Family Photos - November 2015

Our wonderful photographer, Anna, came to OKC a couple weeks ago and took our photos at a local tree farm. As always, she did an amazing job. If you know of anyone who lives in/near Little Rock, Arkansas, she's trying to build her photography business there. I definitely recommend her! I wish she still lived in OKC, but I love that she takes the time to photograph us when she's back in town visiting her family. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tyler - Ten Months

Weight: 19 lbs, 0 oz 

Length: 29.5"

Clothing size: 12 month

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. He eats pureed foods 3 times/day. Sweet potatoes are still his favorite. He started eating yogurt a couple weeks ago.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm. He often wakes up to eat around 10:00 and goes back to sleep pretty quick. He sometimes wakes up again around 2:00am to eat and then usually sleeps the rest of the night and wakes for the day around 7:00-7:30am.  He often takes a short nap in the morning after a feeding or while we're in the car, and he usually takes a decent afternoon nap in his crib. He usually naps 2-3 hours on the days he's at MDO. 

Highlights of the month: Tyler is army crawling and has pulled up to our train table a few times. 

Happy Halloween

Caleb's Three!

Caleb turned three on Monday, October 26th!  Some good friends of ours have a daughter who also turned three this month. We have lots of mutual friends, so we joined forces and had a birthday party for both of them at a local play gym on the 17th. The kids had a great time playing on the equipment and eating cupcakes.

On Caleb's actual birthday, he woke up to a bed full of balloons. That's a birthday tradition I started on his first birthday. He loved it the first two years, but he wasn't too thrilled about it this time!

After breakfast and playing with some new toys, we headed off to his first day of preschool! His teacher said he had a great first day!

The day after his birthday, he had his three-year well visit. Our pediatrician is retiring at the end of the year, so this was his last well visit with her. We have been through so much with her, and she actually got a little teary-eyed as we said our "goodbyes". Caleb gained two pounds over the last year, so he now weighs 24.5lbs. He grew 2.25" inches and is now at 32.75" tall.

Tyler - Nine Months

Weight: 18 lbs, 4 oz (24th percentile)

Length: 29" (75th percentile)

Clothing size: mostly 9 month, but he's starting to wear some 12 month onesies

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. He eats pureed foods 3 times/day. He will eat almost anything I offer to him, but sweet potatoes are definitely still at the top of the list. He still isn't crazy about green beans or peas.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and sleeps until about 7:00am. He usually wakes up 1-2 times each night, but he sometimes sleeps through the night. He often takes a short nap in the morning after a feeding or while we're in the car.. And he usually takes a decent afternoon nap in his crib.

Highlights of the month: Tyler got his first two teeth. He also started some pre-crawling where he rocks to his left side and then thrusts his right side forward with the help of his right arm and leg. It gets him where he wants to go, which is often to get close enough to grab something out of Caleb's hands. 

IEP

We had Caleb's first IEP meeting yesterday morning. I've heard horror stories about IEP meetings, so I was a little uncertain about what to expect. We knew that Caleb would qualify to participate in the school district's PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities), and we thought he might get some therapies while at school. We also knew that the school district doesn't have a program for "typically developing" three year olds, so Caleb would be in a class with other kids who have developmental delays.

Now Caleb has been in a Mother's Day Out class for the last two years with typically developing peers that are his age. They're all either three or turning three soon, so the same age as Caleb. And while Caleb's development lags behind in some areas, I know he benefits from the interaction he has with his classmates there and from being challenged by his teachers to do the same things that his peers do.

After much thought, Brad and I came up with a schedule that works for us. We decided that Caleb would go to preschool on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and he would go to Mother's Day Out on Wednesdays and Fridays. I suspected this 3/2 schedule wouldn't go over too well with the public school, but I really felt that it was what we needed to do.

So back to the IEP meeting...

We met with the principal, psychologist, special ed teacher, OT and SLP. The PT was at another school that day, so she couldn't be at the meeting. We were told that Caleb qualified to receive PT, OT and speech therapies at school, and he would be pulled out of his classroom for those therapy sessions. The teacher told us about some of the things they'll be doing in class, and we also learned about an adaptive PE class that Caleb will get to participate in. We were excited about everything we were hearing. Everyone seemed happy and excited.

As the meeting was wrapping up, I mentioned that we were only going to send Caleb to preschool three days per week. And instantly the mood in the room changed. They all insisted that attending school five days per week is best. I got a little flustered and didn't explain my reasoning as well as I should have, even though I had rehearsed my response in my head several times.

Believe me, I totally want what's best for Caleb. I want to see him grow, learn and reach his full potential. I would never purposefully do anything to hinder that from happening. I also understand that educators and therapists have extensive education, training and experience and probably have their student's best interests in mind too. I truly value their opinions. But ultimately, I feel that Brad and I know what's best for Caleb more than anyone else. So as we had planned, Caleb will attend the developmental preschool program on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. He will work with the PT, OT and SLP while at school. And he will attend Mother's Day Out on Wednesdays and Fridays. He will also continue working with his PT, OT and SLP that we've been seeing for the last few years in all that spare time we have. :)

Goodness. Caleb turns three on Monday, and he's suddenly a big boy! I can hardly believe he will start public school in just a few days.

Downright Blessed

Today, I'm guest blogging over at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too as part of Stefanie's "Downright Blessed: Life with Down Syndrome" series. Hop on over to her blog to read my post about Caleb - http://www.lexieloolilyliamdylantoo.com/2015/10/meet-caleb-downright-blessed-life-with.html