Hannah had her T & A done - she did great. Yesterday was probably her best day since it was done - I cut back her painrelief as she was doing so well and it seemed to be ok. The twins had their first music lesson - I took Han and DH took Kit - because Kit is on book2 this year whereas han is repeating Book 1 - I can see why having had a look at Book 2 - it gets hard pretty quick. Hannah finds the fine motor and especially by the end of the course when there is playing with 2 hands very tricky so it should be good to give her another go at it. She did very well yesterday - but I'd expect that as it was really simple stuff that she mastered last year. I was pleased to see how much she remembered as we haven't looked at any of it for 2 months.
I took Hannah (or her father did) to pick up Kit from school each afternoon last week - it was fantastic to see a little girl (one I'd picked out on the first day as being gorgeous) come up to Hannah 'her friend' (!!!!) to say hello - unfortunately Hannah was often sore and sorry and just wanting to see Kit by then - but still I certainly didn't expect 'success' this early on - this little girl is clearly one of those 'mama bear' types just like I have been hoping for. Kit too has started asking when Hannah will be going back to school - he has been so strong and brave - cos I know he is still struggling to find his place with the other kids although he loves the classroom stuff.
I think I'll try her early next week when I am at the school in the morning training for the parent volunteers reading program. I have spoken to the staff about Hannah - I only cried once - felt like such a goose - otherwise I think it was ok. I have had a few teachers come up to me and say thanks - my main concern was that I'd come across as a crazy overprotective and demanding mother - when that wasn't my intention - I just think some information and background might help them. I did stress that I don't know about primary school, I aknowledged that many of them would already have some experiences of disability and perhaps DS specifically and finished with saying that one of the best resources was them - their professionalism and experience - I used aquote from the NSW DSA calendar - "When a child with down syndrome is born the most important thing that has happened is that a child has been born" and converted it to a 'new student starts kindergarten" type thing.
It sounds to me that the kindy teachers are going great with her - when talking with one she did comment that it was good for them to hear me talk about being firm with Hannah - and she gave an example where they'd done it - sounded great to me!! Another teacher told me of her interactions with a friend's sibling who has DS - she had regular contact growing up. Another commented on how she liked hearing about Hannah's EI. I gave the talk the afternoon after Hannah's surgery and that night in the shared hospital room (sigh) I barely slept a wink - earlier on in the afternoon a nurse had asked me if Hannah usually had a slow heartbeat (at 64) so when it was 50 !!! as she slept - plus I kept going over what I'd said at the staff meeting - trying to think what might have not worked and what I missed out and just how crazy I sounded... then I'd peer up to check Hannah and her heart monitor - needless to say I was exhausted when we finally got home the next day!
Yesterday she had her first music lesson of the year - she is repeating Book 1 - and she did great. That night we went to dinner at our friends house - they have just finished a fantastic reno - but I digress - we don't see these guys that often any more - they have 3 kids - one is a little older than the twins and started kindy this year too (in fact one of Hannah's friends from EI has started kindy at the same school). Anyways - it was great to see Hannah find the play room on the third floor and then she and their little girl - stayed up there playing so comfortably together for ages. Hannah wouldn't have done that 6 months ago - lovely progress.
Her heart must be really calm at the moment.
ReplyDeleteSo she has the mama bear type, and the girl from her EI as well.
Great quote from the calendar, and you can use it for all stages in Hannah's life, for example teenage and young adult years.
The music sounds fantastic.
There are lots of one hand courses especially designed for people like Paul Wittgehnstein who had dystonia (occupational hazard for musicians).
Hopefully they are giving Kit a lot of challenge as well. The gifted and talented need as much special education on the other end.