It has been forever since I've done a family update. So, with a new year in full swing, I figured now is as good of a time as any.
Louis and I don't really have a ton to report. He is still at his same job and killin' it. I'm still at home.
We are coming up on our 4 year house anniversary at the end of January. We normally get something for the house or do some sort of project. I'm not sure what we are going to do this year. We've thrown around getting new appliances, but I'm not sure if we're going to pursue that or not.
Our car is STILL not here. I check the app every. single. day. The original delivery estimate was January. Then it got updated to February 23-March 23. Then it got pushed to June. Now, as of three days ago, it has a specific date of June 10-July 8......so we will see when it actually gets delivered. While we are still looking forward to it, the excitement has definitely waned a bit. I know as it gets closer and we actually get the official 2 Week Delivery Notification, it will all come flooding back, but it's hard when it seems so far away still! It will be almost 10 months since we ordered it if it comes in July.
Rachel is a junior in high school. Back in actual school this year. As usual, her grades are amazing. She is really interested in forensics and human anatomy and that type of thing, so it sounds like that may be the direction she is headed in for college and career. Obviously, that is a pretty specific thing, and I'm sure only a few colleges would offer it. I don't KNOW any of that, but I would just imagine that would limit where she would be ABLE to go to college, versus where she just wanted to go. For a business degree, you can go anywhere for example, so its just more about where you want to be. I doubt this kinda thing is like that.
She still plays the piano, beautifully. She also plays the violin in both orchestra and chamber orchestra.
Of course, her art skills are just getting INSANE. This kid can draw anything from realistic portraits of people and animals to cartoons and abstract crazy things. She recently had a project where she drew a human skull, it was so life like, it could have been a photograph. It just blew me away.
She has finished up the online portion of her Driver's Ed course. She will be hitting the streets any day now for the driving portion.
She likes to bake and decorate cookies. She went through a phase of crocheting, and likes to play Pokemon Go.
Bella is a sophomore this year. She also goes to school in person. Her and Rachel are in different school districts, and you would be amazed at the differences between them. B's grades are also really good, but at this point she is far more focused on basketball than college. She 'thinks' she wants to do something to help people, but not in any sort of medical setting, more like social work. She really has no clue though I dont think.
Bella is a starter and the Team Captain for the Boise High Sophomore basketball team. I am super proud of her for this. Being in a sport at the high school level is totally different than just playing for fun when she was younger. They practice for like 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week. It's obviously highly competitive and her being as small as she is, she has to really be on top of her game. Bella is only 5'4 and weighs like 110 lbs. 98% of these girls are close to 6 feet and pushing 175 plus. Bella's advantage is she's super quick and she can shoot. That girl can hit 4-5 3 pointers a game. I'm excited to see where this takes her.
She hasn't skateboarded in a bit, she been 100% dedicated to basketball. She is all through drivers ed and has her permit....mercy me.
Zo-Zo is homeschooling this year. She has decided she prefers that to in person school. She is able to do things on her own schedule. She has an online program she signs in to and does whatever she needs to do with her teachers and then can go about her day. It surprises me because she was always the most social one, but hey, whatevah.....
Zoe's life is 100% centered on horses right now. She leases one. She 'works' at a stable- almost daily, she still plays with and collects hobby horses, she plays horse games online, she goes to horse camp, and the list goes on. With her doing online school, it gives her the freedom to spend a lot more time out at the stables.
She still does swim team and her best friend is on her team, and luckily lives just up the street from my mom. Needless to say, Zo spends a lot of time there and at my moms house.
Tatum is cruising along, awesome as ever. As you all know, he was diagnosed with ASD in July. We have him in several therapies, and he is making some great strides. He is still non-verbal and has trouble with pointing at things, but he is babbling and tries to point, so these are things we count as successes.
He is all done with physical therapy, for now. His gross motor has caught up, and as long as it continues to grow, there are no concerns there. He doesn't kick, jump or skip or anything like that yet, but his skills are improving linearly so that's a success.
He is currently in ESDM (Early Start Denver Model) Program with St. Luke's. This entails 3 visits a week, 45-60 minutes each. His program has 2 visits with a speech therapist and 1 visit with an occupational therapist weekly. ESDM focuses more on interaction with the child vs getting wanted behaviors or actions from the child.
We are on the wait list for Caravel. Caravel is an intensive 'short' burst therapy. Short meaning 6 months - 1 or 2 years. Caravel is modeled to imitate a preschool setting, and the idea is to get them acclimated to being away from home and their parents, around other people- kids and adults, and figuring out a routine or process to help them thrive in school. You drop your child off at 8 am and pick them up at 330 pm, five days a week. My mommy heart panics at this, but I know this is exactly what he needs. Caravel operates with the ABA therapy method. This method focuses less on personal interaction with the child and more on getting desired outcomes.
At 3, he qualifies for Developmental Preschool through the school system. I love this opportunity, but feel the public school system may be lacking the resources, personnel and opportunities a place like Caravel offers, so that is the route we will go, with the hopes of enrolling him in school once he graduates Caravel.
He is also on the wait list for Feeding Therapy. He has an extremely limited diet, as many kids on the spectrum do, so we are going to address some of these obstacles and hopefully get him eating more!
Jackie Lou is 10 months as of today! He has crazy red hair, 8 teeth and is the cutest little nugget you've ever seen. He crawls every where, stands on every thing, anything goes into his mouth and he is a little monster!! He will be walking any time now!
He loves to eat and is finally off the nutramigen. He has to have a gentle formula still, but at least its just a general formula made by similac versus that specialized stuff.
