Answers

Well, we finally have some answers about our Kibby. After months of tests and evaluations and screenings, of waiting lists and wondering. It has taken a long time, but we think she will be able to get some help now, and for that we are glad. It will be worth the wait.

We met Thursday with the team from the school district that has been doing her most recent evaluations. They tested her for several things: academic and cognitive abilities, vision, communication, and autism. In the midst of this, Kibby also saw a nurse practitioner from the department of developmental & behavioral pediatrics here in town. (She had been on a wait list since the end of August!) She also saw a social worker at the clinic to determine what type of an evaluation she would need by them, and an audiologist to test her hearing.

What had prompted all of this testing was her history of delayed speech, strange use of language when she did begin to speak, and other developmental... oddities, for lack of a better word. This led us to get her tested for some type of developmental disorder, and we began this process last Fall, after an attempt at doing an Early Childhood check-in was a flop. They weren't able to screen her. I have written some about these things in previous posts, but it has been a while since I've updated on this because I didn't have anything concrete to share. I didn't have any diagnosis or test results to report, just my gut feeling, and I've already shared that.

Well, now I have something to report. And research. It's name?

Autism.

It wasn't the crushing blow it could have been, only because I already suspected it. Not to say that it was nothing to see it on paper next to Kibby's name. It wasn't. However, I am optimistic that the help Kibby will be able to get will enable her succeed far beyond what I can do alone at home. (Not that I am ever alone... with 4 kids, it's rare to ever be truly alone in the house!) I am still processing how I feel about all of this, and all that goes along with this diagnosis. I'm also doing some research. I was a bit surprised at Kibby's scores on the autism test... we all pretty much expected her to test on the higher-functioning end, and she didn't. This doesn't mean she is low-functioning necessarily, either. She did score "far below average" in a few categories. She is a bit of a puzzle, and we're trying to figure it all out yet. He scores could be skewed a bit due to her problem with auditory processing, or could be completely accurate. The team once was fairly certain it wasn't autism, but after testing her and seeing her results, feel that they got accurate information and the results are correct. She will be re-evaluated at the end of Kindergarten to see if she still qualifies for services.

Kibby also qualifies for services for a language disorder. Which sounds pretty general, to me, but I'm not sure how you could narrow that down for her, either. He use of language is unique and odd, sometimes embarrassing, or even downright funny.

We have one more meeting to go before Kibby will start preschool. We will be prioritizing goals for Kibby and meeting with the teachers and observing her classroom. She will go four mornings per week, following the regular school year. For me, right now, the hardest part about her attending school is her transportation. I have to admit it kind of freaks me out to put my 4-year-old child on a bus or van with a stranger, for a nearly 20-minute ride (each way, not including other stops the bus may make) for four days a week. What about car seats? Do they have them? I have so many questions and things to figure out. We do have the option to drive her ourselves, of course, but I'm not sure how that would work with Ethan's bus schedule. I know I shouldn't worry about it, especially when I don't know the details yet. Deep breath, Susan... deeeep breath...

There. That's better.

I'll post another update when I have her appointment set up and I know when she'll be starting school! Whoa, it feels strange to type that. Ethan never went to preschool, so I'm not used to this. I always thought I'd have her at home until she was five and a half! *sniff*

***Update - I have her meeting set up for March 1st, and Kibby will begin school on March 2nd! I'm not sure I'm ready for this! I'm excited for her and nervous all at the same time. ***

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday, Kibby!

Yesterday was Kibby's birthday. Here she is telling us all how old she is!
Anybody notice what's missing?

Two of her gifts - Strawberry Shortcake dolls.



She loves Strawberry Shortcake. She watches the 2 Strawberry Shortcake DVDs that she owns all the time! (I do mean all. the. time!) One of them is called Strawberry Shortcake, Berry Big Journeys. (I won it for her from my friend Sarah's blog. Thanks, Sarah!) Kibby loves to watch it, and she calls it "Strawberry Shortcake Big Germs". :)

She also got some Color Wonder paint & marker kits. She loves to draw and paint and color. She had gotten some Color Wonder stuff from her grandparents for Christmas and has been coloring pictures a lot lately. Since Christmas, when she wants to color, she will tell me, "I just want markers for Christmas, I just want to draw!" all in one breath, rushed together. It's the same phrase, said in the same tone, every time. That's just how Kibby is.


Here is some of her recent artwork:
This used to be more of the norm for her. She would fill entire sheets of paper with just purple. Every single white spot covered with purple marker or crayon. I'm happy to see she is expanding her love of color beyond just that one!



I had asked her to open her eyes instead of squinting them shut (how she usually smiles for the camera!) and she signed "awake" for me! :)



She used up all of her finger paints in about an hour! I looked over and realized she was using gobs of paint at a time, her little fingers nearly stuck together. Ah well, I thought... she is having fun. She was so focused at her creations, too!

Switching gears a bit, we have been having quite a few appointments for her lately. She has been having tests done to see if she will qualify for Early Childhood classes. So far she has had two speech / language evaluations, a vision test, a hearing test, a meeting with a social worker, some academic testing, and she has two more to appointments go. She will have an autism checklist screening done next week, and she will also see a developmental nurse practitioner. I hope to have all of the results compiled by our meeting with the school district in mid-February. I will update around that time to let everyone know what we find out!

For now, we'll keep up the artwork, one day at a time!

Not Me My Husband Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else* have not been doing this week.

*Or in this case, our husbands. :)



It's been a while since I've done a Not Me Monday post, hasn't it? I usually don't have time in my week to be witty and keep up with everything else going on, but I just couldn't pass this one up. It's not about me. It's not about my kids. It's about THIS man right here:

Nice hair, don't ya think? Although I think it makes him look a bit pale here. Needs Photoshop touch ups, but I just don't have time anymore!

Anyway, without further ado...

Not Me My Husband Monday!

Seth, my husband of nearly six years, frequently has us in stitches without even really trying. Maybe that is what makes it so funny? Here are a few Sethisms. Some recent, some from a while ago. All funny.

* A few Summers ago, he rode his bike to work to save gas. He parked it in the bicycle rack downtown near his building without locking it up. When he returned at the end of the day, his bike was not gone. As in not stolen. He did not call me and I did not say, "Well, did you lock it up?" His reply:
"Well, no! It was parked right out in the open. Buildings with tons of windows all around it. Who would steal it with all those people watching?" It did not take me a minute to reply. I was not at a loss for words at his logic. I guess he forgot to put a sign on the bike stating it was his? :)

* Another time, we were looking in the local swap n shop ads for a kitchen table and chairs. We saw one, but didn't recognize the first 3 digits of the phone numbers listed in the ad and we didn't want to drive too far out of town. Seth decided to call the number and inquire. When the person on the other end of the line answered, "Hello?", my dear husband did not simply begin the conversation with, "Hi. Where do you live?" (and the person at the other end of the line most certainly did not answer him with the name of the town!)

* When visiting my sister in the next state over, we were getting in the car to drive somewhere, and my father was standing over by the kids on my sister's cement slab in her yard(which will someday soon be their garage floor). My dad (aka "Bumpa" to the grandkids) did not trip over some toy the kids had left sitting around, nearly falling over. My husband did not blurt out without thinking, "Oh no! Bumpa took a dump!" (He did not really mean "digger" and the boys did not find this so hilarious that they still giggle about it to this day!)


*Disclaimer:
No husbands were harmed in the making of this post. Hopefully no marriages, either! :) I love you, Honey! xoxo

I'm growing!

I'm getting bigger!

See?

This was me just after Christmas. (I'm thinking hard!)

Here I am on New Year's Eve. So excited I can hardly stand it.

But I do like to try to talk to Mommy!

And here I am most recently. All 13 and a half pounds of me. :)
(And it's Mommy's fault I look green here. I thought she was going to fix that...)

See you soon! :)

A Very Late Christmas Post

Only nearly a month late...

Merry Christmas!

Kibby provided our laugh for the morning, when she got her stocking, she went from Grandma to Grandpa saying in an excited voice, 'TRICK OR TREAT!!!" and held out her stocking to them. Ah, Kibby... Great enthusiasm, but wrong holiday. :)

Checking out their stocking gifts and candy.

Ethan got a chore chart. It's magnetic, and I still haven't thought of a really good place to put it where the little ones won't be into it and either rearranging the magnets or losing them, or worse - choking on them. Ethan was (still is) pretty excited about it, though.

The girls got fleece slings that Grandma made for them. Ruby loved hers and I have a couple dozen pics of her wearing her baby that morning. Kibby liked hers but wasn't nearly as excited. She chose to carry a Care Bear in hers.

Here is Ruby when she first opened hers. My mom had made them each 3 dolly blankets and a sling. Ruby immediately gave hers a snuggle!

Our family of six! (Wow, nobody is crying!)

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

After all the drama of the tooth coming out (and there was lots of drama!), he said he wants to keep it instead of putting it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. I said that was up to him, and that the Tooth Fairy probably wouldn't go broke quite as soon that way. ;) Here he is holding it in the little tooth case he usually uses for when he puts them under his pillow. This is his fourth tooth he has lost. I'm hoping it will be a while before he loses any more!

One month already!

I can't believe Ean is already one month old! Here are some recent pictures:

Here he is trying to talk to Seth. (We were trying to get him to smile!) He is beginning to find his voice and says "ah" more every day now!

Yesterday (the 2nd) he smiled at me for the first time! And I don't mean in his sleep, either! The first time he did it, I thought it was unintentional, but then he did it 3 more times! He was so alert and just studying my face as I talked to him for about 10 minutes. Of course I didn't have my camera nearby, and trying to get him to do it when I do have my camera around is still difficult. It won't be long, though, and he will be smiling a lot more! :)