~Back on track~

Well, Tru has had her EEG and Tubes put into her ears. The EEG came back normal, so that's a big weight off my shoulders. The tubes have helped her so much already, her balance is imporved so much & some of her behaviors have subsided. She isn't screaming as much, mostly because I think she can hear herself. She's stopped banging her head all the time. She still does it when she's really tired and fighting sleep. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks that her speech will start picking up. She was out of school for two weeks when the tubes were put in and then there was the winter break, so I'm happy to report that she was ready and willing to go back to school today. She was so well behaved at the bus stop this morning. She listened when I told her to wait until the bus stopped to load up & walked up the three steps, holding onto the railing, with very little help. It's amazing the differences I see in her already. She is kissing her brother every day now, upon request. She will even crawl up in bed with us and watch tv. She still has a bunch more doctor appointment to verfiy exactly how well she is hearing. They could tell that she was hear the octatives that didn't register before, but we have to go to the Easter Seals Clinic for more in depth observation. I'll try to keep this up dated a little better then I did last month, my computer had a virus and it took me forever to fix it.

~Have a Beautiful Day~

**Moving right along**

Well, now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over, the IEP is done, doctor appointments are scheduled for the month of December, Tru's gotten her new full strength glasses, school fund raising is winding down till the spring, & I'm caught up with my online class I can tell everyone what Tru's new Individual Education Plan is.

We are taking a step backwards in hopes that it will make the next few steps forward easier. They are wanting her to FULLY complete tasks, (i.e. putting all the blocks away,helping clean up toys, remain at the activities center the entire time, which is only like 15 minutes.) Verbalizing at least 10 times a day (that means not giving her what she wants until she talks, I'm sure it's going to be fun) Learn to approach other children in a friendly manner, sit and listen to a book for ten minutes, communicate her wants and needs through signs,words, pecs whatever she is more comfortable with (that means everyone else has to be a little more observant, lol, she communicates more then they are giving her credit for you just have to be a tune with her.), walk up five steps, scribble to fill a 1/2 page 50% of the time. She does most of these things for me already, but I have to help her 75% of the time. I know she knows how to do it, it's just a matter of doing it every day on a consistent basis.

Other then that, school is wonderful for her. She participated in a short play. She was a maiden and shook a bottle with rice in it. She had to be cued by her friend and the teacher had to encourage her to stop, but it was adorable. I forgot my camera though, sorry no pictures. She was cute in her plaid skirt, white polyester shirt, and lace apron. Needless to say she was hot & was ready to get out of the thing at the end of the 20 minute performance.

One more note, Tru has been chasing my indoor dog. Lucky, that's the dog, has always been good with her. He is a chihuahua/rat terrier mix, really small. She follows him around the house, either crawls or walks behind him. This is a great thing. She use to just touch him and go about her own merry way, but now she is interested in what he's doing and won't leave him alone. Lucky eats it up though. lol. It's a sight the two of them.

~Have a wonderful day~

Mom's Movie Day

Well, I finally got to go on my first field trip with Tru. I was so worried she wasn't going to enjoy herself, just like the Halloween party we held, but I was so very wrong. She sat through the entire movie except for the last 10-15 minutes. WHAT A SUCCESS! No screaming or yelling, she just sat there eating her popcorn and drinking her sweet tea. If I must say so myself, she was better behaved then some of the other kids. We didn't go with the rest of the class to eat McDonald's though. I took her to the park for awhile and enjoyed it being just me and her. We had the run of the merry-go-round, which delighted her to no end.

I don't think I have mentioned it before on the blog, but we are trying a product called the Miracle Belt. Right now she only wears it for 15-30 minutes a day 5-6 times a day. It really seems to be helping her some, even when she's not wearing it, I can see some improvement in her over all, already & it's only been a couple of days since she started wearing it. Basically what it is, is an extra 2 1/2 pounds centered around her waist in the front. It doesn't bother her when I put it on or take it off, so we're keeping to it.

Another IEP meeting is planned for next week. It'll be interesting to see where Tru is at on the curve now. I'm sure it's still isn't up to the expectations of others, but I'm very proud of her and how far she has come. I praise all accomplishments no matter how big or small. Tru's teacher is the same way, she really is wonderful with her. The entire staff is. Which makes me wonder if I didn't get 'accidentally on purpose' to speak with the review and compliance board, next week, about the services offered at Tru's school.

Which brings us to Tru's glasses. She has adjusted well to them and has another eye appointment next week also. The glasses that she currently wears 95% of the time aren't as strong as they should be, so the doctor may up the strength on the lens. This would be good because Tru came home from school on Thursday with her glasses all scratched up and a scratch on her nose and underneath it. Their wasn't a viable explanation offered & Tru can't tell me so.........hmmmmm.

~Have a Beautiful Day~

ABR TEST RESULTS

Well, we've made yet another "successful" trip to the Riley's Children's Hospital. This successful trip determined that Tru could possible have fluid on her ear drum, which would explain her balance being off, possible headaches, and her all around crappy attitude some of the time. So. . .yet again. I am waiting for another phone call to schedule an appointment with an ENT doctor, to check for fluid & if there is no fluid, get some drops to help clear her ear wax better. (She has such tiny little ear canals.) So we wait to make another trip.

Can you find Tru and her new friend? They're in there somewhere.

Other than that, Tru finally got to meet some kids with the same deletion syndrome as her. She played with them a little, but they weren't as mobile as her, yet. . .they are getting there though., so she mostly played outside with older children. I was so ecstatic to finally get to meet parents that have dealt with the same things as me. I simply couldn't wait for the conference in 2009, so a few of us from the support group, who live close together, got together. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Everyone needs a few people who they can relate to. I was told that Tru was an inspiration for one mother, whose son was just starting to walk. . .(could of fooled me cause he was cruising all over and being very adventurous going from one piece of furniture to another. ) It really meant a lot to hear those words. It was like finally being acknowledge for all the hard work and struggles Tru has done and accomplished. I was inspired by another kids' and their communication skills, so verbal and using sooo many signs. (I am so very thankful for meeting such awesome women too.)

Well, let's just make this one long drawn out post to wrap every thing up for the friends & family. Who knows the next time I'll get a chance to post. I'm busy from the time I get up, right into my sleep. (Tre's still not sleeping through the night, uh. . .)

I had my first parent teacher conference & have nothing but positive wonderful things to say about that place. I'm dreading the coming summer when she won't be able to attend & even worse, next year if she doesn't qualify to even go there. AGH.... The teachers are great though & I'm throughly convince that Tru loves her teacher, just as much as me. . .not as much as daddy or either set of her grandparents, but as much as me. Which is wonderful cause she has done wonders working with her. Tru is following simple commands, her behavior is better, awesome really, and she just seems happier more of the time now. I guess I wasn't challenging her enough here at home. I've been told she will go up the slide by herself and go down all by herself. I can't wait to see her do it, along with pedaling her bicycle they rigged up with Velcro. I 'll take pictures. Until the next time I have some peace and quiet. . . . . . . .

~Have a beautiful day~

Visit to Riley's Children's Hospital

Well everything went smoothly on our trip to Riley's this year. No getting lost the the bad parts of town. Tru and Tre' were both well behaved in the back seat on the way up and back. No screaming fits or crying. The visit with the doctor was good. They couldn't get an ABR test scheduled for that day, so I'm waiting for them to call, if they don't call by the end of the week, I'm calling them. I did tell them about my concern about Tru having headache. Since she has gotten her glasses them seem to have subsided, but she still gets them every now and then. I feel so bad for her when they bother her. She just puts her little hand either on the side of her head or on her forehead, depending on what type of headache it is I guess. I wish she could tell me so I knew for sure. The doctor said that they could put her on a daily medication that would stop the headaches all together, but at what cost I wonder. I told her if the headaches every started occurring daily, we would revisit that issue but until then. . . every time she gets a headache, she gets a dose of Tylenol, and I lay with her in a dark room and hold her close to me. At school , the plan is to let her lay down in the isolation room without the lights on and have one of the ladies sit with her & comfort her. If it doesn't improve in an hour or so, I would come and get her. It hasn't come to that though. Like I said the glasses have really improved the symptoms. I'm keeping track of it now & the teacher haven't mentioned anything to me yet, so we carry on. . .

~Have a great Day~

So much is going on, ; )

Tomorrow is picture day for Tru! Her class is the most adorable group EVER! I finally got to go in and volunteer last Wednesday. Tru seemed to be having a blast, so much fun in fact, they I was cramping her style. She didn't want to be around me, she was too busy for mommy. I ended up helping her teacher by making BINGO cards, I'm still not done with them. : b Let's see then there was the Parent Group meeting we went to. Well, Tru didn't go, she could have they did offer babysitting services, which is awesome! It's a really great group, we've only met one time, but I was appointed president, so I'm holding out high hopes for it. They've got a lot of great things planned for the kids that the group helps pay for, so there's gonna be lots of fundraisers we're holding. I interacted with one of the mom's last year, she's the one who nominated me, " I think Tru's mom would be good at it."lol That's what all the kids at the center call me, "Tru's mom" I never do get tired of hearing it though. I've fallen off the beaten path though. . . There are some really great field trips planned. On Oct. 17th they are holding the Daddy's Field Trip. The Daddy's are gonna take them to the Museum in Owensboro. Scottie lee has already put in for the day off, even though there is a possibility that he'll already be off. He wants me to go with them, but I figure it's the Daddy's field trip for a reason, so I hate to say it put I'm not going with them, even though I would really like to, but in all probability I will end up going, The school is having it's fall festival on Oct. 10th, I've volunteered to paint faces : b

Wednesday, we have a doctor's appointment at Riely's Children's Hospital. They changed our time on us too. It was 9 in the morning and now it's 1 in the afternoon, agh... It's not for anything major, just a check up, but I do so ever hate the flippin' drive. My mother is attending with me, so at least I'll have an extra set of hands, which I'll need for Tre'. We're taking her vehicle which means more space too, so YEAH! I'll let cha'll know how it goes.

~Have a Beautiful Day~

SCHOOL IS AWESOME!!

Tru is doing amazing in school. Her speech is picking up along with her fine and gross motor skills. She actually crawled up the slide and went down it by herself yesterday. She is becoming more independent every day. She is also becoming quite the little helper now too. She tries to help me pull up her pants & she is more likely to get things and give them to me. My favorite part of the whole schooling thing though is the homework that is assigned to her. I have to read to her every day, I use to try to read to her every day but she wasn't very interested, but now she expects it and accepts it. I would almost go as far to say that she enjoys it. Especially when I get all silly and do the voices and try to include her in the story. At the end of two weeks we send in the sheet that we keep track of what we've read and she gets to pick out a prize from the TREASURE CHEST. I really love this new school. I can't say enough good things about it and the people that work there. I haven't had the chance to actually volunteer in the school because of the new baby, who is growing so quickly, but they do send home things for me to do. I spent over 4 1/2 hours coloring award certificates that are going to be given out this week. I enjoyed every minute of it. I sat Tru down and she colored on her paper while I worked on the certificates. I got so into that I even put stickers on them and all I was asked to do was color them, but I couldn't help myself. lol. Next week is our first parents meeting. If there are enough people there they are going to vote on members for the policy council and parents council, my only concern is that they won't let me be on both of them. I want to be as involved as possible and will take on everything if they'll let me. I'll be sure to let everyone know how that goes when the time comes.

~DEALING WITH BABY BROTHER~
Tru is adjusting to Tre' quite well. She doesn't like it when he cries though. She seems to be comforted when we tell her that he's okay and explain what is wrong with him. On day I had her sitting at the table eating her lunch and he started crying really loud. I swear she said, "What's wrong?" I didn't let the question faze me, even though she rarely speaks so well, I told her he was hungry too & she said "Oh." and went back to eating while I fixed Tre's bottle up and fed him.

I'm always encouraging her to be a big girl and SHOW her baby brother how to do things, such as feeding herself, picking up her toys, getting dressed. I think it has motivated her some what cause she is really making great strides in these past couple of weeks. I know alot of that has to do with being back in school. I've made up my mind that this summer she is going to have to do a play group or something so she doesn't have any regression like she did last year.

She has accepted that Tre' isn't going anywhere, but she still doesn't really love on him though. She refused to hold him when she's sitting on the couch. She doesn't mind it when we hang out in her room with her and play, but she doesn't want to touch him at all. She's coming around though. She's starting to sit next to us and climb up on the bed with us instead of avoiding us and shutting herself in her room. I really do believe that she was mad a me for having him, but she seems to be getting over it. I just know that in a few years those two will be inseparable & be the best of friends.

Well, I've got many things that need to get done.


~HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY~