Christmas Fun & Preschool Update

Alayna with Great-Grandma Alice and all her first cousins on the DeKeyrel side.

The DeKeyrel cousins getting ready to unwrap presents!

Family photo - Dana & Angie with Douglas (5), Alayna (2), Alexis (11), & Drake (9)

Sister Alexis and Cousin Audrey entertaining Alayna...or should I say she was entertaining them!

Alayna and Audrey (9)

Alayna getting giggly on Christmas day!

Me and my little Alayna

Grandpa Denny & Alayna

My four kids with their grandparents, Denny & Diana (my parents)

Alayna checking out Grandma Diana's pretty necklace. She loves to chew on them!

Alayna loves her Grandma Diana.

My kids with their Great-Grandma....a.k.a....Mimi.

Alayna loves her books.

Alayna still doesn't have her top 2-year molars. I imagine that is why she is chewing on everything.

Douglas, Drake, Alayna & Alexis on Christmas morning!

They helped Alayna unwrap her presents!

A picture with her presents!

What a cutie, but I'd have to agree that her nose looks a bit orange. Too many orange veggies!
Alayna with Santa at her Children's Therapy Center Christmas Party!
Alayna sleeping at the CTC Christmas party.
Alayna laughing at her book. She loved that one and now it is broken :(

Christmas Fun

As we parents know, challenges come along with holidays. Like getting all of the kids ready, going many places, and not keeping a normal routine to the day. Overall, Alayna tolerated the hustle and bustle pretty well, but she did have a few moments when she would've rather been home in her own comfort zone. And we did too, trust me! The biggest challenge we faced with her was getting her to take a nap. When Alayna gets tired, she fights her sleep and if she isn't in her "normal" setting, she is even worse. She loved the mashed potatoes, fruit salads, and cool whip desserts. I hope next year she gets into it a bit more and participates in unwrapping her gifts. We'll just have to wait and see!

Preschool Is Around the Corner

Alayna's IEP is written and she will officially be an attending student at SKIP (Special Kids in Preschool) starting February 1st! It is an interdistrict preschool for special needs children and it is amazing. Her IEP meeting went extremely well. I went into it with a list of things I wanted addressed in her plan and every one of them were already taken care of. The teachers didn't miss anything. We are so thankful that she has a place to go that will address all of her needs from PT, ST, and OT. In addition, she will have music therapy and adaptive physical education. She will attend five days a week from 8:30 am - 2:00 pm. I will put her on the school bus where I work (at the high school) around 7:45 am and she will be dropped back off at the high school in the afternoon probably around 3:00pm. Since we aren't out of school until 3:12pm, she will hang out with Patti, her babysitter, in the library where Patti works. The only thing right now that hasn't been determined is who will be her bus aide in both the am and pm. It is written in her IEP that Alayna is to have an aide, so our hope is that this position will be filled soon. Alayna will be transported in her kid kart to and from school. So, we will enjoy our old schedule for one more month and then on February 1st the new schedule begins. It's going to be an adjustment getting up earlier to get Alayna dressed and fed breakfast before leaving. Right now we don't do this, our babysitters do!

We are really excited about Alayna starting preschool. Of course, it makes us a bit nervous, but we know that we will see many improvements from Alayna. Other 1p36 parents tell us what a dramatic change preschool had on their child and many people in our area tell us that we won't be disappointed in the SKIP program. Obviously, we know it will be the biggest adjustment for Alayna, not us. Alayna's classroom teacher is Ms. Renae and Alayna will be the 7th child in her class. There are 4 boys and 3 girls. They were excited to have another girl! There are also at least 2-3 aides in the room at all times. They informed me that not very often are all the kids in the classroom at the same time due to being pulled out for therapies. Lunch is fed in the classroom and they cater a soft diet for them. I'm excited about having someone else work with Alayna on eating more textures. Ms. Renae informed me that she does have a magic bullet just in case certain things need chopped or pureed. That's great...we have one of those too! I will also plan to send some spare food for Alayna's "locker" in case she wouldn't care for the lunch of the day. Other items we send for her "locker" are diapers, wipes, a spare outfit, a blanket, any familiar/soothing toys, etc. We have some paperwork to still complete, like her physical exam, but otherwise she will be ready to go. I guess it is time to go shop for a cute little backpack! Bye, bye diaper bag!