Joan's in!

We just finished round one of a great visit with my parents - they're coming back though in a couple weeks on their way home.

While they were here, we got word that Joan is officially IN the intensive therapy program at school! They switched her to a morning preschool class, so she's going to have to start over with all new kids. But they managed to keep her with the same teaching team, which I really appreciate. I like her teachers a lot - one in particular is very good with Joan, though they're all great, so I'm glad they did their best to create as little disruption as possible for her.

So she starts Monday in morning preschool. Should make life a little interesting, because the therapy program won't kick in for a few more weeks, while the funding gets lined up, and John is still of course in pm kindergarten. I think in many ways it will be better, because I can do more with 2 than three, and there are things I need to do with each older child, like clothes shopping, that would be easier with just Dave and the kid in question. So, it makes things a bit more complicated, but there's some good to it.

As for the funding, I can't get her assessed by the gov't worker until Oct 6, and the funding won't be released without it, obviously. But the school assured me they're willing to wait until everything is sorted out - the spot is Joan's.

She was put on a "waiting list" during the summer. It was already a long list, but I had been told by one administrator that they just call them waiting lists - they don't do ANTHING first come, first served. The kids who need it most, get it first. So I guess they looked at Joan's assessments, and moved her to the top of the priority list, because they said they started the year with one open spot, and it went to her.

Anyway, we're pretty excited. Not sure how she's going to fare in full-day school at the tender age of two. But she loves school, and that will help. We'll just have to be prepared not to see ehr during the week, because she'll need to get to bed so early.

Anyway, better go!

school updates...

John had his first Terry Fox run today, and in true John fashion, was quite moved by it. He got to go to a big assembly with the whole school and watch a film, followed by the run itself. When I went to pick him up, he excitedly announced that his school had raised $2500, and that he ran really fast. But he was so excited, by the time we arrived at home, the school had raised a whopping $30 million, and had found the cure to cancer! Hmmm. What other Walchuk male does that remind you of...

Joan also had a momentus day - she finally started speaking in class. They hadn't told me she had been completely mute until that point. Apparently, she smiles a lot, but says nothing. But today, she really opened up to her teacher by naming all of her body parts.

When we got home, we got some more exciting news - they have an opening in the intensive therapy program at Renfrew, and they'd like to give Joan the spot! It means a half day of therapy, followed by a half day of preschool. It's a lot for a little kid. But they're apparently sensitive to the fatigue until they adjust. The problem is, it's an afternoon opening, which is when she's in preschool, so it may not be able to happen. But the administrators will be meeting on Tuesday to see what they can work out for her. they may need to move her to a new class, or see if another family is willing to shift thier schedule. There's a funding issue as well - it's funded differently from school, and we're not completely through the intake process for the organization that pays the bill. But they figured it could all get worked out somehow. So please keep all your fingers crossed. It means a lot of work for Joan, but it's a great opportunity to help her reach her potential.

school daze

Both kids, ready for a fun afternoon at school in their awesome backpacks from Boffo Home and Cottage in beautiful Dryden ON.

I don't think I've felt more like a "mom" than I have this week, with two kids in school. Well, ok, one's in preschool. But it feels the same. The honeymoon is still in full swing for both of them, but so far, it looks like it could be a great year.

Joan is in Renfrew - an awesome little special needs preschool - she's been discharged from the hospital's infant program, so this is the next phase of her therapy. They mix preschool with therapy in a kindergarten-like setting. It reminds me a lot of John's Best Start program, where he went when he was 3. Very loosey-goosey, rule-wise. They have stations, but are allowed to move around them freely. The only formal thing is a circle time. But the rest of the day is spent in free play. After they get settled in, and the therapists get to know the kids, they'll be directed a little more into more therapeutic type of play, using the things they like to encourage development. But for now, they're just spending some quality bonding time.

I was really concerned about her starting school. But after seeing her at her staggered entry, I knew I'd have nothing to worry about. She's very shy, but when I went to pick her up, she was leading her teacher by hand to a bench. They sat down together, and Joan shimmied over to her, until they were cuddling. Then Joan took her by the hand,and they just sat cuddling, holding hands for a while, with Joan giggling away. She likes the baby station best apparently - she likes pushing the dolls around in strollers. And apparently, she loves the playground - it's a great design, with disabled kids in mind. The one at John's school is completely inaccessible to her - she has to climb a ladder or worse to get to a slide. Not even a set of steps! Joan's is filled with ramps and tunnels and stairs - she would be able to get everywhere on it, with effort.

I know they're working her hard, because she's completely fried when she comes home. She generally curls into a ball and screams for an hour or so. I'm assured this will pass as she gets used to it. I think the teacher is worried I think she's not liking it, because so far, she hasn't even made it out of the building before melting down. "She really had a wonderful time, I promise," she said emphatically on Friday. I assured her that I can tell she is from how excited she it to get there.

She was actually mad at me for the first couple days of the week - her school didn't start until Wednesday. But John started Monday, and I had to take all three right into the classroom to fill out paperwork, because he had missed his staggered entry. We walked in on a room filled with kids reading books on a carpet. John was instructed to find himself a book and join them. Joan was all set to get herself a book and join right in! She was not a happy camper when it was time for us to go - without John. It began a two-day funk. When her day finally came, she was so excited. She knew exactly what was happening, because I was packing her pink backpack. I said "ok Joan, let's get you to your school!" and she threw her arms up in the air and said "Woohoo!" She says that every day as we leave for her school now. This weekend, I've had to hide their backpacks, because she was following me around with it, chanting "School? School? School? School?..." So nothing to worry about there. And Tuesday is music therapy day, which I know she's going to love!

Then there's John. John, who we put in French Immersion, firmly against his will. We've been arguing with him about it all summer long. If we said the word French, whether it had to do with school or not, he would fly into a tantrum. He said he hated french, he just wants to speak English, that french was bad, that he wouldn't do it. He would refuse to speak in class, and just play with toys all day.

So, we get him there...and he LOVES it! He comes home every day all excited about the new words he's learned. He learned rouge, and goes around the house pointing out everything rouge he sees. He thinks his teacher is fun, and pretty. She's very young and energetic. Now, whenever he sees a brunette with long hair, he says she looks like his teacher. It seems to be just the challenge he needed to keep him focused. His preschool used the K curriculum, so now, they're starting with the same unit pre-K started with - I Am Unique. We think he would have been bored if we'd gone with English school, and he may have been up to his usual antics. So far, he seems to be listening and connected. One day, leaving school, he actually thanked me for putting him into french school! He seems to be really proud of it - he tells strangers in the street that he does french school, and will teach them a few words if they seem suitably impressed. I know he was nervous about not being able to handle it, so I think he's really proud of himself that he's able to keep up. It's mostly in english for now, but every day, they learn more words and phrases. It really moves quite quickly. The teacher uses quite a bit of conversational french with them, that they're just expected to pick up naturally. Then they learn vocabulary on a more formal basis, from a puppet named Sluggy. Once sluggy teaches them the french, though, the english equivalent "goes on vacation" and can't be used in the classroom again. So far, he can say hello, goodbye, pencil, September, yellow, red and backpack, and can tell you if the weather is either hot or nice. We were sent home an assignment to help them do about their likes and dislikes, all in english. But the note to us was that they will be repeating the exercise completely in french at the end of the year. I think that's pretty impressive.

We've also got him into scouts. That was a whole other battle. Ugh. The registration night was this week, and we wanted him to actually be there for it. So he and I went down after dinner. But up until we left, he was determined to stand at the door, yell "hate it hate it hate it!" and run home. Mike won him over by reminding him that he could earn badges. he has a check mark rewards system in school - they get a check mark for doing nice things to help classmates or working extra hard on projects. He responds really well to the system - it's always his goal to get a check mark that day, and only missed one day. So we compared badges to getting check marks in school, and he was all over it. Then once we got there, he met some other boys being registered, and he was completely sold. I'm surprised so few people brought their kids, but he was able to have an entertaining conversation with a Cub about what Beavers was like for him, and he assured John that it's lots of fun. But he warned him that the badges aren't very easy to get. We may have simplified the badge earning process slightly, to get him interested. "If I'm nice to a plant and give it water, or if I do something nice for someone else, I'll get a badge!" John tells the Cub. "Well, good luck with that," he replied. "It wasn't like that when I was there. The requirements were pretty insane." But John was not put off. In fact he was so excited, he insisted on registering himself, and made me give him all his forms and cheques so he could deal with the volunteers directly.

So it's been a busy week, all around. Even Dave had a little excitement. I took him in for a check-up on Wednesday, and brought up his habit of attacking his food like some starving, rabid dog. He eats like a horse, but never gets fat. He Doc laughed at me, and said that's a good thing. So he weighed and measured him, and sure enough, he's a great size. He's above the 98th percentile for the weight to height ratio. He's 30 inches and 21 pounds, which are both perfectly fine. He said third kids are often like that, because they have to keep up with the pack. They tend to be stronger, more advanced and more active than what their older siblings were at that age, and as a result, they often have much faster metabolisms, because they burn through calories like crazy. So he said we're doing great - just keep stuffing him up, as much as he'll eat. He said he looks beautiful and very healthy, and can't see anything to suggest anything is going wrong. He's always been very active. He's been climbing the stairs for months. And even with baby gateswe have to watch him - if he's in bare or socked feet, he can climb right over the gate! It's a game to him - he likes me to find him climbing, then have me chase him up. He's so close to walking. He can take a couple steps, but only if he has something to fall into. But it won't be long. Some scary days await.

Anyway, better go! it's getting late. Well, it's 10, but I'm beat, so it feels really late.

my birthday!

I usually like to ignore my birthdays, now that I'm quickly approaching middle age. But this one was really pretty funny, so I'm going to share.

Mike and I aren't big on birthdays, but John is. So Mike took him to the store to pick out gifts and a cake. He picked out a bouquet of sunflowers, which he's been marvelling over for weeks. I got a card, signed Mom + John. And then I got...a dinosoar cake. It's complete with two toy dinosoars, and an icing volcano, spewing red gel icing. How many 33-year-olds can boast a cake anywhere NEAR as awesome as that!? To top it off, he got a bulk bag of "giant candy sprinkles" - otherwise known as Mike and Ikes - something like jelly beans. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

My favourite part of the evening was watching each kid pretend to feed cake to their respective toy dinosoar. That and John dipping his finger in the volcano to show me it was safe to eat - "Look, Mom. It's not hot!"

visit from great grandma!

John taking his new bike for its first spin, with Great-Granda - it was her birthday present to him.

Off for a ride - they went out every day on the bike, learning the rules of the road.

Dave's first feel of sand. He looooved the beach! He was crawling all over, exploring away.

Helping John get suited up tot he water. He's still nervous in the water, so he swims with his life jacket on.

An awesome visit all around! The kids had a blast, and John really missed the daily bike rides with grandma after she left. She brought her poodle Mac, who was a huge hit with the kids. On her first day here,s he tookt eh kids out to walk him. John was so excited, because he got to hold the leash! "I've never walked a dog before!" he said in amazed wonderment. Having another adult around made things lots of fun for me, too. I was able to go do some shopping. We all took the kids to get new sandals. The kids picked their own - Joan of course picked out a pretty pink pair, which she refused to take off at bed time. She wound up sleeping in them. She even passed on a bath, because she didn't want to take them off for even a second.

I'm sure Mac - AKA Puppy - is happy to be far from all the groping hands around here. But the kids had a blast, and both are welcome back anytime!!!

a couple more random pics...

This is what I get when I let Joan eat chocolate pudding unattended.

Have I mentioned how happy David is now that his siblings are out of the picture? We thought he might feel sad and lonely. Nope. He smiles all the time, and giggles. He can play with toys without having them snatched from him. He can go about his day without getting smacked or sat on..or smeared with chocolate pudding. He is one happy camper.

Ah, the sad saga of John's very special glow-in-the-dark silly putty. It was a special grocery trip when he bought this - it was just him and me, together. No dad, no other kids. It was a happy evening for two, and he saw this stuff and just had to have it. So I said yes. He brought it home all excited to see it glow, only to discover it had to be charged. So what does he do? He puts in on a lit lightbulb, when no-one is looking. I was making dinner when I heard his horrified screams. Then I came in to see black smoke billowing from the lamp. We managed to get the lamp off and unplugged. Mike unscrewed the bulb, as John whimpered that he'd just wanted to make it charge faster. It was actually fine in the end - a little singed, but it still glowed. Unfortunately, it still met a sad end, because he had taken this glob of goo to bed with him. He awoke to silly putty ground in...everywhere. It was coating both cheeks, all through his hair, all over his PJ's. It was EVERYWHERE! We managed to get most of it out of his hair - I think when he left for Dryden there was still a tiny glob stuck right on top. The PJs were ruined. But he managed to peel enough off his face to make a tiny ball, which he made into a miniscule, glow-in-the-dark snail.

birthday pics!

the Wall-E cake! He was "soooo exciteded!"

A cement mixer transformer!

Busy unwrapping

more birthday pics!

Waiting for supper

having fun with a noisemaker - that made no noise. But he didn't seem to care.

What kid doesn't like hot dogs on his birthday.

I'm still working on the videos. They're hard to download from this camera. I don't know why. But now I have all this time! So stay tuned! We weren't going to do videos - Mike had requested not. But I couldn't resist, and they're really great. He did a thank-you message for each of his gifts. He really liked that part of his birthday - he asked for me to start filming at the end of each gift opening.

It was a fun birthday. Mike's grandma was there - we held off a couple days so she could. Vicki and Billy couldn't make it in the end, but he understood. They spoke on the phone, and he was alright with that. He was even OK with having it at home, even though he had really wanted a picnic on the beach. The only mistake we made was telling him that his party was going to be on a separate day from his party. BIG mistake. Sometimes, we assume he's so bright, he'll just get it. But he's still just a little guy, and sometimes things just don't make any sense to him. This was one of those times. We had told him on the Wednesday, that that was in factg his actual birthday, but we were going to celebrate the party on Sunday. He was ok with that, until the sun started going down. He had a royal freak-out, because he thought everyone had forgotten his party. So, we decided at the 11th hour to have...two parties. We told him he'd get two because he was so special - one for us, and one for everyone. So, we got hotdogs and all the stuff to make sundaes. We let him make his own sundae. Everything was great. That night, because his carpet was wet from steam-cleaning anyway, we moved his and Joan's beds down to the livingroom, and they were both allowed to stay up "all night" and watch TV. They had a blast. Joan didn't last long, but John, we figure, from what he claimed to have seen, was up to about 4:30 a.m. It made the next day a bit interesting, but he was happy. All was well, until the day of the party. Everything was great - we did cake, presents. He had fun. Then, he had a little time to digest it all...and he figured out that he must in fact be 6, because he had just had another birthday. No amount of rationalizing would convince him otherwise. He had two birthdays, therfore, he was 6. After much argueing, he was starting to get very tired, very mad and VERY confused. "I'm six!" he yells. "You're not six, John. We have TWO FIFTH BIRTHDAYS," says Mike, getting irritated. "Dad!" he says, voice quivering with half rage, half horror, "why did you make me two fives!" "I didn't make you two fives," said Mike. "You're not 55." Well, that was the end of all reason. From that point, John turned into a raving lunatic, because now he was convinced he was 55. Sigh.

It took me a long time to help him unwind from his moch midlife crisis. He finally fell asleep, which is really what he needed. The next day, he made me promise never to split his party from his birthday ever again. I think it will happen again - now we know not to actually TELL him about it.

We're both missing the kids - they're visiting grandparents now. Things are so quiet without them. We find Dave is a lot more needy now, without them to entertain him. But this is good for him - he's getting a little taste of single childhood, so he's getting showered with lots of attention, and is loving every second of that. I hope the others are having fun too. But we do miss them a lot. I'm not too blue to enjoy it, but I am looking forward to getting them back.

A little annoying news - we're completely carless. Grrrr. The van's clutch gave out one night on the way home from dropping Vicki off. It was still drivable, but hard to change gears, and probably doing damage to the transmission in the process. So off it went to the Vanagon Guru. We should have it back on Wednesday, if all goes well. So we've been booting around in the little car. In fact, we had to take the kids out to Sask in it. It was a tight squeeze, but it was better than the rediculous cost of renting a van. I had visions of it falling apart in the driveway as soon as we got it home, and it was almost like that. It made it home alright, but on the way home from getting groceries the very next day, it all started going wierd. The airbag light started flashing, the dash lights went all dim, the radio stopped working, the windows wouldn't work...and then it stalled. That could have just been me freaking out - it's hard to drive a standard if you're tense. But after the stall, it wouldn't start again. I was just heading into a busy intersection when I died, and I was alone with David. When I got out, a family driving by offered me their phone. Luckily, Mike was off work, so he came out in his work van to help me out. On his way to me, he saw a tow truck, and flagged him down. The tow truck driver was really nice. He said it was our alternator, so he hooked up his little booster pack, and followed us home. He had just gone off shift, and was on his way in to finish paperwork when Mike flagged him, so, seeing is it was easy - just a booster pack and a couple blocks of driving - he didn't charge us! But he made us promise to get CAA for our car. We have it on the van, but it makes sense to get it on both. I don't know why we didn't. It's not expensive, and pays for itself with just one call a year. Anyway, it's going in on Wednesday, for what looks like it's THIRD alternator. Or is it the fourth. Apparently a weak point in Nissans. So now we'll have two big car repair bills in a week, followed by a trip to Dryden. Ugh. Good thing Mike's been working extra hard lately!

Anyway, better go. I'll keep working on those videos - they're really cute.

a few random photos...

It's been a while since I've posted, bu I'm getting ready for our trip tomorrow, so don't really have time today either. So I'm just throwing up a couple random photos of the kids, for your amusement. Our computer has died, and the new one has Vista and is confusing, so our picture supply is in fractures all over the place. But I do have birthday photos ans videos and Greart Grandma visit photos and dinosoar park pictures, so I'll get them sorted and posted when we get back from dropping the kids off in Saskatchewan.

Mike took this one of Joan, lounging on the couch. She saw her neurologist yesterday, by the way. He's really impressed with her progress, but wants to do an EEG, to see if there's any electrical activity around the area of the stroke. If not, that's great - he says that area is very valuable, because it can be tought to take on the roles of the missing chunks. If there is activity, it can interfere with her development. If it gets bad, it can trigger seizures. He said usually, it's all quiet, but if she has some activity there, they'll just giver her a prescription to quiet it down, so that area can be better utilized.

John, sharing a cuddle with Dave. Their favourite game together is when John picks Dave up from under his arms, and "walks" him around the room. Dave loves it!

John, sharing a cuddle with Joan. He found her napping on the couch, and decided to snuggle in.

Dave at the beach! He loves the sand. So yummy!

Sorry so few today. But i will get more up there soon. In a few days I'll be down to one kid, and won't know what to do with myself - may as well get the blog updated! Just a few tidbits for the grandparents, who will be taking the kids for a couple weeks - if you give John green beans, he will split open the pods, and eat only the beans. Just to warn you, so you're not surprised. Also, he's in a big Wall-E phase, so if you don't want your newspaper crumpled into a little ball, you have to tell him so. Joan likes to help unload the dishwasher - it's her favourite job - she'll hand the dishes to you to be put away. So just be mindful of knives and such - I usually whip them out before she has a chance to get there. John also likes to help tidy up, but be forwarned, his idea of dusting is to twirl in the middle of the floor, to scare all the dust and germs to the next room. Not terribly effective, but it's nice that he wants to help. Anyway, better go!

just a quick note to let you see-our old house in Hamilton is back up for sale!!!!
the MLS number is:
H3017492

check it out - it's really stunning! Looks like he did everything he should have - including move the kitchen into the den. Not sure if he's going to make any money on it, but we're really glad we sold it to the right guy. That's EXACTLY what we wanted for that poor old place.

Lots to update, but no time today. I have pictures of John's graduation! It was bittersweet. We had explained who whole end of year thing to him, but when he asked why mrs engelman gave him all these presents (a memory book, with pictures from the year, and a story book) I made the mistake of reminding him that he was finished at pre-k, and will be starting in a new school in fall. I thought that was understood, but he spent a good chunk of the night sobbing, and has slept in our bed every night since. Mike thinks I was a big jerk for telling him, but I really thought he already understood!

All the kids have been sick - likely with swine flu. It matches all the symptoms, but they're almost over it - John is fine now. We got a note that it was confirmed in John's school, and he was the first to get it. We called public health, and they said just to treat it like a normal flu - lots of fluids, yadda yadda. Only bring them in if they have breathing problems - that's when they test to confirm. Dave had a bit of croup with it, but she told us we did the right thing - as soon as it started, I sat with him in the bathroom with the shower on hot until it settled down. They're all on the mend - it was pretty mild, whatever it was. Mike and I got a touch of it, too, but shook it off pretty easily.

I took John to register at his new school, in an effort to cheer him up. We chose french immersion after all. He likes the school, and I let him play on the playground for a while. There was another little boy out there, but he was heading into grade 1. I think it will all be fine. There's a city park program starting shortly in our area. We did it last year - they play games and make crafts. John really enjoyed it last time, and it'll give him a chance to play with kids his own age. A lot of the parents at John's school swapped numbers at the end of the year, but they all knew we moved to the south, which is too far to drive for a playdate. But I'm sure between the summer programs, school and beavers, he'll have a group of local kids to play with soon.

anyway, I have way too much work to do! I'll update for real soon. But anyone who saw or lived in our old house, look it up on mls.ca - you'll be shocked!

banff trip

Dad and Joan at Peyto Lake

Joan, overlooking Banff

Lunch in Chez Vanagon on the trip home

John, being John, while guarding food from the squirrels

Dad setting up camp and building the fire, and John, taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him.

Just can't get enough? Here's a link to the complete album. Warning - some are duds - it's all the pictures we took:

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoandave/BanffKeepers?authkey=Gv1sRgCPavvaX0uIDIFA&feat=directlink

So, there's our trip on pictures. We saw Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon, and then we went on a gondola ride. These are just the views from Mike and I. I haven't downloaded John's camera yet. I'm sure he's got some gems in there. And then there's the return trip - I was a little shakey after the gondola trip, and you have to hop out kind of fast, before it zooms up the mountain again, and I was carrying two kids out, all resulting in me forgetting my purse on the ride. So, we had to head back a couple days later to pick it up. We took Vicki and Billy that time, and went up again. We have pictures from that, too.

The kids seemed to really enjoy the trip. John had been asking to go camping for a while. He was pretending to do campouts in the living room, and was dressing up in what he thought a Scout might wear - complete with Thomas baseball cap and backpack filled with a water bottle, blankie pink, and spare batteries. (I don't think he'll ever leave home without batteries ever again. We took Vicki and Billy for a drive to the mountains a while back, and the batteries in their camera died while trying to take picture of deer. "I have batteries!" pipes in John. No-one paid him any mind, until he reached into his coat pocket, and out came a handfull of frech batteries. He was so proud to have saved the day! Turns out, he's always got little stashes of stuff with him all the time, including batteries - just in case, assorted pet rocks in case he's lonely, and little boxes of raisins, in case he gets hungry. We told him he'll be an excellent Scout, and he's adopted that into his persona. He kept saluting us during our camping trip, like he was some sort of soldier.)

It was a pretty fun trip. Very crowded with tourists - mostly from overseas. Lots of then stopped to talk and meet the kids. They loved the red hair. We had a couple from Holland in the campsite next to us. I know John has pictures of them. The man was named Jan, and didn't know too much english, but that didn't stop John, who led this poor guy all around, showing him every detail of our campsite and van.

Joan liked the hiking, but tired out quickly. She kept taking breaks, which meant laying spread eagle on the path, to the amusement of all the international tourists.

I think the only thing we'd change was the bedtime routine. We had brought glow sticks for the kids, to be like a nightlight so they wouldn't get scared, but they had never seen them before. So it was like "here's this awesome new toy, kids. Now go to sleep." Yeah. That worked out just great. The next hour were spent trying to shush sqeals of delight. John used his to make all the blankets glow. Joan used hers as a microphone, and sang into it with all her heart. In the end, they had to be confiscated.

We're thinking dinosoar provincial park next. Maybe it will be warmer at night than the mountains. I'd better get going. I've spent too much time on the computer, but I wanted to get those photos out. I'll post more soon.

videos from our camping trip...

Dave is the first to pop awake in Hotel Vanagon.

Group hug from Dad!

We took a one-night camping trip with the kids in Hotel Vanagon. We had lots of fun - we intended to take a hike, but the path was still covered in snow. So instead, we checked out Peyto Lake, a really neat canyon, and then took a gondola ride in Banff. It was a great mini-vacation. We're gong to try to get out as many of Mike's weekends as we can. With the kids both in school in September, we only have a couple months where we can do stuff together, without pulling kids from school, or booking off from work. We think next we'll head east - maybe Cyprus Hills or the Dinosoar provincial park. I'll post more pictures really soon, but for now, I have a couple videos. These are from a new camera, so hopefully, they're ok. My old one is being held together with tape, so Mike bought me a very snazzy new one. It didn't cost very much at all, but still blows away the old one.

One is of a very tame squirrel who invaded our campsite. He stole smores and cookies, and dodged our kids. The other is of Mike showing the kids how to start a fire. My favourite part is Joan trying to blow it out.

Anyway, enjoy. And enjoy John's crazy hair - it's finally getting cut tonight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eay75EJNsvQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHj4Mhu5bcM

the dilemma....

Now that Joan has a placement, i went to look into the registration process for getting John into Kindergarten. In my hunting, i discovered that the other school in our neighbourhood - not the one I can throw a stone at, but one about a 15 minute walk away - is french immersion.

French immersion had always been our plan for John in hamilton, but here, the schools are fairly far between, so we had dropped it.

So, now, with it being so close, we have a dilemma. Do we stick with the school we live beside, and do regular afternoon kindergarten, to coincide with Joan's pre-k program. Or do we enroll John in french immersion, which is only available to local kids in the a.m., and staggar the kids' schedules?

Our day, in the first scenario would go something like: Head out for John's school after lunch, drop him off, then head to Joan's, which starts about 45 min later. I go home for a couple hours. Then, head back to John's school, let him goof around on the playground, then head to Joan's school, which gets out an hour later.

Scenario 2, has all of us heading out first thing to drop John off at school - or just letting the little ones sleep, while Mike gets ready for work. Then, we head down to pick him up. We either play on the playground for an hour or so for lunch, or head home, or run a quick errand. Then, we take Joan to school. Head home. Then, we go pick her up.

In the first scenario, we have both kids in school at the same time, albiet for a short time, because of overlapping drop off/pick-up times.

In the second, the kids are staggared - I'd always have at least two with me all day, unless Joan is accepted into the full-day gross-motor program at her school. (she's on the wait list, but they said based on her therapist's report, she's an ideal candidate, so they may bump her up.)

Either way, weekdays are shot. It'll be a lot of ferrying around. In the second scenario, it might be good to have time each day to focus on each kid - it would be good for Joan's therapy, and good to do stuff with John, and they'd still spend time together for lunch and after school. Plus, John would learn a second language. The first scenario would just encourage them all to sleep in late, and stay up late, which is no good for us. Though, the pro for the first is a glorious two hours every day with just Dave and I. Can we say...NAP.

We're pretty sure John can handle the french. here, it's 100 per cent immersion - no english is spoken in the classroom until grade 3, when it's introduced as a formal subject. It's hard to know if he'd find that frustrating, or if he'd take it in stride, because that's just the way it is, and 20 other kids are in the same boat. I think the real challenge will be on our end. Not so much in Kindergarten - I can muddle my way through O Canada in french. there's no homework. But it could get interesting in grade school. They say it teaches them to be self-disciplined and independent workers - probably because mom and dad are too confused to help. But we always figured we'd try to learn along with him, so we could help him out.

I think we're leaning towards the french, but haven't decided for certain. The schedule issues are only going to be there for a year - next year they'll likely both be in full-day programs. But then, John will have an extra year of french under his belt (Kindergarten is optional here, and french K isn't required to get into the immersion program - it's just a bonus.) Do you think it's a good idea in general? Does this scream "big mistake" to anyone out there?

awesome, awesome, AWESOME news!!!!!

We got a call this morning from Renfrew school- Joan's PUF Funding has been approved by the province, so she's officially "in" at our first choice program, in our first choice location! Woohoo!!! We're stopping in this afternoon to pick up the paperwork to make it all official. But what a load off my mind!

Constraint therapy is going well. So well, there was discussion of extending the session by another week. Part of me screamed "NOOOOOOO!!!!" when she said that. And thakfully, in the end they changed their minds. We're taking a break. It's hard on the family, and uses a lot of manpower on their end. But it does do things. It's getting her to pick up objects palms facing in, instead of with right palm turned out (try doing it yourself and see how far you get.) It's creating strength in her hand - she can actually pick up ad carry blocks in her right hand now, with lots of concentration. And it's starting to bleed into normal life The other day, she ate a cookie with two hands! And her hand was in the right C position! And last night at dinner, she asked for my knife. I put it on her tray. She then picked it up with hr right hand and rocked it back and forth over her food, pretending to cut it! She was so proud of herself! It doesn't sound like much, but Ive learned to revel in the baby steps, because that's how things progress with therapy - little bit by little bit.

for those interested, here's a link to Joan's new school, so you can check it out. There's no pictures of our location, but it's beautiful - and just a 3 minute drive away:
http://www.renfreweducation.org/

just checking in...

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Things have been a little nutty. Joan is in the middle of her first round of consraint therapy now - one week to go. It means spending every single morning at the children's hospital, which has been greulling for everyone.

Constraint therapy is when the good hand is bound up, so the affected one is forced to do...stuff. So far, it's going well. We haven't seen too much bleed over into normal life, though. She does it while she's there, but not at home. We think it's a psychological thing - she knows it's what's expected, and she has the mitt on. Here, it's just business as usual. But she actually really enjoys it, strangely. She likes the assistant doing the therapy a lot, and she has a student observing who Joan likes, too. She's such a goofball when she sees them!

Until this is over, all other therapy has been put on hold. Then after that, they've signed her up for a one-month strength and balance workshop with other kids. Her physio is excited about that - she thinks we'll see some good results from that.

They sliced her AFO ad put in a hinge, so now her ankle can bend. She was a lot more wobbly at first, but is getting stronger every day. The day we had it done, the orthotist warned me she'd be tippy - and sure enough, she went splat right on a concrete floor in the parkade. She was a little hurt, but OK. But now, she's so much more mobile! She can go so fast now, and bend in ways she never could before. It's great. Her gait is a lot more natural as well. Still limpy, but getting better every day. If only the top half was making such awesome progress.

I had a parent teacher interview for John. It was entertaining. His teacher adores him of course. She says he's very smart. I think her exact words were "he's scary smart". With him, they're working on the social end. Speaking out of turn, forgetting to use his words when he's upset. That kind of thing. The same things we see him do here. He interrupts us all the time - he just gets so excited about stuff he can't wait. And apparetly, when he's upset with a classmate, he just screams gibberish. He does that here with Joan. She doesn't have words yet, so fights between them are usually just a barbaric monosylabbic grunting and screaming match. Actually, she has one word for fights..."BAD!!!" So now it's often a back and forth that goes something like this: Joan: "Bad!" John: "I'm not bad. You're bad!" Joan: "BAD!!!" John: "YOU"RE BAD!!!!" Joan: "BAAAAAAD!!!!!!!" John: "BAAAAAAAAAD!" All together now: "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD BAAAAAAD BAD BAD BAD BAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!"

Good times.

Anyway, I'd better get moving for real. I've been up half the night courtesy of another never-ending teething session with Dave. How long can it take for a freaking tooth to pop! It feels like I've been watching those swollen bright red gums for weeks. Weeks of sleepless night. More good times.

So on the bright side, I get to see a rare sight - the sunrise. I hear it happens daily, or so the legend goes. I usually sleep through it. Mike gets up early, but only wakes me up a little bit before he heads out, because he knows I'm up in the night a lot. Today, the tables have turned! I'll be back soon - probably in a week, once this crazy schedule ends.

for your viewing pleasure...

Happy Mother's Day! To my mom in particular, but to all moms too.

In keeping with the holiday, I took some videos at John's Mother's Day concert at school on Friday. They're a bit dark and a bit wobbly, and I wished I had kept rolling between every song, because as you can see, that's when the real show was. What you miss between the videos is John running up to me, pointing to his nametag (from the hospital playroom, where he had been that morning - he always refuses to take them off for school) and announcing, so all could hear " Mom, look! It's me! your John!" and then scurrying back into position. And sadly, you missed my big welcome to the room. As soon as he saw me, he threw his arms out wide and pronounced "Surprise! Happy Mother's Day!" Afterwards, one of the moms came up to me and said "your son is such a wonderful performer!" He had actually announced a couple weeks ago "Mom, I would LOOOOOOOOVE to be an actor! I want to star in a movie!" When I asked him what kind of movie he'd like to make, he said "Watch, I'll show you" and proceeded to do a round of his wild ninja moves, followed by a stint as Wall-E. So, I guess a "Kung-fu Wall-E" kind of premise. The city offers acting classes for little kids here, but sadly, they fill up fast, and all were full when I checked. They get to dress up and put on little performances for the parents, which he would probably enjoy a lot. He tends to upstage...everybody. But he would have fun. Now I know where to find them. Hopefully this fall, I can snag him a spot.

It was a fun little party. They made us fruit salad and punch, and we got our presents. They made us handprint cards which were really cute. I also got a handmade card. Inside, he drew himself - a big smiley face. On the front he drew...Tarkus. I imagine the only people reading this who knows what that is are Bruce and Adrian. For the rest of you, Tarkus is a creature which is half tank, half armadillo, and is the subject of a 70's album by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. They wrote this horrific rock opera-esque thing about it, and in the album cover, give a pictoral life story for it, including its birth from a fiery volcano, all the battles with other half animal, half machine, freak creatures, its eventual defeat at the hands of a half monkey half scorpion thing, and its retreat into the sea, where it transforms into, naturally, Aquatarkus. Anyway, Mike has been able to dust off his old record player, and has this album. He showed it to John, and ever since, John has been obsessed. Move over Wall-E. It's pretty entertaining. The John version of Tarkus has infinite possibilities. When John helps me clean, he becomes Garbagetarkus - half tank, half armadillo, half broom and half trash compactor. He's 200 per cent of...something.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the videos, and I'm sorry they aren't of better quality. It was tough with the little camera, in such a crowded spot, with a toddler hanging off me. But it's definitely more entertaining than stills.

here's the youtube links - in case you have trouble here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lZvk3beObw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iPbnLpIEJw

interim Joan update...

Just a quicky. The neurology nurse called to invite me to join a focus group on pediatric stroke care in the hospital. While I had her on the phone, I told her about "the incident."

She told me to keep an eye out for a second instance - particularly if it happens during the day. But she thinks Joan actually had a night terror, because she was in a real fit right before. She said sometimes, kids hold their breath, or are too busy screaming to get enough air during a night terror episide, and it makes them go a little limp and/or twitchy. She thinks that's the most likely explanation.

So no need to worry! She's been fine since. Obviously, she's still at a risk - a 10 per cent chance isn't nothing - but she's likely still perfectly fine.

a wild night at the Walchuks

I could hear them horsing around in the night, but wasn't quite prepared to walk in on this in the morning. John says it's a rocketship. That's Joan's mattress across the top, by the way.


The final move is done, but it was rough on the kids. John got overexcited, and was getting on the movers' nerves. One of them threatened to kick his bag of "delicate toys". It make John cry. Mike was surprised I tipped him after that, but I didn't think I could tip the other two - who were awesome - and not do something for him. The guy's like 70, and a bit of a roughneck. I don't think he meant any harm - he has a gruff sense of humour, that didn't jive well with John. But he still worked hard. Anyway, that's done. now it's just a day of cleaning, then we're all done. We just drop the keys in the mailbox, and they'll call to say how much of our deposit we get back.

Not to alarm anyone, but I think Joan MAY have had a seizure a few days ago. It's really hard to tell. She had a bit of an episode, with her flopping around like a fish out of water, but it only lasted a couple seconds. Mike doesn't think it sounds like a seizure, but I mentioned it to the physio yesterday, and she agreed with me that it could have been, and advised that I call the neurologist to discuss it with him. He had given her a 10 per cent chance of developing them, and told me what to watch for. But I don't think they actually do anything if they start, other than moniter them. It hasn't happened again since. We told John what to look for as well, in case he sees something when I'm not in the room. I'll keep you posted, obviously. Hopefully, it was just a really big shiver or something.

Anyway, better go. A full day of fun, fun cleaning awaits!

this and that

I tried, and failed, to get a good picture of the kids playing during Saturday's hockey game. They had built a bed, and were all snuggled in. But the second the camera was seen, the whole living room erupted into a round of antics and "cheeeeeese!" Oh well.

Things are busy. we're finally finishing up the move. The junk guys came today - movers come tomorrow. we were going to take up our many offers of help from friends and family, but everyone has a different schedule, and we have heavy stuff left - like boxes of books and the chest freezer. One call, and I've got a couple guys coming with a truck - for not too much more than a truck rental would be in the first place. They come when I say, and I don't need to feel guilt for making them work, because they do this to pay their own bills - they sounded downright excited, to be honest. Someone's got to keep the economy churning, right?

Anyway, a couple more days, and it will all be over - thank goodness!

Kids are all great. Dave is over...whatever that was. He still has big red patches on his face, but the body rash and fever is gone. I assumed it was all a heat rash, but John's teacher sent home a note last week saying one student had fifth disease. we looked it up - it looks EXACTLY like what poor Dave had. Maybe it was that all along. But I think I'm going to take him in to the doc anyway, to have his skin looked at - he has really raw patches that just won't clear, and is due for a check-up anyway.

John's doing well. Going through a bit of a tantrumy phase, but not too bad. Sometimes, he gets it in his head that he runs the world, and we have to knock him back in his place. Gently. One day, we're driving to school or something, and he says to me "Did you know I'm in charge of you?" I was unaware I had been overthrown.

Joan is awesome. She's in a pretty tantrumy phase too. (hmmm...a pattern? Perhaps related to a certain chocolate spewing rabbit? Hmmm...something to ponder....)

Anyway, tantrums aside, she's doing well. She had her gross motor assessment - she's in the first percentile. That counts as severe. It means if there were only 100 kids in the world, she'd be the worst-off one. If there were only 1,000, she'd be somewhere in the bottom 10. It's awesome for funding, and not bad news - with intense therapy, she's expected to make great gains. And that's just what the team intends to do this summer, to get her into preschool in the best shape possible. Tomorrow morning, she's having a mitt made for constraint therapy! It's a removable cast thing that goes over her good arm, downgrading it to a helper hand, and starting in mid-May, we'll be in the hospital for 2-3 hours each day for intense constraint therapy with one of the aides. Should be very exciting. It's kind of an experiment for this hospital - they've neve actually used it before. But this OT is excited about the research, and wants to try it out on some kids. Joan made the list, because she's been using her affected arm the past couple months in ever increasing and exciting ways. Her OT hasn't heard this story yet, but at her last dancey class at the Y, they pulled out a game with pegs, and had a bunch of plastic rings to put on the pegs. Most of the kids were more interested in twirling about. But Joan decided to have a go at this game, and moved each ring, one by one, from one peg to another...all with her right hand exclusively. She COULD have used her left. But she wouldn't - she wanted to do it with her right, so that's what shew did. She did awesome. The first few rings didn't wind up anywhere near the receiving peg. She just kind of flopped them down, and they landed wherever. But the last two actually got on the peg! I wish someone who knew her had seen it. It was a private victory just between us, but it was a great moment. She came over to me for a big hug and a cheer afterwards.

She's got such a fiesty, stubborn streak in her. We turned in her walker just before we moved - she wasn't using it anymore. It had just become another toy for John, and we knew other kids could use it. So back it went. It got replaced with walking sticks. But she refused to use them. We tried everything - we got John to model them. We used them. We left them lying around, thinking maybe she'd secretly use them while no-one was looking, which is kind of her style. But nope - refused. She can walk now, and that's that - she won't use anything, even though she can go faster with help. And in the hospital, she even refuses to hold hands. It takes her about 10 minutes to walk from the parking lot to her therapist's office, but she won't accept any help for a single step of it. Not even holding hands. It's hilarious. And when she gets there, she has this look of "so there - told you I could do it!" smeared all over her face.

She walks everywhere now. She scoots pretty rarely. I can't actually remember the last time I saw her scoot across a room. She has a limp, but it's getting better every day. This house is great for her - she walks miles every day, there's so much room. She finally saw her orthopedic team a week or two ago. They refused to let the OT try botox - they feel she's too young (it usually begins around 4) and they want to see more strength in her hand first, because the injections weaken the hand, which would take her already very weak hand and make it useless for 3 months. But apart from that, they took an X-ray. So far, her hips are completely unaffected by the stroke, and both the surgeon and therapist who works with him think she's made fantastic progress, and walks very, very well.

I'm a little dissappointed they're limiting the OT, but I'm really really excited to see what constraint therapy can do.

In other news, a belated thank you toMike's Grandma - we actually just got your Easter parcel yesterday - the landlord took a while to get us our mail key (we have one of those community boxes). They both love the little music box, and our house is now decorated with giant balloons! Thanks for Mike's B-day present, too - that will come in handy. And a belated thanks to Mike's parents for thier easter parcel, too. It did arrive on time. The hoody fits Dave perfectly - so cute! The puppet has been a hit, too. And you can't go wrong with chocolate. Except when you try to eat it all so your kids can't. Happily, they're too young to notice it evaporating in the night. But it's not a great idea for it to evaporate into me - it doesn't evaporate at all...it pools in unsightly places.

Anyway, better go. Big day tomorrow - hospital in the morning, movers in the afternoon.

dave crawling!

He hasn't completely mastered it, but it sure gets him around! (By the way - he didn't eat it in the end.) And here's a link to the youtube version, for anyone having trouble here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQSEILRTAIg