A Slower Pace and Lots of Hits

For the last two weeks I have had a semi-normal schedule at a much slower pace than I have grown accustomed to. Kendal hasn't been in therapy for two full weeks and I am surprised at how much more relaxed I have been (I assume because I'm sleeping more). This is the first time in two full years that I haven't been getting Kendal to therapy or waiting for a therapist to come here. It has been nice to not always plan on making therapy such a big part of our lives although I know it will be vital in Kendal's long-term progress.

Since things have been slower, I have been working on Kendal getting services through the Special Education Program in the school system. I have completed all the paperwork and submitted all of Kendal's most recent evaluations. At this point, I am waiting on her to be evaluated to see if she qualifies for the program (which she will , but we still have to go through the motions). Once in the program, she will participate for 3-4 hours a day, 4 days a week. There she will receive all therapies for which she qualifies for and will work one-on-one with special education teachers. I still don't know all the details but I will give an update as I learn more.

The hitting issues have become more prevalent here at home in the last couple of weeks. We have noticed that at home, she hits mainly because of frustration or anger because we have told her no to something. The other times she does it is when we are holding her or reading to her and her hand swings back and hits us in the face. After reading her a book this evening in the floor, she stood up, turned around and whacked me in the face. I corrected her and she immediately did it again. And again. At this point, I usually have to walk away because I cannot sit there and let her continually hit me (or James) despite that most therapists have advised I ignore the behavior. You get hit in the face time after time and you try to ignore it! We still at this point are working on a tip from the lady that observed her -when she hits, hold her hands down, tell her "No Hitting", and clap her hands together with the instruction for the reason she hit "When you're mad, Clap Kendal". So far this has been very unsuccessful, but it takes a long time to change behavior so we will see.

She's Three!!!

Well, Kendal's third birthday has come and gone and I am realizing that I can't stop time or even slow it down. We had a very small birthday party this year but it was a great one. Both of Kendal's grandparents were there and several other family members/friends which made it very special. On top of that, it was really nice outside that day and all the kids got to play outside.

I had asked everyone for clothes for Kendal since she had gotten so many toys at Christmas and I didn't hardly have any spring-clothes. Usually when you make a special request no one really listens but that wasn't the case this year. Every single present she received was clothes for spring and summer - I couldn't believe it! She now has an entire wardrobe that fills her closet. This is particularly exciting for me because she does go through 3-4 shirts a day (due to the drooling) and 1-2 pants a day. I stay busy just making sure she always has clean clothes for the next day. Kendal wasn't too excited opening all the clothes but I sure was!

Happy Birthday Kendal!

We Love You!

Mommy & Daddy

Saying Goodbye

This past week, me and Kendal had to say goodbye to all the therapists. I have seen most of these women once/week for the last 2 years and have grown quite attached. These women have helped Kendal achieve so many goals and when I lacked faith, they made up for it. I will miss them so much, but I am so thankful to even have had them working with Kendal. We have truly been blessed.

Now, I am currently getting paperwork to the school system to get Kendal set up through their Pre-School Special Education program. That is how she will receive therapies now. Hopefully there won't be too big of a gap between now and when she will actually start with the school system.

Thanks so much Sue (Occuptational Therapist), Amber (Physical Therapist), and Suzanne (Speech Pathologist) for making such a great impact on our lives!

What are you gonna do?

I keep asking myself that as different obstacles keep coming our way in the path of Kendal's progress through therapies. In particular, Kendal has done really well with her speech therapist Suzanne. Kendal adores her and I couldn't be happier with her. Suzanne has been an in-network provider for our insurance so we were just planning on paying our co-pays and any additional sessions out of pocket when Kendal falls off of the TEIS Program on March 10th. Because our insurance has a limit of 2 therapy sessions per 30 days, we had submitted some recommendation letters from Kendal's doctors to see if there was any leeway with the number of sessions per month. We are still awaiting a response.

In the mean time, I receive a letter from the insurance company telling me that Suzanne is no longer an in-network provider and I needed to change therapists to receive the same benefits I had been receiving. I immediately called Suzanne and she is not sure what is going on and she said she would get back with me. Shortly, Suzanne calls back to explain that she did not realize it was my insurance carrier, but they had sent her a new contract in November with a substantial decrease in the amount they would pay her so she did not sign the contract. I totally understand Suzanne's situation. She has worked hard to get to her level and she and her husband have to determine if there are better opportunities elsewhere.

I searched for the providers in my area and there were only 3 in a 100 mile radius of my house. Let me repeat: There are only 3 providers within 100 miles of my house. One is in Bowling Green, one in Nashville, and one in Murfreesboro. I don't even know if any of these providers work with kids. I don't know how flexible they are on schedules (Suzanne lives in the neighborhood behind mine and comes over to our house @ 7AM twice a week).

I started freaking out about all of this, but I caught myself before I went over the deep end. I will not worry about it. God will provide as he ALWAYS does. Things will work out as they should. I am not wasting my valuable time over something that God has the reigns on - and he knows much better than I on how to drive!

A little Dress for Kendal

Well, I decided to get out my sewing machine after my good friend Shirley (http://ourhomesteadingquest.typepad.com/our_homesteading_quest/) told me about a very simple dress to sew that is versatile and adorable too! It's been a couple of years since I have sewed anything so I thought this was a good project to start back in on. It was very simple once I had Shirley walk me through it and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it looked considering the little amount of time that went in to it. These pictures have been taken before I got the chance to finish up the last little stitches, add the two buttons, and iron it but I wanted to at least show Shirley my accomplishment so far. I am already thinking about a second one and Shirley I will want to get your opinion on that one before I start!

What are you doing child?

Kendal's daycare called me Thursday afternoon to let me know that Kendal had begun scratching her belly and they were having a hard time getting her to stop. They had asked if she was having any problems, if she had been scratching before, if I had changed laundry detergents, etc. I really didn't think it was a big deal until they sent me a picture. I about died! I went and picked her up and decided to go to the doctor just in case there was a rash or something. She was so inflamed at the time that the doctor could not tell if there was a rash underneath all the scratching inflammation. We went ahead and coated her with Neosporin and Cortizone and a couple hours later it looked much better (see the above picture). It was one of those times I was asking her, "What are you doing child?" And as usual, Kendal just laughed.

More Sickness, Hitting, and Silly Sounds

After Kendal finished up with the crud, guess who got it next? This past weekend I had gotten very sick and was so disappointed me and James didn't get to go out on the town to celebrate our 10-year anniversary (2-26). Today I think I have finally overcome the bug and now I just pray that James stays healthy.

I have finally got an appointment set up with a behaviorist to come out and observe Kendal at daycare. She will sit in the classroom for 1.5 to 2 hours to observe and then we will have a meeting to help us understand Kendal's hitting issues and give us different tools to use to try to overcome our obstacles. I actually felt really good after speaking with the therapist. Her boss is a specialist that Kendal saw early last year at Vanderbilt. This particular doctor had referred us to the geneticist because she had suspected Angelman Syndrome. I will definitely update once she sits in to observe next Wednesday.

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. I hope to get some video posted in the next week of Kendal's progress in speech therapy. Kendal is making a bunch of sounds now and it is so funny listening to her "talk". She has gotten into the squealing stage now too - she will start crying and then all of the sudden squeal as loud as possible. I know we shouldn't, but me and James crack up. She is so dramatic and absolutely hilarious.

A Sick Day

Today I stayed at home with Kendal because she has been under the weather. Tuesday night was a rough one. Kendal had vomited several times throughout the night which required 4 changes of the sheets and mattress pads, and a trip to the bath tub at midnight. I know I got very little sleep and I know she was completely exhausted too. Wednesday she stayed with Nana Dayton and then spent about 2 hours at the office with me.

She has been running a fever and it got to 103.6 last night. This morning her fever was down to 100.2 and she has been acting fine. She threw up some vanilla pudding I gave her (on the couch that was cleaned 2 weeks ago, Of Course!!), so I will try to let her tummy rest a little and just stick with fluids. I think she will be well enough to go back to school tomorrow as long as the fever stays away.