Faith's Mom's Blog

This season is known as the most wonderful time of the year and probably the busiest time of the year as well. Along with starting Christmas shopping, putting up our tree and thinking about getting our Christmas cards ready, we have taken part in some great Christmas events. Faith checking out some of the ornaments on our Christmas tree! Last Monday we kicked off the week with Faith's program at school called "Old Man Winter's Icicle Follies." Faith's music teacher had given us a CD with all of the music on it so Faith could learn the words better. And I must say, when Rob and I both heard the fast-moving music with all of the tongue-twisting words, we both thought the songs were a little ambitious for third graders. Wow were we surprised when they pulled it off! All of the third-graders did great!  The best part was seeing Faith in the front of the gymnasium alongside the kids in her grade looking relaxed and singing right along with the rest of them. Alth

At least once a year, Faith's school has a fun week where there is a theme each day on how to dress. When Rob was getting Faith ready in the mornings, he really didn't put too much effort into making sure Faith was dressed according to the theme of the day. I used to love having these fun weeks at school and I loved getting Faith ready each day this week. Here is what her fun week looked like: Monday - Faith's favorite day of all - Pajama Day! Tuesday - Backwards Day - even Faith's smile is backwards! Wednesday - Tie Dye Day! Thursday - Faith sportin' her school spirit - Centennial Roughriders Friday - Wacky Day!

It seems we have won the battle over Faith getting up and getting ready for school in the mornings. She is no longer protesting and wakes up in the morning excited to bring a "special guest" to school. Last week she pretended to get Clifford the Big Red dog ready for school but he couldn't fit in our van so he had to ride on top. She also talks about how when she gets to school she is going to help take care of one of her friends who is also in a wheelchair. Faith has been doing great getting up and ready for school in the mornings! A few things are helping Faith with her morning routine. One she is getting more rest and not feeling so fatigued throughout the week as she is only going half-days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another is that we have been feeding her Pediasure with 1.5 times more calories that what she has gotten before. This is helping with both her energy and her weight. Rob took her in to get weighed last week and she has gained almost a pound since get

It is so hard to believe that it is already that time of the year - time for parent-teacher conferences.  I don't know why but I always get a little emotional at these meetings. I think it might be due to the fact that as Faith gets older it becomes more apparent that Faith does not have the same skills as her classmates - and I become very aware of her disability. In fact, due to a new grading system, Faith is probably going to be graded as a first grader instead of a third grader. But at the same time I am so proud of Faith for how well she is doing. Faith at school with her dad. Those around her at school seem to be noticing a difference in her wanting to be at school rather than asking when she can go home. It seems to correspond to the time that I began staying home in the mornings to help her get ready for school.  I'm not exactly why this is because she still fights some mornings about not wanting to go to school but I'm glad to know that once she gets there

I honestly didn't know if we were going to make it to the hayride last night. Faith had been having a somewhat tough week again and the medication we were giving her for the bacteria in her tummy was causing Faith to nearly throw up. I canceled Grandma coming for grandparents day because I just wasn't sure Faith was going to be up to it. Thursday afternoon Rob went to get her early from school and she was able to get some good rest. It helped because Friday she woke up smiley and in a great mood ready for the day. We promised her that next year both Grandma and Grandpa will come to Grandparents Day since they will be living here! It worked out well for Rob to drive me to work then he and Faith came and picked me up and headed off into the country for Faith's first hayride. When we first told her about the hayride, she exclaimed, "just like Little House on the Prairie !" Well, it wasn't exactly like Little House as the wagon was actually more like a long t

This week has definitely been interesting for our family. I started my new work schedule on Monday and it was so wonderful crawling into bed with Faith in the morning and gently waking her up. When she realized I was in bed with her, she said, "Mommy are you getting me ready for school today?" I pretended not to know how to get her ready for school so she proceeded telling me what to do and in what order. When I gave her a kiss goodbye she had the sweetest smile on her face. Me and my sweet little girl Rob was able to drive me to work since he needed the van that day. It all worked out perfectly and I was so happy to have spent the first part of the morning with Faith. Now fast forward to Thursday. Faith woke up saying she didn't want me to get her ready for school and when I tried to start the routine she became quite upset and demanded me to call the school to cancel. Where oh where was my sweet little girl? Her fit escalated to screaming and yelling for over an

I really can't believe it is nearing the middle of September already. Time flies though when there is so much going on! It seems that once school starts our schedules go on overdrive! I am very thankful to report that Faith is really enjoying third grade! She is back to driving her power chair at school and it is nice that her classroom is on the main floor so the only class she takes the elevator for is music. She really loves her teacher and this year she has one new instructional aide and also one new special education teacher. The special education teacher she has had since kindergarten had a baby in the spring so she is only working part-time. Faith in her third-grade classroom Unfortunately I was not able to attend her IEP meeting but Rob was able to go and it went pretty well. It is great to know that her principal, teachers, aides and therapists are all working together to help her accomplish her goals for the year. They are going to focus more on learning through a

Guest Post by Carol Watson of NationalNannies.com When children are young there is a lot of parent participation that’s encouraged through classroom parties and events because kids are still learning how to be away from home.  Most kids want their moms to be able to volunteer at the school for these events so that they can still see their mom in the hallway or at the class party. However it’s not always feasible for working moms to volunteer onsite regularly.  Fear not, there are ways that you can volunteer, even if you work full-time. Check out these 10 ways that working moms can volunteer at school: Coordinate class parties through e-mail.  Technology makes it much easier to plan events these days.  The teacher may send home flyers asking for snacks and craft supply donations.  Consider volunteering to coordinate these donations; this is an easy task to accomplish over e-mail or phone, and allows you to still participate in some way with the party.    Cut out or prepare

Faith is wide awake at 8:00 a.m. ready to get going on her first day of school But before getting up, she has to get in one final stretch Wow that was fast! Faith is all dressed and ready to go! I am so happy that Faith is all smiles and excited to go back to school! Daddy is very proud of his big girl! So cool and ready for school! The bell was ringing and Faith said, "I don't want to be late!"

Last year at this time, I was a stay-at-home mom. And part of my stay-at-home mom duties were getting Faith ready for school in the mornings and getting her there on time. I was also the one who was in constant contact with her teacher, her instructional aides and her therapists. Part of the fun of taking Faith to school was getting a chance to visit with those who looked after her throughout the day.   After coming home from dropping Faith off, I would have breakfast and enjoy some quiet time. At least once or twice a week, I would call my friend Tina or she would call me and we would talk for at least an hour. Being home gave me a chance to work on my writing, to join a morning women's bible study, to take a nap if we had a rough night or cook and clean at my leisure. It was nice being a stay-at-home mom. But I did find that if I didn't get out of the house, I would go a little stir-crazy. Another great stay-at-home-mom duty was to join Faith on her fun field trips! Eve

Rob was so excited to take Faith fishing last week. Daddy taking daughter fishing for the first time was the ultimate bonding experience. Faith had been a little sick last week and stayed home from school for a couple of days but thankfully she felt better and went to school on Friday and made it to her field trip. It's a good thing because Rob would have been extremely disappointed if they had missed it! Faith ended up catching a total of five fish! Two of them were rainbow trout which they threw back right away and the other three were perch which the kids got to hold, touch and feel before throwing them back. She had so much fun! And so did her dad!   Thanks Tina Ding for taking these great pics!

This past week, Faith did something for the first time ever at school - she ate lunch. She tried everything on her tray, which included a turkey sandwich, glazed carrots (which she ate the most of), strawberries and a few bites of a breadstick. Because Faith still needs help eating solids, her occupational therapist had Faith and a few other girls eat lunch together in a separate room. Faith has made the comment when we feed her that "that's for babies" meaning she knows that this is how babies eat - being spoon-fed by someone else. Since we know she is sensitive to this, we decided not to have her join her classroom at lunch for the time-being. But the fact that she actually got to have her lunch replace one of her tube feedings at school was very exciting. The next day she got to eat one of her favorite foods - mashed potatoes and gravy. Each day the kids at school get a choice between a chef salad, ham or turkey sandwich and a hot meal. Each of them comes with diff

It seems that the month of February always goes by so quickly. Maybe it is because January is usually the coldest month of the year and the month just crawls; then when February finally comes, spring doesn't seem so far away. This year, with the milder weather, January wasn't so bad and February is going by even faster than usual. Another factor to a fast-flying February, at least for our family, is that both mine and Rob's birthdays are in February and it is also the month Faith gets to celebrate one of her favorite holidays - Valentines Day. Another fun time for Faith this month was having her 2nd grade program at school. She had so much fun singing along to all the songs and jingling her bell (all the kids got to take turns playing an instrument and hers was the bell) that she wanted to have another program! It was so good to see her truly relaxed and not even having a tough time with startling when people clapped. And although she herself didn't have any lines, sh

Second graders at Centennial Elementary get to enjoy a program called SPLASH that gives them a chance to go swimming once a week in September.  Instructors at the YMCA teach the kids different swimming strokes, water safety and survival skills. The kids are in the water for about one hour. Of course since Faith loves swimming I thought she would be very excited. Unfortunately though she seemed more nervous about it than anything. We skipped out on the first week but we did make it this week and she had a blast! It was hard to tell who was having more fun - Faith or her instructional aide that was with her in the pool. Faith kicking her feet up in the water Faith tries to touch the bottom Faith tries to do a back float

Today Rob and I met with nine members of Faith's IEP team at school this morning. The meeting was at 8:00 a.m. so we had one of our respite care providers come get Faith ready for school and take her there, which all worked out very well. The purpose of Faith's IEP is to set goals for her to work on throughout the school year. The whole team works together to ensure these goals are met, this includes me and Rob who work with her at home to help her attain some of these goals. I must admit that probably the hardest part of the meeting was discussing the fact that she is not making any progress with learning words and having the ability to read. I discussed this in a post from this summer after an eye appointment in which the doctor told us she is probably having trouble getting her eyes to track left to right. It is somewhat disheartening but as the doctor told us we should keep trying and finding new ways to help her eyes "attend" as they called it. One person on

Oh boy! These last two mornings have been tough ones as far as Faith getting ready for school. Everyone seems sort of perplexed by her behavior. She cries and screams and throws a fit as soon as I start getting her dressed for school. She tells me repeatedly to "Stop it!" I seriously wonder what the neighbors think during all of this. At some point she does calm down but why does she even do it in the first place? Does she seriously think that by throwing a fit we're not going to send her to school? Both her morning and afternoon aides say that when she is in the classroom she is a little tense and her arms are bent up stiff like she can't totally relax. I'm hoping this will get better as she gets more used to her new classroom. Despite her bits of anxiety, her feedings are going well at school for which I am very grateful. Last year we kept having episodes of gagging and throwing up and we ended up seeing a nutritionist to see if we needed to make any adjustmen

Well, just as I thought, this morning didn't go too well getting Faith ready for school. She was in tears for most of the time we were getting ready. I tried to sit with her and console her and through her tears she said, "I'm not ready for school." When I asked her why she replied through even more tears, "I want to stay home with you." It was sad and endearing at the same time. I'm not sure what finally brought her out of her tears but she did calm down as I was fixing her hair. Then when her dad tried to talk to her she told him she was busy getting ready. Rob and I both got to walk her to school and since her morning aide was nowhere to be seen, I took her downstairs to her classroom. On the way, we ran into several teachers who gave Faith a very warm welcome back to school. She received many compliments on her outfit and her pretty hair. She was smiling and talking and I knew at that point she was going to be fine. At home, I kept watching t

Tomorrow is the big day - Faith officially becomes a 2nd grader. We have been spending the last couple of weeks buying school supplies, shopping for school clothes and having fun driving the van around. Then yesterday to help her get emotionally ready for school we read the list of kids in her class and had a little pretend school session at home - of course she wanted to be the teacher! She does say that when she grows up she wants to be a teacher. She definitely has the giving instructions part down. This morning I agreed to help volunteer at one of the booths for open house so parents could come in and pay lunch money, pay PTO dues, buy spirit wear - things like that. Faith was very patient with me at the booth and it helped when people came over to visit. After we were done with that, we ventured downstairs to meet her teacher and see her classroom. I was thankful that there was an instant connection between Faith and her new teacher. Faith ended up telling her, "You're

Assistive technology helps students succeed in the classroom. There are many types of assistive technology to help students with different special needs. In the photo to the left, assistive technology called interactive switches allow Faith to drive her power chair and operate her computer at school. Read more by going to Assistive Technology Helps Students with Disabilities.

It has been quite the weekend. It all started Friday when Faith had her last day of summer school. She had really struggled getting to school the last two weeks because of her cold that just wouldn't go away. She also wasn't sleeping well which made things even worse. She missed three days of school last week but she made it on the last day! And the best part was that she drove her power chair home from school! Her dad was especially impressed at how great she drives. Normally, she has her seating system on a manual base and she switches over to her power base when she's in school. We are hoping to get her in her power chair more and more which will be easier for us when we get our van - for which our loan has been approved! If everything goes smoothly this week we will be getting our van by the coming weekend! On Saturday we told Faith we were going on an adventure and drove two hours to a lake resort called Indian Hills where my whole family was camping. The point of