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Post by Cbean on Nov 25, 2006 10:47:53 GMT -5
OK, might as well jump on the bandwagon here. We have been so busy!!! Emily has 4 therapists now. She's receiving DT, PT, OT and Speech therapist comes to work on oral motor skills. Ryan's a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do - I'm proud of him. This is something he really tries in and he is commited to. School's been better this year for him as well. Boy do teachers make a big difference too! On the wait-list for an appointment with a neuro-developmental pediatrician who will most likely diagnose him with ADHD and a nervous tic disorder. No child has a gaurantee, right? I myself have volunteered myself way too much for Ryan's school as I am soliciting gifts for our school's gift auction AND co-chairing our "It's OK to be Different" program and I'm an assistant Classmom. I am soooo excited to be a part of the It's Ok program. I love how accepting and interested the kids are to what we're teaching them and it is a wonderful learning experience for myself. They really love the program and we get the feedback to confirm it! I can't believe my baby is about to turn two. Bittersweet as I tend to teeter-totter between glass is half full days and glass is half empty. I tend to forget what my baby was like a year ago. As soon as I remember, I am so thankful for a baby that smiles at me and laughs. Yeah, she does the latter at me too! She is incredibly beautiful and her smile takes my breath away. Yeah she tends to be a happy person, but I think that's more her personality than her DS! I have learned yet another one of God's cruel jokes: Hey let's give her a child that has extreme developmental delays, yet let the baby's terrible two's kick in right on time! I'm sorry, that's just wrong. This baby can fight 5 men off her just to wiper her nose! In fact, try to get her to do anything and this wickedness comes out! She's going to be a real pistol! There was a time where I thought I'd never see her sit up. I forget those days as I am so aching for more. Like chewing. I'd love my baby to chew. I'd love to put down the baby food jar and hand her a slice of pizza. But we'll get there. Taking the slow boat, that's all. She's getting into stuff all over the place. She crawls like a seal still, but is pulling her butt up at times and resting on all fours for a couple of minutes. It's just that as soon as she decides to move, she plops down to her belly and gets back into the infantry/seal crawl. Maybe I should dress her in fatigues. She pulls herself up to her knees at the couch and I'm seeing one leg start to straighten out, so could we be thinking about pulling up to a stand? Occasionally she chews and is starting to master a straw. (There will be no drinking from a sippy cup here!) So even though the leaves are all off the trees here in NJ and snow will soon fall, I see a burst of buds in all areas of Emily's development and am hoping that for her, spring will be around the corner. Hoping for a great second birthday for my girl because the first went by un-noticed. Unfortunately there just wasn't much to celebrate last year, but the fact that even though she may not blow the candles on her birthday cake and she may be more like a 6 month old than a 2 year old, I will get a birthday picture of my beautiful girl smiling! Hoping for an even better third year of life - I have a sneaky suspicion it will. Wed she's going in for surgery and my knees quiver and my stomach does a flip every time I think of it, but she needs it so bad. So its the tripple play - tonsils, adenoids and tubes! Do you get fries with that? Say a prayer over your morning coffee for us that day, ok? Believe me, when there's more, you'll know! LOL!! But that's it for now.
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Post by Cathy on Nov 25, 2006 22:45:56 GMT -5
I think I post quite a bit about the NECK but to summarize, here is our update:
Katie will be 6 on Wed (11/29), say it aint so! She is included in general ed Kindergarten and is maintaining with her peers cognitively. She also attends afternoon special ed, to get reinforcement of her general ed curiculum.
Katie is not shy, very vocal and very busy. She is behind in fine motor and speech. Although her speech is awesome. She is getting better in the area of toilet training, but still wears pull ups. Just recently, she started taking herself with success.
Other than the scars on her chest, you would never know that she had an ASD repair in 2002. She has been fairly healthy lately (knock on wood) and she is beginning to really develope her own personality. Katie is in her third year of dance and is doing great. I keep her involved in everything the community has to offer and they accept her without hesitation.
She keeps us laughing!
Her Sister Emily, is 7 and is smart as a whip. She thinks she is Katie's mother which comes in handy some times. Sometimes it drives me crazy. Emily is into everything. soccer, dance, talent show, 4H, you name it, Emily joins it!
She is in 2nd grade, reading 5th grade level and isn't afraid to tell you. We fondly refer to Neck's sister as the Town Crier! Emily loves to talk... non stop... to everyone and anyone who will listen. I am telling you, her mouth hasn't stop since she was one.
She is not shy, loves to converse, especially with adults and has grown up way too fast for me. She loves to read the bible, she picks out small verses, and writes them down to memorize. Believe me, she is way better at that than me.
Emily can be such a joy, and such a pain.
John just went through a major surgery to remove a tumor from his pancreas. We are so happy he is home (most of the time anyway) and he is progressing, slowly but steadily.
I am no longer a stay at home mom. I took a job at a local sawmill (actually its in Wisconsin, but close enough) as a FInancial Analyst (doesn't that just sound cool?) Basically, I am the assistant to the controller, getting to use my computer and accounting skills together. It is awesome to be back in the workforce and the money aint bad either.
That about catches up the Faccin Family.
Hugs to you all!
Cathy
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Post by logansmom on Nov 25, 2006 22:56:35 GMT -5
Hi, I'm Kim. Although I don't post much, I read Uno Mas every day and celebrate the victories, cry at the hurdles, and pray for the needs that are mentioned.
Logan will be four in early March. He's the only child with special needs in his morning preschool class, and he's one of two children with special needs in his afternoon Head Start class. In our school corporation, there is no "special needs preschool." Instead, all children with special needs are divided among the different Head Start classrooms. For us, it's working out very well. Logan really enjoys "school." He seems to be interacting fairly well with the other students, he knows all of his letters (large and small) and his numbers up to 12.
Although he knows about 35 signs, he stopped using most of them since he's trying to speak. Unfortunately, we can't understand most of what he's saying at this point in time. If I listen very carefully, I can understand when he's counting. Other that that, there are probably only 5-10 words that even I can make out. He really hasn't been talking that long, so I'm looking forward to watching him progress in both vocabulary and intelligibility.
Logan had his adenoids removed and his third set of tubes inserted (t-tubes this time) about two months ago. The surgery went pretty well, but I really don't like our ENT . . . so our first appointment with a new ENT will be in a couple of weeks. I really hope I like her a lot more (I think I will; she comes highly recommended).
Carson is 15 months old and finally walking! Of course, now we wonder why we every wanted him to be so mobile! He and Logan get along very well, and I know they'll be great buddies (most of the time, anyways)!
This is a great thread. I really enjoy reading about everyone . . . which is why I decided that I needed to add a little about our family, too. Thanks for starting it!
Kim, Logan (Ds, 3 1/2) and Carson (1)
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Post by Alice on Nov 27, 2006 11:22:52 GMT -5
Hi Uno Mas friends old and new.
First of all, I would like to say that it was so nice to read everyone’s update. I have not been here for a long time and now while reading realized how much I miss the Uno Mas. Hope to see more posts… of all friends I met here.
Second, here is our update. Luke is now 7 (time flies!) but looks much younger than he is and is still baby to us. He is in kindergarten and I am not happy with that at all, because it is totally different from the preschool where he was like VIP and now I see the people who do not taking there responsibilities. It looks to me that Luke is around strangers or so… at this school. We had to fight everyday everything Luke should have. Hope I am wrong and it is only a transitional period… Also, our wonderful speech therapist is gone for another job and we have someone who is not experienced, not professional and the most terrible thing - she doesn’t seem be comfortable around Luke, she doesn’t know how to handle him and she is simply not doing anything for his progress in his speech. Now we should start taking actions of replacing her with someone who is right for our son. Luke is going to child care after half day of his kindergarten and it seems much better than it started 7 month ago... I wish I could stay home with him, and take the best care of him, and not depend of that entire people who are around Luke, and get a pay check for that (LOL). Luke is getting older and more interactive with us. He knows what he wants and manipulates us very easy. Sure he is spoiled child, but we just love him and try to do everything for him to see him being happy and what is good – he appreciates that. My husband and I are very busy with work, school, kids, family, and so on… I wish I could have more time to write about us…
At last, I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, that all bad things go away for ever and only good come to all of us!
Hope you still remember me, Alice
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Post by samanthajosmom_12 on Dec 7, 2006 22:19:03 GMT -5
well another yr is alomst over. samantha jo will turn six yrs old on 12-19- 06. hard to believe she is almost 6. she is the little person who thinks she is boss and not you. though she is good when your out in public (most of the time). we just had another tear duct probing and it looks great so far. she just had tubes in her ears also. they did both at the same time!! ya for that!!! only one bills for anthesica this time. we do have to go back for a sleep study but i will wait untill winter is over. croup again. so it is canceled again. i call samantha jo a little tornado in with her toys. over all she is growing up to fast. she loves to dance to music and her dvds and such. sue
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Post by shawnzmom on Dec 9, 2006 21:14:01 GMT -5
Hello all, I had to make a new name guess been to long since been here...LOL but anyways dont know if most of you would remember me or not but here I am Im Dawn mom to 3 great boys from oklahoma. Thing have been crazy here like usual but heres how my boys been: Cobey is off at college now... he got a full ride scholarship to Ft. Smith- Arkansa to play baseball. He is carrying a FULL load of classes plus his ball. He sounds so tired but always says things are great . He comes home next weekend Curt is 16 and a sophmore and boy is he the ladys man, he is the one im gonna have to watch very closely >< but he is doing well. Shawn is 14 and a freshman this year....ugh... he is doing awesome. He is reading and doing math (adding and subtracting) I am sooo proud of all the things he has accopmlished. He is such a young man he acts sooo grown up alot then bam those teenage hormones kick and and wow....lol as some of ya can relate. well all in all things are ok here. I have a myspace if anyone wants to see pictures Things are ok like I said and I hope everyone is well and things going well in your part of the world. Im off to catch up with some reading and lots to do ^^ Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season. Stay safe and warm! Dawn
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Post by Claire on Dec 10, 2006 0:02:11 GMT -5
Just thougth I'd let you know this thread was a great idea. Whenever I come to this site I read the new ones and it is nice to see how all of us are doing and how much progress our kids have made. ;D
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Post by piratemom on Dec 14, 2006 21:58:57 GMT -5
Hi! This is not an update, because I am new and still trying to figure out how to post! Anyway, I have 5, count 'em, 5, wonderful chilldren. Mikey-10, Shawn-8, Jacob-5, Braydon-2, and "princess" Emily Rose- 6mos. Emmy is the only girl on either side of the family and the 1st girl in 3 generations on my husband's side. Emmy is also the 1st person we know of on either side to have Ds. The reason I am posting is this, if it were not for the chromosome test, I wouldn't know she has Ds. She is very "normal" looking. Really. People who don't know she has Ds are suprised to find out she does. Even health care providers. She has a slight epincanthal fold on one eye ( my 2 yr. old has them on both eyes and he doesn't have Ds)and one ear has a bit of a fold at top. She has no simian crease, her fingers are long and tri-lobed, she doesn't have sandal toes, her long bones are normal length, her muscle tone is low-normal, her nasal bridge is not flat, her thorax is only a bit short, her tongue is normal, normal heart, normal height/weight, etc. She is not, at this time, developmentally delayed. She tests at 6 months 2 weeks, which she is. I keep waiting for the bomb to drop, so to speak. I would love to talk to another mom who has had similar experience and can tell me what to expect as far as development. Please feel free to contact me.
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Post by jennifer2005 on Dec 22, 2006 14:07:16 GMT -5
Andrew is doing great! He is finally sitting up and trying to crawl. He is however deaf so we are working with a deaf teacher and getting him fit for hearing aids. Family of 8 are doing fine.
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Post by Radonna on Dec 23, 2006 22:21:01 GMT -5
Hello really great Idea A~
Things have been going pretty good for Kaden he had a major ear surgery in October but he is almost completely healed now and his ear looks better than it ever has this surgery may be the last one for a good five years or so.
School started rough for Kaden but has turned around quite a bit now that Kaden has an awesome aid named Kaci that totally adores him. He is doing things he has never done for anyone.
Jonathan has went above and beyond what I dreamed possible he tested out of all his resource classes and tested in the advanced range in many areas.
My baby is THREE He's Kaden's best friend and partner in crime. The two of them will keep you on your toes.
Its really not that hard just me and the boys I been enjoying it quite fully. I made it through my first year of school this last semester I had so much going on I think I just skimmed by. Hopefully next year will be much less eventful.
Still don't know what I wanna "be" when I grow up but the possibilities seem endless ;D
Well Kaden is in my hair and wanting my attention so that all for me. Love this update page!!!
Radonna
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Post by donnita on Dec 26, 2006 23:35:06 GMT -5
What a great idea A!
Cassandra is 5 and in kindergarten. She goes to a special ed classroom this year, just 4 students, 1 teacher, and 2 aides. Next year, she will be in regular ed kindergarten at her home school. She takes gymnastics once a week and is "active" in our church (she likes to be the door greeter in the morning). She is still very delayed in speech but is improving. She is chatty at home but rarely even tries to speak other places as she knows she won't be understood. She has hypothyroidism and was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Lou, her bloodhound, is 8 months old and is getting pretty good at tracking. Luckily we haven't had to use her to find Cassie for real yet!
Marissa is 8, in 2nd grade, and is a great big sister to Cassie. She talks enough for both of them! She misses all of her UnoMAs friends from the past get-togethers and can't wait to see you all again. She got her hair cut last week and donated 12 inches to Locks of Love.
Katy is 18. She graduated last May and decided to go to the same Nashville TN college as Emily. She is going to play basketball there, too. She was even assigned to the same dorm room that Emily was in last year!
Emily is 20. She and Chris got married last summer in a beautiful beach ceremony on Jekyll Island, Georgia. She got her associate's degree last May so she is not a student anymore, but she is the volunteer assistant coach for the girls' basketball team. She loves getting to tell Katy what to do!
Sarah is 24. She decided to move to Nashville TN too and will start graduate school next year at MTSU. Although she hasn't lived at home for several years, we still spent a lot of time together, and it has been a big adjustment for us not to see each other several times a week!
Guy came home from Afghanistan in March and has adjusted to our new house very well (I moved last summer while he was deployed). He loves living in the country and having big barns to store all his stuff in!
Like Cassie, I feel like a human pin cushion lately. I developed jaundice, which is not common is adults, and have had numerous blood tests in the last 2 weeks. I have had a procedure done to alleviate the jaundice, itching, and strain on my liver, and will have another procedure done next week to determine the actual cause of the problem.
We are still on dial-up, out here in the middle of nowhere, so I don't get to post very much. And it's almost impossible to get photos uploaded at this speed, so I can't even show you how grown-up Cassie is now, but she is quite a little lady!
donnita
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Post by Danielle on Dec 27, 2006 19:08:08 GMT -5
THis is a great idea! I can't wait to read everyone's update...thought I'd add mine. I haven't been on here in ages, so my apologies...life is just crazy these days. My quick update on Zane is TODAY HE TURNED FIVE YEARS OLD! How is that possible??? I found Unomas when Zane was just a few WEEKS old and have posted and lurked on here every since. I can't even tell you what a fantastic resource this has been for me over the years.... Anyway, so Zane is simply amazing. Doing great - healthy, happy, social, loving, just wonderful. Did I mention he's FIVE??!! LOL He is in fantastic pre school program in MA and will start Kindy in the fall. He adores his little sister who is 20 months (and older brother, too, who is seven years) and the big things he's into right now are the Backyardagans (sp?) and learning to write his name. He's talking really really well, he knows the alphabet, he is sight reading, he has a best friend named Davis (who also happens to have DS) and apparently, I'm told, he LOVES a little girl named Riley who is in his morning class. LOL...too cute. Of course he has challenges and all...but nothing we can't handle or hopefully overcome someday. (knock wood!) I know this may change as he gets older but I'm so grateful for all he's achieved already!! ;D Today I thought a lot about his birth and - for the first time - really did think of it SOLELY in positive terms. The sadness of finding out about the DS unexpectedly that day just isn't bothering me today. It'll probably come tomorrow...lol...but for today I'm just enjoying remembering his birth and the excitment of it all. (He arrived very quickly - less than two hours total in labor/delivery and two weeks early.) Can't wait to read up on all your kiddos. Happy Holidays, everyone, and thanks for being a part of our lives all these years. xoxo Dani ;D
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Post by enjoyingtheride on Jan 3, 2007 22:11:22 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new here. Just found this site and am loving it.
My son, Will is almost 3 (3/22/04 - DOB) and is our joy, laughter and often times comedic relief for the day. HE walks, runs and just began jumping and is so pround of himself. He has over 100 signs, words, word approximations and sounds. He is quite a 'ham' and loves to be the center of attention. He loves to imitate everyone and sometimes can get me into trouble :-) with his cleverness.
He does get it honestly, as he has an older sister, Riley who is 5 1/2 and also loves to be the center of attention. The two of them are the best of friends and we are beginning the process of enrolling him in the Exceptional Children's Program here in NC.
While being the crack-ups that they both are, they are also awesome at being a big brother & sister to our newest addition, Turner, who is almost 4 months.
So, life is busy, fun, hard, challenging and completely exhausting, but "at least I'm enjoying the ride"!
Robyn Mom to Riley (5), Will (2 1/2 w/DS) & Turner (4 mths)
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Post by ethansmammy on Jan 6, 2007 22:06:22 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I haven't been on uno mas for a couple of months so I have very much enjoyed reading the catch-ups. Also the recent thread about potty training was excellent. Ethan is 5 1/2 now and in regular preschool 3 mornings a week and regular kindergarten 5 afternoons a week with a one on one aide. I guess the only problem in kindergarten was that they greatly underestimated his abilities - due to lack of speech I think. Eventually the kindergarten aide attended preschool one morning to see what he is capable of doing (this is his third year there so they know him well) and she came out and said "OK he's busted!" She is a lovely woman but was being far too soft with him and basically treating him like a two year old Anyway things are much better now and we had a lovely parent teacher meeting where I was told that he was a lovely boy, no trouble at all and thanks for sharing him with us. Needless to say I wanted to cry! Potty training is ongoing - he was trained at preschool last year but not this year - he seems to be going back-wards with it..... Ethan has also been attending swimming lessons in a regular class he passed the sea turtles first time but got a bit too mischievous in the next session, so I think I'll give it a break and go back to it later. Ethan's health is great, he is now on thyroid medication and has just had another set of tubes - minor stuff so I'm really pleased. Other than that my husband has just retired from the Canadian Air Force at 39 (20 years) and has a new job in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. So we will all move this summer. Big changes and a new school system - yikes! Anyway bye for now, Elaine.
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Post by lawree67 on Jan 8, 2007 20:31:17 GMT -5
Hi, I haven't posted in a long time but my name is Lori and I have an 8 year old son Joshua, who has DS. He is in an integrated first grade class. The class has a regular education and a special education teacher in the class with a mixture of "reg" and IEP children. He seems to be doing well in this class. The only problem I have had is getting them to adapt the homework that is too difficult for him. It took them 3 months to start doing it but everything seems to be going well now. Joshua has been pee trained since Sept. 05 and has finally got poop trained within the last 6 months! ;D It is nice to check in to UNOMAS occasionally.
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