News

I lost my job yesterday - actually it was more like a week ago...I have not been paid for the last two weeks now. If you could please keep us in your thoughts and prayers - things are going to be beyond tight for us.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Kian gets a Big Boy Bed!!!

We finally broke down (well after Kian took apart part of his convereted toddler bed on Friday) and bought Kian a big boy bed. He already had the blue furniture from IKEA and the bed is from the same collection...the table and chairs as well :) We still need to get some more decor on the walls in there so it looks kinda bare :P Anyway, here it is!

Walking into the door:


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Saturday, February 09, 2008

Family of Tattoos

Today Jamie got his first tattoo. This is the symbol that the famous artist JR Tolkien used. He authored the books surrounding The Lord of the Rings. Jamie has always been a big fan.


So, on the way over to the tattoo shop I told Jamie that I had a vision of my next tattoo. I wanted three shamrocks (representing each person in our family) and Kian's name underneath it. The guy that did Jamie's tattoo (and who did my last one) had an open appt right after Jamie's so I did mine too!





Well, of course Kian wanted a tattoo too so when we were at Target getting stuff to keep our tattoos from getting dry we found some Cars temporary tattoos.

Monday, February 04, 2008

We Officially have a Preschooler In The House!!!!

This morning I called and cancelled our Mommy and Me class so that we could enroll Kian in preschool two half days a week :)

All weekened long Kian was talking to me about class. He asked if we could go to class EVERY morning he wakes up and if we get in the car to go somewhere, he asks if we are going to class. He loved it!

The original plan was for us to go to Mommy and Me until the session was over in the middle of March. But Kian thrived so much on Friday that we decided to cancel the class and enroll him on Wednesdays at preschool.

I am so excited for him and really Kian is too :) So it's official...Kian is a preschooler!!

Friday, February 01, 2008

Kian's First Day of Preschool!!!!

Today was Kian's first day of preschool on his own. We have been going to a Mommy and Me class that is like preschool but I go with him since this fall. Well, I finally found a place that will take Kian mid year. It's a new school so the class is really small, but I liked how they did things and they are very peanut aware.

So, I dropped him off this morning at 9AM. I said goodbye and told him I would be back when class was over. As I walked away i could see him in the same position I left him in when I said goodbye and I waved to him a few times. He just stood and looked. I was afraid that he might cry...but I guess he was ok :)

I had to run a few errands and when I got back home I felt naked without my little sidekick! I have been a SAHM since the moment Kian was born. We don't have any family around us so it's just the three of us and really just the two of us most of the time. I found myself checking the clock continuously while the phone sat next to me the whole 3 hours Kian was gone!
Well, Kian LOVED it! He did awesome. He participated in everything and was SO excited to tell me all about what he did and show me his art :) He even went on to tell me about everything he did and would say every so often "that was kinda cool" (that is one of his favorite phrases right now lol)

I am so excited for him and can't wait until Mommy and Me is over so he can start going two days a week to preschool instead of one :)