She's gotten dressed up for Halloween a few times in the past week - wearing her cowgirl outfit, complete with her boots that have a little heel on them. I wasn't sure if she'd be able to walk in them, but she had no trouble at all! Last Sunday we went trick or treating at The Farm as we usually do. She rode her Farmall tractor most of the time there, but she did a little walking too. But today she got dressed up for the Fall Party at school and they went trick or treating around the school - down to the office, all the way to the library and back and Kinsey walked the entire way all by herself, following the crowd around corners and into classrooms.
The Farm Trick or Treating Pictures:
School Fall Party & Trick or Treating Pictures:
 |
| Trying to get a group shot of these kids is extra difficult! |
 |
| Playing with Gak (Kinsey thought it was interesting, I thought it was gross) |
 |
| Dry Ice Bubbles. These were a hit with all the kids! |
Here's a video of the dry ice bubbles too.
This week we discovered that Kinsey's chewing has improved to the point that she can eat a Twizzlers or a fruit chew! I've wanted to try these in the past, but always been afraid she would choke on it. But she got a Twizzler trick or treating and she really did a good job with it. Her improved chewing is really nice because now we can feed her the same foods that we eat for dinner most of the time. For example, this week we had chicken stir fry and she ate all of it - onions, peppers, chicken and rice (of course, the rice still requires some help with the spoon, but still).
We also had an appointment with the Cleft Palate team this week. We haven't been for 2 years and we are supposed to keep going so they can make sure the repair to her cleft palate is growing ok as she grows and that no adjustments are necessary. We see a variety of doctors at these appointments, including a plastic surgeon (who does the cleft repair), orthodontist, dentist, ENT and a bunch of therapists too. The surgeon brought up something I wasn't really previously aware of and he kind of caught me off guard. He said she has something called Hemifacial Microsomia, which basically means one side of her face isn't quite the same as the other. In her case, the right side of her face is slightly underdeveloped. We've heard before that she has a "strawberry" face, but never heard of it in this term and no one has ever mentioned that something might need to be done about it in the future. Kinsey's difference is so minor that we might not ever need to do anything, but as she grows, loses her baby fat and kids get "meaner," it might be more noticeable and kids might start picking on her for it. But right now, Kinsey doesn't understand that kind of stuff and doesn't care and we wouldn't do anything about it just for those reasons, but if it's something that's causing a real physical issue for her in the future, we'll deal with it then. The doctor said it's not something we need to be concerned about until she's at least 6 or so. The surgeon and the orthodontist both did mention that her jaw is uneven (related to the other issue) and that could be a problem that needs to be addressed in the future.
Something else interesting I learned at the Cleft Palate Clinic was how all of her abilities and development are tied together. We tend to think about them as individual skills - like walking and chewing, but in reality one is related to the other. For example, she needs strong core trunk muscles to be able to chew effectively. And she develops those muscles while learning to crawl, walk, bend down, etc. There are some things that are related to each other that are more obvious, but that one is something that never occurred to us. It's so interesting how the body works! So her walking skills are so important to many other developmental skills and the more she practices, the stronger she'll get in many ways!
We also had Kinsey's annual IEP meeting with the school this week. The IEP (Individual Education Plan) can be adjusted at any time and her progress is documented quarterly with "report cards," but it is required that the entire plan be discussed and adjusted annually. With her new walking skills, that takes quite a few of the old goals off the previous IEP and allows us to focus on some new things. But she still has improvements to make in walking too - one thing the PT wants to focus on is squatting down to pick things up because strengthening her thighs will help her walk better (right now she walks pretty straight legged) and it will help her with walking down stairs, but it also just helps strengthen her core even more, which is good for many things. The OT said she's seen in improvement with her fine motor skills since she's been walking too because she stand at a table or something and doesn't need to use her hands to hold on, so she can use them more for activities. Just another way it's all tied together.
This week the teachers told me a funny story - they were getting ready for painting and Kinsey was over by the sink. She opened the cabinet and pulled out her art smock and started to put it on herself! Not sure if she really knew she needed to wear it for painting or if it was just a coincidence, but my guess is she knew exactly what she was doing. She understands more than we know!
When she's walking around, she's getting good at following directions. Sometimes I'm in front of her and ask her to come where I am, sometimes I tell her verbally while I'm walking alongside her and other times I point in the direction she needs to go, but she almost always follows direction. Impressive.
I think that's all for the updates this week. Two weekends ago we went to another Fall Festival, but since I didn't do the blog last weekend you haven't seen the pictures yet so here they are:
 |
| waiting for the pig races |
 |
| She loved playing in this corn pit |
 |
| She was really excited to hug the piglets! |
No comments:
Post a Comment