Micah's 1st Halloween...

... and the first Annie got to enjoy learning about collecting candy! :)  Tonight was our ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat, and all the littles were Superman and Supergirl.  Micah had a ball.  All the girls did too, but as usual, Gracie was camera-shy. She did enjoy getting her costume on though ;)



I love this picture of Chloe!

 



Me and my little superhero ;)



Surrounded by superheros :) I love my girls!

Look at my digs, Daddy!

Checking out the loot.



1st candy of Halloween 2011



Moving on...

Moving on... from moving.  The past week we have been moving, and moving, and moving. When Barry's brother said he had access to a 20 ft trailer for the week and lots of friends to help us move, we jumped on it. Probably a little too soon. We weren't ready a week early; we weren't packed hardly at all. We made at least five trips over the whole week, packing and moving.  We have been so grateful for Joey and his friends helping us, and are so glad we don't have to make any more trips! Barry and I went up and cleaned the house today, and turned in a key to the realtor so he can start showing it to potential renters.

Moving on... into home ownership. We've been in our new house for a week! We love it.  All the big stuff got moved in last Sunday, which was the first night we slept here.  The week has been busy with contractors in and out (first the plumber to unclog the kitchen sink, then Direct TV, Wisprenn (internet), Proflame (propane), and an alarm company). The kids have spent a lot of time outside running, riding bikes and scooters, and running some more.  The only thing running more is the dogs who are thoroughly enjoying their space here as well.  There is so much space on 2 1/2 acres.  I don't know why we didn't do this sooner :) Being in a one-story house again is such a blessing.  We are all on one level and no longer have to do the "stomp-method" for getting the attention of those in the basement :) I do have to say we will greatly miss the mountains though.  It's good we are only 20 minutes away so we can go up and visit often.

Moving on... to homeschooling. Anyone who knows us or who has read our blog for a while knows we've been debating the public school vs. homeschool issue for our kindergartener. At one point, we were completely set on homeschooling without reservation.  Then I started doubting myself and abilities, time constraints, organization skills, etc., especially so soon after bringing Micah home. In July, I thought there was no way I could juggle it all, so I enrolled her in public school. Her teacher was great. She adjusted quickly, and was making friends.  Overall, it was a good situation.  However, after volunteering a couple times (both Barry and I), we were reminded of some of the reasons why we had decided to homeschool. We talked, we prayed, and we researched. Then we met with a local Charter homeschool, and decided to go with it. It's been a couple weeks, and I love the freedom and flexibilities homeschooling provides, and the opportunity I have to teach my child all she learns, being there for all the milestones and moments of realization. I know there are many critics of homeschooling, but after researching the facts and praying, this is the best thing we could ever do.  And when it's all said and done, all of our reasons are simply that. Our reasons. They are probably similar to the reasons other people have for homeschooling.  But in my heart of hearts, I know that homeschooling is the best thing for our family.

I won't be the perfect teacher; I will make mistakes; I won't be a pro on everything I teach her, but really who will?  In our declining educational system, I can't do any worse than what she'll get in a classroom (absolutely no offense to the teachers). Teachers are required to teach what will be covered on mandatory state testing. The budget cuts have drastically affected every classroom. The time and funds aren't there to allow them to be as creative as they used to be.  The California students I know who have moved out of state recently are scoring far below what they should be in comparison to other states' schools, even when they were acing subjects here! The time we will save by teaching one-on-one allows us the flexibility to teach everywhere: the store, bank, library, museum, park, home, car, etc. Life is our classroom! Yes, we will be teaching the same subjects, but there will be a budget provided by the Charter school for art, music, and other fun activities... she will get to do more in the homeschool setting than the public school system for sure. And socialization is not an issue with all these activities, plus church!

Of course, Fischer will finish his senior year in public school, and it has been the best thing for him. I have no regrets putting him through public school, and am so happy that he has done so well. Micah will also begin his school career in public education, getting the therapies and help he needs. As he gets older and progresses, that may change in the future, but for now we are confident with the services public school can provide for his needs (although we know they have to be provided whether in public school or not). 

I am so blessed to be surrounded by a large group of homeschooling moms, including those new to the ropes, those who have done it, and those who have been homeschooled themselves. In addition, the support I will get from the Charter school will keep us on track for what we should be learning/teaching.  So, while I do support our local public schools, especially those in our school district... and while I know there are advocates for public school and homeschool... it really comes down to what we think is best for our kids.  Nobody knows them and their needs better than we do.  There are always opinions and advice for everything, even how to lie them down at night when they're babies... but in the end it is our decision and our responsibility to choose what's best for our kids.

Moving on... in our life with Micah. This boy is amazing. He is so sweet and has the greatest personality ever.  He's been home three months already! All the kids have adjusted wonderfully. Things have settled down into somewhat of a routine, and will continue to get easier and more refined as time goes on.

Moving on... from an extended family. Barry's brother and his boys will be going back to Texas soon (as long as the judge is in a good mood next week), and our house will look somewhat "normal" again as we shrink from 10 to 7 again.  We will miss them a lot, but it will be good for all of us to get back to our families as they should be. Pray for a good outcome on the 21st!

Moving on.  Isn't life continously in motion?  We are all moving forward from one thing to another.  I pray as we all endure changes, ups, and downs that we will all be mindful of our many blessings, and remember to thank the One who is always there for us.

~Shelly

Psychologist's Assessment

The meeting went so well yesterday. I am really impressed with our special services department in our school district. I absolutely love the ladies we have met with so far. They have shown great interest in Micah and getting him help as soon as possible. They love the story of how we found him through Reece's Rainbow and brought him home. It has warmed my heart to have their kindness and support for him.


I loved watching the psychologist with him yesterday. She got down on the floor and played with him. This was part of her assessment to see how he responded when she asked him to do different things. She was a lot of fun to be around. When it was all said and done, she said, "I would place him around 18 months (mentally)." I was not surprised. This is what I have been saying for months. However, she was extremely impressed with his high functionality (including understanding instructions and responding), and physical movement (including his coordination and reaction to things). She was so confident that he could go into a regular classroom for kindergarten if we wanted him to (in two years). I told her, "We want him to have all the possibilities available to him, and don't want to hold him back, but we'll see when we get there :)"

It was a great day. Now we wait for his first IEP with our school district and subsequent referral to County. Then we'll have an IEP with County to cover all his needs, including free door-to-door transportation (our district has charged for bussing for two years)! So, he *should* be starting preschool in the next 3-4 weeks. We are very excited for this opportunity for him to get educational help and different therapies, including speech. Until then, we are practicing a lot of what the speech therapist taught us, and he is responding well.

Speech assessment

Micah had a speech assessment with our school district last Friday. It went really well. The district nurse also evaluated him. The speech therapist said that he will have to be evaluated by the school psychologist, then we'll have our first IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting, then he'll be referred to County for preschool.  She said it should only take about 2-3 more weeks.

Today is the appointment with the psychologist. I'm not really sure what to expect, nor am I sure when to expect the IEP to be. Thankfully though, things are moving along!

Lemishine (cleaning tip!)

After almost two years of living with hard water, I had given up. Nothing worked to get those murky stains out but a vinegar soak, and that is just so time-consuming... and smelly! When we had company I would PROMISE them our dishes were clean, lol... so embarrassing! Not anymore!

Thank goodness for my Mom to Mom group. I would have never known. I'm really surprised more friends didn't know about this (because we ALL complain about hard water stains to each other).  So I'm sharing it with everyone!!!

On the left is one of my dishes that has been washed over and over in my dishwasher (with soap!)  On the right is an identical dish after one wash with Lemishine. I sound like a commercial ad, but I'm serious. This is not a joke. When I heard about it, I jumped and asked, "Where do you get it?!" As I'm sure you're doing right now! HAHA... Target (and probably Walmart).  It's near the detergents with some other hard water stain lifters... I honestly didn't even know such things existed.  I went the next day and bought two with confidence. 

Not only are my dishes looking shiny and new again, but my stainless steel dishwasher looks new again! I can almost see my reflection.  It's a beautiful thing (the shiny part).  The first day I opened the dishwasher, I sang that angelic "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sound and couldn't stop staring.  I called Barry and Fischer over to see too... "Look! My tupperware is colorful again!" Everything looks new.  It's seriously a miracle.

Hope this tip helps!

Ophthamalogist

Micah's first ophthamology appointment was today, and he did really good.  Of course the squirming and flailing was normal; this poor guy has never had his eyes dilated before!  While we were waiting for the drops to take effect, he, Annie and I had a lot of fun singing songs and dancing in the room (thank goodness it was big!)  20 minutes of preschool type activity was much needed.

We were happy with Dr. Rimmer, a pediatric specialist.  He was very nice and friendly to Micah and come to find out his grandfather is from Ukraine's big neighbor, Russia!  So we had a good chat about that :)

Prognosis: Strabismus and far-sightedness, a.k.a he needs glasses morning to night.  Neither were unexpected, and now we get to plan a day to go to Riverside to pick out his specialty glasses.  If the glasses don't help the cross in his eyes, then he'll wear a patch on the strong eye.  If that still doesn't work, then he'll have to have surgery.  The eye doctor seemed confident we wouldn't have to go that far since the strabismus is minor. 

Next: picture of Micah in glasses! :)

Regional Center

I don't really know where to post this, so I'm putting it here. It's more for my documentation, but if anyone has experience in these things, I'd be happy to hear :)

I applied for disability services for Micah through the Inland Regional Center when we came home in July (for things like therapies, assistance with IEPs in the school district, advice, vocational services when he's older, respite care, and housing services when he's older.. things he will need for life). I was told it would take up to 120 days to get a call/appointment. Last week they called, and he and I got to go to his intake appointment today. We met with a great social worker; she was very nice. Then she said that this was only step 1 of 3, and the other two appointments were really far out. The medical will be soon on 9/30, but his psychological evaluation isn't until December 14th!!! She said there is no doubt he'll be approved since he has Down syndrome, but they have to go through the paperwork steps.

I talked to her about the school district and how we are waiting for his first assessment with the school psychologist so they can determine what services he needs before he can be placed in preschool. The district is well within their 60 days to get things done, but I just wanted to know how things worked. She said to call them and ask if they'll do a speech/language evaluation to get him in school before they do the full psych. Since we are so close to the 60 days, I'll probably wait, but it was good advice. I wish I had known to ask that before, but not all school districts will do that. So I'll wait another week and then call them again. The good news is that the regional center might accept the district's psych evaluation, so that may help speed things up on their end. The social worker said they try to work hand-in-hand.

It seems to be taking forever. I know in the big scheme of life, a few months is not that long, but today was the first day I met with anyone "official" to get Micah any kind of services or help. It's been a little frustrating to wait. We got home July 6th, right in the middle of the summer, and I had to wait until August 1st when the school district staff got back from summer vacation. I filled out the application on August 1st and turned it in the next day. The sweet secretary said that the psychologists don't come back until the first day of school, and he would be placed "in order" in her workload. So nothing would even get started until August 11th... then she had 60 days from there to get something set up. Whew... it's a waiting game like everything else.

I just want our sweet boy to get the services he needs. He desperately needs speech and language therapy. There is NO doubt about that. I work with him, but he is still not speaking any words except "dada" and a muffled "hi". He understands us, but he does not speak. He will repeat ASL to me, up to about 10-15 signs, but he only initiates the "eat" sign :) (Yes, our son loves to eat). He also will "sing" (aka make noise) to every song he hears; he loves music. His hearing test showed that he hears well, so I know that is not the culprit. He also mimicks sounds, so I know he's capable of learning words. I would love a therapist to work with him and show us some things we can do at home to help him.

As far as physical and occupational therapy, I don't think he will need any of that. But we do need to work with him on dressing himself and potty training. All in time... I know that will come in time. Maybe someone can just give us some pointers. It's much different to teach life skills to an atypical child! There is really nothing the same about it. It's not harder, just different... and a little more focus :)

That is all for today!

First camping trip

Not only was this Micah's first camping trip, but it was his cousins' first trip too! We didn't know it until afterwards, but Zack and Tyler had never been camping.  If we had known, we would've tried to make it a lot more special.  In any case, they all had a great time and the other Ray boys even caught a fish with their dad!

Zack & Tyler, learning how to cast

Fischer teaching the boys how to cast.

We returned to Lake Hemet this year, and even got the same camping spot as last year! We left very excited for a fun weekend, but it was much harder than we expected. I even thought we were prepared for Micah's running, bringing the pack 'n play for the times we couldn't watch him like a hawk, but it sufficeth to say we were not prepared in the least. I felt like the world's worst mother at one point, put him in the pack 'n play, sat by his side, and didn't move for a very long time. I'll spare the details for fear of embarrassment and judgment.

I'm sure it's hard enough to have a child who's a runner.  But to have one who was also an orphan for three years adds to the dynamics.  For three years, he had the same schedule, the same routine, the same route he could walk, play, and wander.  For the past two months, he has been in several new situations that catch his eye to explore.  This campground proved to be his best footprint yet! 

It was a learning experience to say the least. When we'd lather the girls up with sunscreen and let them go, they stayed together in the playground next to our camp... they had the knowledge to stay near us as well. If I took my eyes off of them for a second, I didn't have to worry they'd wander. With Micah, he just doesn't know.  He was taught to stay with the pack he knew his whole life, but he's still learning who we are. He was taught to go in the same circle for three years, but this was a new place with no paths, just dirt! AND HE'S FAST!!!!!!!!!!

 

Our curious explorer.

 

Overall, it was the most difficult camping trip I've ever been on, even with three adults and a teenager to help watch over the flock of six littles. The littles had a lot more fun than we did. I left a night early with Chloe, Micah, and Annie.  The rest got to fish, make s'mores, and finish the weekend in style. I'm not looking forward to going back any time soon.  And that's just the plain truth.  We might even sell our tent trailer!

Hello world!

There haven't been many new things to report. Things have been good. School is in session for almost everyone. We are still waiting on assessments for Micah to start preschool, and just finally got a call today from the regional center to start assessments with the county! We are trying to get plugged into the local Down syndrome play group, the second meeting which is tonight. I am hoping we can go; we missed last month. Joey and his boys are still living with us for another month or so; things have been good with them... it's been loud and crowded, but we love having them around and will miss them when they're gone. We are getting ready to move to our new house in a couple weeks. Things are busy!

Fischer has his first public march with Serrano's Rattlesnake Regiment this Saturday at the Phelan Phamily Phun Days parade. I love to watch him march. Marching season is extremely stressful and takes over our life for 3 1/2 months, but it's so worth it. Their first football game is next Friday too, that's always fun! :)

Other than that, everything is the same... same is good. No news is good news!

Welcome Home Party for Micah

My mom and dad threw an amazing "welcome home" party for Micah at their home in Turlock on Saturday. We drove the 5 hour drive on Friday, stayed in a hotel, and got to their house at 10:30 on Saturday morning. Mom already had the tables up and decorated :) I helped Grandma Lois with the corn and bread, and boy did the kitchen get hot!

Most of my family were able to come, and a few of my closest friends. It was such a good time with great food, swimming, chatting, and lots of hugs. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone. Here are some pictures, but I'm so bummed I didn't get any of my grandparents or my parents... I don't even think there's any of my sister because she was taking pictures with my camera! :/

We didn't get pictures of a lot of people that were there! Let's see... Mom & Dad, Adam, Amanda, Hailey & Emily Wallace, Sara & Brooke Ange, Grandpa & Grandma Barnard, Grandma Pat, Aunt Carole & Uncle Jack Harlan, Aunt Sandy Wallace & her friend Gordon, Marna Bynum, Rick & Chris Wallace, Sherrie Wallace, James, Caroline, Bernadette, Nathaniel, Atticus, Annaliese & Genevieve Bray, Claire, Addison & Aiden Souto, April & Charlie Dunham-Filson, and last but not least... Ethan, Colleen, Calista, Reese & Sophia Johnson. PLEASE FORGIVE ME if I forgot anyone! Aunt Brenda came to see us later in the day, and Bobby saw Micah the night before.


Shot of the pool area.


Gracie loves the water these days!



My brother, Adam, with his youngest daughter, Emily.



James, Genevieve, Caroline, and Claire... (just wish I could've taken a picture with those girls! They've been great friends FOREVER!) :) They were gone by the time I thought to take a picture with them.



Aunt Sherrie and my sister-in-law, Amanda. Where was Chuck?!



Adam's oldest daughter, Hailey, and Aunt Chris helping Annie to the pool.



Me pulling the train of girls :)



Me with Annie-bug.



Barry and I with some of the littles.



Me, Fischer, and Micah.



Me, Micah, and Chloe.



All 8 of the Wallace grandkids... Brooke, Fischer, Micah, Annie, Chloe, Hailey, Gracie, and Emily. Nana and Papa are sure lucky!