Happy Thanksgiving to all! What a busy past couple of months it has been! We are all doing great!
Kaylyn continues to LOVE school. We are absolutely amazed by her everyday with all of the new things she is learning. She is reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" constantly. She has memorized the story so reads it over and over again. The first time we heard her read it was when G and G Mac, Auntie Carrie, and Madelyn surprised Cory with a visit. It brought tears to our eyes to actually see her doing it!! What a precious girl! She is also counting everything in sight. She does very well up to 10 and is very close to counting all the way to 20---she forgets 14, 15, and 16 most of the time but is getting better all the time. She is also talking non-stop! We have a communication board that goes back and forth from school home. It gives us the opportunity to share picture symbols or actual pictures from things that happen during the day. It is a great way to help us understand what she is talking about and carry on a conversation about it!!
It's been so long since the last update I am hoping that I don't forget something major!
The beginning of October was filled with visits from Cousins Zach, Jackson and Jake. We try to spend one evening a week playing with them. They have so much fun together!! Zach and Jackson like to spend the night on the weekend. When they come we usually play a game of UNO--Kaylyn included---and then watch a movie. We pump up the old air mattress and the kids jump and slide and roll each other up. Kaylyn also thinks that she needs to fit in with the boys so she refuses to wear her shirt as part of her pajamas since they don't. We've really been working on correcting that---especially Daddy!!
We also had a visit from Melissa and Josie, our good, good friends and neighbors in Makoti. The girls had so much fun together and played and played and played. They both rolled around on the floor crying when it was time to leave. It was so nice to visit with them! We sure miss them a lot!!
Kaylyn's best friend at school moved away---that has been a challenge to explain. She enjoys all of the kids in her classroom but this was a special friendship. We have her picture in her communication board with a car beside it so we end up talking about it every day!!
October was also busy with Todd and Abby's wedding in the cities. We had a surprise visit from Auntie Carrie and Madelyn--G and G Mac too. Auntie Carrie wanted to see the new house and spend a little extra time with Cory and Kaylyn. Madelyn and Kaylyn had so much fun playing together. With the park basically in our backyard the girls ventured over there to play and spent a lot of time in the backyard. They also had a chance to meet "Grandma Betty" and watch kaylyn get on the bus for school. I was nervous that kaylyn would not want to get on the bus when we were all watching but the minute she saw the yellow bus pull up, she strapped her backpack on and marched out the door. She was a little unsure about all the excitement as we all waved from the sidewalk as she pulled away--she looked like an annoyed teenager!!!
Kaylyn had her star debut as flowergirl in Todd and Abby's wedding. What a blast!! Abby's sister even fixed her hair! Kaylyn was a little unsure about walking down the aisle. She wanted to walk with Daddy but a few games of "Ring Around the Rosie" cured everything and she walked down like a trooper!! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and Kaylyn danced and danced and danced!! We ended up making an earlier exit than anticipated because Daddy's Football team made it to the 2nd round of playoffs. We drove back to Wahpeton that evening and then to St. John early the next morning. Kaylyn was so good in the car. We dropped Daddy off and stopped in Bottineau at Grammy and Gramp's house. All the cousins were there as well so Kaylyn got to play again with more cousins.
Halloween was an adventure! Kaylyn had a Halloween party at school and loved it! After school, I picked Kaylyn up from Ronda's and then went over to Ben and Renae's. We planned to meet Daddy at the mall and trick-or-treat there. Kaylyn refused to put on her costume. She DID NOT want to go out. Auntie Nae finally got Jake to put her costume on when he put his on--it backfired when kaylyn saw that Jake was a skeleton---too scary!! I finally got her out the door in her Kitty costume. We stopped at Hallmark to see Auntie Kelly and walked about a 1/4 of the way around the mall, with Kaylyn securely hooked to my neck. At that point we decided it was ridiculous when she wasn't even enjoying it---way too many people. We ate and then stopped at Ronda's house because she wanted to see Kaylyn's costume. We ended up trick-or-treating with them in their cul-de-sac and Kaylyn LOVED it!! She had so much fun running from house to house with Emma (her friend from daycare.) We had one last stop at Grandma Betty's for lots of pictures and lots of goodies!!! After returning home and evaluating the day we decided that Kaylyn did not like the crowds and scary costumes so good old fashioned neighborhood trick or treating is the plan for next year!
Last weekend brought a trip to Wahpeton again for Kaylyn's eye appointment. Before leaving town we had her IEP meeting at the school. It was so exciting to hear how well she is doing at school. She still has a long way to go but we have seen her growth in confidence, speaking, sharing, and I could go on and on. She is constantly singing songs she has learned at school and teaching Mommy the actions. We have made up a binder of her songs and signs she is learning at school to share at daycare because she wants all the kids to sing with her. Our trip to Minneapolis was long but sooooooo exciting! Kaylyn was able to use picture cards for the first time to express how much she is seeing. They measure her corrected acuity at 20/70 and he predicts it will get to be as good as 20/50 or maybe even 20/40. He explained that because she has worn her glasses so well for so long, her brain has been trained to use the vision she has to it's maximum capacity--surpassing what we ever thought she'd be able to see. He told us, "Kaylyn just might drive a car after all!!!!" What an awesome, awesome day!!!
Last week was busy as well. Kaylyn baked pumpkin pie at school and thought it was a wonderful experience. Tuesday night she helped me bake all the desserts I brought for Thanksgiving!! Grammy and Gramps got a chance to visit school on Tuesday as they picked Kaylyn up for her flu shot (not a very good grandparent job!!) They were able to meet her teachers and her classmates. I had to grill them about everything as I have never been to school during the school day and have yet to meet 1 of her classmates. They were very impressed and kaylyn was proud to have them there. They said she was acting very silly and bouncing around the room saying "Grandma and papa!!!" On Wednesday when Shannon (her vision specialist) visited the classroom, Kaylyn used her communication board to tell her all about the week. She talked about pies, Grammy and Gramp's visit and going grocery shopping with Mommy (Quite an adventure!!)
Thanksgiving was a wonderful day in Bottineau. Everyone in my family was home and we ate and played games and ate and played games---there was a huge football game in the backyard "The Turkey Bowl." Kaylyn and I went out to watch and it was a full-time job keeping her out of the middle of the game. She is ready to play with the big boys!!
Hope all is well with everyone!! Thanks for being a faithful follower---I have had a hard time keeping up with all that is going on!!! Send us a message to know that this site is being viewed!