Thursday, June 21, 2012

Father's Day Weekend 2012

To the most patient, caring and funny dad - Happy Father's Day! At school, Kayla made her dad a coin dish and Lauren made her dad a piece of artwork. We made pancakes from scratch, topped with sausages, english muffins and fresh fruits, leaving the kitchen a disaster.


We had a BBQ dinner that night at my father-in-law home and Lauren loved playing with the wind chimes outside in the backyard. She kept hitting the chimes with a badminton racket and was laughing up a storm.
On Saturday, Kayla went fishing for the first time with Steve's sister Karyn and her fiance. They struck gold and caught 5 trouts in less than 2 hours. Kayla had a really good time and I think she enjoyed spending time doing something new and different with her aunt and uncle. We had the trout for dinner that night and it was deliciously cooked over BBQ on a cedar plank.



On Friday this past weekend, Kayla brought home a story book that she has been working on at school every day since shortly after her birthday in February. Apparently, every morning at school Kayla has to write a few sentences and then draw an illustration. We were pleasantly surprised at her writing and how articulate and funny she is. Some of her stories were hilarious. Below she writes "On Sunday I watched Alvin and the Chipmuns. It was fun. My dad fell asleep." - Go figure. Now I know what goes on when I'm out grocery shopping in the afternoon.



After seeing her parents on their laptops all the time, Kayla makes her own laptop. Kayla is getting to be super creative and we love it!



Monday, June 18, 2012

Glockenspiel

This year Kayla signed up for glockenspiel lessons at school (xylophone). She has learned to play a total of 10 songs from memory and we are super proud of her. Closer to the classroom concert date, she diligently practiced at home. Kayla would get frustrated at her own mistakes but she was able to quickly recover and move on. At times, I would feel nervous for her in watching her practice.

Learning how to play the glockenspiel has helped Kayla to develop patience, concentration and a greater love for music. If willing, we will continue with these lessons during the next school year, or perhaps move her onto the piano!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

T-Ball Time

Instead of soccer this summer, we signed Kayla up for t-ball. Kayla  loves playing on her team, the "Sunny Bananas", and Steve is helping to coach. Her softball team consist of kids 5 and 6 years old and of course, Kayla is one of the tiniest. Kayla may be tiny, but she actually has a pretty good throwing arm. Below are some pictures from opening game day.





My brother got Kayla her own softball helmet which she is so happy to wear because it's pink and doesn't smell like the other shared team helmets. Kayla has already made quite a few friends on the team and seems to be enjoying the new sport.



Friday, June 1, 2012

Good Bye School, Hello Summer Camp

One of the primary reasons we chose Lauren’s nursery school is because it provides 1:1 support. Every day, Lauren has a volunteer that works with her. And last night, Steve and I went to a Thank You Volunteer soiree where we met Lauren’s volunteers for the first time. They all had wonderful things to say about Lauren and described her as having a great sense of humor, a glowing personality, and always “singing” and bouncing to the beat of the music.  She was described as loving to paint with paint brushes and gluing during arts and crafts and playing “jack in the box”. We were in complete shock to hear that Lauren was doing so well. I guess as parents, our expectations are high and we always get caught up in the “what’s she’s not doing right” as opposed to “what she is doing right”. We have a different set of eyes and ears than her teachers and aides. The volunteers, ladies in their 60s and 70s, and her teachers, love Lauren for who she is and not who they want her to become. It was a good night to reflect how much Lauren has grown since starting nursery school in September and we recall that only 10 months ago, Lauren was super shy, would have never made a sound, and would never socially engage with anyone. And now, last night, the volunteers are all telling us how Lauren welcomes them every day with a hug and a smile. One of the volunteers even said in her 6 years of volunteering with the school, Lauren was the first child who was more “with It” and did not have any “mental issues”. This was a complete shock, as we often find Lauren to be completely spaced out and "not with it"….but then again, perhaps the volunteer, who looks to be definitely in her later 70s, is the one who is not “with it” J. Alas, it was a great night to really say thank you to the volunteer for their patience, time and support. Without them I don’t know if Lauren would have blossomed as much as she did this school year.

As school year draws to a near, Lauren is signed up for summer camp for 6 weeks. Lauren is going to a day camp that runs 9am to 11:30am Monday to Friday. It’s a 1:5 ratio, so it will be interesting to see how she does. To be honest, I’m quite nervous, as often when we are with friends and play dates, Lauren does not typically follow the other kids and plays on her own, and I’m afraid at camp she might get left behind. But I’ve spoken to the Director of the camp, who has informed me that about 1/5 of their kids have higher needs (primary reason I chose this camp), so she’s assured me the camp leaders will know the strategies to engage Lauren into the group. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Lauren is signed up to go to a Social and Communication Skills camp from 11:30-2:30pm at the same camp location.  This camp focuses specifically on social and communication skills and is 1:1 with ECE students from University of Toronto. I’m very excited to see how this will go. On top of this, Steve and I are signed up for Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training as parents through Early Intervention for the summer. So it will definitely be a summer of communication, communication, communication. I’ve also hired a new OT student to work with Lauren starting mid-June (the last OT student had to go on a work term). She’s a Uof T student and has 2 sisters, one of who is a Speech Therapist, and the other an Physio Therapist. Both her sisters work at Bloorview Children’s Rehab. She herself has lots of experience working with special needs kids and quickly understood our challenges and goals with Lauren. When I mentioned Lauren was almost 3 and still not talking, the OT student turned to me and said “You don’t need to talk to communicate. The most important thing is for Lauren to learn how to communicate. There are other ways to communicate other than talking” How True.
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