Finally Some Great Weather!

I think we are finally going to see warmer and warmer temperatures from here on out. Thank Goodness!!! The winter months have been brutal especially with Kendal trapped in the house. Now we use any excuse to get out of the house. Since I haven't been that great lately at updates, I'll give a quick synopsis of the latest in the Crocker household.

Kendal had a great time at our family's annual Easter Egg Hunt. I did put her in a cute dress which for those that know me know that I am not too much into dresses myself. Kendal plays so hard, I rarely have her in a dress. But anyway, we had a great Easter Lunch and then followed it up the Easter Egg Hunt. We did a practice run at home so she understood the goal of picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. As soon as she realized candy was in the eggs, she really wasn't interested in continuing to gather them, she was ready to divulge in the goodies. She really had a blast and so did we.

Kendal had her IEP Meeting last Wednesday and it went great. We are truly blessed to have such amazing women working with Kendal. I think she has stolen everyone's heart and they are 100% dedicated to improving Kendal's skill sets. Behavior wise she has been doing remarkably better at school. I think she is finally learning that communicating through words or signs gets her what she wants much more easily. Summer school has been made available for her (so she does not regress) but considering the driving around to get her and take her for only hour (I think) a day just doesn't make sense so we will probably decline that service. We are staying on track with her goals as we all see that she is making progress. Praise God!

We decided to take Kendal off the Focalin last week. Even though she seemed to be doing much better in therapy (speciafically speech), she seemed to get more aggressive during her free time. I don't know what we will do at this point. Kendal has two or three appointments next month (neurologist, deveolpment specialist, and I can't remember what else!) and I will just wait and see if the doctors have any more advise. In the mean time, I am trying to get her into "play" therapy to work on bad behaviors that we are seeing at home. All the paperwork and evaluations will probably take a few weeks but I will update you when I know more.

We finally signed a contract with a Special Needs Advocate last month. This advocate will work with us for one year and help us make sure we have everything set for for Kendal's future. From estate planning - to more life insurance policies - to scrapbooks on Kendal's medical history - to all the legal stuff through an attorney - and everything in between, our advocate will help us to stay focused to get this important stuff handled. This is such an important step to take and that is why we are investing some much money and time in preparing for her future.

This weekend me and Kendal spent Saturday with my grandmother. She really is a help in going shopping with me - she pushes Kendal around and entertains her and I actually get my shopping done. We went to Target, Applebees, Publix, the park, and then the cemetary. Kendal and grandma were still going strong by the end of the day and I was completely exhausted. It was a beautiful day though and I'm truly blessed to still have a grandmother that is so active. She will be 89 next month and she is such an inspiration. She's so wise and yet despite her age, she doesn't think twice about being silly with Kendal. I swear it cracks me up just watching them together - they spend so much time just laughing with one another.

Today, after church we came home and after a quick lunch put Kendal down for a nap. Surprisingly she zonked out for 2.5 hours and gave me the chance to veg out, watch some stuff I had on the DVR, and fold some clothes. After she got up I took her to the new park down the street. It was surprisingly deserted and me and Kendal had the run of the place. We both swang, went down the slides, climbed a rock wall, and tried doing pull-ups (neither of us was very successful). We were orginally supposed to visit with Shirley in Spring Hill but unfortuantly it fell through at the last minute. We will definitely try it again in another week or two!

I'm so looking forward to this week being beautiful - I hope evryone has a GREAT one!