Bertrand likes to show off his rolling, tracking and tummy time skills PLUS his open hands!
The subtitle for this post should read: Can Mama please take a nap? As Matthew mentioned in his last post (and as Bertrand's twitter followers know), October was quite busy for us. The month included but didn't limit itself to:
- Basement flooding
- House plumbing work
- Cleveland Clinic registration
- Hens' first eggs
- Matthew's travel
- Oktoberfest
- Nana & Grandma visit
- Vegas (parents-only) weekend
- Blog World Expo 2010
- Girls' Night Out with Niki & Erin
- Flu shots
- Wheelchair fitting
- Minivan shopping
- Disability parking placard
- Preschool visitation
- Nana & Papa's new UT house
- Aunt Sabrina's new UT job
- First snow
- Halloween
- And last, but not least, Bertrand's broken leg
There is a LOT of carryover into November from this list and quite a few new things being added. Therefore, even though I feel like I should backtrack a bit, plenty of these topics (in addition to more!) will get covered this month.
Bertrand and I will be sitting in on a Dancers with Disabilities class through the University of Utah Virginia Tanner Dance Program later this afternoon. But, weighing most on my mind are: tomorrow, seizures, and preschool. I'll cover tomorrow (surprise!) tomorrow and seizures on another (hopefully more eventful on that front?) day. For now, my main issue is preschool.
Bertrand turns 3 next month (ACK! I need to plan a birthday party, don't I?!). This is when he transitions out of Early Intervention and into the public school system through the means of a document called an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Normally, Bertrand would enter a special ed public preschool in January. Unfortunately, this is not a course I am satisfied with after completing visits to several preschool programs.
Matthew and I were under the impression that school should be a means of gaining new skills--or at the very least, preventing the loss of them. Without going into too much detail or naming names, we didn't feel at least one of the preschools would achieve this goal for Bertrand. We are currently looking into private and hybrid public-private options for Bertrand. Unfortunately, trail blazing takes time and effort! Meaning, we now have to go through all of the steps for all of the options for schooling instead of taking an established route for just one.
Bertrand's IEP evaluation is this Friday. I hope to have more details then about the public option then. And next week, the team at Bertrand's current, private "preschool" is evaluating him and scheduling a parent meeting some time afterward to discuss Bertrand's progress. They'll let us know what options they feel are available for him at that time.
Fingers crossed!
Actually established routes are already -blazed - but all look like a maze. (Sorry, truth sometimes hurts.)
ReplyDeleteLove seeing him alert and with his hands open. (Also, I much prefer the work provided by weight-bearing on elbows in prone; over wb on hands.)
Sympathetic to overwhelming busyness of your lives. Barbara
Everytime I see his picture I want to pinch those huge cheeks. He is too adorable!
ReplyDeleteOh lord - good luck with the maze. It's not easy, but Bertrand (and you) will be much happier for having made your way through it.
ReplyDeleteSo, what is this that's happening next April, exactly? :)
If you are physically coming to Cleveland and need any help locally, let me know.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful photo of Bertrand! Good luck with the preschool trailblazing. We're currently looking at options for transitioning Jade to school, and it's not easy trying to taking all the variables into consideration, that's for sure!
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