Last weekend we had lots of Christmas fun! On Friday night we went to The Farm in Fort Collins for Santa on the Farm. We went to eat dinner first, so we got there a little late and it was very cold, but we still enjoyed it. Kinsey got to see Santa again and a few of the farm animals (everyone was inside and trying to stay warm). She also decorated a cookie with Mrs. Claus and we listened to some live music.
I love that there's a cow right behind Santa! Kinsey wanted to check her out too:
On Saturday, we went to a farm supply store and guess who was there - Santa! We went over to see him, but weren't going to do pictures again, but Kinsey really wanted to get out of the cart to see him, so we did it. Three Santa visits!
On Sunday night we went down to the Denver Zoo for their special event, Zoo Lights. They do an excellent job with their light display and Kinsey thought it was very interesting. It wasn't quite so cold that night (we chose that night on purpose), but we bundled up anyway, just in case. Santa was there too, but since she'd already seen Santa three times, we decided to skip him this time! I think the best part of the visit was that the giraffes were inside their home - all the animals were in their indoor homes for the night, most of them not visible to the public, but you could see the giraffes. Anyway, with them being inside you can get much closer to them then when they are outside. Kinsey really enjoyed watching them eat their hay and a trainer even came in to give them treats while we were there.
This week has been busy with last minute preparations for Christmas. Kinsey is done with school until the beginning of January. Today they had a Christmas Party that I went to which was really fun. The teachers had put together some cute videos of the kids from Kinsey's class and the other preschool class of activities the kids have been working on and some cute songs. The kids all sat on the floor of the library to watch it with the parents. Then we went to the cafeteria for the kids to sing a couple of songs for us. It's definitely like herding cats to get a bunch of preschoolers to do a performance, especially the kids in Kinsey's class, but it was still cute. Here's a little video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeLPvLaIwyA and a picture:
Kinsey is continuing to crawl often and walk a lot. In fact, the teacher told me yesterday she took 12 steps completely on her own towards her! I think the most she's ever taken before is about 5 steps, so that's huge!
Anyway, we are headed to Gramma's house in Oregon on Monday to spend Christmas with all of Jamie's family (his 2 brothers and their families will be there too) and my dad will be joining us too, of course. We'll do Christmas with them on Christmas day and then do it again with us and my dad (and Santa's presents) when we get home on Saturday. So the blog will probably be late next week, but I'll post lots of pictures from the trip and presents as soon as I can.
Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
Christmas Time Fun
We got our Christmas tree set up last weekend and immediately had to blockade it off with furniture to keep Kinsey from destroying it. Since she started scooting in March (I think), this is the first year she's been able to get to to the tree on her own! She's very interested in it and determined to get to the ornaments and the lights. And this year we have a train going around the base of the tree so that is of course another attraction for her. She tries really hard to get past the furniture blockade or between the pieces of furniture. It's pretty funny to watch her try so hard.
We have moved things out of the way and let her near the tree (with our supervision) to watch the train a few times, which she loves. http://youtu.be/rVpvWJ4xoog We've also let her play with "her ornament" which has a K on it and lights up. She likes that one a lot.
Jamie had to hold her back from grabbing the train!
She was really trying to hang her ornament back on the tree.
Kinsey has also gone to see Santa already and she was very interested in him, as usual.
And here are some more of the pictures that my friend Aliy took for our Christmas card:
This is one of my all time favorite pictures!
Last weekend we took Kinsey to the Butterfly Pavilion near Denver. She really liked the butterflies, but she wanted to grab them all. She doesn't understand how to be gentle though so we couldn't let her near any of them. They had some other creatures there that you could touch and Kinsey was interested in them too. We let her touch the starfish and crab (with our help), but didn't let her touch the tarantula (for the safety of Kinsey and the tarantula)!
http://youtu.be/nwJ-KkUDptI
She really wanted to touch Ruby the Tarantula!
Kinsey continues to get closer to standing up on her own. I caught her efforts on video this week - she got her foot up and flat on the ground while kneeling and holding onto her table so I was hoping she might push/pull herself up, but she didn't do it. http://youtu.be/OIqr65yYOeg But that was the first time I saw her get her foot up while wearing her shoes (she's done it before without her shoes on, but it always seemed like the shoe got in her way before).
She's also doing great learning to feed herself. We've been practicing with cream cheese because it's soft enough for her to scoop up with the spoon and to eat, but solid enough that it will stay on the spoon when she holds it upside down and such (except she did manage to fling some across the room the other day). http://youtu.be/zXZKroEfGQk
And she is crawling more and more every day. I'm surprised that she chooses to do it when she is so proficient at scooting, but she does it several times a day for short distances. I love that she uses a variety of ways to get around.
Finally, here's a cute video. Kinsey was playing with my iPad and I turned on the camera that is on the same side as the screen so she was looking at herself. She found it pretty interesting and kept showing her cow the screen. Too cute! http://youtu.be/ODQl6a6T3Qw
We have moved things out of the way and let her near the tree (with our supervision) to watch the train a few times, which she loves. http://youtu.be/rVpvWJ4xoog We've also let her play with "her ornament" which has a K on it and lights up. She likes that one a lot.
Jamie had to hold her back from grabbing the train!
She was really trying to hang her ornament back on the tree.
Kinsey has also gone to see Santa already and she was very interested in him, as usual.
And here are some more of the pictures that my friend Aliy took for our Christmas card:
This is one of my all time favorite pictures!
Last weekend we took Kinsey to the Butterfly Pavilion near Denver. She really liked the butterflies, but she wanted to grab them all. She doesn't understand how to be gentle though so we couldn't let her near any of them. They had some other creatures there that you could touch and Kinsey was interested in them too. We let her touch the starfish and crab (with our help), but didn't let her touch the tarantula (for the safety of Kinsey and the tarantula)!
http://youtu.be/nwJ-KkUDptI
She really wanted to touch Ruby the Tarantula!
Kinsey continues to get closer to standing up on her own. I caught her efforts on video this week - she got her foot up and flat on the ground while kneeling and holding onto her table so I was hoping she might push/pull herself up, but she didn't do it. http://youtu.be/OIqr65yYOeg But that was the first time I saw her get her foot up while wearing her shoes (she's done it before without her shoes on, but it always seemed like the shoe got in her way before).
She's also doing great learning to feed herself. We've been practicing with cream cheese because it's soft enough for her to scoop up with the spoon and to eat, but solid enough that it will stay on the spoon when she holds it upside down and such (except she did manage to fling some across the room the other day). http://youtu.be/zXZKroEfGQk
And she is crawling more and more every day. I'm surprised that she chooses to do it when she is so proficient at scooting, but she does it several times a day for short distances. I love that she uses a variety of ways to get around.
Finally, here's a cute video. Kinsey was playing with my iPad and I turned on the camera that is on the same side as the screen so she was looking at herself. She found it pretty interesting and kept showing her cow the screen. Too cute! http://youtu.be/ODQl6a6T3Qw
Friday, December 6, 2013
Lots of Fun and Progress
Last week we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a visit from my Aunt Linda, Uncle Jack and cousin Jackie from Upstate NY. They were here (very late) Tuesday night through (very early) Sunday morning. Jamie's Aunt Sandy even came up from Denver for Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a relaxing day at home on Thursday, but true to form, the girls spent Friday and Saturday shopping - all day! Kinsey was a trooper as usual, and she even got in on the action a little. Here she is shopping at the Coach store (she "stole" this purse from Aunt Linda's hands and promptly put it directly on her arm!)
All the girls on the couch together
My little turkey (in the hand me down dress from her friend Lorelei)
Kinsey didn't have school at all last week, but she went back this week and she still loves it. She is really benefiting from being around the other kids. She likes to try to do the things she sees the other kids doing. We took her walker to school so she can use it there (much more room for her to use it there than here). Sometimes she doesn't want to use it and won't hold onto the handles no matter what you try. She did that the first day we took it to school, but then apparently one of the little girls in her class (who knows how to walk) was interested in it and started pushing it around and then Kinsey wanted to do it all of a sudden. Little stinker! This week the teacher had to call me because the kids were having their snack and everyone else was eating a cracker and Kinsey had applesauce, but she wanted a cracker. So the teacher called to be sure it was ok to give one to her. And today when I went to pick her up she and that same little girl were sitting at a table together, but as soon as the other girl got up, Kinsey had to get up and try to follow her!
As I mentioned before, we've been doing a steroid treatment twice a day in an effort to keep Kinsey healthy. We do it with the nebulizer machine, which Kinsey isn't wild about, but Jamie discovered she does better with it if we let her stand up in the crib while doing it. She won't wear the mask (we've never even tried that) so we usually hold it in front of her face, but we've also recently discovered she will chew on the mask! She's so funny with it, but it's nice to not have to stand there and hold it for 5-10 minutes. We just have to make sure it doesn't come apart or get turned upside down or something.
Kinsey's getting better and better about moving around on her own in different ways. This week she's officially crawled for the first time (up until now she's really just stayed still or moved "in place"), but twice this week I've seen her really move and I even got it on video the second time: http://youtu.be/X56eG-M3FXc She's also getting closer to standing up on her own. When she gets up on her knees in front of a piece of furniture, she can get one foot up and if you give her a little push on her butt, she will stand up. She's definitely getting stronger and closer! She's also more stable when she's standing without any shoes or splints on too - while holding onto furniture, she can't stand on her own without her splints and shoes.
She's also getting better about falling without hurting herself. She bends at the waist when falling backwards and tucks her chin so her head doesn't hit the floor before her butt. I've also seen her sort of tuck and roll when falling forward instead of face planting. And the other day I also saw her do a split - her feet got really far apart and she couldn't bring them back together, then all of a sudden they slid and she did a total split. I wasn't sure how she would react to that, but she didn't mind at all. I also discovered how she's going from stand to sit - she bends down like she's trying to pick something up off the ground while holding onto a piece of furniture and then sits when she gets close enough to the ground.
Kinsey has also been making progress with feeding herself. Jamie said she was putting the spoon in her mouth when he gave it to her with food on it the other night. We've also been practicing it at school for snack time. The teacher said she did great with it one day, but hasn't been interested in it since then (she wants crackers every day now like the other kids).
I think I've remembered to include all the updates. Here are some fun pictures and a video:
Kinsey put her cow stuffed animal in the baby swing and was pushing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_q_Rp8loc
She brought Minnie, Pooh and Elmo (not pictured) from her bedroom out into the living room and sat them with her giant dog! so cute!
She loves to cuddle her bears or Minnie when sleeping!
Hmmm - at least she put Mr Potato Head's mouth in the right place.
And here are some sneak peak pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot (my friend Aliy came over to take these for us):
All the girls on the couch together
My little turkey (in the hand me down dress from her friend Lorelei)
Kinsey didn't have school at all last week, but she went back this week and she still loves it. She is really benefiting from being around the other kids. She likes to try to do the things she sees the other kids doing. We took her walker to school so she can use it there (much more room for her to use it there than here). Sometimes she doesn't want to use it and won't hold onto the handles no matter what you try. She did that the first day we took it to school, but then apparently one of the little girls in her class (who knows how to walk) was interested in it and started pushing it around and then Kinsey wanted to do it all of a sudden. Little stinker! This week the teacher had to call me because the kids were having their snack and everyone else was eating a cracker and Kinsey had applesauce, but she wanted a cracker. So the teacher called to be sure it was ok to give one to her. And today when I went to pick her up she and that same little girl were sitting at a table together, but as soon as the other girl got up, Kinsey had to get up and try to follow her!
As I mentioned before, we've been doing a steroid treatment twice a day in an effort to keep Kinsey healthy. We do it with the nebulizer machine, which Kinsey isn't wild about, but Jamie discovered she does better with it if we let her stand up in the crib while doing it. She won't wear the mask (we've never even tried that) so we usually hold it in front of her face, but we've also recently discovered she will chew on the mask! She's so funny with it, but it's nice to not have to stand there and hold it for 5-10 minutes. We just have to make sure it doesn't come apart or get turned upside down or something.
Kinsey's getting better and better about moving around on her own in different ways. This week she's officially crawled for the first time (up until now she's really just stayed still or moved "in place"), but twice this week I've seen her really move and I even got it on video the second time: http://youtu.be/X56eG-M3FXc She's also getting closer to standing up on her own. When she gets up on her knees in front of a piece of furniture, she can get one foot up and if you give her a little push on her butt, she will stand up. She's definitely getting stronger and closer! She's also more stable when she's standing without any shoes or splints on too - while holding onto furniture, she can't stand on her own without her splints and shoes.
She's also getting better about falling without hurting herself. She bends at the waist when falling backwards and tucks her chin so her head doesn't hit the floor before her butt. I've also seen her sort of tuck and roll when falling forward instead of face planting. And the other day I also saw her do a split - her feet got really far apart and she couldn't bring them back together, then all of a sudden they slid and she did a total split. I wasn't sure how she would react to that, but she didn't mind at all. I also discovered how she's going from stand to sit - she bends down like she's trying to pick something up off the ground while holding onto a piece of furniture and then sits when she gets close enough to the ground.
Kinsey has also been making progress with feeding herself. Jamie said she was putting the spoon in her mouth when he gave it to her with food on it the other night. We've also been practicing it at school for snack time. The teacher said she did great with it one day, but hasn't been interested in it since then (she wants crackers every day now like the other kids).
I think I've remembered to include all the updates. Here are some fun pictures and a video:
Kinsey put her cow stuffed animal in the baby swing and was pushing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_q_Rp8loc
She brought Minnie, Pooh and Elmo (not pictured) from her bedroom out into the living room and sat them with her giant dog! so cute!
She loves to cuddle her bears or Minnie when sleeping!
Hmmm - at least she put Mr Potato Head's mouth in the right place.
And here are some sneak peak pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot (my friend Aliy came over to take these for us):
Friday, November 22, 2013
Another Good Week of School
Kinsey enjoyed her second week of preschool! I wondered over the weekend what she thought - did she understand that she'd go back again or think it was just for a few days and over already? But she was happy to go back on Tuesday and enjoyed the whole week again. Now she's out until after Thanksgiving.
Here are a few pictures from school this week:
Turkey Hat Fun!
Checking out the Snails!
I guess she wasn't afraid to pick them up!
It seems the weeks go by much faster now that she's in school and we don't have as many opportunities to play and take pictures. We did have a doctor's visit today for Kinsey's annual check up and physical (required for school). The doctor said her weight (23.5 lbs) is actually on the growth chart at 2% and her height (35 1/4") is also on the growth chart at 8%. She said everything looked good, but she has suggested that we continue giving Kinsey a steroid treatment through her nebulizer twice a day through the winter months in an effort to keep her healthy. (We started giving her that in the hospital). I've also started giving her a multi-vitamin (liquid mixed in her water) each day, hoping that will help too. And we're also trying an essential oil called On Guard. I put it in a diffuser each day after we get home from school to ward off any germs she might have picked up at school. Who knows if that stuff works, but it's worth a shot!
There's not much else to report from this week, but here's a cute video of Kinsey playing with the egg shakers she got from the music teacher at her birthday party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB6uI2uoGsE
Here are a few pictures from school this week:
Turkey Hat Fun!
Checking out the Snails!
I guess she wasn't afraid to pick them up!
It seems the weeks go by much faster now that she's in school and we don't have as many opportunities to play and take pictures. We did have a doctor's visit today for Kinsey's annual check up and physical (required for school). The doctor said her weight (23.5 lbs) is actually on the growth chart at 2% and her height (35 1/4") is also on the growth chart at 8%. She said everything looked good, but she has suggested that we continue giving Kinsey a steroid treatment through her nebulizer twice a day through the winter months in an effort to keep her healthy. (We started giving her that in the hospital). I've also started giving her a multi-vitamin (liquid mixed in her water) each day, hoping that will help too. And we're also trying an essential oil called On Guard. I put it in a diffuser each day after we get home from school to ward off any germs she might have picked up at school. Who knows if that stuff works, but it's worth a shot!
There's not much else to report from this week, but here's a cute video of Kinsey playing with the egg shakers she got from the music teacher at her birthday party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB6uI2uoGsE
Friday, November 15, 2013
We Have a Preschooler!
Kinsey started preschool on Tuesday and she loved it right from the start! We expected nothing less - she loves to be around other kids and they do lots of fun stuff. She isn't too crazy about getting up early, but got used to the routine right away and gets excited as soon as we pull into the parking lot at school.
Jamie and I both took her the first day (so Jamie would know the routine in case I can't take her or pick her up one day) then we went out for breakfast together before he went to work. I think that made it easier for me to get used to the fact that she was at school (I managed not to cry!) Anyway, Kinsey's not the only one enjoying school - I like it too. I have so much free time now with her at school in the morning then taking a long nap in the afternoon! I hardly know what to do with myself.
Kinsey's teacher (the one who used to be her speech therapist) is really great about letting me know how she's doing and sends me a picture just about every day. Here are the ones she sent me this week:
Playing with the dollhouse the first day with 2 of her classmates Tessa & Levi.
Playdough yesterday with Tessa and some of the kids from the other preschool class next door (They do some activities together with the other class)
Playing with all the baby dolls today.
Kinsey continues to do well walking and I've been told she's been doing a lot of it at school. Today she cruised along some furniture from the kitchen around the corner and into her bedroom. She also likes scooting off the couch now. We usually hold onto her arm to make sure she doesn't fall, but she's pretty good at landing on her feet on her own. Tonight she scooted off the couch at Dairy Queen and cruised around a bit. She really likes the seats there because she can watch the cars go through the drive thru (and the people in the cars usually smile at her as they go by). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv0aIJXK3hQ
Kinsey's been enjoying all of her birthday presents, although she doesn't have nearly as much time to play with them all now. She really likes the play kitchen that Pop-Pop bought her:
That's it for this week. Lots of fun planned for this weekend, then back to school next week!
Friday, November 8, 2013
A Rough Week, But We're Ready to Celebrate Now!
Last weekend Kinsey started showing signs that she was getting a cold, but it didn't seem too bad at first. I thought she'd fight it off and handle it well like the last couple of colds, but this one wasn't the same. Saturday night she coughed all night long, although I think she slept (she was never crying or anything), but then Sunday morning she woke up pukey, coughing and congested. She was miserable and lethargic. We tried to help her through it for a few hours and even called the doctor's on call service to ask about giving her the anti-nausea medicine we had for her, but shortly after that she got extremely fussy (screaming her head off) and vomiting more, so we took her to the ER. Thankfully, a friend of mine who's a PICU nurse told me one of the local hospitals (PVH) is great with kids, so we took her there instead of having to go all the way down to Children's in Denver. I knew if we went to the hospital, we were definitely going to be staying the night.
Anyway, when we got to the ER, Kinsey's o2 levels were in the 60s (should be in the 90s) and she was still very pukey. They did a chest xray to check for pneumonia and bloodwork to check her white cell counts, etc and all came back normal, although her lungs did show lots of congestion. They gave her more medicine for the vomiting and got that under control and admitted us. It turns out my friend was right about PVH - they have a wonderful pediatric unit with a great pediatrician and nurses on staff! They were excellent with Kinsey and very accommodating with our requests (turning off the beeping monitors, finding a way to give her blow-by oxygen instead of trying to force the mask, etc.) And it was really nice to be closer to home so Jamie and I could take turns going home and stuff. Long story short, we spent 3 nights there with Jamie and I alternating nights with her. She started to perk up on Monday, but had a setback that night. She was slow to perk up again Tuesday, but once she did, she was on the mend for good. We got to come home on Wednesday and we were all really happy about that.
Perking up for the first time
Definitely feeling better and trying to escape
Waiting to go home and putting my boots on
Kinsey has been back to her normal self - playing, eating well and sleeping well since we've been home. This is her singing and dancing along with the CMA Awards on Wed night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-KBHenH7fY She still has a really nasty cough that will probably take a week or so to go away. They sent us home with oxygen to do blow-by at night and a suction machine to help clear her out. We also have to do a steroid treatment in her nebulizer machine to help reduce the inflammation. And in a follow-up visit with her regular pediatrician today, we learned we will keep doing that twice a day throughout the winter in an effort to keep her healthier. Hopefully that will help. The doctor also said it's still ok for her to start preschool on Tuesday (I wasn't sure if we should delay it now or not).
So, tomorrow (Saturday) is Kinsey's birthday party, even though her birthday isn't until Sunday. We are so thankful that she is feeling better and will be able to celebrate tomorrow! We have lots of friends coming and a great music-themed party planned. We're even having her old music class teacher come to do a private class for the kids!
It's kind of ironic because I spent the days, weeks and months leading up to her first birthday terrified that she would get sick and we wouldn't be able to celebrate her first birthday. With the statistic that only 5-10% of trisomy kids make it to their first birthday, I was extremely apprehensive, but she made it through that birthday totally unscathed. So it's ironic that she has been sick for each birthday since then! Boy oh boy would I love to get through another birthday without a sickness! But for now I will be thankful that we've gotten through this sickness and can celebrate this weekend :)
Here's a sneak peak at Kinsey's birthday announcement:
Anyway, when we got to the ER, Kinsey's o2 levels were in the 60s (should be in the 90s) and she was still very pukey. They did a chest xray to check for pneumonia and bloodwork to check her white cell counts, etc and all came back normal, although her lungs did show lots of congestion. They gave her more medicine for the vomiting and got that under control and admitted us. It turns out my friend was right about PVH - they have a wonderful pediatric unit with a great pediatrician and nurses on staff! They were excellent with Kinsey and very accommodating with our requests (turning off the beeping monitors, finding a way to give her blow-by oxygen instead of trying to force the mask, etc.) And it was really nice to be closer to home so Jamie and I could take turns going home and stuff. Long story short, we spent 3 nights there with Jamie and I alternating nights with her. She started to perk up on Monday, but had a setback that night. She was slow to perk up again Tuesday, but once she did, she was on the mend for good. We got to come home on Wednesday and we were all really happy about that.
Perking up for the first time
Definitely feeling better and trying to escape
Waiting to go home and putting my boots on
Kinsey has been back to her normal self - playing, eating well and sleeping well since we've been home. This is her singing and dancing along with the CMA Awards on Wed night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-KBHenH7fY She still has a really nasty cough that will probably take a week or so to go away. They sent us home with oxygen to do blow-by at night and a suction machine to help clear her out. We also have to do a steroid treatment in her nebulizer machine to help reduce the inflammation. And in a follow-up visit with her regular pediatrician today, we learned we will keep doing that twice a day throughout the winter in an effort to keep her healthier. Hopefully that will help. The doctor also said it's still ok for her to start preschool on Tuesday (I wasn't sure if we should delay it now or not).
So, tomorrow (Saturday) is Kinsey's birthday party, even though her birthday isn't until Sunday. We are so thankful that she is feeling better and will be able to celebrate tomorrow! We have lots of friends coming and a great music-themed party planned. We're even having her old music class teacher come to do a private class for the kids!
It's kind of ironic because I spent the days, weeks and months leading up to her first birthday terrified that she would get sick and we wouldn't be able to celebrate her first birthday. With the statistic that only 5-10% of trisomy kids make it to their first birthday, I was extremely apprehensive, but she made it through that birthday totally unscathed. So it's ironic that she has been sick for each birthday since then! Boy oh boy would I love to get through another birthday without a sickness! But for now I will be thankful that we've gotten through this sickness and can celebrate this weekend :)
Here's a sneak peak at Kinsey's birthday announcement:
Friday, November 1, 2013
Halloween
Last weekend we went to The Farm at Lee Martinez Park for trick or treating. Kinsey's costume was a HUGE hit! And she was really into it this year - looking up we approached each door and reaching out to grab the candy from the people. She also really enjoyed being able to play with the candy in the wagon (I mean barn!).
Kinsey is continuing to do great with walking, standing, and cruising (on her feet and on her knees). She spends a lot of time standing and playing at her tables and walking around the tables and sometimes between tables without holding onto anything. She's been getting up on her knees a lot and playing at her tables that way too. She is also getting up on all fours frequently, but I haven't seen her crawl again since last week. She always goes up into sitting instead. She's been doing a lot of bending down to grab toys on the ground when she's standing at her table (holding onto the table with one hand) and she's also figured out how to sit down on the floor when she gets tired of standing. I'm not sure how she's doing it because I haven't seen her do it, but she's standing when I leave the room and sitting when I come back so she's doing it somehow. And it's not by falling because I can hear when she falls (when she falls now - backwards anyway - she bends at the waist and hits the ground with her butt first, tucks her chin under and falls back onto her back without hitting her head. So she can "fall" now without hurting herself and she just sits back up and goes on about her business.) Anyway, she's definitely enjoying her new skills and ways to get around. Here's a video of her getting up onto her knees while sitting on the couch so she can get into some trouble -which I was encouraging :) http://youtu.be/Fc9HvTqmnQA
I think I forgot to mention that we learned at Kinsey's cardiology appointment a few weeks ago that she grew again - she's up to 35 1/4" now! (She's really almost a Yard tall now Aunt Linda)
Anyway, that's it for this week. We're in the countdown now to Kinsey's 3rd Birthday! Only 8 days to go :)
Kinsey is continuing to do great with walking, standing, and cruising (on her feet and on her knees). She spends a lot of time standing and playing at her tables and walking around the tables and sometimes between tables without holding onto anything. She's been getting up on her knees a lot and playing at her tables that way too. She is also getting up on all fours frequently, but I haven't seen her crawl again since last week. She always goes up into sitting instead. She's been doing a lot of bending down to grab toys on the ground when she's standing at her table (holding onto the table with one hand) and she's also figured out how to sit down on the floor when she gets tired of standing. I'm not sure how she's doing it because I haven't seen her do it, but she's standing when I leave the room and sitting when I come back so she's doing it somehow. And it's not by falling because I can hear when she falls (when she falls now - backwards anyway - she bends at the waist and hits the ground with her butt first, tucks her chin under and falls back onto her back without hitting her head. So she can "fall" now without hurting herself and she just sits back up and goes on about her business.) Anyway, she's definitely enjoying her new skills and ways to get around. Here's a video of her getting up onto her knees while sitting on the couch so she can get into some trouble -which I was encouraging :) http://youtu.be/Fc9HvTqmnQA
I think I forgot to mention that we learned at Kinsey's cardiology appointment a few weeks ago that she grew again - she's up to 35 1/4" now! (She's really almost a Yard tall now Aunt Linda)
Anyway, that's it for this week. We're in the countdown now to Kinsey's 3rd Birthday! Only 8 days to go :)
Friday, October 25, 2013
She's Simply Amazing! (Not that you didn't already know that)
Wow! Have we ever had an amazing last couple of weeks! Last Monday Kinsey had a follow-up appointment with the cardiologist. She hasn't been to see him since we did the Holter Monitor in Feb and he took her off all medication. Well, we had a wonderful appointment . . . He said the Wolfe-Parkinson White Syndrome (irregular heartbeat) is definitely gone! He also said it is unlikely to return (when she was first diagnosed with this the doctors told us it could go away, but could also return when she's a little older). This Dr feels like because of the way it went away that it is unlikely to return - I hope he's right. He also said the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (thickening of the heart wall) still hasn't gotten any worse since it was first found when she was 6 months old and it's still minor. A nurse friend of mine explained that the thickening might have been a result of her heart working extra hard with the WPW and the reason it never got any worse was because we got the WPW under control and now gone, so hopefully she's right and that won't ever get any worse. Anyway, since Kinsey's heart is doing so well we don't have to go back to the cardiologist for 2 whole years! WOO HOO!!
Kinsey had fun with Pop-Pop and daddy while I was away last weekend. That was hard on me - I missed her a lot - but it was also a lot of fun! And this week Kinsey has done some pretty incredible things! You know we've been working on sit to stand and climbing up steps to get into a standing position in PT and she's really got the concept behind it down pat, but hadn't been able to execute it yet without a lot of help. She can get onto all fours, but then has trouble getting up on one knee and one foot then pushing/pulling to stand. Well, Monday afternoon she was playing on the floor and all of a sudden she got up on all fours in front of the couch, then reached out and put both hands on the couch. I could tell she was trying to get one foot up, but she was struggling with it and instead just moved her knees forward a little until she was closer to the couch. Then she cruised along the front of the couch on her knees. That was a first! I didn't get the whole thing on video, but I did get the cruising part: http://youtu.be/yN5CbV3H4sw
But it gets ever better - Tuesday night she wasn't sleeping so we went in to check on her and she was up on all fours when Jamie went in her room. She was reaching for the top of the crib and pulled herself up to be on her knees and was again trying to get her foot up. She even got her foot up a couple of times, but still couldn't pull to stand. http://youtu.be/Yk4xyYdTx0Y Then she decided to scoot on her butt to the corner of the crib and she grabbed the top and popped right up! She did it like she'd done it a million times before and I was in utter shock! It wasn't the way we've been trying to teach her, but it's pretty typical for her to find her own way to do something! Fortunately, I'd been filming already so we got it on tape! http://youtu.be/3PFpWWCVnAw You can see how proud she was (and you can hear how shocked I was!). Unfortunately, for safety we had to lower the mattress down right away. Now that she knows how to do it she'd be doing it all the time and she's so tall she could easily fall out of the crib. And now that we've lowered the mattress, she can't reach the top to stand up anymore :( We're trying to recreate the environment with some of her tables or maybe we'll even put something in the crib for her to practice that we'd take out when it's time to sleep. But now that she's done it, I think she will keep doing it.
Then on Thursday she did something else new - she crawled! PT was here and we had gone in Kinsey's room to measure the height of the mattress and Kinsey was in the living room. When I looked out, she was up on all fours and started moving her legs, then her arms forward! She's done it a few other times too. Amazing! This is HUGE for her because it takes SO much arm strength, something she's always struggled with. Plus the PT said crawling strengthens a lot of muscles in the back which are important for walking too. The chiropractor even mentioned on Wed that he can feel the muscles developing in her back from all the walking and standing she's been doing.
She is continuing to stand well and take steps on her own. She prefers to go short distances between furniture - if it's too far to something she can hold onto she doesn't have the confidence to go. She's also getting up on her knees more often - today I found her up on her knees playing with the toys on her table and cruising along. It's so shocking to walk into a room and find her up on her knees!
In other news, we had Kinsey's preschool evaluation on Monday and that went well. It was basically about 15 people (teachers, therapists, nurse, etc) all sitting around a room watching Kinsey play and asking me questions about her abilities. I think she impressed them :) We have the IEP meeting in 2 weeks to develop her goals and strategies and then she will start school the Tuesday after her birthday, which just happens to be 11-12-13 . .. kind of cool I think!
As we get closer to starting school we've been easing her into getting up earlier. Right now we're at 8 am and I'm planning to take advantage of the time change in two weeks - we'll get her up at what feels like 8 that day, but it will really be 7 so that will make the transition easier. Then she'll have a week to get used to it before starting school. Since she's getting up earlier, she's started napping again in the afternoons :)
I think that's it for this week! We're in the countdown now - only 15 days until Kinsey turns 3!!! Here's a fun picture of her putting her bear on the tractor to drive it. So cute!
Kinsey had fun with Pop-Pop and daddy while I was away last weekend. That was hard on me - I missed her a lot - but it was also a lot of fun! And this week Kinsey has done some pretty incredible things! You know we've been working on sit to stand and climbing up steps to get into a standing position in PT and she's really got the concept behind it down pat, but hadn't been able to execute it yet without a lot of help. She can get onto all fours, but then has trouble getting up on one knee and one foot then pushing/pulling to stand. Well, Monday afternoon she was playing on the floor and all of a sudden she got up on all fours in front of the couch, then reached out and put both hands on the couch. I could tell she was trying to get one foot up, but she was struggling with it and instead just moved her knees forward a little until she was closer to the couch. Then she cruised along the front of the couch on her knees. That was a first! I didn't get the whole thing on video, but I did get the cruising part: http://youtu.be/yN5CbV3H4sw
But it gets ever better - Tuesday night she wasn't sleeping so we went in to check on her and she was up on all fours when Jamie went in her room. She was reaching for the top of the crib and pulled herself up to be on her knees and was again trying to get her foot up. She even got her foot up a couple of times, but still couldn't pull to stand. http://youtu.be/Yk4xyYdTx0Y Then she decided to scoot on her butt to the corner of the crib and she grabbed the top and popped right up! She did it like she'd done it a million times before and I was in utter shock! It wasn't the way we've been trying to teach her, but it's pretty typical for her to find her own way to do something! Fortunately, I'd been filming already so we got it on tape! http://youtu.be/3PFpWWCVnAw You can see how proud she was (and you can hear how shocked I was!). Unfortunately, for safety we had to lower the mattress down right away. Now that she knows how to do it she'd be doing it all the time and she's so tall she could easily fall out of the crib. And now that we've lowered the mattress, she can't reach the top to stand up anymore :( We're trying to recreate the environment with some of her tables or maybe we'll even put something in the crib for her to practice that we'd take out when it's time to sleep. But now that she's done it, I think she will keep doing it.
Then on Thursday she did something else new - she crawled! PT was here and we had gone in Kinsey's room to measure the height of the mattress and Kinsey was in the living room. When I looked out, she was up on all fours and started moving her legs, then her arms forward! She's done it a few other times too. Amazing! This is HUGE for her because it takes SO much arm strength, something she's always struggled with. Plus the PT said crawling strengthens a lot of muscles in the back which are important for walking too. The chiropractor even mentioned on Wed that he can feel the muscles developing in her back from all the walking and standing she's been doing.
She is continuing to stand well and take steps on her own. She prefers to go short distances between furniture - if it's too far to something she can hold onto she doesn't have the confidence to go. She's also getting up on her knees more often - today I found her up on her knees playing with the toys on her table and cruising along. It's so shocking to walk into a room and find her up on her knees!
In other news, we had Kinsey's preschool evaluation on Monday and that went well. It was basically about 15 people (teachers, therapists, nurse, etc) all sitting around a room watching Kinsey play and asking me questions about her abilities. I think she impressed them :) We have the IEP meeting in 2 weeks to develop her goals and strategies and then she will start school the Tuesday after her birthday, which just happens to be 11-12-13 . .. kind of cool I think!
As we get closer to starting school we've been easing her into getting up earlier. Right now we're at 8 am and I'm planning to take advantage of the time change in two weeks - we'll get her up at what feels like 8 that day, but it will really be 7 so that will make the transition easier. Then she'll have a week to get used to it before starting school. Since she's getting up earlier, she's started napping again in the afternoons :)
I think that's it for this week! We're in the countdown now - only 15 days until Kinsey turns 3!!! Here's a fun picture of her putting her bear on the tractor to drive it. So cute!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Let the Countdown Begin!
As of Thursday, it's less than a month until Kinsey's 3rd birthday! I've been planning the party for a while now already (I'm sure no one is surprised by that). We're having a music party here at the house this year and looking forward to having lots of friends (ours and Kinsey's) to celebrate with us.
This isn't just another birthday (not that any of Kinsey's are), but turning 3 means Kinsey will start preschool! The early intervention program that provides Kinsey's therapy services only runs through age 3, at which point the kids have to enter the school system to continue receiving services (or we could do them on our own through insurance, but that's not a realistic option). So I've been preparing for this for quite some time too. Kinsey will go to preschool 4 days a week for 3 hours a day (Tues-Fri, 8:05 - 10:50 am). The school is in Windsor about 20 minutes from the house and we will be taking her to school.
This week I went to the school to meet with the principal and see Kinsey's classroom. The principal is really nice and it turns out she has a background in special ed preschool and kindergarten. I've heard wonderful things from other moms with kids with special needs and I think she'll be great to work with. One of the teachers in Kinsey's classroom is her current hearing therapist, so she's been telling me a lot about the class and helping us get ready. It's also just great to know that someone who already knows Kinsey and Kinsey already knows will be there with her (that makes me feel much better - after all, this will be the first time she will be away from me like this). I met the other teacher, the PT, OT, aids and the nurses that are there for some of the other kids. Everyone was wonderful. I got some basic information (like how to do drop off and pick up), which also make me less nervous. Next week the school psychologist is coming to do a home evaluation, then we have Kinsey's formal evaluation on the 21st at the school where everyone will be there to observe her and get info from me about her so we can begin to develop her plan. Then we have her IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting on Nov. 4th. That's where we outline her individual goals, strategies to meet those goals and make a plan for any accommodations she might need (like an individual aid to be with her on the playground or a special chair to sit in so she doesn't get hurt, etc). This part is quite overwhelming and I've been doing a lot of research to be sure we put together the best IEP for her. Overall, I think school will be great for her and I think she will learn a lot. Anyway, more on school to come.
This week Kinsey and I went to another pumpkin patch with our MOPS group and one of the ladies had everyone over to carve our pumpkins afterwards. She also has a pony that she let the kids ride, which Kinsey loved. She's getting so good at riding I could almost (but still would never) let go of her.
Kinsey and I also did something different this week - we got pink hair extensions! A local salon is doing it to support Breast Cancer Awareness month, so we went with a group of friends and (and some of their kids) and got a little pink hair (in memory of my mom - who would probably think it's crazy).
I made Kinsey a new Gator bib last weekend. I hate that I always cover up her Gator outfits with a bib so I found a lady to embroider some fabric with a Gator design then I made it into a bib. I think it turned out really cute.
And Jamie and I have been trying to teach Kinsey to raise her arms in the air to celebrate a touchdown. Fortunately between the Gators and the Broncos (mostly the Broncos) we've had plenty of opportunities to teach her. She's starting to get it: http://youtu.be/Dg4QDpdqjW4
This week Jamie finished the bathroom remodel (the one that was damaged in the fire) and Kinsey has a bathtub again. We got a beautiful claw foot tub that's really deep and Kinsey loves it. She also loves that the water faucet is in the middle of the tub instead of at the end and that it has a handheld shower head too.
Finally, here are a couple of cute videos: Kinsey playing with her new baby doll swing: http://youtu.be/CAEZ5XNZfwc and Kinsey bouncing on the bed: http://youtu.be/6FNDLnANaVs
Oh, and next week I will be at the MOPS conference in Kansas City. I will be gone Thurs - Sunday (the longest I've ever been away from Kinsey!) so I probably won't get a blog posted next week. Kinsey will have lots of fun with Pop-Pop and Jamie and I'll catch everyone up on things the following week.
This isn't just another birthday (not that any of Kinsey's are), but turning 3 means Kinsey will start preschool! The early intervention program that provides Kinsey's therapy services only runs through age 3, at which point the kids have to enter the school system to continue receiving services (or we could do them on our own through insurance, but that's not a realistic option). So I've been preparing for this for quite some time too. Kinsey will go to preschool 4 days a week for 3 hours a day (Tues-Fri, 8:05 - 10:50 am). The school is in Windsor about 20 minutes from the house and we will be taking her to school.
This week I went to the school to meet with the principal and see Kinsey's classroom. The principal is really nice and it turns out she has a background in special ed preschool and kindergarten. I've heard wonderful things from other moms with kids with special needs and I think she'll be great to work with. One of the teachers in Kinsey's classroom is her current hearing therapist, so she's been telling me a lot about the class and helping us get ready. It's also just great to know that someone who already knows Kinsey and Kinsey already knows will be there with her (that makes me feel much better - after all, this will be the first time she will be away from me like this). I met the other teacher, the PT, OT, aids and the nurses that are there for some of the other kids. Everyone was wonderful. I got some basic information (like how to do drop off and pick up), which also make me less nervous. Next week the school psychologist is coming to do a home evaluation, then we have Kinsey's formal evaluation on the 21st at the school where everyone will be there to observe her and get info from me about her so we can begin to develop her plan. Then we have her IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting on Nov. 4th. That's where we outline her individual goals, strategies to meet those goals and make a plan for any accommodations she might need (like an individual aid to be with her on the playground or a special chair to sit in so she doesn't get hurt, etc). This part is quite overwhelming and I've been doing a lot of research to be sure we put together the best IEP for her. Overall, I think school will be great for her and I think she will learn a lot. Anyway, more on school to come.
This week Kinsey and I went to another pumpkin patch with our MOPS group and one of the ladies had everyone over to carve our pumpkins afterwards. She also has a pony that she let the kids ride, which Kinsey loved. She's getting so good at riding I could almost (but still would never) let go of her.
Kinsey and I also did something different this week - we got pink hair extensions! A local salon is doing it to support Breast Cancer Awareness month, so we went with a group of friends and (and some of their kids) and got a little pink hair (in memory of my mom - who would probably think it's crazy).
I made Kinsey a new Gator bib last weekend. I hate that I always cover up her Gator outfits with a bib so I found a lady to embroider some fabric with a Gator design then I made it into a bib. I think it turned out really cute.
And Jamie and I have been trying to teach Kinsey to raise her arms in the air to celebrate a touchdown. Fortunately between the Gators and the Broncos (mostly the Broncos) we've had plenty of opportunities to teach her. She's starting to get it: http://youtu.be/Dg4QDpdqjW4
This week Jamie finished the bathroom remodel (the one that was damaged in the fire) and Kinsey has a bathtub again. We got a beautiful claw foot tub that's really deep and Kinsey loves it. She also loves that the water faucet is in the middle of the tub instead of at the end and that it has a handheld shower head too.
Finally, here are a couple of cute videos: Kinsey playing with her new baby doll swing: http://youtu.be/CAEZ5XNZfwc and Kinsey bouncing on the bed: http://youtu.be/6FNDLnANaVs
Oh, and next week I will be at the MOPS conference in Kansas City. I will be gone Thurs - Sunday (the longest I've ever been away from Kinsey!) so I probably won't get a blog posted next week. Kinsey will have lots of fun with Pop-Pop and Jamie and I'll catch everyone up on things the following week.
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