Max's First Day of School

Max had his first day of school on Wednesday! He will be going for 1 hour and 15 minutes on Wednesdays before he turns three on November 15th. Once he is three, he will be going 2 hours and 15 minutes four times a week. We wanted to start him a little early to get him acquainted with the school. The pick up and drop off went well at his day-care. He will be riding in a van to and from school. And it sounds like he enjoyed himself at school. He met with OT and PT and got to spend a little time with the rest of the class. The early childhood teacher said she is going to have to break the other students of calling him a baby. She told them that he is three just like them and not a baby. It sounded like he was a new toy. The kids wanted to hug him and pick him up. Hopefully the excitement of a new kid will wear off by the time he starts four days a week. Ava even ran in to him in the hall and was really excited to see him at school and show him off to her class!

When Max starts on November 16th, he will be getting the following therapy at school:

20 minutes of Speech Therapy four times a week
30 minutes of Occupational Therapy three times a week
30 minutes of Physical Therapy two times a week

The rest of his time at school will be in the classroom. He will also have music class and go to the school library during week.

This will be quite a change in the amount of therapy he will be getting each week. He currently gets four hours of ST and one hour of PT a month. I don't think it is going to bother Max since he loves one-on-one attention of adults.

Pumpkins

On Sunday, we took the kids the the pumpkin patch we make an annual trip to. It was a beautiful day, which has been rare here. The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. The kids had fun looking at all the animals, going through a corn maze, and on the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. We even got the pumpkins carved that same day! Having a seat on the giant pumpkins. . . Max watching the pigs run by. . . Ava's pic of mom and dad. . . Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins. . . Ava posing for a fall pic. . . Skulls. . . Pre-carving. . . Cleaning out the pumpkins. . . Max playing with the insides. . . Carving. . . I think they all turned out well. . . This video is too funny. Ava was cleaning out the pumpkins and Max was helping!

Signing Times

Recently Max has been interested in watching his Signing Time videos. However, he only wants to watch the introduction song. When it is over, he will bring the remote to one of us to start it over again. I shouldn't be surprised by him doing this. He is a very repetitive little boy. He likes to do things over and over for awhile before he moves on to something else. Oh, and he learned how to sign "grandpa". He can sign "dad" and "grandpa", but no "mom". What!

From the Mouth of Ava

John and I were talking about Max's IEP goals and Ava said one of Max's goals is that she hope he falls in love with a girl. Where did that come from?!?

Happy 6th Birthday Ava!!

Ava turned SIX on September 23rd. Her 6th birthday didn't pass unnoticed. She had fun celebrating with friends and family. I can't believe I have a six year old. Since she started Kindergarten, she seems like she has really grown up to be an independent little girl.
One day old. . .

One year old. . .

Two years old. . .

Three years old. . .

Four years old. . .

Five years old. . .

Six years old with Ipod we gave her for her birthday. . .

Aunt Becky took her to get her ears pierced. She was brave and didn't shed a tear.




She invited a couple girls in her class to party at Chuck E Cheese with her.

Max had fun too!

Ava with her Hannah Montana cake Papa Foley made for her. . .

Family. . .

Gifts. . .

Group shot of family that celebrated with Ava. . .

Early Birthday Present and Update

Max received a swing as an early birthday present from his Grandma and Grandpa Foley that we hung in the garage. He loves it! Every night when we pull in to the garage, he signs "swing". If we are in the house, he will stand by the door going to the garage and sign "outside" and "swing". And if he is feeling polite, he will sign "outside", "swing", and "please". How can I say no to that!

Max's transition to his new day-care went very smoothly. He has been at the center a little over a month now. I don't think Max even knew a transition took place. His new teachers were eager to learn about Max, his feeding issues, and all of the signs he uses to communicate. What a relief! One of his teachers went to school for teaching and got her minor in Special Education, so she was specifically moved to the room to be with Max. She is also coming along to Max's first IEP on Monday to help us with the transition from day-care to school. He has been pulling hair at home lately, but the teachers said he hasn't pulled hair at the center yet. The only thing he does that the kids don't like is he pulls their face towards him to get their attention. His "hey, look at me" gesture.

Max had a kidney ultrasound and an appointment with his Urology doc on Wednesday. There was not much change on his ultrasound of his kidneys from last year. Still a small amount of fluid/swelling in his kidneys. The doctor said we don't have to come back for another ultrasound for two years. He said there is only a 5% chance that it could get worse. But they like to keep an eye on it. While we were there, the doctor noticed that Max had another hydrocele, so we scheduled surgery for December 1st to fix it. It was not as noticeable as the one he had a year ago. His last surgery went very smooth and recovery went well. You would have never known he had surgery. I am hoping for the same results this time around. I was hoping to be surgery/anesthesia free this year. There is always 2010!