Friday, November 06, 2009

A this and that post

I have a few really cute pictures to share....but they are on the front computer! Right now the girls are watching a movie on that computer (pizza and movie night!) so I can't get to them right now. I'll try to edit this post later to put them up.

Jed's speech therapist called to cancel the afternoon appointment. We will make it up next week. I was able to talk to her about my concerns of getting Jed an ACC devise that will meet his needs. I was pleased to hear that she does not agree with the new (to be) speech therapist's view. She said because of the severity of Jed's apraxia she foresees him being in speech therapy for the next five (or more!) years. She felt that it was very important that he have a way to communicate effectively in the meantime. It has been really neat to see the next 'level' Jed has taken with his signs and communication. He has known the signs for help, want, my turn and things of that nature, but has never used them on his own. Well just yesterday and again today he has used those...totally on his own, with no prompting. As a matter of fact we were wondering what he was signing as he has never signed those things unless we have prompted him. So imagine our surprise this evening when Jeremiah put a movie on and Jed was trying to tell us something, with 'words' and with sign. He made it clear he was unhappy about something. We figured out that he was signing, "don't like" for the movie!!! He didn't want to watch the movie Jeremiah had on the computer! This is amazing!!!!!! Jed has only used signs to label things. He seems like a new child to me as he is just now communicating not liking something, or trying to tell me this afternoon that it was "his turn" on the computer. He likes to get on Word and type in letters. So he signed, 'my turn' and signed some letters! Can you tell I am excited?!

I have other exciting news....well for me anyways. My sister has a new calling plan!! That means I don't have to wait till after nine p.m. or the weekends anymore!!! I remember one rough day, Jeremiah had come home to me being a puddle. After talking for a while he said, I think you need to call your sister. And I had to tell him I couldn't...she didn't have any minutes left (boo hoo). So when the phone rang this afternoon and her number came up I thought that perhaps something was wrong. Thankfully not so! She was just calling to tell me I can now call her any time :-) I truly pray that my girls will have such wonderful relationships with each other like my sister and I share.

I got our new spelling program, All About Spelling, in the other day. I haven't used it yet as I am 'setting it up'. They recommend that each student, or every two students have their own letter tiles. I didn't want to fork over the money for that, so I have been spending time making my own. I am really excited about this program as it will serve as our spelling and phonics program. I will continue to use Phonics Pathways as our learning to read program, but I think that the spelling will help with the reading. I was really disappointed in my lack of ability to use Spell to Write and Read. It was just too much for me. However I really liked their premise and ideas, just too much for my brain to process. Anyone who has the program or seen it will know what I mean. I mean they have seminars to better learn how to use the program! I was a little worried about that when I first heard about the seminars. But the person who told me about it said that it wasn't something you needed, just a bonus. Another person, who was in the field of languages, told me it was the best program out there. So I got it. And like I said, I really like the ideas. I really, really wanted this program to work. I have been holding onto it in hopes that somehow I can make it work. Maybe it's just the season I am in, but it has been sitting there, staring at me making me feel guilty! Ha! So when I read about All About Spelling, I was intrigued as they use some of the same ideas. But they lay everything out for you! I know that working with the letter tiles are really going to help some of my girls with their reading and spelling. I am hoping to start the program come Monday. By then I should be done....at least close enough to start...with the prep work.

The girls have their last soccer game of the season tomorrow. I am hoping they will all make it to their games. It seems we have a small tummy thing going on. Nothing that has stopped the household from running as normal, but they clearly are not feeling great. Moira is on the up and up, Isabella hasn't had it...yet, and Flannery just started. I am assuming Jed has it as well as he 'lost' his afternoon feeding. But this evening he has been fine.

Well the baby is asleep (he went to bed REALLY early), dinner is done, the kids are still watching their movie and I need to do more cutting (the letter tiles). After the kids go to bed Jeremiah is going to teach me how to edit movies.

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