Thursday, March 26, 2009

The changes & updates

On Friday, Alexis and I went to Cardiology appointment to get her cardiac clearance for April Surgery. She did very well. Eventually, she'll need her PPS and ASD repaired, but not now.
On Monday, I started my new job at Philips Medical. On Tuesday, I got to tour the manufacturing of the EKG machines (which Alexis had used on Friday). On Monday, Jessica officially started EI. She was called Alexis Junior because she was showing some attitude. I think they get that from me. Oh well! Parents have to pass along something to children, right?

Jessica made the news this week!
http://support.perkins.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4861.0&printer_friendly=1
Look for little Jessica in the Perkins Newsletter.
Alexis continues to love love love school. We are so excited that Perkins is so close.

Catherine

Friday, March 20, 2009

More Photos

March 19th, 2009 == Mismatch day (at the end of the day, Alexis was tired!!)


Alexis' First Day of School (signing / singing songs with Kristin) SHE LOVES IT

Alexis "walking" to the bus on her first day of school



February Photos (yeah, it's March 20)

These are out of order, I need to figure it out, but now not.

Alexis' 1st day of school
Jessica Crazy Hair Day, cute baby..... not so much of a baby though...

Alexis' Graduation from Perkins Infant Toddler Program

Alexis Graduation from Perkins Infant Toddler Program

Alexis' Birthday Party (quiet and informal at home)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Alexis' Official Schedule (unofficially)

Hi all,
I promised that I would write an update when I knew Alexis' official school schedule. Hot off the presses --
Mondays:
8:30-9:30 Breakfast then diaper
9:30-11 Swimming
11-11:30 Greet
11:30-12 Circle
12-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 *Unscheduled*
2:30-3 Speech

Tuesdays:
8:30-9:30 Breakfast then diaper
9:30-10 PT
10-10:30 Diaper / Free play
10:30-11 OT
11-11:30 Circle
11:30-12 Music
12-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2 *Unscheduled*
2-2:30 Tactile
2:30-3 *Unscheduled*

Wednesdays:
8:30-9:30 Breakfast then diaper
9:30-10:30 *Unscheduled*
10:30-11 OT
11-11:30 Circle
11:30-12 *Unscheduled*
12-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2 Speech
2-3 *Unscheduled*

Thursdays:
8:30-9:30 Breakfast then diaper
9:30-10:30 *Unscheduled*
10:30-10:45 Audiology visit
11-11:30 Circle
11:30-12 PT
12-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3 Swimming

Fridays:
8:30-9:30 Breakfast then diaper
9:30-10:30 *Unscheduled*
10:30-11 OT
11-11:30 Circle
11:30-12 Gym
12-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2 Music & Movement
2-3 *Unscheduled*

Greet = saying hello song, welcoming to school each day, usually 1-on-1 with teacher
Circle = saying hello, singing songs with classmates in a circle
Tactile = playing with paint or otherwise supervised messy activity
*Unscheduled* = different activities in the classroom; such as matching, computer activities, switch toys, free play, homebook where she writes her notes for her day, etc

Needlesstosay, there is little time for Alexis to "chill" at school. We'll be working to get her a more balanced weekend schedule so she can rest and recover from her busy week. She's a tropper and she's been doing very well at school. Unfortunately, she has a pesky cough (that she got from Jessica). We'll need to make sure she get extra TLC to make sure she's ok.

Catherine

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Alexis School Day #4

Hi all,
Alexis had a really fun time at school last week. Yesterday she didn't have school because of 10-12" of snow. It's very pretty outside on the ground. Not so pretty on the cars, in the driveway or on the roads. Thankfully the plows cleaned almost all of the roads and things are very safe and sound right now.
So, Alexis is adjusting to school very well. She wasn't thrilled this morning to be up and awake at 6:30am. She kept trying to close her eyes to indicate that we should go away. Of course, we didn't because between 6:30-7am we have to get her medicines, water, get her downstairs, change her diaper, put on her clothes, brush her hair, put on glasses, put in hearing aids, put on her shoes, find a coat/hat/mittens, and then hope that she doesn't poop during all of this process. So far it only takes 2 adults to get this accomplished! :-) We take turns, but for sure, it's an early morning for ME! Jessica usually wakes up and helps with the process as well. Today Jessica helped by removing Alexis' socks. Yeah, that wasn't much of a help. Good baby though, tries hard to help. :-)

In other news, Jessica has been approved to start Early Intervention because she is now 20months but has the speech abilities of a 12month old (no real words). She does well, understands us, uses a lot of gestures and body language, but no real words. She regularly says "kitty" and that's cute, but not much else regularly. I really feel like a lot of this comes from having quiet Alexis as a role model. So, we'll be getting services starting next week from one of our favorite early intervention specialists. It'll be very very fun, I know that Jessica has the ability in her -- but just doesn't know it and doesn't see little kids her size talking.

And last, not really related to my kids, but completely related to my life. My advisor from Stanford (Kos Ishii) passed away last night. More details will be available on http://kosishiiblog.blogspot.com (for friends who follow me here). It's very sad, Kos was a great man and too young to die.

Love to all,
Catherine, Alexis, Jessica & Matt