Last Monday we had a brief check-in with a few members of Anna's team for 5th grade. All signs are pointing to another good year for this kid at the intermediate school in McFarland, her last one before middle school ... ahhh!
One of the coolest parts about the meeting (besides the fact that Ethan and Kate were able to play with legos in the conference room for about an hour) was that Anna led most of the conversation. Her therapists and teachers asked her questions and she showed the independence to answer just about all of them. I was kind of in the background - a different role for me with Anna. However, I did end up sending the team an informative email over the weekend with the details of life that don't always occur to Anna as necessary to share.
After the school meeting, we dropped Kate and Ethan off at a friend's house before heading in to the semi-annual neuro-oncology appointment. Everything went fine, except for Anna's recurrent double vision. We had noticed in July that Anna's left eye began turning outwards. After a few checks by the neurologist, the conclusion is that the issue is related to the eye muscles (again) and is not a neurological issue. We have a follow-up appointment scheduled with the ophthalmologist at the end of August to see what, if anything, will be done. So much for a successful surgery back in May ...
One highlight from that trip include an observation by one of the specialists we see who has known Anna since February of 2014. She was really impressed at Anna's conversation skills and how she was able to interact with all of the doctors on a different level than she did in the past. Thanks, therapists at CI, for providing Anna with many, many opportunities to work on this!
The other highlight was our after-visit trip up to P4. Anna used her crutches and, because of the timing of the visit, we were able to see one of Anna's primary nurses, who we haven't seen in years. He was pleased and excited to see Anna and hugs were shared all around.
By the end of that day, I was beat. It was a l-o-n-g day.
Tuesday and Wednesday were also long days. Grocery shopping, canning, freezing, laundry, cleaning, running errands on Wednesday afternoon, etc. Wednesday also ended with an evening preschool orientation meeting for parents; I think it's starting to hit me that Ethan will be in preK this year. Yikes!
By Thursday the kids were a mess. There were a few more things planned at home in the morning (including the annual visit from a medicaid representative to assess Anna's continued enrollment in the Katie Beckett program - read this as the culmination of A LOT of paperwork on mom's part), but then we were hoping to do a field trip in the afternoon. Yeah, that didn't happen. One or more of the kids flipped out one too many times and so we stayed home.
But Friday was our fun field trip day. We spent a few hours in the morning at Eugster's Farm near Stoughton; the kids get free passes when they complete the summer reading program at the library. The "kitty palace" was definitely a highlight, but the kids enjoyed some of the other parts, too.
Then in the afternoon we braved the indoor McFarland pool for an hour or so. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've taken all three kids to a public pool by myself. Good thing everyone was in a good mood :) Actually, we had a great time. It was SO fun to see Kate and Ethan spread their swimming wings after playing in our backyard pool all summer. We may actually sign them up for swimming lessons this fall to help them keep up with their skills and learn a few things that I can't teach them :)
The weekend included stuff around the house/yard as well as a mountain biking trip for Matt and Kate on Sunday morning after worship. Kate only came home with a scuffed knee and a bruise on her belly.
The kids have all participated with making applesauce already; our fruit has all been ripening earlier than usual this year, thus the apples in August. The strainer has also come out for spaghetti sauce once and there are more plans for it this week.
Regardless of the reason, Ethan is always willing to help whenever there is a tool involved. Kate usually prefers picking the produce, while Anna's favorite is sitting and doing the more tedious tasks, like snapping beans.
It's hard to believe that school will be starting so soon, only two weeks from today. A lot of life will still be lived before that day, but I think it will be a good transition when it comes. Kate is already bemoaning the fact that she will have to be in school every day; Anna is looking forward to most aspects of school; Ethan is just plain excited to be going to school this year.
Please pray for all families and educators as they make the transition in the coming weeks to a new school year.
No comments:
Post a Comment