tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33135893476590755082024-03-14T02:51:45.527-07:00The Life and Times of the Tiny HeinePattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-14469326778633945772014-02-15T19:34:00.001-08:002014-02-15T19:34:12.012-08:00"I love..."Stephen's Kindergarten class got up at their school assembly, telling everyone what they love, in honor of Valentine's Day. Stephen helped me to create 9 different options for what he would say, and we had no idea what he might choose. <br />
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Turn up your volume - it's hard to hear.<br />
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Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-84103661475678622752014-01-17T07:59:00.002-08:002014-01-17T08:03:48.512-08:00Time marches on...... And I run out of time for blogging. <br />
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Our holiday break was chock full of fun adventures, but I know people are here mainly to her about Stephen, so we'll start there. <br />
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About a week before school got out, Stephen's special education teacher told me that the Kindergarten class would be performing a few Christmas songs at their class party. Besides the fact that we would have practiced at home if we'd known sooner, we had some anxiety about how Stephen could participate without being able to sing... I came up with the idea that Stephen could emcee, but his teacher forgot at first, and it wasn't his smoothest performance.<br />
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The following Monday, Stephen had a low-key birthday party with some friends, who came over to watch some movies. A fun, and stress-free time was had by all!<br />
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Christmas was a lot of fun too! Stephen was finally interested this year in unwrapping his gifts, and was enjoying the anticipation of his surprises!! </div>
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After Christmas, we took Stephen to a nearby Children's museum. We had a TON of fun!!!<br />
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One of Stephen's favorite exhibits was an outdoor maze. He insisted on going through twice, and probably would have gone again if we weren't going to go on a train. He discovered that he could look under the walls to figure out where to go - clever boy!!<br />
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We are all back at school for the spring semester, and it is going well for everyone. We are looking in to increasing Stephen's time in his Kindergarten classroom since our last increase has been going so well. Hopefully that will work out!!<br />
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<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-60601923235234286552013-12-15T18:38:00.002-08:002013-12-15T18:38:07.544-08:00SevenSeven. This child is seven years old.<br />
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It seems as though no time has passed at all since he was a tiny little newborn, but at the same time, it sometimes feels like decades. I supposed that's just the way of things, though.</div>
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So what have we been up to lately? Well, we've had another meeting of Team Stephen, and we've increased his time in the general education classroom, to equal half days. In addition to the group learning time he's been spending in the class, we are adding in literacy centers 3 days a week (starting at one, working up to 3), as well as PE, art, and music. After seeing how much Stephen has matured and blossomed over the last month, we are very excited to see how he does with this additional time with his typical peers. His beloved special education teacher, Mr. G., said that Stephen has a buddy in the Kindergarten class who has taken it upon himself to be Stephen's "helper" when he sees that he needs it. With friends like that, I think Stephen will continue to do well.</div>
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Pa came to visit before Thanksgiving, and we had a good time together. He was only here for a short time, but hopefully we'll be able to see him again soon!</div>
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Stephen continues to enjoy swimming, and his latest accomplishment is the ability to float on his back without any assistance. He is able to get himself into a floating position now, as well.<br />
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We went to see Santa last weekend, and saw a "Caring" Santa as part of a program designed for special needs individuals to see Santa in a less stressful environment. This was really good for Stephen, because we were able to make an appointment, and he didn't have to wait in line and get upset about that. Stephen was even able to use his talker to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas (legos and books, FYI).</div>
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So we've had a great couple of months out here. Stephen's growth these last few weeks has been nothing short of amazing, and we are all just so happy. </div>
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Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-72617619165942330212013-11-01T08:10:00.002-07:002013-11-01T08:10:32.119-07:00School, Soccer, and Halloween!Whew! Between my school, and all of our Stephen-y activities, October was a busy month! We finished soccer, made some school changes for Stephen, and had a fun time with Halloween.<br />
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Stephen finished his first season playing soccer this month. He acquired two new buddies after the first session, both of whom are studying to be speech pathologists, which is exciting! He needed a lot less assistance by the end of the season!<br />
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After the last game, all of the players got medals, but Stephen wouldn't wear his.<br />
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We are looking forward to seeing our girls again when soccer re-starts in March!<br />
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Stephen also had a Special Olympics "Stars of the Future" event this month. Stephen did really well, and was much more confident in his ability to participate in the various activities.<br />
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Obviously, we also did Halloween. Stephen dressed as a Green Lantern this year, and was thrilled! I was at school, but Erik took Stephen out to trick-or-treat, and said he did really well! Again, he used his "talker" independently to say "trick-or treat, thank you," and "Happy Halloween!" We are so proud of him. <br />
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We made some changes at school for Stephen his month too. After multiple meetings with "team Stephen," we have started transitioning Stephen into a general education setting (also known a inclusion). For now, he is spending an hour each morning in group learning in a Kindergarten classroom, with an aide. We opted to have Stephen repeat Kindergarten this year because there were some state-wide curriculum changes and we felt that he might struggle with the 1st grade curriculum while also trying to learn how to behave in a traditional classroom setting. So far, Stephen is performing MAGNIFICENTLY! The teacher sends home the curriculum the weekend before so that I can program his talker for him so that he can participate appropriately, and he does that very well. In fact, when called upon one day this week, Stephen read a book OUT LOUD to his class. We are just thrilled with how well he is doing in this classroom, and in his other class as well. The current plan is to have him spending half-days in the Kindergarten class starting in January. It's all been so exciting!</div>
Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-60209447888064260952013-09-25T09:46:00.004-07:002013-09-25T09:46:53.001-07:00Sports<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We thought it would be a good time for Stephen to start exploring the world of organized sports. At almost 7, we figured he was ready to learn, and we decided that soccer would be a good place to start - he loves balls and running, so it seemed logical! We found a buddy league that meets on Sunday afternoons for skills work, and then 45 minutes of scrimmages. </div>
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Our first week, Stephen had one buddy, and was a little hesitant, so Daddy went out and helped. Stephen has demonstrated an excellent aptitude for dribbling the soccer ball in a straight line. Steering and big kicks are works in progress, still.</div>
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This is just to give a good shot of how cute Stephen was in his soccer uniform. He loves it.<br />
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Our second week, the first buddy wasn't there, so we were assigned TWO buddies, and they are awesome. These two young ladies are speech pathology majors at a local university, and are so excited to work with Stephen (and he LOVES them!).<br />
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(Stephen was trying to read what his shirt was saying while he was supposed to be scrimmaging. Silly boy!<br />
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That second week, he scored his first goal! I wish I had gotten a picture of the pride on his face, because he was so excited. During week 3, he scored 2!<br />
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Our other new accomplishment is this:<br />
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Not totally independent yet, but he's been doing really well floating like this, so he's finally starting to relax more.<br />
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Soccer runs through mid October, but then starts up again in April, so I think we'll stick with it. He has been telling us with his talker that he likes playing soccer. We love that he's having so much fun and learning new skills in the process!Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-69689548002215949352013-08-20T10:50:00.001-07:002013-08-20T10:50:26.628-07:00Team Stephen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This sweet boy started First Grade yesterday. First Grade. I can hardly believe that he's old enough for that, and yet, he was more than ready.<br />
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We met "Team Stephen" on Friday for the first time. All but one member of the school team is new to us, and I think this is probably going to be to Stephen's advantage. Every single person on his team believes in Stephen's abilities and intelligence, and our hopes for his future, which makes it a lot easier for us to send him off on the bus to his new school each day. <br />
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Stephen has an iPad with his speech program on it available to him at all times during the school day, and even on his first day, he was communicating well with his teacher, and advocating for his own needs. He also made sure to show off everything that he learned in Kindergarten last year, and impressed his teacher quite a bit. Stephen is currently in a combination of special education classes and inclusive (typical) classes and activities, and once everyone has gotten to know each other, and we figure out what kind of supports Stephen will need, we will meet in a month to make a new plan for Stephen. With the ability to communicate better, Stephen is much more confident and sure of himself, which has been such a joy to see. This kid just amazes us every day.<br />
<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-68095557120013615362013-07-18T19:13:00.001-07:002013-07-18T19:13:16.674-07:00Summer fun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We've been having a lot of fun this summer... </div>
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Learning how to do the back float (finally!!!) - Stephen is so funny about floating on his back. He is very confident, right until he feels his teacher is starting to move his hand... then he starts to laugh and tries to swim away.</div>
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We've been playing outside with no shoes on. This is a new thing for Stephen this summer - he used to only want to play when he had shoes on, but now he'd prefer to be barefoot.<br />
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We've enjoyed a few lazy days when it's been raining...<br />
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AND!!! We finally made it to the dentist so Stephen could get his space maintainer put in! This is the before picture.<br />
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And... after. Stephen was sedated during the procedure, and took a nice, long snooze after it was over. We stayed at the office for a little over an hour afterwards, and then we came home and he slept for a couple more. I don't have any good pictures, yet, of him smiling with his new tooth - not because he isn't smiling, but because I'm not fast enough with the camera, and he's always on the move. Stephen is THRILLED to have his "tooth" back and doesn't mess with it at all. It is a resin "tooth" connected with wires to his back molars, so we are being very vigilant in his brushing. <br />
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We've also spent some time at Frontier City with Stephen's grandparents... they usually don't come to visit in the summer...<br />
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Which leads me to my next little bit of news!<br />
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Back in May, Mom and Dad sold their house!! They decided to move here to be closer to us, and help out with Stephen while I return to school next month to pursue my Master's Degree. Thanks to Erik's job, I can attend an accelerated program, and in a year, will have a Master's of Education degree in Applied Behavioral studies. They close on their new house here next week, and we are all very excited! They have been living with us for the last month of so, which has also been fun.<br />
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So that's what we've been up to - swimming, and fun!!</div>
Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-62073837254125007502013-06-11T14:34:00.002-07:002013-06-11T14:34:46.544-07:00FINALLY!!!I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but over Spring Break, we were planning on going with Pa and Kim to Walt Disney World... except Stephen had his accident, and couldn't travel for a few weeks. Luckily, Pa had gotten travel insurance for the trip (he said it was the first time he'd ever done that - wasn't THAT lucky?!?!), and we were able to reschedule. We left last Tuesday, for 5 days in Orlando filled with sun, fun, and a lot of rain!<br />
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I'm not going to bore you with a lot of details of our trip. Basically, we had a ton of fun, and went on a lot of rides. Because of Stephen's physical challenges, I rented a stroller to be delivered to our hotel, and thank goodness I did! That place was huge! We also had it tagged as a wheelchair, because we know he would not be able to stand in long lines and just wait there without wanting to be picked up, and he's just getting a little too big for that. That was also a good decision for all of us, I think.<br />
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This coloring picture is a BIG DEAL! Stephen really struggles with holding things smaller than a thick marker, and in the past was not able to use enough pressure to make a good mark. Also, he hasn't really ever enjoyed coloring, so having him do this voluntarily, even though it was only for a few minutes, was impressive.<br />
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Stephen was absolutely thrilled with most of the characters that he met. Stephen loves characters, and he's such a cuddly guy, so it was perfect for him. With the exception of Mickey, Mike and Sully, Stephen met all of these characters at Character Meals, which kept us from having to wait in too many lines. He also went on pretty much every ride for which he met the height requirements, and was especially thrilled with Test Track in Epcot - a super fast and smooth car ride. And then of course there were the teacups...</div>
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Overall, we had a really great time. It rained quite a bit on Thursday, thanks to Tropical Storm Andrea, but we soldiered on in the parks anyways - the rain cleared out quite a bit of the crowd, so that was pretty fun too. While there, Stephen discovered a new love - Star Wars! He went on Star Tours 4 times, and we plan on watching the movies throughout the summer. He also made excellent use of his "talker," letting us know when he needed a snack, or when he was tired (that one was a first - normally he'd just pass out during an activity rather than admit he was tired), and communicated verbally a few times too. We only had one glitch while we were there; we ordered a gluten-free pasta meal at a nicer restaurant, and they made a mistake and brought out something that was not gluten-free, which affected his behavior pretty significantly. I guess this settles our questions as to whether or not his improved behaviors over the past 18 months were due to maturity, or diet! So, we had a great time, and hope to go back in the not-too-distant future!!Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-14500119449929119692013-05-31T09:54:00.003-07:002013-06-01T05:22:55.555-07:00My heartThese guys...<br />
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These guys have my heart. <br />
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And this guy... he's officially on Summer Break. He is now a first grader!<br />
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We had a little bit of drama surrounding his class placement for next year, since there were not appropriate programs at the school he'd attended since turning 3, but we got it worked out, thanks to a little creative thinking. Basically, Stephen is going to be participating in 2 separate special education classrooms, as well as a typical classroom. Hopefully this will allow him to get all of his therapy needs met, while allowing him the opportunity to spend time with typical kiddos for peer modeling.<br />
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I should warn you... this next part is a little raw.... The last few days of school were very, very hard on us. As many of you know, last Monday, May 20th, an EF5 tornado came through Moore, OK, leveling two elementary schools. LEVELED. This was about 15 miles from our home. While this was happening, my own baby was at HIS school, in a tornado shelter. And by tornado shelter, I mean bathroom. Most schools in Oklahoma City do not have underground shelters, due to cost and the way the ground is. Stephen was terrified, and spent much of that night and the next day seeking reassurance from his parents and teachers that everything was ok. There were a lot of hugs and kisses given out. I'd love to tell him that he shouldn't be scared, but this is just a fact of life. Tornadoes ARE scary, and he should take them very seriously. <br />
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I know that this blog doesn't reach a lot of people, BUT, if you want to help the people of Moore, you can donate to the United Way, Red Cross, or Salvation Army. If you wish to help in a different way, get in touch with me, and I'll give you more resources. In the meantime, I'm going to hug my baby tightly, and get ready for more severe weather today.Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-42086497238703081382013-05-19T20:02:00.000-07:002013-05-19T20:02:30.006-07:00Mother's Day and the Dentist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had a lovely, and quiet Mother's Day here. My parents have been visiting, so they took him off to spend a few hours at the amusement park, while I gave myself a manicure and took a nap. Stephen spent much of his morning, amusing us all with his play. In this picture, he was watching phonics songs on his iPad, matching his alphabet magnets to the songs, and taking apart lego creations. Prior to that, he had been playing soccer with his soccer bear, and soccer pillow. He was having a lot of fun, and making a fabulous mess.</div>
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On Tuesday, Stephen had a pre-op (more on that in a minute) physical, and he is officially 44" tall, and weighs 47 lbs. He's actually lost a few lbs since his 6 year check up in January, mostly due to his injury, but he's kept it off by being more active, which isn't a bad thing. He impressed his pediatrician with how well he was using his talker AND his words to tell me that he was hungry, and also when he wanted the extremely slow internet to "hurry!"<br />
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The next morning, we were up ridiculously early, and checking in at outpatient surgery at 6am. Stephen was scheduled to have a mold made of his mouth so that he can have a space maintainer custom-made to fill the spot where his permanent tooth was extracted after his fall, and since he has such horrible anxiety about the dentist, we opted to put him under a general anesthetic for the procedure. While he was under, we also had a deep cleaning (the dentist said his teeth got a grade of "C" for cleanliness - I guess it's obvious I've been letting him have more responsibility with his tooth brushing...) and sealants on his molars and a few other teeth. Stephen has these things called talon cusps on 4 of his permanent teeth, and they can make it harder to keep the teeth clean, so we are going to keep sealants on them to help him avoid cavities in the future. <br />
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Everything went just fine, of course, and Stephen enjoyed his day off of school. I made him stay downstairs to play, instead of letting him go up the stairs by himself to play in his toy area, and we enjoyed watching some fun movies and playing with legos.<br />
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This weekend, we continued to see some speech breakthroughs - Stephen was SINGING with some phonics and alphabet songs, and we actually were able to understand some of what he was saying!!! It was very exciting. Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-87227520094945021952013-05-01T19:31:00.002-07:002013-05-01T19:31:43.252-07:00Where did April go?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the last month or so, Stephen has had a renewed interest in playing with his Lego blocks independently. Mostly, he just wanted us to build things for him to take apart - he worked on perfecting his destructive skills, and was able to take our creations apart VERY quickly. Tonight, however, he wanted to BUILD! And he tried and tried and tried... and then he got the blocks put together. So he took them apart. And then put them back together. And he was SO PROUD of himself. (This picture isn't from tonight - this was yesterday morning before a dentist appointment) He just had to keep at it, and he solved his problem!</div>
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This is Stephen's new toy. It's called a Dizzy Disc - kind of like a sit and spin, but designed for older, heavier kids, and it is much easier to spin. Stephen was not able to enjoy his special birthday present over spring break due to his injury, so we decided that rather than making him wait until summer, we would do this for him instead. This is something that will grow WITH him. He has been spinning himself using his feet, and occasionally gets brave enough to lift his feet and just spin on the momentum. And I have to tell the truth - I've had some fun on the "spinner" too. Stephen thinks it's hysterical to see Mommy spinning, but he always makes me stop so he can have another turn.</div>
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I just wanted to show this picture, because it was really cute - we were watching a cartoon where the characters were saying something was smelly, and I saw him doing this. My silly boy.<br />
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In other news, Erik ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Half-Marathon this past weekend, and did it in an hour and 42 minutes - his personal best! Our friends caught this picture of him around mile 5.</div>
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We had a consultation with the dentist yesterday to plan for Stephen's space maintainer procedure. They will be putting him under general anesthesia to make the mold of his mouth, because Stephen has severe dentist anxiety, and while they are doing that, they will also do a deep clean, and put sealants on his 6 year molars. Then we will go back after a few weeks and they will put in the space maintainer and attach the wires to his back molars with cement, which should last about a year and a half. It should be a pretty straightforward procedure. He is fully healed from his accident and we all continue to be thankful that he wasn't hurt any worse than he was.</div>
Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-12082915495345158962013-04-10T14:49:00.001-07:002013-04-10T14:49:18.459-07:00Special OlympicsLast week, Stephen was able to participate in his very first Special Olympics event. It was a program geared towards children ages 3-7, with various levels of developmental challenges. We had SO much fun!!!! Grandma was still here visiting (she left today) so she acted as our class photographer. Yes, this was an activity we did with Stephen's kindergarten class!!!<br />
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The kids participated in events like an obstacle course, soccer, basketball, throwing balls at targets, bowling, and using a big parachute to bounce beach balls. The event was held at a local high school, and there were literally HUNDREDS of middle and high school kids there volunteering, either to supervise activities, or work as "buddies" for the kids. Those kids were amazing.<br />
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So, without further adieu, here are some pictures!!!<br />
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A couple of cool things to mention - that woman crawling under the pool noodles? That's their teacher - she's the best. I'm working up something to tell you all about her, because she is truly an angel on earth. She also made the cool black shirts with stars on them for all of the kids, because she said they are her "shooting stars." The kids sat SO patiently waiting for their ribbons - we were the second to last school called! <br />
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Something that we don't have a picture of involves Stephen's communication. He was starting to poop out after a couple of hours (he didn't sleep well the night before), and wanted to be picked up to snuggle. So we went to sit down, and he used his speech program on my phone to say, "I need a break." This was a HUGE breakthrough, as he wasn't just asking for a snack. I've been trying to figure out how to convey a change that has happened with our little buddy... I guess the only way to describe it is that he had a big leap forward in his maturity level. This includes his communication, interpersonal skills, and play skills. We are really pleased.<br />
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In other news, Stephen's dentist wants to put a spacer in his mouth so that his other permanent teeth don't migrate into the "hole" as they grow in the rest of the way. In order to do this, he will have a semi-permanent retainer put in, and the first part of this process will take place May 15. He will be put under general anesthesia, because he has such high anxiety about the dentist, and because of his age, so we decided to do some other procedures (deep cleaning and sealants) while he is under. Then 3 weeks later, he'll have the spacer put in. It seems like a lot, but I know that this all could have been much, much worse, and this will keep his smile handsome in the long run.Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-52074403615003410672013-03-22T19:36:00.002-07:002013-03-22T19:36:29.059-07:00Worst Week EverSo I had been hoping to write a blog post to tell of our awesome Spring Break adventure, but instead, I have a sad tale. Last Thursday, while getting ready for swim lessons, Stephen took a tumble, and his face broke his fall. After many long hours in the Emergency Room at the Children's Hospital, it was determined that he had fractured his jaw in 2 places. In addition, he had stitches both in and outside his mouth, and had to have one of his teeth extracted - a permanent tooth, no less.<br />
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Because of Stephen's issues with his face and head (he HATES to have people mess with him - the dentist is a nightmare), we made the decision to have him sedated so that he could have the stitches and tooth extraction done with minimal emotional trauma. Because of the tooth extraction, and the sedation, he was kept overnight. The next day, we were told that he would have to stay for several days, until he could take enough fluid by mouth to stay adequately hydrated. We were also waiting to see if he would need surgery on his jaw for the fractures.<br />
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By Saturday, he was feeling a little better, and was enjoying spending time with his new buddy.<br />
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Mickey was supposed to be a surprise for Tuesday morning this week, when we were going to wake up early to take the plane to Disney World with Pa and Kim. Unfortunately, due to his injuries, we had to reschedule our trip for right after school gets out. Stephen was released on Sunday, after he was able to start drinking with a straw again (he wasn't able to use one due to the tooth extraction), and he came home to convalesce.<br />
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Recovery has been... stressful. Because he's a kid, he just can't seem to leave those stitches alone in his mouth, and has been having bleeding at night (we think he's messing while he's asleep). Unfortunately, we can't do much about that, but Stephen is proving to be much more aware of what is going on that we hoped - he has been very upset about the blood, and doesn't approve of the measures I took tonight to speed up the middle-of-the-night clean-up process. We put down a disposable pad over his sheet, and a waterproof pillow cover (I've washed his pillow multiple times over the last several days). He got into bed, and promptly tried to hand us his pillow while signing "all done," which is how he often tells us he doesn't care for something. After a little snuggle, I convinced him that this is so he doesn't have to be awake as long during the night, and he went to sleep. During the night last night, he was very concerned with checking the sheet and pillowcase to make sure that it was clean when he got back into bed - it was awfully cute.<br />
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All in all, this hasn't been our best spring break, but thankfully Grandma Janet arrived on Wednesday to help us out. Thank goodness, too. Hopefully, my next report will be that he is feeling better. :-)Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-843837298648475232013-03-01T18:53:00.003-08:002013-03-01T18:53:54.597-08:00In a rutWe've been in a rut, and I haven't had much to blog about. We're good, Stephen's good... he has a bit of a cold right now, but he's on the mend. Our weather here has been crazy these past few weeks, but that's pretty normal for this time of year. Stephen is enjoying school and swimming... we've had a few exciting milestones that I don't have pictures of, but I can share anyways. In Stephen's classroom, the teacher's aide brings the lunch trays directly to the classroom (for those who do not bring their lunches), but when they are all in 1st grade next year, they will have to carry their own trays (I didn't REALLY pay attention to the exact logistics, since Stephen is on the gluten-free diet and will continue to bring his lunch). SO, they are all working on carrying a tray. I just smile when I think about those 6 little boys and one little girl, practicing carrying empty lunch trays up and down the hallway. At any rate, Stephen is well on his way to accomplishing this particular goal for the school year, and this skill has translated into a few other areas at home. He carries his snack bowl from his table to the couch (even when he's not supposed to snack there) without spilling, and I expect that this increased hand strength is behind his ability to hold on to the kickboard so well. The newest activity that comes from this skill, is his ability and desire to carry his iPad all over the house. He takes it up and down the stairs (he holds it on his lap and butt-bumps down the stairs), and into various rooms to play games and watch YouTube. He loves to lay on his new bean bag chair and watch videos, while holding tightly on to the letter "U" (upper AND lowercase), because of course, U = YOUTube! Stephen's teacher also reported during his last conference that she is quite pleased with how well he has been playing at school, not just with his friends, but with toys. She is very impressed with the improvement he is making with his social and play skills, and we are THRILLED!<br />
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Before Stephen got sick this week, we spent some time at a park with a new friend who was visiting from Tulsa. Stephen had a great time, and wasn't very excited to take time away from his play to take a picture. <br />
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Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-6418490449151986532013-01-23T08:59:00.000-08:002013-01-23T08:59:37.594-08:00We've been sick...Sorry I've not been blogging much - Stephen was down with a sinus infection, and now I have some respiratory thing going on...<br />
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Stephen had his well-child check today, and everything is good. He weighs a hearty 48lbs, and is 43.5" tall, which means he has gained 4lbs, and grown about 2" since last year, which is great! Everything else is going well too, so I have nothing interesting to report from his appointment.<br />
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Something exciting that is happening at swimming, however, is THIS:<br />
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Sorry it's a bit fuzzy - I took it with my phone, and then cropped it so you can see what he's doing. Stephen is HOLDING the kickboard! This is a very new skill for him, and has always been difficult due to his poor hand strength. However, he started doing this last week, all on his own. His teacher, Miss Carrie, is holding him at the hips, to remind him to kick at the top of the water, instead of underneath, where he wouldn't be able to propel himself forward. We are very excited!!<br />
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Stephen has also been having fun playing Uno Moo, as well as playing with his Green Lantern toys, and after we find the right kind of card holder for him that we can set on the table, we'll start trying some card games too. It's been a great 2013 so far!!Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-69262102038901754812013-01-04T06:47:00.003-08:002013-01-04T06:47:48.594-08:00Christmas and New Year Recap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had a fun-filled holiday break here! On the last day of school before break, SANTA drove Stephen's bus!!!! Despite appearances in this picture, Stephen was actually really excited. He also helped decorate some cookies to share with Santa, and managed to NOT spill sprinkles all over the kitchen this time.</div>
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We also met Santa at a local store. We'd never gotten around to this childhood rite of passage before because we just never had time for it. Stephen, as expected, wasn't upset at all, but wasn't quite sure what to think of this guy - he was a great looking Santa, though, wasn't he?<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLFYFQB3YHJDjb2YKqj8WQ930tIiBR-7y51n2fT4ujox7JI4E6Urtuo-t1o2-aIx27iyxqF0jauV1U4U33KVZdg4Rj9_Zm3wrFs4ogOB9orSCCTHxD3r4ANd4qpLk4z5lAo0spQjYbIG7/s1600/1-1-3-13+029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLFYFQB3YHJDjb2YKqj8WQ930tIiBR-7y51n2fT4ujox7JI4E6Urtuo-t1o2-aIx27iyxqF0jauV1U4U33KVZdg4Rj9_Zm3wrFs4ogOB9orSCCTHxD3r4ANd4qpLk4z5lAo0spQjYbIG7/s320/1-1-3-13+029.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We also met a talking reindeer while we were visiting Santa, which was extremely amusing!</div>
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This year, Stephen really got in to doing the Advent Calendar, particularly the countdown aspect. After we would choose the ornament for the day, we would count how many days were left until Christmas day. And Stephen chose the location of most of the lower ornaments, as you can tell by the cluster of ornaments at the bottom of the tree.</div>
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We went to church on Christmas Eve, and Stephen was well-behaved as usual. It's so nice to see him happy and engaged again, now that he's sleeping better!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3IVFYOQ8tcLvEcGcLmAxXg83r9fxNYzRO4gLDzmiBRPoe8vfOJ8mOdkvEIpFFkJ_Bpgw-ZGWjUgGKM97ZD043q6XKDJAjd92Ryw85ipowFiuVpIyxvLf1agcjYKUe8fkmlFLgGVXnD23/s1600/1-1-3-13+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3IVFYOQ8tcLvEcGcLmAxXg83r9fxNYzRO4gLDzmiBRPoe8vfOJ8mOdkvEIpFFkJ_Bpgw-ZGWjUgGKM97ZD043q6XKDJAjd92Ryw85ipowFiuVpIyxvLf1agcjYKUe8fkmlFLgGVXnD23/s320/1-1-3-13+013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We tried out a new location for our Christmas Tree this year. I think I like it, even though we couldn't get into the cabinet behind it if we wanted to watch any movies. Stephen helped us a little bit with the tree, but he was more interested in watching Christmas cartoons and movies while he ate dinner.</div>
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For Christmas this year, Stephen accumulated a LOT of books. He LOVES reading and being read to, and I think we're set on new books for many, many months! The book he is looking at in this photo is a seek and find Backyardigans book (of course!). He also got 3 new games (UNO Moo, Trouble, and Twister), some really cool handmade Backyardigans puppets, and some other fun stuff - it was a great Christmas!</div>
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We didn't do much for New Year's Eve, and Stephen went to bed at his normal time. Given all of his sleep issues that he was having prior to surgery, he has still been catching up, and is ready to go to bed between 7:30 and 8 every night. Now he is back at school, and enjoying his time with his friends and teachers!</div>
<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-46421166883074985312012-12-18T19:25:00.001-08:002012-12-18T19:25:20.379-08:00SixWe have a six year old in our house. Yep. He's six.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGeGnam-g0j2wYBSqSEAvnog4srVfzjCUoXjt85Bm0WbDACd2XHukwjtVOQbb_5mAhvEWCIHtO6A7eoxeED5HTvwXUHCTUwpJd06Lax_HwMq-ooGn895RyBZbQ2p97NQK1aJkpAAbdWxcU/s1600/Stephen+age+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGeGnam-g0j2wYBSqSEAvnog4srVfzjCUoXjt85Bm0WbDACd2XHukwjtVOQbb_5mAhvEWCIHtO6A7eoxeED5HTvwXUHCTUwpJd06Lax_HwMq-ooGn895RyBZbQ2p97NQK1aJkpAAbdWxcU/s320/Stephen+age+6.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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He had a pretty good birthday. We didn't have a party this year, opting instead to put that money towards something BIG that we are doing in March... we went out to dinner (sushi - his choice, of course), but by the time we got home, he barely had energy for cake, so we opened presents on Saturday. So in honor of being six, Stephen came down with a cold. </div>
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Stephen is recovering beautifully from his surgery a few weeks ago. He is sleeping pretty well, although I think we'll see even more improvement in a couple more weeks. Even better, he is much more aware, and engaged, and more interested in playing, instead of just being a couch potato, and he is attempting much more speech. </div>
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He is also more interested in all of our Christmas preparations this year. Stephen has especially enjoyed his advent calendar - he pulls the little ornament out each day, and picks where it should go on the tree, which explains the cluster of little ornaments at the bottom. And then we count down each day until December 25th, giggling away!</div>
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We are SO PROUD of all of the progress that Stephen has made this year. He's just come so far, and we are so happy.</div>
<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-28113580690574885062012-12-08T14:48:00.002-08:002012-12-08T14:48:48.135-08:00Picture postI decided to post a few surgery pictures, and some others that are pretty fun. Stephen no longer has any restrictions with regards to food textures, and he was VERY happy to use his "talker" to ask for graham crackers. :-)<br />
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This first one was before surgery. Stephen was very anxious about surgery, but enjoyed the free wi-fi! Those socks didn't stay on for long at all, though...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVmG-gZGsGYq1wTPWFEDpO6uOUwShN6uhLtCDtLkbXGZInt21YQpsJkYSsbE8ExkMq4ZG9ni1_qSHSJao6Rr2hvEW1_49oQOAFn1GnUXgUq-kBd9i3qPrOzwNaflZM-O8U6kFE3tIk_if/s1600/before+surgery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVmG-gZGsGYq1wTPWFEDpO6uOUwShN6uhLtCDtLkbXGZInt21YQpsJkYSsbE8ExkMq4ZG9ni1_qSHSJao6Rr2hvEW1_49oQOAFn1GnUXgUq-kBd9i3qPrOzwNaflZM-O8U6kFE3tIk_if/s320/before+surgery.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
This was a few hours after surgery. The DVD player in our room wasn't connected to the TV (THAT was an interesting discovery!) so Stephen was watching Elmo's Christmas Countdown on my laptop. I think we watched that 3 times while we were in the hospital. He had his two favorite buddies there keeping him company, and his Granddaddy to later help him with some pudding.<br />
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This is our annual family portrait. It seems to represent us pretty well - Erik and I look exhausted while Stephen laughs hysterically at something.<br />
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And the obligatory Birthday picture. Our photographer got some REALLY great shots out of him this year - and he didn't even cry!<br />
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<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-28427566232491337312012-12-06T08:43:00.001-08:002012-12-06T08:43:19.954-08:00Feeling better!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm going to spare you all of the sad pictures of Stephen while he was in the hospital.... he's feeling MUCH better now, but isn't still 100%. The scope found that not only had the adenoids grown back, but they were ENORMOUS! The surgeon also found that the lingual tonsils were enlarged, and he cut those down too. Stephen's oxygen saturation levels were between 95 and 100% while we were at the hospital, even while he was sleeping, which means that surgery was a success! </div>
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Stephen went to school for a few hours today, because he was bored being at home, but I'll pick him up before lunch, since he's still not eating a normal, solid diet yet, and I didn't want to send him to school with a lunch he probably wouldn't eat. As for his sleeping... it's better, but not yet great. I think he's just used to getting up during the night, so that is continuing, but now we know it's behavioral, so we'll work past it. </div>
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I have to give a BIG THANK YOU to my Dad who came out for the week to help while Stephen was recovering. I was able to keep going to school, which was important, while Stephen needed to stay home still, and it allowed me to be able to maintain what little bit of sanity I still have, and allowed Erik to work as well. THANKS, DAD!!!</div>
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Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-91436079253198159402012-11-28T10:08:00.003-08:002012-11-28T10:08:53.491-08:00Beautiful weather<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It was so nice here on Sunday that we decided to load up and go to the zoo. The animals were enjoying the weather too, and the giraffes were hanging out right at the fence, like THEY were watching US! Stephen loved it!</div>
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His favorite, though, was the swimming Grizzly Bear. He just wanted to sit and watch him swimming and playing in the water.<br />
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This happy boy will not be very happy with us for the next couple of days... tomorrow (Thursday), Stephen will be checking in to the Children's Hospital for an airway scope, and then potentially (likely) cut out the enlarged tissue that is causing his sleep apnea. So that means an over-nighter for Mommy and Stephen at the hospital tomorrow night, and probably several days of recovery for our little guy. But hopefully, in the end, this will result in better sleep for all of us, and a happier family.<br />
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<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-40581820388008176752012-11-10T05:02:00.001-08:002012-11-10T05:02:27.332-08:00Busy times!We've been keeping ourselves pretty busy here in the Heine house! But we still managed to find time to visit our local fire station last weekend. When Stephen was in pre-k last year, they'd had a field trip scheduled to visit one, but Stephen was sick and couldn't attend. After a neighborhood kitchen fire 2 weeks ago, we decided it was time to go! Stephen loved looking around the truck, of course, and the fire fighters were super nice to let us come look around - THANK YOU to Station 17!!<br />
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<br />We also had a bit of a scare last week as well. As if Stephen's sleep apnea issues weren't enough to put us all on edge, I noticed on Saturday that Stephen had developed a twitch that affected his left arm and hip/leg. It got worse as the weekend went on, and on Monday, after letting his teacher know about it, she contacted me to tell met that it was almost non-stop during recess. I got Stephen in to see his pediatrician early Monday afternoon (how's THAT for service?!?! I love them.), who confirmed our suspicions that it was a TIC. She referred us to a neurologist, with instructions to video tape Stephen's tic, in case it took a few weeks to get in. Luckily for our anxiety levels, we were able to get in the NEXT DAY, thanks to a cancellation. She also agreed that it was a tic, and said that it would start to subside, and that Monday would probably be the worst day. She was right, of course, and we have only really seen it pop back up when Stephen is really tired. Yes, being tired can exacerbate the tic, as can stress. This may be a one-time occurrence, or it may come back, but even if it does come back, he will most likely outgrow this in a few years. There's very little that can be done; it can't be prevented, but if it interferes with his life too much (if it comes back), we will look into medications.<br />
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So that's what all we've been up to. Pa and Kim are coming for a visit this week, which should be fun, and then the next week is the visit to the ENT, and Thanksgiving! We are also planning on taking Stephen to see his first movie in the theater - Wreck It Ralph!Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-90805628044733496522012-11-03T14:48:00.003-07:002012-11-03T14:48:37.152-07:00Sleep Study Results and Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So.... Stephen had his sleep study, as I posted before, and here are some pictures. This one below was taken before he was hooked up to anything, perfectly happy to be goofing around WELL past his normal bedtime.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCnuz32P_S40KNg1Gx3bnN6dmuG-fGpJTEoPrrwg5Gcr1_pnKUaX8eVMUc5SArRK3y87Oq4HCSr7V-zlnbl-iyX3zBTGaQ1fSLEQiIuj75DPHer9U9jW67y601meq3gHD946Ch7loqChb/s1600/10-28-12+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCnuz32P_S40KNg1Gx3bnN6dmuG-fGpJTEoPrrwg5Gcr1_pnKUaX8eVMUc5SArRK3y87Oq4HCSr7V-zlnbl-iyX3zBTGaQ1fSLEQiIuj75DPHer9U9jW67y601meq3gHD946Ch7loqChb/s320/10-28-12+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And then we have this. You can kind of see that Stephen has his lower lip out here - he wasn't sad, though. He was trying to use his lips to push the sensor off before resorting to ripping it off with his hands. Stephen HATES to have stuff on his face. :-(<br />
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He managed to tear all of the face stuff off, and ended up in the splints, which didn't really affect the results at all. We all headed to visit with a sleep psychologist on Tuesday, who revealed that he really couldn't do much for us, as the preliminary sleep study results said that we are looking at sleep apnea again. Stephen was averaging 11.6 apnea episodes an hour during REM sleep, which is what causes him to wake up so early. And whatever sleep he gets isn't very restful at all. As soon as we got home from this appointment, and got Stephen off to school, I got on the phone with our pediatrician's nurse, who put me in touch with the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor that took out Stephen's tonsils and adenoids 3+ years ago, and I managed to get an appointment for mid November. Hopefully we can get this figured out soon so our little boy can get back to the business of being a little boy, instead of a sad sack of exhaustion.<br />
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In the meantime, we enjoyed a great evening of trick or treating! Stephen dressed as Pablo from The Backyardigans (of course!), and this is the ONLY picture of him wearing the head piece. This was also our first attempt at taking the "talker" out into the neighborhood.<br />
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Stephen used his talker tremendously well, and we are so proud of him for that! We didn't have an opportunity to practice beforehand, but I did show him the buttons he would need so that he could do it easily. We marched up to the first house, and I reminded Stephen what he needed to do. He said, "Trick or Treat!" "Thank you," "Happy Halloween," and then because no one knew what he was dressed as, "I'm Pablo!" He repeated this at every house with almost no prompting, and our neighbors were just thrilled to hear his "voice." This even gave us some new ideas for encouraging him to use it at school as well, which the Speech Therapist is excited to implement this coming week.<br />
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Stephen also got a new swing this week - it is an early Christmas present from his grandparents who wanted him to be able to enjoy it while the weather is still nice. He really likes the back support, but it's certainly more independent than his previous swing, which he is now too heavy to use. Hopefully he will continue to remember to hang on!<br />
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Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-51565394774758377572012-10-26T12:53:00.001-07:002012-10-26T12:53:54.376-07:00October <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We've had a pretty busy month here. Stephen's grandparents were here visiting, helping out while I was very busy with school stuff, and occasionally leaving to do a little traveling on their own. While they were here, Stephen's school had a day to kick of their "Read At Home" campaign, and the kids were supposed to dress as their favorite book character. I don't know if any other kids in Stephen's class dressed up, but Stephen made an appearance as Captain Underpants!</div>
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We also had our annual class trip to the pumpkin patch/farm. I love this picture because Stephen is just so short compared to his classmates. They were looking at some pigs and piglets here...</div>
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We also spent some quality time at the amusement park, especially on the teacup ride, which is still Stephen's favorite.<br />
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This past Monday, we took Stephen in for another sleep study to see if we can get to the bottom of his early waking issues. He managed pretty well until they had to put splints on his arms to keep him from taking off his breathing monitor - Stephen continues to hate having stuff on his face, so this was really hard on him. It took him about 2 hours of crying "Bi-eeee" to fall asleep after that. He wanted to be able to put "bitey" in his mouth to calm down, but he couldn't bend his elbows. Apparently Mommy wasn't doing this well enough for him, bu I tried. We did get enough information from the times that he was asleep, and should know in another 10 days or so what the results are. In the meantime, we are going to visit with a sleep psychologist to see if he has any suggestions.Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-54136661508833400302012-10-05T09:35:00.001-07:002012-10-05T09:35:12.341-07:00More stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had Stephen's first Parent-Teacher conference 2 weeks ago, and he is doing really well - better than we were anticipating, actually! As expected, it is hard to determine what Stephen is actually retaining due to his expressive language delays, but he has made a ton of progress already, especially in areas that we know he is struggling with. His coloring and drawing are really coming along, and we brainstormed some ideas to make holding the writing utensils a little easier for him, as well as how to get him to work on tracing his letters (which he will do at home, but not at school). His social skills have progressed the most (more on that in a minute), but the biggest surprise for us has to do with math. Stephen has been working on drawing shapes (a math skill), and can correctly identify numbers 1-100 (!!!!) with about 45% accuracy. Stephen is one of 3 kids (out of 8) in his class that are working on 1-100 vs. 1-20. We are EXTREMELY proud, especially considering that Stephen has previously shown very little interest in his numbers.</div>
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Now, about those social skills. We have always worried about how Stephen is going to develop and maintain good friendships without the ability to really speak to other children. He is learning to use the iPad program more and more at school, but we still have a long way to go with it. Well, it appears that we don't have to worry about it. Stephen frequently seeks out 2 specific boys and one little girl to play with at recess. He LOVES to play chase, and is very good at taking turns being the chaser and the chasee. His teacher was surprised that Stephen doesn't play with these children outside of school since he seeks them out to play with them so frequently. We are very excited to watch out little guy grow.</div>
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Swimming continues to go well, as you can see. Sorry about the blur! He was using the noodle to give him a little extra support as he came up for breaths, since that's still an occasional struggle for him, particularly when he's tired.</div>
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<br />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313589347659075508.post-32760990316669694702012-09-21T05:20:00.001-07:002012-09-21T05:20:26.010-07:00Kindergarten<br />
It occurs to me that I forgot to blog about Stephen's first day of school! Sorry - this picture was taken before I took him to school. Normally, he rides the bus in the morning, but my mommy heart just couldn't take NOT walking him to his classroom on his first day of Kindergarten. And I totally didn't cry!<br />
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It has been a month since Stephen started school, and as expected he loves it! He is playing with the other children, and enjoys the addition of P.E., art class, and music class. This is not to say, however, that this has been a smooth transition. For the past 6 months or so, Stephen has been waking up early with increasing frequency. And by early, I mean 5am, and sometimes earlier. For the record, a 5-6 year old should be getting 10-11 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Stephen is sitting on 9 most days. This started to become a daily issue over the summer, but we were hopeful that all-day kindergarten would wear him out enough to sleep longer, as he is really suffering from being so tired all day. We finally had enough, and took him to the pediatrician about this, and she suggested that we give him melatonin, and try to keep him up later. This is easier said than done - Stephen is ready to go to sleep usually between 7 and 7:30, instead of the 8pm that the doctor suggested, but we are keeping him up as best as we can. Sadly, this has affected his behavior at home and school, as well as his school performance, but we are all working proactively to help him as much as we can. We now have an appointment for a sleep study in October, which will hopefully reveal the underlying cause for the sleep issues. In the meantime, we're all just plugging along as best as we can!</div>
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Despite the sleep issues, Stephen's teacher reports that he is really a wonderful boy, and a joy to have around. That's what we love to hear!</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Pattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769842129536893837noreply@blogger.com0