Back in Washington

A lot has happened since my last post.

The boys and myself has moved back up to Washington to live with my parents, as my husband James stayed back in Las Vegas to focus on selling insurance. He was not able to do his job very well with having to watch the boys, and needing to be home to see them on and off the bus while they were at school for the 3 hours in the morning. It was not enough time for my husband to get anything done!

I will be returning back to Las Vegas in a couple months. In the meantime, I am taking insurance classes to get my licenses so I can help my husband and work from home. My husband is getting our home situated in the meantime.

The school district here in Washington is MUCH better than down in Las Vegas.

Based on Jonathan's IEP, they placed him in an all-day school program that is much different than his last classroom in Las Vegas.  This class is not as much education focused, but living skills focused, which I am happy for.  It is absolutely ridiculous in Las Vegas to have homework packets having Jonathan trying to match the capitol letters to the lower case letters, and to color in the objects that started with a particular letter. That kind of homework seems several years premature for where Jonathan is.  You give him a crayon, he may stick it in him mouth OR he may feel it but look up and around- not at the paper OR he may scribble on the paper for a moment, then want to grab the paper to flip it in his hand.  He doesn't know numbers or letters and he still can't talk.  I hear him say daddy a lot, but never in context, since daddy is not here.

Jonathan's class is AWESOME!  You walk in and the walls are a neutral color! The stations are carefully arranged so if Jonathan went to the the pretend play corner, there are visual barriers so he is not distracted by the children across the room.  I've done research on best practices for teacher children with ADD or FAS, and visual barriers are so important. Neutral walls are important, so the children can focus on the teacher when they are teaching, and won't be distracted by the artwork on the walls. I can't believe Jonathan is actually in an all-day program that caters to his needs.  We are re-doing his IEP this Thursday. The teacher was absolutely shocked that his IEP had no mention of needing OT.  They have an OT on staff at the school, and she will make sure his IEP is updated, so when we return to Las Vegas, they have to go off his IEP and give him the OT he deserves.  In Las Vegas, they were saying that he has the fine motor strength, just not the cognitive ability to do things, therefore he doesn't qualify- they are only working with children without the fine motor strength. Looking back, that is crazy! Jon deserves help too! He can't put on his own sock or shoes or clothes for that matter... and he's 5 1/2 years old.

The other thing I love about Jonathan's new school is all of the adaptive bikes and tricycles they have. There is a plethera, so I know they are working with him on riding skills. At home, I've bought tricycles, and even a little tykes cozy coupe for Jon to try, but he'll just sit there and not move, or he's too big. Especially for the little car, his legs are too long to actually use.  (He fits in the older, original car design, but the newer design's wheels pivot too much and leaves no room for his feet or legs.)  It's too hard to know what will work for him, I don't have much extra money, so I can't waste it on a product that doesn't work.

Let's talk about little David.  He is soooo busy.  He loves to lock and unlock doors.  He loves to open the refrigerator and unscrew tops to salad dressings, milk, sauces.  He loves finding a bag of chips and going to town on it. If it's quiet, then you know David is getting into trouble.

I have to constantly monitor what David eats.  He is a head shorter than Jonathan, but weighs 3 pounds more than him!  I don't let him have any sweets, but fruit, and maybe a splash of 100% juice in his water and I try to limit his carb intake.  But it's hard... We make a lot of soups, which David loves. His favorite is still borscht! David needs more physical activity- we are working on this.  We have to make a drive somewhere to make this happen, whether it be to the mall or park. It's too hard on me to do this alone with 2 boys, so it doesn't happen enough.

David is really starting to talk now. It's so precious!  He can say so many words, I couldn't list them all. He still prefers to use his jargon- especially when I give him the phone to talk to daddy. He will just start talking, and he will crack himself up. So cute indeed!  Today, David showed me he can count to 10, which is awesome! wa, tu, thhee, fuh, fi, si, sefee, ah, ii, ehh!  But he raises and lowers his voice to make the syllable sounds that he can't enunciate yet- so you know exactly what he is saying. I'm very proud of him!  :-)

David knows routine, and when Jonathan isn't doing the routine, David loves to help him. He he will help him eat, or take off his bib. Today he helped him put his socks on. They will hold hands when we go to the street corner to wait for their school bus. They both love the song "ring around a rosie"- they will hold hands and do it over and over again. David tries to sing it- I can't really make out any of the words except "ashes", but he does sing that in tune to the song. Jonathan doesn't sing it, but he will get very giggly instead. Jonathan loves to follow, and David loves to lead.  Jon chases David around the house a lot, and will follow what David does.

But most of the time David isn't doing anything too interesting, so Jon will wander off with a toy in hand and not really do too much with it. Jonathan isn't ready for puzzles yet. You give him a piece, he will set it down, but not to the correct location. Then Jon is done. No more puzzle. He doesn't want to touch the puzzle pieces anymore.  When he first came home from Ukraine, he would throw the pieces instantly. So he is doing better compared to that!  Jonathan does understand and will follow directions. If I ask him to come here or go upstairs, or go potty, his will go where I tell him to go. But he will not tell me or sign to me or cue me in on anything- not potty needs, not that he's hungry or thirsty or anything. He just hangs out until he is told what to do, or will follow David on what he is doing. I can ask Jon using sign if he "wants" to "eat". Then Jon will sign "eat". But Jon will never indicate anything first.

So that is a run-down of my life with the boys right now!  We are hanging in there!  I just can't wait to finally get situated a little bit more with life in general, so we can really focus in with the boys, and getting back in with the Southern Nevada Down Syndrome Organization and have play dates, and learn, and do more family things together!  This will be very soon, so I am excited!

Blessings to you all!