The Blogging Mom...

links...

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:51:00 +0000

I shared earlier that we bought Trenton an iPad for his speech- but we've discovered the apps are nearly endless for special education. I REALLY want one for my classroom!!! I found this link that indexes many of the sped apps available now, but there are many more. At $.99 each for most apps, we're quickly building a great sized library. http://www.kcdsg.org/files/content/24470331-iPhone-and-iPod-touch-Apps-for-Special-Education.pdf
Many of the apps are also helpful if you have an iphone or an ipod.

Summer daze

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:32:00 +0000

This summer is flying by so fast! We are having so much fun, though! We've been sleeping in and then eating 'brunch' and going swimming with my Aunt Shannon and cousin, Reggie, who will be in 4th grade. The kids just love Reggie! Then we take naps and play with the neighbor boys. Madelynn and Tyse are inseparable- if they grow up and date each other, we have so many embarrassing pictures of them!
This week is Vacation Bible School. Trenton has trouble with this kind of activity because it's not nearly as structured as 'regular' school. They sing and dance in the church sanctuary and that is definitely out of the norm for church behavior and he dislikes it. He will usually cover his ears, hide under the pew and cry. I feel so bad this year, in particular, because his school year speech para arranged for her daughter to be his VBS para. (She is wanting to be a special ed teacher, so it is good practice for her). He has 1 on 1 assistance and is still not a fan of VBS. She is a lot of help, though because he is excused from the beginning and end of day commotion and she takes him into the nursery to watch videos. She says he's been doing really well with the rest of the day. I'm not helping this year (he does better if I'm not around, sadly), so I don't know first hand, but I'll take her word for it. This morning, he didn't want to go so bad he ran away from home and ended up in the neighbor's (Gina's) kitchen. I was pretty happy that if he was going to run to a neighbor's house, he chose the one that would send him back home. It happened so fast- I just went inside long enough to grab my cell phone and he was gone. I don't want to keep him out of extra-curricular activities just because he doesn't like the different type of structure, but I feel bad making him do things he dislikes. I'm not sure where that boundary is- I want him to participate in activities outside of school with his friends so that he maintains the friendships with his same age peers, but if he's hiding and covering his ears, his first grade peers won't understand that, either. It's a tough decision and a fine line. I'm sure in 20 years we'll have all the answers, but right now it's tough.
I updated our calendar in the kitchen and realized we only have 3 weeks of summer left- then reality will hit again and we'll have to set an alarm and have a normal bedtime. Chances are pretty good I'll have to cook again, too. We've had quick dinners and BBQ- plus we've eaten out a lot this summer. When reality hits, this wonderful daze we've been in all summer will suddenly come to a halt. I have to say, though, that in a way I'm looking forward to school starting and going back to work. I'll miss Kaydence, but I've had a pretty awesome maternity leave all summer, and I miss my students!

Summer fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:07:00 +0000

Where did June go? We have been so busy! Trenton and Madelynn have both been in swimming lessons, dance and gymnastics. I thought my kids were too young for me to be a taxi Mom, but I guess not. Kaydence is such a good baby- she tolerates all the running around so well. She's sleeping on my chest as I'm typing this!
Trenton, in swimming lessons, is an experience, to say the least! His teacher is so good with him, but he is a challenge! Usually we don't allow him out of the vehicle at the pool without his life jacket because of all the trouble he can get into, but during swimming lessons he goes without. His teacher says he's under the water more than he's above it. He has made a lot of progress since last year, though. This year when he dives into the deep end all by himself he can doggy paddle to the side. Not well enough that I'm going to let the life jacket stay in the car, but hey we are making progress! Today he had a pretty impressive feat- he swam the length of the pool by himself! Yeah Trenton! Swim team next year??? Last Friday we spent 4 hours at the pool and by the end of our playtime Kaydence and I were pretty tired. Trenton, however, was not! He was swimming around in the deep end and wouldn't get out. We do the "count to 3" technique and my "3" threat was that I was going in after him. I was fully dressed and bluffing. He called my bluff and shot me with a water gun, stuck his tongue out at me and swam the other way. At that, I was furious and wasn't going to let him win so I dove in the pool to get him. He was totally surprised- his eyes about popped out of his head. Of course, I looked totally ridiculous walking out of the pool soaking wet in my clothes, but I won, so I had a sense of satisfaction. Plus, I really think Trenton had a new respect for his Mom that wasn't too proud to play his games. He laughed at me- thought I looked silly since my wet shorts had a little trouble staying over my butt! He can do things that are just infuriating, but then he does things like tell me I look like Tinkerbell. I gotta love that blind love!

Madelynn has also been busy with swimming. Last year she was afraid to get in the big pool by herself and this year she likes to swim in her pink floatie to the deep end. She passed her swimming lessons with flying colors! She's also taking dance classes from Linda's Dance Academy in town. She loves it, but her Dad has some issues with the "Shake your booty" move. Poor girls, they don't stand a chance- he's so protective of them. Madelynn is every bit a 3 year old- I'm looking forward to her 4th birthday in August! She has incessant whining about pretty much everything. She'll ask a question over and over without taking a breath or allowing me time to answer. Just about when I think she's going to send me to the crazy house she says "I love you so much, Mommy! Thank you for taking me swimming (or wherever we just went)". Makes all the whining much less annoying!

Kaydence is doing great, she's down to getting up 1 time a night most nights. Night before last she laughed for the very first time at about 2:45 a.m. It was the cutest darn thing I ever saw! She's a petite little thing- weighing in at 8 pounds 13 ounces at 6 weeks, but she's adorable.

One more thing... We bought an iPad for Trenton to use this summer. We use the Prologuque2Go app (spelling?) for speech generation. There are so many apps for special education it is unbelievable! So far, he loves it. There is a hurdle with me figuring out how to program it, though. However, it is cheaper than the Dynavox V ($8,000) and will hopefully help Trenton to become more independent and get into less trouble when he's able to communicate more freely. I'll update his progress when he gets some more practice with it.

New Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:22:00 +0000

May 18, 2010 at 11:11 a.m. we welcomed Kaydence Margaret Heiman. She was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. She was an easy delivery- everything went smoothly and fast. 5 weeks of bedrest/ light duty prior to delivery so I thought the easy delivery was actually well earned! Trenton is SUPER excited about his new sister! We told the kids her name a long time ago to get Trenton to practice it. He has never called Madelynn by her name. She has been "girl" since the day she was born. We didn't want his sisters to be "Girl 1" and "Girl 2" like Dr. Suess's "Thing 1 and Thing 2", so we practiced and practiced. All he wanted to call the baby was "cow"- which I suppose is a closer approximation to Kaydence's name than "Girl" is to "Madelynn". We'll just have to explain to Kaydence that Trenton loves cows and it's probably a term of endearment instead of a slam about her weight. I'm sure she'll eventually understand. After all, he does sit by her bouncy seat and sing her lullabies (mostly "Skinna-ma-rinky-dinky-dink, I love, you") for extended periods of time. I'm quite impressed by this since he generally has the attention span of a gnat. He is so good with babies that I would not be surprised if he grew up to work in a school or daycare center.
Madelynn is also really excited about the new baby. She is old enough now that she is a helper- that was a great bonus of waiting almost 4 years to have another baby! I'm waiting for the novelty of the new baby to wear off. Right now everything is new and exciting and Kaydence is not old enough yet to steal Madelynn's princesses- so she's still perfect in Madelynn's eyes. Any time Kaydence squeaks, Madelynn puts the pacifier in her mouth and tells me she needs some "milk from your boom". Very cute.
On the second to last day of school I picked Trenton up and while waiting, I had a very nice conversation with another Mom. It's one of those things that really touch your heart as a Mother and make you immensely proud of your kid. As the Mom was telling me this story, tears were welling up in both of our eyes. She said that some kids were picking on her daughter at recess and she was upset. She sat on the side of the playground and was just quietly sitting alone. Trenton evidently realized that this girl was sad about something and he stopped playing and went over, put his arm around her shoulders and just sat there with her. The little girl told her Mom that she could tell Trenton knew she needed a friend right then, so he sat there and did just that. He is such a sweetheart. Sometimes I think the extra chromosome adds something like an additional interpersonal intuition or something. He is so sensitive and caring to other people- all people, it is just amazing. When you first find out that you have a child with DS, you don't know what to think, you go through this grieving period, only to find out that was a waste of time. So what if your son isn't going to be captain of the football team? He will be the sweetest, most genuine kid you will ever meet!

Trenton's big news!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:03:00 +0000

OK, so I think I figured out how to do this on the blog, but you have to have Facebook to see it. Trenton learned to read! We were so excited we couldn't keep it to ourselves. Having a child with special needs, you truly learn to never take anything for granted. We have been working on letter sounds and letter recognition all year- with progress, but of course, not the same pace as his peers. He's also been working on sight words and he can match them with pretty good accuracy, but his apraxia keeps us from understanding him with his speech sound production. In speech, they started using little books to help him and they read this book with him a few times and he figured out how to do read it! He has actually mastered the 1-1 correspondence with the letters. Some of his words are a little hard to understand because of speech, but since I speak his language, I can tell you, he knows what he's doing! Check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/?of=644272871 to watch the video. It really makes me cry I'm so darn proud of him every time I watch it!

Boy OH Boy!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:37:00 +0000

I really don't know what % of Trenton's tricks are due to Down Syndrome and his issues with communication and what is just purely because he's a boy. As of this afternoon, I'm officially relieved the baby is a girl. I don't think I could handle 2 boys. This morning, Kent took Madelynn to the farm to help his Dad push snow (and to play with the new tractor, I think. More Boys and their toys!) Madelynn did not like pushing snow in the tractor. It was bumpy so she would fake that she was going to throw up every 2 scoops or so to get out. After about 30 min. Kent called and said she was driving him nuts and I had to come get her. That was at 10:30. We finally got home at 1:00 and I took the kids potty. I had a few things to do before I laid them down for naps so I let them play in their rooms upstairs. When I went up to see what Trenton was doing, he had pooped in his pants and was standing on top of Madelynn's dresser (Which is about shoulder height on me) and clearing it of it's contents. Nevermind the fact that he has hundreds of toys surrounding him- it's much better to just see how many messes he can make for me to clean up. He was in BIG trouble! He sat in timeout for quite a while! I think a lot of this is a boy thing. Madelynn is happy with a box of crayons and computer paper for hours on end! Trenton would not sit with a crayon in his hand voluntarily in a million years! We're not to the hormonal stages yet, but so far, I'm gonna say girls are WAY easier than boys to raise! They are both sleeping now! I'm going to savor the moments.

It's been a while...

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:55:00 +0000

OK- I've been promising Natalie for several weeks now that I would update my blog. Here goes! What's new with us lately? Snow, snow and more snow. In between snow storms it is brutally cold. Literally- the weather man says "Life-threatening wind chill". On the upside, Madelynn has been asking almost daily when the baby's coming and I finally told her not until after the snow melts. At this rate, it could be just about right. She stopped asking. Maybe she gave up on the snow ever melting.

Christmas was fun- except for the blizzard, of course. The kids are at a fun age! Trenton has never really been too interested in opening gifts but this year Santa came to our house early and hand-delivered his gifts on Christmas Eve. We were all so excited! Santa was even excited because he got to watch the kids open their gifts and he said that he never gets to enjoy that particular part of his job! Anyway, Trenton never sleeps and tends to wander the house on a normal night. Christmas morning he was up at about 4:00 opening gifts all by himself. At first I was really mad because I wanted to see his face as he walked down the stairs in the morning- my favorite part of Christmas morning- and then I realized we have new reason to celebrate. He totally understood the concept of gift-receiving this year. We learned he also inherited (or learned) his Dad's vegetable induced gag reflex. I tried to feed him cooked cauliflower the other day and he looked at me and said plain as day "No, I puke". And he was right. Gross.

Madelynn is full of hilarious words and phrases. She was so excited to get a Cinderella dress from Santa this year and she didn't take it off for a week. She also got a Snow White doll that if the Cinderella dress had to come off (like for baths) Snow White had to take a bath with her. Since she wore her dress so much (and Santa was frugal) the Cinderella button fell off the front of the dress. She was surprisingly not upset about this when she brought it in to show me. She said "It fell off, Mommy, but it ok because I already called Santa and he'll come fix it soon." He hasn't shown up yet, but she hasn't noticed.

This morning, on yet another snow day, I tried to put in an educational video for them to watch and they were both protesting. I told them to tough it out because it would make them smarter. Madelynn said "I don't need to, Mommy, I already really smart, actually." I told her until she mastered her grammar, we were still going to work on getting smarter.

The baby, I'm convinced, is going to be able to hold her own with her siblings. (Yes, it's another girl!) The other day I was wearing pants that were definitely too snug but I have pretty limited options right now. She kicked me in the same place the whole day at school- which was unusual- she usually only kicks that much in the evenings. I worked late that night and after everyone left I gave in and unbuttoned my pants. She stopped kicking me and I figured out she must have been trying to kick the button because it must have been just as uncomfortable for her as it was for me. I got a laugh from that!

I'm feeling better these days, except for the occasional pinched nerve which makes me waddle like a fat duck. The pregnancy newsletter I get tells me things I should be doing now. At 21 weeks, it says I need to put the nursery together. We have no place in this house to put this kid. We're going to have to get creative, but right now I don't have the energy to worry about it. We'll just wait until the baby arrives and we'll plop her somewhere. Poor, neglected 3rd kid! Supper's ready- better go set the table!

Madelynn and her funnies!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Today, Madelynn was totally on a roll with her hilarious words! This morning she came in to me with a $2 bill and a fist full of nickels. She gave me the $2 bill and said that was for her new boots because her boots last year are too small. Then she kept the nickels and told me "I need money for my field trip to the punkin patch on Tuesday, Mommy. You buy me new boots and I take this to peeschool. Ok Mommy, OK?" Funny- she has this concept of money- even though a fistful of nickels would not get very far at the pumpkin patch! They grow up so fast!
This evening we were eating dinner and it was her turn to say the prayer. Keep in mind, this is harvest, so Kent is working all the time. I refer to this time of year as "widow season". Not affectionately, mind you. Madelynn says "Dear God, pease bess my Mommy, my Tintin, my Neville, my acorns and my daddy and his work because he not here tonight. Amen." Trenton really didn't get how cute it was of his sister to say that, though because he was upset with Neville for not putting his paws together to pray. I tried to explain his paws were too short to fold over and he did not have thumbs. That fell on deaf ears. Neville should pray with the rest of us! He was sternly scolded by Trenton for not properly praying. I think he was actually praying, though because we had meatballs. He was praying one would roll on the floor. His prayers were answered. It was a good night!

News!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:13:00 +0000

NEWS! We announced this weekend that we are expecting another baby in May. It's a little earlier than we thought we would tell, but as it turns out, Madelynn is pretty excited about it and she cannot keep a secret! I also had to tell several people at work due to some issues we were having and it just felt wrong for colleagues to know before family and friends. Anyway- I'm feeling pretty good, just absolute exhaustion in the evenings. My new bedtime is no later than 8:00 these days. Kent makes fun of me, but I don't really care. Most of the time I'm excited, but when the older 2 are both screaming while I'm making dinner I'm pretty much just scared then!

Neville starts back to school on Oct. 2nd. He clearly cannot wait - as I am typing this he is licking my hands just starving for attention. He cannot wait to see kids all day again. He is so bored at home- and I would be, too. It's pathetic- when we leave for school in the morning, he literally cries. I think it will be a really good thing for him to be with the kids- the kids will love him in Sabetha just as much as they did in Wetmore. I'm getting ready for a speech about him tonight- in about 45 minutes and have no idea what I'm going to say- but I'll come up with something.

I better go intercede the argument between the kids- Trenton is doing everything he can to annoy his sister and it is TOTALLY working!

Chester the Raccoon

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:07:00 +0000

I'm a little late posting this but it's so cute- it's worth the wait. On the first day of school, both the kids came home with the story about Chester the raccoon who had trouble leaving his Mom on the first day of school so his Mom kissed the palm of his hand and told him to touch his cheek and he'll remember her.... OK, we read this story before bedtime. The next morning, I told Madelynn we were going to school and she's going to Gina's. She was a little upset that she wasn't also going to school so she kissed the palm of my hand and put my hand on my cheek and said "It ok Mommy, member me." SO CUTE!
Had to share that but I have another Trenton story- he's full of them!
We had a dr. appt in Topeka on Thursday and on the elevator he had a potty accident (for anyone who doesn't know, we've been potty training for 3 years with moderate levels of success, mostly depending on his mood). We rode the elevator up to the 3rd floor, I noticed the puddle, so stayed on the elevator to ride back down to the parking lot for the spare clothes. I had to move from the back of the elevator (IE: puddle) to push the button for the 1st floor, and as I did that, a man joined us on the elevator and promptly walked to the back of the elevator and stood in the puddle. At that point, what choice do I have? I elected to play dumb and not say anything. However, Trenton gets loose of my hand and pulls on his pant leg, pointing to the puddle, and says "I peed!" really really loud. Great. That's not at all embarrassing, his pants are obviously wet and this man is obviously standing in a strange puddle. So, I said "Yup, sorry, he did." Trenton says "Yup, um-hum, I peed." Thankfully, the man must have kids because he laughed out loud. I got SO lucky! He could have been really mad he had pee on his shoes. I just shook my head and said "If he wasn't so cute, he would drive me crazy!" The man said "Isn't that the truth? Have a good day ma'am." (By the way, he was clearly older than me and should not have called me ma'am, but because he laughed at standing in pee, I forgave him anyway.)

Thanks for being my Mom...

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:36:00 +0000

Last week I took Trenton to the grocery store to stock up on snacks to keep in my classroom for after school. He mostly picked up healthy things with a few sugary snacks- but I like to stay in my room and work for a while after school so as long as he's happy, I really don't care. (within reason). Tuesday we were working late and I joked with him that he should eat the outside of the Golden Oreos and save the middle for Mommy. He didn't say anything and I kept working. Tonight, I was working late and opened that drawer of my desk for a snack and what did I find? Yup, the middles of his oreos. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen! I almost started crying I was so touched! It was like he was saying "Hey Mom, thanks for all you do- here's your favorite part!" Again, very few words and so much expression. He amazes me every day! Also- that same day he picked up his milk at lunch that had a cartoon of superwoman on it- pointed to it and said "Mommy!" Isn't that adorable?
At the same time, Madelynn celebrated her birthday at school today. She has had parties so spread apart that she thinks her 'birthday' is the entire month of August. Really, it's tomorrow!

Back To School

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:29:00 +0000

This was our first week of school. Teachers started Monday and kids started on Thursday. So far, so good. Trenton is doing great in kindergarten! I was so worried because at home he still takes naps more often than not. I was worried that at the end of the day he would be so tired he would be very naughty. While he is tired, his behavior is pretty good.
Since Trenton and Madelynn's first days were on the same day, Kent took Madelynn to school the first time and so I asked her what she did. All she would tell me is "Daddy left me there." I asked her what she did after Daddy left her and she said "Um, I dunno, but he just left me!" Her teacher is my aunt and she said Madelynn wasn't crying or acting upset at all, but she was not giving me any more details than "Daddy left me." Kent felt horrible, but I told him all kids do that the first time. Grandma Mimi is taking her to school next week, so we'll see how that goes. I'm sure she was fine. I think that because Mommy and Trenton go to the same school she was expecting Daddy to go to school with her and stay there like I stay with Trenton. I'm sure that's pretty confusing for her.

Things Trenton teaches us...

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:53:00 +0000

So, 6 years ago, when we heard our baby MAY have Down Syndrome, we really didn't know what to expect, but really, when we are first time parents, does anyone KNOW what to expect??? I have a feeling even parents who are having their 6th child don't really know what to expect, Down Syndrome or not. However, it has been a wild ride. Trenton is more often than not, wild and crazy and not following my directions, which, as you can imagine, wears on a person's patience after a while. Not that we don't love him, because we love him more than we can even fathom. I'm just saying that when you have said "Don't flush yourself", and "Don't put the toy car down our gas tank, it would be really BAD", and "Stop running from me, cars could run over you", for like 1,000 times, you get crabby. I know he has a very short attention span and he doesn't remember things very long, and I remind myself of that often.
That's not what I want to write about, however. What I really wanted to tell you is all the things that he teaches us, with his approximately 20 word vocabulary. Part of our frustration is teaching him "socially appropriate" behaviors. Is it "socially appropriate" to walk into a restaurant and walk past every table telling everyone "Hello"? No, so Kent and I shuffle him along quietly to our table trying to teach him that we need to leave everyone alone in their own little worlds like everyone else does. He does not get that. I remember one time we went into an IHOP in Kansas City and there was a homeless man begging outside. I tried to hide the kids away from this man because he was filthy dirty and smelled awful and as parents, we are "socialized" to believe the worst in people- what if he kidnapped the kids for ransom or something? A 100 pound homeless man could be dangerous! Well, of course, Trenton noticed him as he does everyone and slipped away from me to go shake the man's hand. I freaked and quickly chased him to the man where Trenton is so polite to him saying "Hi." I don't know what to say. Really, he is YUCKY! The snob in me wants to grab my son and run away quickly. (Remember, I'm thinking he could be dangerous!) Instead, the man tears up and tells me I am the Mother of the nicest boy he's ever met and I should be proud. I have such an outpouring of emotions. On one hand, I want to be proud of him, and on the other, I am so incredibly ashamed of myself for shunning this man. I don't know what he's been through, I have no right to judge him, he is starving outside an IHOP for crying out loud!
Fast forward to this June. Kent and I took the kids to Red Lobster in Topeka after a quick run to Home Depot. When we got there, no one else was there. It was packed by the time we left. On the way out, it took, FOREVER because of course Trenton had to greet everone at every table on the way out. We then stopped by the lobster tank where the waiter let the kids pet the lobsters before they became someone's dinner (kind of sick, but we didn't explain the part that Mommy just ATE that!). As the waiter left, a man came absolutely running out of where we just came from. He didn't say a word to Kent or I, but he put his hand on Trenton's back and said "You are the nicest boy and the way you talked to me made my day. I want you to take this and get something nice for yourself." Again, I didn't know what to think. I watch the news. Therefore, I think the worst of people. This man could have easily kidnapped Trenton in that situation. We get outside and I realize that he gave him $5. Really? Saying "Hi" to someone gets you $5? WOW!
OK, now last night, we are at Pizza Hut in Sabetha. Trenton is doing his usual meet and greet with all of Pizza Hut's patrons. Really, the Walmart greeters have nothing on Trenton! It wasn't too crowded and Kent and I were both tired, so we did not argue with him greeting everyone. Besides, it wasn't too crowded and everyone seemed to enjoy it, so whatever. One of the big groups left and about 10 minutes later the waitress came to our table to tell us that our bill was taken care of. Evidently, some guy that Trenton had charmed paid our whole family's dinner. How nice is that??? We have no idea who this guy is and no way to thank him. The waitress thought he must be from out of town because no one recognized him. Trenton must have really made an impression on this man. I've spent all day trying to figure this out. Kent thinks we should clean up better, because we must look poor. :)
Here's what I've come up with: Trenton NEVER judges anyone. The rest of the world- no matter how consientius we are of not judging- we still judge. I will be the first to admit it. I try not to, but it happens. Just picture your 4 year old running up to a homeless man to shake his hand- be honest- what is your very first thought? Why aren't we more like Trenton? Is it the extra chromosome? Does it delete the "judgement gene"? We all go to church and go through the motions, but I think Trenton not only SEES God in everyone, but he also is more connected to God. He prays before every meal and almost every snack, before bedtime and naptime. Kent and I are not the best at attending church. We get a whole family day maybe once a week. We like to spend that day, just the 4 of us, cuddling in front of a movie or something and not really going to church. We pray before most meals, but probably wouldn't if Trenton didn't remind us. I know we need to be better, and if anything, that is precisely what Trenton is doing. My question is- where did he learn this? It's most likely not from us.
There are researchers out there who would like to 'cure' Down Syndrome. I say there is nothing to 'cure'. Worry about cancer and heart disease, not DS. Down Syndrome, the extra chromosome, it's all a gift from God. Nothing else. Trenton and other kids like him are blessings. There are people who see them exactly for who they are- wonderfully giving, loving human beings, not that different from you and I exept they are more sensitive to your feelings and mine. Why are we not all like that? What makes the rest of us judgemental? Ihave no idea, except that maybe Kent and I should make more of an effort to make it to church on Sunday morning- even though it comes after Saturday night- much more often. I will never know why we were chosen to be the parents of such a special blessing, but I do know that I can do what I can to tell the world what an amazing blessing in disguise an apperant 'disabilty' can be. We all need to strive to be more like Trenton. What an incredible world we could be living in! Thank you to all who see people for who they are, without judgement. You are amazing people.

Ready for School?

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:16:00 +0000

This summer has been so weird! Today is July 29 and it is SO COLD! (by July- Kansas standards) I took the kids swimming because it's July and that's what you do in July in Kansas, and we were there about 30 minutes and the kids were purple and shaking, finding much more entertainment in the bag of Funyuns than the pool. I took them to DK for ice cream treats and we pull in the driveway and they hear the Frazee boys outside playing so they take the ice cream over there and jump in their little pool in the yard. Seriously- they were too cold to swim at the pool, but it wasn't too cold to eat ice cream and swim in the Frazee's pool? I'm afraid this weather will straighten up and it will be nice enough to swim as soon as school starts and then we won't have time to swim.
We are headed to the Ozarks tomorrow, so maybe it will be warmer down there and we'll all renew our summer time sun kissed complexions that have so hopelessly faded.

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:04:00 +0000

I just signed up for a digital scrapbooking class that is free for a limited time. Check out www.jessicasprague.com My sister in law has taken her classes and liked them. She has some really neat stuff on her pages.

Little Decorator in the Making!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Tornados in Kansas... What is a girl to do? Wednesday we had sporadic tornado warnings so there were no outside activities all day. That's just torture for Miss Madelynn! Last summer I took Wilton Course 1 cake decorating class and my sisters and I are planning on taking the rest of them this summer so I thought I would brush up my cake decorating skills. Madelynn, being 2 going on 16 as she is, decided that playdough with the cookie cutters is for babies if Mommy is going to bake a real cake so instead of practicing my decorating skills, I ended up trying to simplify it for my almost 3 year old. It was interesting. As you can see, she picked the colors and the pattern. She surprised me at how well she did holding the bag. I think we only had hot pink frosting plopping out the back of the bag 1/2 dozen times or so and for a kid that age, I'd say that's not bad. Her biggest downfall was that she wanted to suck down all the frosting until I thought she was going to barf neon. She kept asking "Can I lick it now Mommy? How about now? Are we done yet so I can lick it? Can I help you lick it? MMMMM I like the frosting so much!" (In her 100 words a minute speech pattern.) The whole time Trenton was in the other room. He could not have cared less that we were having a sugar fest in the kitchen. I've never seen a kid less motivated or interested in candy - frosting - cake or anything else kids go nuts over. I'm thankful, but sometimes I think it would be easier if he were motivated by a piece of candy.

Catching up...

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:59:00 +0000

So, I started this blog a year ago and have failed to keep up. This time, I'm going to try harder! This started as a blog about our therapy dog and now I'm going to broaden the topics. First, though, I'll update you on the dog. Neville is amazing! He went to school with me everyday last year and won the hearts of the staff and students. Students practiced reading to Neville almost everyday. I did an informal action research project to see if reading to Neville actually helped increase reading fluency and my results showed that my students with disabilities did increase the same words per minute throughout the year as students without disabilities. Ideally, I would have measured wpm of students who had been allowed time to read to Neville vs. students who did not regularly read to him, but the numbers and qualifying factors I used did not allow for that. I will try it again in the future to see if I get similar results. Pretty good initial results, though! Check out the video on the tab to the right that NBC Nightly News aired about using dogs to teach reading.

How does Neville help Trenton? Originally, we got Neville to track down Trenton when he ran off. While he does do this, we have noticed that Trenton does not run away as often as he did when we didn't have him. We can tell when he gets tired, he is ornery and doesn't listen to us. We hand him Neville's leash and tell him to make Neville walk by us- and for some reason being in charge of someone else- I guess it's actually having responsibility- makes him follow directions much better! He helps with speech because we can teach him all kinds of silly tricks and Trenton has to give him the command. I can facilitate the speech command to have a certain kind of speech pattern that he is working on (like consonant vowel consonant sounds). The final consonant sound is something Trenton struggles with. One trick we do is give Neville an ice cube. Trenton has to say "ICE" before he gives him the ice. the /s/ sound can be tricky - especially starting/ stopping appropriately, so that's one way to practice. Neville is such a quick learner- the kindergartners taught him how to make snow angels on command last winter.

Neville is also calming for Trenton. He isn't too sensitive to schedule changes, but sometimes he gets upset when things don't go the way he thinks they need to go. He will scream and pout, but Neville will go sit by him and they cuddle together which calms him down. It's so cute when they nap together!

The kids? Madelynn is 2 going on 16, I think. She is talking non-stop. The other day we were eating dinner and she looks at my husband and says "Dad, I'm gonna need some money." Knowing her, he just shook his head and said "I kinda figured you would..." I don't know if she has self esteem issues or what but she is constantly asking me "Mommy, do you love me?" I tell her I do at least 50 times a day, so I don't' know why she questions it!

Me? Right now I'm enjoying summer break and watching my 6 month old nephew twice a week. 3 kids keeps me really busy! We are trying to go swimming as often as we can but the weather isn't allowing it! Twice this week it has stormed when we've tried to go to the pool. I built a trampoline in our backyard this afternoon which was great fun! I did not anticipate how hard it was going to be to pull those springs to fit the frame! Then I felt like an idiot when our 90 year old neighbor came over and made it fit. I work out 5 days a week, and he's stronger than me? I think there's a problem!

Neville at School

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:47:00 +0000

Sorry it's been so long. With school starting, it's been crazy busy! Neville has been doing awesome at school. He loves to listen to the kids read. He looks lazy because I will tell him to sit and stay and he just rolls over and goes to sleep. I guess that's fine because the kids pet him and play with his ears and tail and he does nothing except wag his tail.
At recess I give kids the leash and they walk him around the playground. As the school year gets further along I will let him off the leash to play frisbee or ball, but right now we are still establishing the ground rules.
Already I have had some kids earn time with Neville for one reason or another. In that time we take him for a walk around the school grounds and then we go back to my classroom and I take the harness off and let him/her brush him and then I give the kids some dog bones and we practice some commands. It takes about 15- 20 minutes, but if it helps keep kids on task and motivated to do well I'm all for it!
We are off to a great start - I'll keep you posted for the rest of the year!

The Big Switch

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:52:00 +0000

Hello everyone!
It's been a while since I've posted. We have had a lot going on lately. When we came home, it was a big transition. At the hotel, everyone was tired and calm. When we came home, Trenton was back to his usual crazy playing routine, and it scared Ronday. Then my Mother in Law suffered a severe stroke and less than a week later passed away, so we did not have a lot of time to help Ronday with the transition and work with Trenton. The whole family (including Ronday) spent a lot of time in a hospital room and then a nursing home room in very close quarters for a week. Later, I was in contact with Megan and Sarah and we mutually decided that since one of the reasons we wanted a service dog was to retrieve Trenton when he ran away and if he was afraid of Trenton, the chances of him retrieving successfully were pretty slim. Since he will also be coming to school with me, we decided to make the switch before school started so there isn't excessive change for my students.
Hopefully, we will meet up next week sometime and get our new dog. We will be getting a yellow lab named Nevile. We think that the lab will be much less easily intimidated than the Cavalier, if not because of the difference in personality, then because of the difference in size. I will keep you posted. Sarah and Megan have both been so great to work with through this whole deal. I so much appreciate everything they have done to help with our dogs.

Graduation Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:18:00 +0000

During our graduation ceremony, Sarah Holbert, the CEO of CARES gave a grateful speech to all the people who helped them get the dogs trained successfully. If they were bred by CARES, they start at a home that welps the pups, then they go to a puppy raiser who trains them the basic commands. From there they go to a correctional facility to finish the training. When they are done, they come back to CARES to be tested and get health evaluations. Once they pass the test, we are invited to come to Concordia for the final assessment. We are trained as handlers how to give the commands and what the expectations are for the dogs. After a few days of that we have public access tests when we take the dogs out in public to see how well they behave with us and how they listen to our commands. IF they pass that test we are granted a handler license. Because it is such an intense program, they dogs are granted public access based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, Kansas law 39-1011 thru 39-1013. Some dogs do not make the cut. They can be adopted out as "career change" dogs. They are still excellent dogs, they just may not be cut out for the rigorous work that assistance dogs are expected to do.
I got off of the subject a little, but I wanted to show you pictures of our graduation ceremony. We were presented the dogs by either their puppy trainer or by the donator. We were lucky enough to be able to meet our breeder for Ronday. She is pictured with us.

Our training

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:55:00 +0000

We had some very intense training on how we need to maintain Ronday's skills once we got home. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all training days. We went to the park and the dogs were petted by about 75 kids one day, we went to Pizza Hut and had a training on restaurant etiquette one evening. Another evening, a friend of mine, Emily, who got a golden retriever named Crosley and I took our kids and dogs to see Kung Fu Panda. Trenton and Ronday were a little scared in several of the scenes.
Thursday was our public access test. We took the dogs to the Salina mall to make sure they would behave properly in public. They had to sit and wait while we left them and then they had distractions to see if they would get up or not. Then food was dropped in front of them to see if they would try to eat it. (which they are obviously not supposed to do.) Ronday did excellent on his test. He heeled by the stroller walking around the mall very well. I don't know if he was half as tired as I was, but we went back to the hotel that night and I didn't even want to take Trenton swimming. I just wanted to sleep!
We also went to Ellsworth correctional facility on Thursday. Most of the dogs were trained by inmates at either Ellsworth or a correctional facility in Colorado. It was incredible to see the impact that the dog program had on the inmates. They said that it taught them responsibility, commitment and work ethic that they did not have before they went into jail. (One of them even said that was probably the reason he was in jail.) He also said that working with the dogs was an incredible part of the healing process for them. It was clear they took great pride in their jobs as dog trainers. Some of them were getting emotional about how much it has affected their lives. That made us Moms get emotional about how much their hard work is going to help our children. I never dreamed that first of all, I would willingly take my not-quite-5 year old to a jail and second that I would feel so indebted to a prisoner. It was a bizarre but rewarding feeling that I think all the new dog owners felt. One inmate told me that the dog program was "A Gift from God" and that it has changed his life, with his eyes welling up with tears.

Ronday the Dog!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Hey Everyone! I am new to this blogging thing so please bear with me!
We have had an amazing week. I was so excited for it to happen and now I am just plain exhausted. Here's our story: While researching different ways to reach children with disabilities, I came across this animal assisted therapy program using dogs with children who have a multitude of disabilities, from physical to emotional. A good friend of mine is a veterinarian and she also helped me research this kind of program.
I teach special education and my son has Down Syndrome; therefore I am very interested in programs such as this. I met another teacher from another school has has a therapy dog named Tux. Tux is a golden retriever (a beautiful one, by the way) and he comes to school with Sandy. To make a long story short, we became friends and I decided to apply for a therapy dog for Trenton, my son.
We found out June 18 that we needed to be in Concordia June 23rd for training because they had a dog that would be great for us. They wanted to surprise us with the breed so we had no idea what we were getting until Monday. That was quite the experience - to sit in a room and watch dogs come in and be placed with people and they keep going past you - and then one is placed in front of you and you know it's just perfect!
We have Ronday, a tri -color Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.