Yes, Jarvis is home :-)
A couple who live about 3 buildings down from us found him hiding under their building, reached in, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and brought him into their house for food and cuddles while they called us. He's a little dirty and very slightly skinnier but apart from that seems to be remarkably healthy. He soon settled back in and slept cuddled up on our bed last night. Lara (our other cat) is not so sure though and keeps hissing and growling at him, I suppose he must smell of strange places and animals.
We're very grateful to have him home.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
Good news and Bad news again
Good news
- My mum arrived safetly and Callum is very pleased to see his 'nanny again
- We made our first strollerless (pushchairless) trip to the park and both Callum and Kieran did great.
- We've had another possible Jarvis sighting and will go and check it out after work. The lady who thinks she saw him said that he's definitely not suffering from malnutrition!
Bad news
- Callum had his latest hearing test today and has completley flat typanogram's from both ears, which means he must have a ton of fluid again. We're scheduling more tubes but they're usually pretty booked up so my guess is that it'll take a couple of months.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Shadow update and Missing Cat
We had a great response from our ad for a shadow for Callum. Lots of people with experience in special needs. The bad news is that our request for funding got turned down, I know I can fight it but we're talking about a period of 2 1/2 months before everything changes again and he transfers to the school district. It's so frustrating not knowing what kind of a place they will offer Callum, how many hours, will it only be 2 or 3 days a week, will they provide transportation, will we think it's the right setting for Callum. Things are nice and settled at the moment and now it's all going to go topsy turvey again, maybe, probably, who knows.
Mark and I talked it over and decided that we'd ask my mum if she'd like to come for an extended visit and be Callum's shadow until we know what's going on with school. She of course jumped at the chance and Callum is going to be very excited to see his 'nanny again. The flight was booked within a couple of hours of us popping the question and she arrives tomorrow evening. When we told day care about both the funding being turned down and about my mum coming they said that Callum has been much better at following directions since he came back from the Christmas break, aaarrgggh does this mean that they now don't think he needs a shadow. I think they really thought that he would qualify for the funding and it would make THEIR lives easier, oh well. We've decided that it will probably be good for Callum to have the one on one time even if it's not for the entire day. We might try and introduce potty training and it'll probably give the teachers a better idea about what Callum can do.
Now for the bad news, Jarvis (our cat) has gone missing :( He's been gone since Wednesday 11th January when he managed to slip out the front door without us noticing. We've had a couple of possible sightings by a neighbour but nothing since last weekend. We've put up posters, online notices, visitied the local animal shelters and nothing. We're still hoping that he turns up but as the days go by it's becomming less likely. So if anyone just happens to be reading this and you live in Santa Monica and see a huge silver tabby then please let me know...
Mark and I talked it over and decided that we'd ask my mum if she'd like to come for an extended visit and be Callum's shadow until we know what's going on with school. She of course jumped at the chance and Callum is going to be very excited to see his 'nanny again. The flight was booked within a couple of hours of us popping the question and she arrives tomorrow evening. When we told day care about both the funding being turned down and about my mum coming they said that Callum has been much better at following directions since he came back from the Christmas break, aaarrgggh does this mean that they now don't think he needs a shadow. I think they really thought that he would qualify for the funding and it would make THEIR lives easier, oh well. We've decided that it will probably be good for Callum to have the one on one time even if it's not for the entire day. We might try and introduce potty training and it'll probably give the teachers a better idea about what Callum can do.
Now for the bad news, Jarvis (our cat) has gone missing :( He's been gone since Wednesday 11th January when he managed to slip out the front door without us noticing. We've had a couple of possible sightings by a neighbour but nothing since last weekend. We've put up posters, online notices, visitied the local animal shelters and nothing. We're still hoping that he turns up but as the days go by it's becomming less likely. So if anyone just happens to be reading this and you live in Santa Monica and see a huge silver tabby then please let me know...
Monday, January 09, 2006
Kieran is walking!
Kieran finally got his confidence, he's been walking holding one finger for a couple of months and would cruise the furniture with no problems but he just wouldn't let go.
Last week he'd take one step then fall down, Friday at day care he took 3 steps (his teacher was cheering so loud that the teacher from the class next door came in to investigate) and yesterday he took 6 or 7 steps quite a few times and even started to let go without coaxing.
My baby is growing up, I'll have to get some video of him crawling before he stops doing it all together.
Other good news
* we finally got our new dishwasher
* Callum is saying Milk (rather than bubu which is his generic word for drink)
* Callum is combining signs and words on a more regular basis and with little prompting. Things like "more please", "cracker please" or even "more cracker please"
* Callum's wake up time is now 6:30am, that's a whole hour and a half of extra sleep!
Last week he'd take one step then fall down, Friday at day care he took 3 steps (his teacher was cheering so loud that the teacher from the class next door came in to investigate) and yesterday he took 6 or 7 steps quite a few times and even started to let go without coaxing.
My baby is growing up, I'll have to get some video of him crawling before he stops doing it all together.
Other good news
* we finally got our new dishwasher
* Callum is saying Milk (rather than bubu which is his generic word for drink)
* Callum is combining signs and words on a more regular basis and with little prompting. Things like "more please", "cracker please" or even "more cracker please"
* Callum's wake up time is now 6:30am, that's a whole hour and a half of extra sleep!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Shadow for Callum
Oops, just realised that I haven't told you all about the latest goings on with Callum and day care.
Just before Christmas the day care director mentioned briefly to us (in the car park while we're trying to strap two grumpy kids into the car) that she thinks Callum needs a shadow at school because he keeps wandering off from where he's supposed to be. It wasn't the best way to approach us, we were left with a million questions and no way of really finding out what was going on.
The next day a letter at school to say that we needed to come in and discuss the situation with Callum. Then Kieran got sick so we couldn't go in and eventually I had the conversation on the phone with them. Well Callum is a wanderer at school, when they're all supposed to be outside Callum will disappear and turn up in the pre-k class reading books or "playing" with the turtle (don't ask). The ratio is 6:1 in his class and they feel that Callum's safety may be compromised because they can't watch him at every minute. They want us to provide a 1 on 1 shadow/teachers aide to be with Callum full time in the classroom. Now I knew Callum wandered sometimes but not one of the teachers had made it sound like a problem and suddenly it was something that needed to be fixed asap. I really wished that they'd talked to us sooner because at least then we could have put the wheels in motion sooner and I wouldn't have had to spend part of Christmas frantically writing job postings, calling regional center before they closed for the holiday and generally feeling under pressure to have someone starting when school started back on the 3rd (yesterday).
We've had some great looking candidates and are hoping to interview this week. Now I've had time to reflect on it I actually think it'll be good for Callum to have more 1 on 1 time, I just hope he doesn't get annoyed at having this person breathing down his neck all day.
Financing is another issue, this will end up costing us about $550 per week. Day care have offered to help us out for the first month and after that we're hoping that at least some of the funding can come from the regional center but I can't see them hurrying the paperwork through as Callum only has 3 months before he'll be transitioned to the school district.
I'll keep you posted.
Just before Christmas the day care director mentioned briefly to us (in the car park while we're trying to strap two grumpy kids into the car) that she thinks Callum needs a shadow at school because he keeps wandering off from where he's supposed to be. It wasn't the best way to approach us, we were left with a million questions and no way of really finding out what was going on.
The next day a letter at school to say that we needed to come in and discuss the situation with Callum. Then Kieran got sick so we couldn't go in and eventually I had the conversation on the phone with them. Well Callum is a wanderer at school, when they're all supposed to be outside Callum will disappear and turn up in the pre-k class reading books or "playing" with the turtle (don't ask). The ratio is 6:1 in his class and they feel that Callum's safety may be compromised because they can't watch him at every minute. They want us to provide a 1 on 1 shadow/teachers aide to be with Callum full time in the classroom. Now I knew Callum wandered sometimes but not one of the teachers had made it sound like a problem and suddenly it was something that needed to be fixed asap. I really wished that they'd talked to us sooner because at least then we could have put the wheels in motion sooner and I wouldn't have had to spend part of Christmas frantically writing job postings, calling regional center before they closed for the holiday and generally feeling under pressure to have someone starting when school started back on the 3rd (yesterday).
We've had some great looking candidates and are hoping to interview this week. Now I've had time to reflect on it I actually think it'll be good for Callum to have more 1 on 1 time, I just hope he doesn't get annoyed at having this person breathing down his neck all day.
Financing is another issue, this will end up costing us about $550 per week. Day care have offered to help us out for the first month and after that we're hoping that at least some of the funding can come from the regional center but I can't see them hurrying the paperwork through as Callum only has 3 months before he'll be transitioned to the school district.
I'll keep you posted.
My dear son, my sweet boy,Is this truly how it's going to be? I simply can't believe it. Is your heart truly defective? Are your femurs truly short? Does this truly add up to Down's syndrome? Eight and a half months into your gestation and only now is something gone awry in what was called a "textbook perfect" pregnancy, only now trouble is detected? Perhaps I'm in denial. Perhaps we're being tested. I cannot say. I'm so afraid, and yet I cannot believe my worst fears will come to pass. It just doesn't make sense. How could this be happening? Your mother is so healthy, she's been taking such good care of herself, her blood tests were better than average. My little boy, that this disadvantage should be yours...If I could bear this burden for you, know that I would, gladly. Please surprise us.I love and pray for you,Your father
From a Blog I found courtesy of Rebecca at Always Chaos, to read more go to My Son Nicholas This posting is from February 2005 when Nicholas's mom and dad had just found out the possibility that they're unborn son had Down syndrome.
I've still got lots more to read, but this post really tugged at my heart
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Happy New Year
Phew, glad to get back to work and have a rest! I love spending time with my boys but when it chucks it down with rain for the 3 day in a row and we're cooped up watching Lion King for the 50 millionth time it gets a little wearing.
Seriously we did have a good week off. I love to watch the boys interact and Kieran is getting to be such a funny little boy. Here's a 5 minute slice of life Kieran style
Cruising along the sofa - spies something he wants "up, up, up, up" with hands held aloft and a beseeching look on his face. Up he gets and then climbs and falls over whomever has helped him up. "down, down, down" as he gets down, then "up, up, up" as he realises that he still wants whatever is on the sofa.
Repeat about 5 times
Then crawl (crawling is the new in thing, walking is so 2005!) to where he can see the playdoh "doh, doh, doh" - hand sheld aloft and beseeching look. One of us grabs the playdoh. "Sit dow, sit dow" says Kieran as he tries to get into his little Ikea chair. Playdoh goes flying all over the floor, "all done, all done", Kieran gets down and we try and clean up. "Sit dow, sit dow, sit dow" says Kieran and playdoh goes everywhere again.
Repeat about 5 times
Catches sight of the TV - "mo, mo" (Elmo), then signs for Wiggles (Callum's made up sign that he's taught Kieran). Are you hungry Kieran? we ask, huge over emphasised nods of the head and big grin - no mistaking that answer. "Nana, Nana" - 30 seconds later the banana is gone, Kieran literally inhales platefuls of food at the moment and has been known to eat his dinner, polish off Callum's and still ask for more.
Back to the sofa "up, up, up"....
Seriously we did have a good week off. I love to watch the boys interact and Kieran is getting to be such a funny little boy. Here's a 5 minute slice of life Kieran style
Cruising along the sofa - spies something he wants "up, up, up, up" with hands held aloft and a beseeching look on his face. Up he gets and then climbs and falls over whomever has helped him up. "down, down, down" as he gets down, then "up, up, up" as he realises that he still wants whatever is on the sofa.
Repeat about 5 times
Then crawl (crawling is the new in thing, walking is so 2005!) to where he can see the playdoh "doh, doh, doh" - hand sheld aloft and beseeching look. One of us grabs the playdoh. "Sit dow, sit dow" says Kieran as he tries to get into his little Ikea chair. Playdoh goes flying all over the floor, "all done, all done", Kieran gets down and we try and clean up. "Sit dow, sit dow, sit dow" says Kieran and playdoh goes everywhere again.
Repeat about 5 times
Catches sight of the TV - "mo, mo" (Elmo), then signs for Wiggles (Callum's made up sign that he's taught Kieran). Are you hungry Kieran? we ask, huge over emphasised nods of the head and big grin - no mistaking that answer. "Nana, Nana" - 30 seconds later the banana is gone, Kieran literally inhales platefuls of food at the moment and has been known to eat his dinner, polish off Callum's and still ask for more.
Back to the sofa "up, up, up"....
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