Sunday, February 17, 2013

More Progress!

We are making progress, real progress! Anna was accepted into The Little Lighthouse. It is the special needs preschool I had posted about before.It is an amazing place and she is loving it. It is so much more of an appropriate placement for her than her public school pre k. I have a peace about it that I never really had about public school. Homeschooling her was going ok but I think some professional assistance plus therapy are the right direction for her. She goes for 5 hours 2 days a week and I think that is plenty. I think there are only 3 Little Lighthouse Preschools in the country and I feel so blessed to have one in my backyard. They only take 6 students at a time and for my daughter to be one of those six is such a privilege.

I was speaking with a lady at work that gave me a very interesting perspective that I had not ever considered. Her son has multiple disabilities and is in his early 20's. I was asking her a multitude of questions about raising him and about what went well, what didn't, and what she would do differently if she had it to do all over again. You always hear that you need to treat your special needs child just like your other child and never let them use their disability as a reason not to do something- it shouldn't ever be an excuse. She said they did that and they did it well. Too well in fact because when it came time to do things like drive he couldn't understand why he couldn't do it because he had always been told to not use his disability as a reason he couldn't do something. So she said you have to find a balance there. I had not ever considered that side of it. Anna will probably not ever drive and I am trying to accept that. Her seizures combined with her short term memory loss pretty much make it a no go. I'm trying to figure out how to make a disability not a disability but yet still a disability. I have not yet figured out how. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Some freaky stomach virus is making its way through our house. If there's one thing Anna has not had to deal with this week it is constipation. Blessing in disguise? Um, I think not. Carly has had it the worst and I'm just waiting for Gave's explosion. I count us lucky though because stomach viruses rarely circulate through our home.

Homeschooling Carly is going well. We have done a bit of "unschooling" in the past few weeks as we adjust to my new work schedule. We are ditching the online program for a more traditional approach which requires more parental involvement. I'm actually glad about it because I want to be more involved with her. The "unschooling" days are days that we do things like cooking to work on math. It's basically kind of a life skills approach to learning. It's a nice break at times. I'm still certain this was and is the right thing for our family. We also are getting something monthly that a friend suggested called a kiwicrate. You can check it out at kiwicrate.com. It's this cute little box that arrives monthly with projects that kids can do mostly by themselves. It he box includes everything you need- even the scissors and glue. The kids were so excited to get a box with their names on it. In addition to an art project it also incorporates some other learning- like science or math.

We had our home visit with the MDCP nurse and case worker and all went well. We will know for 100% sure in about a month that Anna was accepted but were told they are sure she will be. We just have to wait for the paperwork to go through and then do this insane 1 night nursing home stay. Luckily one of the local nursing homes is familiar with the process which should make things easier. As we get further into the process I'll be sure to post a how to list. It cut our wait time from 8 years to 2 months to get Medicaid as a secondary insurance. We will always carry our own insurance through my work as primary. I hate having to use Medicaid but we really have no other option.

Yesterday Anna said "Mommy, I hungry. No, I seepy (sleepy)." Then boom, she hit the tile floor full force. It was over as soon as it started. I don't know if this is a new kind of seizure or if she blacked out or truly fell asleep standing up. I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I'll continue to reside in the land of denial until I talk to the neurologist hopefully tomorrow. Denial is ok. Right?

PS- morning reading time is the best and who wants to buy me some new mini blinds? One of Gabe's favorite pass times is to tear them up when we aren't looking.