Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close

As this Thanksgiving weekend winds down I feel my anxiety for tomorrow winding up.  Riley has officially graduated from his birth to three program and will be starting big boy preschool at Sheridan Elementary school.  For those of you not familiar with how all of this works once a child turns three the public school system takes over the preschool and therapies for developmentally delayed children like Riley.  I think the preschool part of all of this is great.  We have met his teacher and I like her.  At least I got good vibes from her and she was open and willing to talk through any of our questions so I take that as a good sign.  I worry a bit about the therapy part.  He doesn't get much through the school system so we will be supplementing with private therapy.  I worry about getting the right combination and not going over board but still making sure we give Ri the best start.  We are taking December off since he just graduated and our we are out of visits that our insurance will cover until January.  Hopefully we'll come up with a good plan so we can start the new year off with a good routine. 

Riley's last day at the Guild School was last Wednesday.  Riley has been going there at least once a week since he was 10 weeks old and it was VERY hard to say good bye.  Riley had fun delivering gifts to his teachers and therapists but wasn't so sure why they were keeping them.   He has the gift unwrapping figured out from his birthday but he wants to be the one getting the gifts and doesn't have giving them figured out quite yet.  His little friend Cole gave him a card and they shared big hugs.  It was super cute until Riley's hug got a little big and he pushed Cole to the ground. 

Graduation/ Birthday Celebration!!!!!!!

We have had a lot to celebrate around here.  Riley is turning 3 on the 30th and that means he is graduating from the Guild School and transitioning to the public school preschool.  We had his IEP meeting last week and it went pretty well.  I like his teacher and that I think will make all the difference in the world.  I was a bit dissapointented in the amount of  services he will recieved but overall it will be a great experience.  We will be supplementing with private therapy.  Orginally I didn't think we were going to do private PT right away.  I was planning on his school PT along with something like soccer tots being enough for the next few months.  Well, we discovered that he would be recieved 15 mins of individual PT a week and 15 of group PT.   Obviously that won't cover it, so we'll be looking for a PT after the first of the year.  We'll also be adding something with other kids like soccer tots or Gymboree.  Has anyone found some fun ideas to get toddlers up and moving and around other kids with out it being in a formal PT situation?  School should be an adventure.  We decided to let Riley ride the bus to school.  He will be picked up at the sitter's and head to afternoon preschool Monday through Thursday.  They encouraged to do afternoon preschool because of the group of kiddos he will be joining.  The afternoon group  will be all  4 yr olds prepping to go to kindergarten next fall and are more advanced than the morning crowd.

Riley had his big graduation/ birthday party this weekend. All of our friends came to help us celebrate.  My mom and dad bought Riley a table top piano.  It is adorable and a huge hit. Riley was a little overwhelmed when everyone started arriving but he eventually caught on to the idea of gifts in those pretty bags.  He was totally excited to rip in to the wrapping paper. 

My new trucks!!

OOOH Gramma what did you get me?

Gramma I love the piano.  Good think Ella, Elizabeth and I can all play it at the same time.  Oh the sounds of music in the air. 

WOW Everyone is singing to me!

And we are done.........such a fun party.

Need your vote!

Remember back a few weeks ago I told you all that I entered Riley in a photo contest on another blog.  Well, one of the photo's I submitted is in the top 5 and now I need your help with the voting.  It will be tough choice because all the photo's are amazingly cute but come on we all know that Hurricane Riley and His Big Brother Rex are the CUTEST!!!  Don't get side tracked by the gnome. 

So hop on over to Parenting BY dummies and vote please!  I'm falling behind and its only the first day so I need some moral support.  And just in case you need some motivation here are the beautiful boys you'll be voting for.

Candy for All

I wasn't sure if Riley would really have fun tricker treating or not but I should have never doubted it.  He was on FIRE tonight.  We went to the mall and he was all over it once he figured out that they were giving him treats.  It was a mellow evening since we took the kids to the mall.  After the candy gathering we met my parents and brother and sister in law for pizza.  It was a great Halloween. 

Treats!

Riley got to test out his costume today at school as the trick r treated down the hallway.  It was a bit much for him but he had fun.  He was at a dead run up and down the hall and was not the least bit interested in listening or waiting for his class.  We even squeezed a fit with kicking in. 

After school today we went straight to Riley's first evaluation meeting with the school district.  I have to say it went much better than planned and we'll have his IEP meeting in a couple of weeks.  Its hard to believe he only has six more visits to the Guild school before he graduates.  Sad and exciting changes all at the same time. 

Woo Hoo

The test results are in and my child that has Down syndrome is delayed enough to attend the Preschool in our public school system.   It boggles my mind that we have to have him evaluated to see if he qualifies.  Trust me he has Down syndrome.....it hasn't gone away or anything. 

Riley will be graduating from the Guild School at the end of November when he turns three.  Sadly it is only a birth to three so now he is transitioning to the public school system. 

Riley rocked his evaluations.  He has made so much progress that shows up on these standard evaluation and so much more that they can never start to measure with a test. 

Physical Therapy:                                              Age Equiv             

Stationary  ( tall kneeling,  standing on tiptoes)      18 months

Locomotion (walking, running)                              17 months

Object Manipulation (kicking, throwing)               20 months

This all comes out to be 2.13 standard deviations below the mean and you only need a  -2.0 to qualify for PT in the public school. 

Occupationa Therapy:                                      Age Equiv

Grasping                                                               15 months

Visual - Motor Integration                                      23 months

This all comes out to be 1.4 standard deviations below the mean.  We are hoping that though you are supposed to be 1.5 below the mean to qualify for OT in the pubic school that Riley will still be able to recieve services.   He really doesn't have classroom skills and that is supposed to be the focus so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Speach

Riley scored at a 21 month level for both receptive and expressive lanuage skills.  This surprisingly low, but apparently he was a complete stinker when they were working on a portion of the test that he would normally do great at.  He had no interest in talking about the picture cards that we all know he signs and uses some words for. 

Cognitive skills rated at the 24 month level and Social Emotional at thre 30 month level. 

21 Fun Facts about Riley

The 31 for 21 Challenge wouldn't be complete without at least one list of 21.  A year ago I wrote a list of 21 Things about Riley......so many of those fun things are still true he's just more advanced at them.  You can find the orginal post HERE.  Hope you enjoy!

1.  Riley is using moving at high speed.  He rarely slows down but you know he really wants to "run" when he throws his shoulders back and his arms pump.

2. Riley idolizes his big brother.  When Rex is gone he misses him and yells for BUBBA when Rex come through the front door. 

3.  Idolizing Rex has helped Riley learn to do many things.  He wants to sit on his trike when Rex rides his bide,  he try to copy Rex jumping.  Who would have thought that being a copy cat would serve him so weel.

4.  Riley is starting to really love puzzels.  He has a colored peg stacking toy that he puts the pieces on the matching colored shapes on the colored pegs.  DON"T try to put them on the wrong colored peg......Riley will tell you about it. 

5.  Riley smiles the majority of the time but he sure lets you know when he doesn't like what you are doing.  He'll break your heart with the silent cry or covering up his face to show you that he doesn't want to see you. 

6.  Riley is able to kick a soccer ball and I'm considering putting him in soccer tots.  Wouldn't that be the cutest thing ever!

7.  Riley will count to 3 with help.  He is good at repeating but often we get two and three all by himself. 

8.  Riley' melts your heart with his big brown eyes and then keeps it with his laugh.

9.  Riley turns 3 on November 30th but is the size of a typical 12-18th month old.  The majority of clothes are 18 month...  cost effective but SO boring to shop for. 

10.  Riley loves music.  He has several songs that he signs with but Twinkle Twinkle is a favority and he sings along. 

11.  Riley's only interest in TV are Signing Times videos.  He has a huge signing vocabulary.  I bet he is around 100 signs.  Now if only I new that many. 

12.  Riley loves people.  He is one of the most amazingly social kiddos I've ever been around. 

13.  I think Riley will have a career in music or some type of performance.  He loves all music and is often found "shakin his bootie"

14.  Riley loves food.  In his toddler class he now sits next to the little boy with food aversions.  He is the peer model for good eating skills.  Ya,  my kid is the class pig. 

15.  Riley is learning to jump.  He screams for MOOOM to watch and then yells UMP UMP while stomping one leg.  He can't quite get both legs up but he knows they should come off the ground.  It is hysterical.  Won't be long before he is a jumping fool. 

16.  Riley loves books.  Especially the touch and feel books. 

17.  Riley is going to be a Tiger for Halloween this year.  Last year he was a duck.  He couldn't walk yet so his super cute costume was wasted in the stroller.  Watch out folks he walks this year and I think he's going to love trick er treaing.

18.  When Riley gets scolded or told no if he doesn't hide his face and try to make you go away he attempts to make you laugh.  He uses all the tricks and squishy faces he can muster to try to make you laugh so you'll forget why you were telling him no. 

19.  When we go to my mom and dads Riley walks in the house and starts yelling for PA.  He's still a bit casious of my dad but he loves his Gramma and PA. 

20.  One of his favorite things he does at PA's house is visiting the chickens.  He often stands at the fence and "talks" to the rooster.    DOODLE DOO DOODLE DOO

21.  Riley is an amazing lil guy that is going to change people's perception of Down syndrome.  He will make them acknowledge him and tell him how cute he is even if they don't want too.  He is knows to say hi to every one we see and if they don't talk back to him he just keeps talking and getting louder and louder until they have to acknowledge him.  Hysterical!!!