Confirmation

We finally got our confirmation letter that Rhys will be seen by the Complex Developmental and Behavioural Conditions Program (CDBC) at Sunnyhill!

I may have cried a bit when I read the letter!

We don't have a date yet and I don't know how long the wait is, since I have to mail in our consent forms first (so that they may inquire with anyone else who has worked with Rhys in the past).  I also have to track down any forms from recent doctor and specialist tests and visits to send along. But this is a start!

Mothering Sunday

Happy Mothers Day to all of you out there, whether you have a baby in your arms, or one (or more) waiting for you in heaven, or if you have been waiting and waiting and trying to become one, or if you have one by way of a step child or adoption or fostering. Whether you are older and now only a part of you child's life through online activity or a few phone calls, or whether you are so new to this job that you are just dying for a break.  

May the day be kind to you. May you wear that title "Mom" proudly. May you feel whole and complete no matter what stage of life you are at, how you birthed (or did not) your child, or can only carry that child in your heart.  May you know how much you are admired and loved, not just from your children, but from family, friends, the aquaintances in your neighbourhood (you have no idea how many people think you're doing an excellent job even though you don't!), but also from God. 

You are important, even if you are a stay-at-home mom, or a working mom with a nanny. What you do for your family is so good.  

Thank you for all that you do.

This is for my Mom:

Thankful Thursday

So I forgot it wasn't Wednesday any more! So this is late. Oops. :( 

Welcome back to Thankful Thursday, a feature started by Louise at Talk Nerdy to Me, where we look back over our week and remember our blessings.  It is so good to see all that has happened, especially if you have had a particularly tough week. Being grateful is good for the soul. Here are just a few things that I am thankful for...

1. Face Paint

The kids' school held their annual Spring Festival on Saturday and they each got $5 game cards to spend on whatever they wanted. So they played a few games and got a freezie and a jar of goodies and some face painting done.  I was impressed with their patience to stand in line for so long (for which I am also thankful for as I had an important conversation with an aquaintance standing in front of me! This is a something I had meaning to track her down for for a few weeks now!)

2. Neighbourhood bunnies

We have a few bunnies in our neighbourhood. Everytime I see them hopping around, I feel happy.  I managed to get a few pictures of one of them when it was snacking beside our van when we arrived home after school. (there are three that I've seen together, but they are all brown and similar looking so I never can be sure if there are more) 

 My Hunny, the Hunting Mountain Man, joked about it being dinner. I admonished him with "It is not! It's a pet!" He laughed and asked how it was a pet, so I explained that we feed it. "Look at all of the grass, clover and dandilions they eat!" 

 I feel it was a win!

3.  Baby Birds

Okay, so technically, I don't know if there are any babies or if there will be future baby birds, but I can only assume that's why the Robin built a nest in the rafters under our deck!  It's a bad picture, I know, but I didn't want to get too close. The Robin was watching nearby and feeling agitated.  I'm just so excited!  I hope we can peek and see some eggs one day or hear the babies.  After my successful non-caterpiller-killing experiement, I am feeling confident!

There is a Steller Jay flying by our deck a lot lately as well, and it flies at the Robin when she gets too close, so I wonder if this bird has a nest somewhere as well? I'll have to keep an eye out on that one!

4. Weekend guests and baseball games

Over the weekend, we had Kai's best friend, David, stay since his parent were going away. I thought it turned out great! The two boys had fun and stayed up late watching videos, and we had a busy Saturday with the LCS Spring fest (see the first entry above) and spent the afternoon at the ball park cheering David during his baseball game!

I was so thankful for sunshine and for blankets and for kids that weren't too complainy, even though they were restless.

5. Old Boots and New Boots

I had posted this picture on FB about Rhys' sad boots.  He was complaining that his foot got soaked at school, and when I turned his boots over I found out why. There were these HUGE holes in the bottoms and patches where the rubber was so rubbed down that you could see into the boot! 

Our neighbour saw the picture and offered us her son's old boots!  How wonderful! Rhys is very happy to be back to splashing in the puddles again!  I am thankful for friends, for hand-me-downs (new ones to us and even the ones that are loved so much that they wear out) and for FB connections!

6. Intuitive Girls

I am so thankful for my daughter, who, seeing that I was so exhausted and starting to lose my patience with the kids, offered to take the Youngers to the park so that I could rest!  What a sweet girl I have! I am so blessed to have her!

7.  ENT apt

This week, Abi finally saw the ENT Specialist.  The appointment didn't quite go as I thought it would, but I am thankful that the doctor was personable and is giving us the option on what to do with her tonsils.  Coincidentally, she has swollen tonsils this week again, so at least he saw what they look like when they are bothered!  It hasn't been fun for her asthma though, but I am also thankful that she is actually doing well, despite the soreness and troubles.

8. Little Friends

Our neighbours have a little girl who is just a few months younger than Eden and so every now and then they'll see eachother outside and play beside each other. Yesterday, Eden ended up at their house (she was supposed to be playing outside with her brothers, but Rhys and her went inside instead. haha) where she and Joey played and had fun!  This is the picture that my neighbour sent to me. 

 It made me smile!  We're going to have a fun summer with them playing together!

9. JOY

I found a song that I hadn't heard in a long long time and it made me so happy! How had I forgotten about this one?  I have been listening to it on repeat all week!

Joy by Newsboys (old school newsboys, that is)

10. Fun car rides

Thursday evening is Youth Group for Abi and I'm the one typically chaffeuring her around. Some weeks I lack the enthusiasm to go out, but it all works out in the end. I manage to find the energy and start to become more alert by the time it is to pick her up!  I am so thankful for the times that we have in the van on the drive back home.  We play music loud, we're silly and giggly and it's a lot of fun!  We've driven home a friend of her a few times now too and I am loving the moments to peek into the lives of our kids.  

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to take her to youth events, and I am thankful for the times that I have been able to connect with her, and I am so thankful for all of the laughs we've had!  I love being known as the "fun mom"!  haha.


So that's my week in a nutshell. How about you? What are you thankful for?

At the farm

Rhys and the kindergarten classes finished up their Farm unit last week by having a field trip to a small hobby farm of one of the teachers.  It happened to fall on the day of our follow up appointment with the pediatrician, which was a conflict for schedules, but in the end, my Hunny stayed home from work (which is such a blessing that he can do that) and spent the day with Eden and picked up the kids after school. That meant that I could go on the field trip with Rhys and we just had to leave ten minutes earlier to make it to the appointment. I like it when things work out!

The kindergarten classes already had baby chicks for the past few weeks. That's an annual thing that I went through with Abi, Kai and Bryn already. It's so much fun for the kids! They have a bunch of chicken eggs come in that stay in a heated incubator for the kids to check on each day. When the eggs hatch, they learn all about how a baby chick grows and each class gets to "chick sit" with them in the classroom running around on paper! There is a lot of excitement throughout the school when the chicks are born!  Usually.  Except for Rhys. I barely heard about it, which I was surprised about. He's my enthusiastic child and he wasn't all excited over it!  I don't think it had anything to do with him not looking forward to it, but to him not remembering. Or understanding. Or maybe it really about him not actually being interested. I tried to get him to tell me about it and we looked at the baby chicks, but he didn't spend much time wanting to pet them (I was reminded that it had to be a pinky finger to touch, not any other finger and definitely no picking up!) and he got distracted easily.  Very curious.

This farm trip was on a dry and sunny day (thankfully), so it wasn't too muddy, but I was glad that I remembered to wear boots! We had to walk through a field that was squishy and puddly. In fact, to our horror, one of the moms got stuck and fell in the mud while carrying her son across the muck, all the way up her pants!  We felt bad for her! Thankfully, she either had other clothes in her vehicle or she managed to find something that fit from the hostess because she rejoined us later, all clean and happy!

We arrived on a perfect day for more than weather too. One of the cows had her baby that day!  In fact, she delivered the calf while we were there so we got to see the newborn at ten minutes old! (which is why we were walking through the muddy field: to get to the cows to see better.)  It was so exciting!  Very neat yet so messy and gross!

 (Mommy, Daddy and baby!)

(The Daddy was staring us down as we checked out the calf!)

We also saw the pigs (which Rhys liked the most) The farmer tried to tell us that pigs are actually clean animals, but I have a hard time believing it!  I don't want to believe it, I guess--years of old wives tales and such that we're taught at young ages: Pigs are dirty and glutonous. When in fact, they only eat until they are full; they'll stop eating even if there is food left, whereas a lot of other animals will eat til it's all gone. And they have certain areas where they eat and where they poop. The don't go to the bathroom everywhere, unlike some animals. I thought that was very interesting.

There was chickens to see and feed as well, but those didn't interest him much.

He did enjoy the tire swing though, and running around the large yard!  

 

The teachers had put out some games for the kids to play after we did our tour of the farm, so Rhys and I played a jumping one. You just jumped on each circle and named the animal on the picture you landed on. Not the most exciting type of game, but the kids seemed to like it!

 I was happy to be able to go with Rhys. I loved the smell of the hay; it reminded me of my Oma and Opa's farm back in Ontario. Maybe one day I'll be able to take my own kids back east so they can see where I spent my childhood and they can meet my relatives. That would be incredible!

I love farms!  I like to think that I'd love to live on one, but I'm not too sure about taking care of tons of animals.  But I'd sure love to find out with some property and smaller ones like bunnies and ducks!

Rhys the dog and people whisperer?

On the weekend, we had Kai's best friend over while his parents were away. It turned out to be a nice and busy weekend!

We spent the morning of Saturday at the LCS Spring Festival, where I gave each child a $5 Game Card so they could chose what they wanted to do. They played a few games and they got a freezie and a jar of goodies and had their face painted!  I was impressed with their patience with standing in the long lineups for the Jar Game and the face painting!

  

Eden wanted a pink butterfly.  She sat so still; the girl was impressed!

Bryn wanted Fire, but then had it changed into a campfire!  It's definitely unconventional but he loved it and I thought it was creative!

Rhys wanted a T-Rex.  It looked so cool.

 And when he opened his mouth, the dinosaur ROARED, so he had a lot of fun "scaring" people! 

 
With having David over, we also participated in something that we hadn't had to deal with in our family before: getting a kid off to a team baseball game! We had a few delays (kids like to take their time even though you are trying to rush them) and had to make a side trip to pick up forgotten cleats, but we made it okay in the end and I didn't get lost with the detour either! Phew!

Go David! He made it to base and brought two runners in to home. They won 14-6! Woohoo!

A woman who sat beside us at the game brought her dog, and so of course, Rhys had to befriend her and the pet!  He started off by asking if she had a dog or a cat. I snickered. After fifteen minutes,  I looked over and laughed when I saw that Rhys was holding the leash, "taking care" of the dog!  The woman said that it was perfect for her; she really preferred cats to dogs!

Then of course, he had to go on a walk with the dog!  I watched from the bleachers, and had Bryn chase him down when he got too far.  Bryn ran back to me and said that Rhys didn't know how to get the dog to come back!  I laughed! Silly boy, you just walk in the direction; the dog will follow.  But I helped rescue him!

When the dog pooped in the grass, I let the owner take back control! I don't do dog doo pickup! That's why we don't own a dog anymore. Our poor attempt at puppy ownership with Paisley didn't end well for us; He went on to a new wonderful owner and we swore off dogs (and replaced shoes and our couch)! Some people really are not dog lovers, as much as it may shock the majority of North America!

I thought it was the sweetest thing watching Rhys with Cody, the Strange Dog. He makes me smile. Rhys is so good at meeting people and making friends; it helps not knowing or understanding boundaries or social etiquette. We are all polite and keep to small talk with strangers, but he sits right beside them and asks questions! Some don't respond to him, but most do since he's still young and so cute! (Apparently, they all loved us at the game, according to David's mom!  The parents there thought that the kids were sweet and well behaved and that I was a great mom. Aww! *pats self on back and blushes* Very nice to hear feedback like that.)  It was a fun day!

Falling Through the Cracks

We fired our paediatrician this year. Her ruining our referral for an assessment at Sunnyhill did it for us.  When we approached our initial appointment with the new paediatrician last month, I tried to gather up all the necessary information so he could be caught up on Rhys. I didn't want to have to go through tons of paperwork or do unnecessary testing that would put us back by several months. I already feel we are behind! So I got my Rhys Binder together and went through my last notes to see what would be the most important to mention. I never know if I will have to spend the time trying to convince the doctor of our need for further assessment or if our words will be enough.

Prior to the appointment, I asked Rhys' teacher and the SEA in the classroom if they could put together a letter for us to give to the pediatrician. It was handed to me on the last day of classes before Spring Break and put together with help from the Special Education Coordinator.  It was an interesting letter. Most of it I already knew about, but some threw me off, and some parts made me actually laugh out loud.

It mentioned how he "presents physically, socially, and academically as being younger than his kindergarten peers", specifically pointing out that he can do and say things that "are innapropriate or that his peers find odd." (he does not understand personal space, and likes to dance and hit his bottom---that makes me laugh, but it's uncomfortable to people.)  His speech is still very unclear and he is learning at a slower pace than his classmates.

There was a noted incident where the class did a skipping activity and he couldn't do it and he fell. The ability to skip is a skill that he has only gained last year in preschool, so he has not mastered it yet; he is still working on his balance.  It was pointed out that his reaction time to break his fall is slow, so when he stumbles, the fall can be quite hard. I hadn't thought of that before, but it makes sense.  It explains all of the times he's cried and cried over a "simple" fall--it may not have been so simple for him.

What made me laugh was when his preschool teacher described him as "oddly optimistic". What does that mean? I guess he can be a bit more enthusiastic than necessary.

What frustrated me was the I have two pages of how Rhys is different than his peers and is struggling, yet no teacher or SEA has talked to me directly about it. I have tried to open up a dialog with them though, but things haven't gone far. Yet I read: "the challenges in these areas are directly effecting his progress academically and his ability to interact socially with peers in a meaningful way." So why are they not meeting with me about it?  Why have they not brought up ideas or suggestions?  Why have they not done their own assessment?


Just before Christmas break, his teacher mentioned about him "falling through the cracks." How true that is.  He is behind in many areas, but he doesn't need an aide in the classroom all of the time, yet he does need more one-on-one attention.  I can see how he misses out when they don't know where he fits.


When we met with the new pediatrician, he used those same words.  That it seemed that Rhys was "falling through the cracks."  He is gaining skills, but behind in many, but not so far behind that he obviously needs help. It's hard for me. I hate to think that instead of Rhys getting the help he needs, he may be seen as disruptive or a troublemaker by the teachers when he gets older.

Our new pediatrician is going to talk to Sunnyhill and see about us getting an assesment done, but he wasn't too sure if there was a cut-off age. I didn't see one online, so I hope there isn't.  It would seem so unfair if they didn't accept his case, since we were on that wait list at age five and still in preschool, and it was the old pediatrician's fault we weren't anymore.  It also would seem strange to have an age limit since some of these delayments come out more in the first years of school.  Hopefully we will hear something soon.

He also mentioned a group called TIDE BC. They are out of BCCH and work along with Genetics. The goal is to see if therapy would help offset some delayments in children, decrease that gap, and maybe increase some skills. A lot of it went over my head during our appointment, but when I looked them up online, I felt some hope and excitement. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this team of researchers and specialists were able to find some sort of treatment that would help Rhys?  We haven't heard from Genetics yet though, regarding any test results, so I don't know if they even found anything or were even able to get anything from the bloodtests. (I can only assume that silence means that there is nothing to discuss.) The doctor wasn't even sure if we would be a good candidate for TIDE BC, but hopefully someone will find our case interesting enough to work on!

It's hard when you have teachers and doctors telling you that your child is falling through the cracks and getting further behind but they can't seem to do anything about it.  It's frustrating and disheartening. But I am trying to be hopeful that we will get somewhere with this new pediatrician. I know that there are options out there, at least.

Playground Fun

 After our Student-Led Conferences were done, we had some time to play on the playground at the back of the school. Sometimes I am Too Much of an Adult, but I am trying to be more patient and let the kids run around and play when we have time.  

They enjoyed finding friends and showing off their skills to me.  Rhys thinks it's fun to run up the slide. I have tried to discourage that, as it holds up other kids and they could slip, but all kids do this. I guess it's a fun skill to have for them!  

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Bryn has finally mastered the skills to climb up to the high points on the playground, and to swing on the monkey bars. He just needed the courage!

There was a huge wood chip pile for re-spreading over the playground the next day, but for that night the kids had fun running down the little hill and jumping on it! Again, I tried to discourage it as I didn't know if they should be on it, but they weren't the only ones! I have decided to just let them enjoy themselves and try not to worry too much!

  Rhys is the King of the Wood Chip Pile!

Bryn and his friends did spins and jumps onto it!

Mid-somersault!

 It was a good evening and I'm glad that we got to take our time. To top it off, we got a special treat at Timmys. It's not often that I get to spend time with just these boys.