
Happenings at the Greenland Home
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thankful

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
How lucky am I?
This morning it was "yellow" day at school. Addison had already gotten dressed and was downstairs coloring at the kitchen table when I realized I had forgotten it was yellow day. I told her I had forgotten about yellow day and we should go upstairs and change her clothes. Without missing a beat she informed me that she did not want to change her clothes and she would just wear the black shirt she had on (which was actually a navy floral dress) because "it already had stink on it". Eventually I talked her into changing her outfit and told her she could wear the dress tomorrow.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
22Q Awareness Walk
http://ramonamae.com/2009/slow-and-steady-a-walk-for-22q11-awareness/
Here's a link that tells about her little girl, Ramona.
http://ramonamae.com/the-begining-of-the-story/
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
What a fun, fun day with the kids! Paul had the day off for the 4th of July holiday and we decided to surprise the kids with a trip into Schaumburg to go to the Legoland Discovery Center and then lunch at Rainforest Cafe. After further discussion Thursday night, we decided that Paul would take the boys to Legoland and I would take the girls to Build-a-Bear at Woodfield and then we would meet for lunch at Rainforest Cafe. It can be very pricey to get into Legoland, but we discovered a great deal--it was Pirate weekend at Legoland! If your child dressed up like a pirate they got in for FREE! Woo Hoo! We did not have pirate garb on hand so Taylor drew a pirate shirt for Nicholas and we colored her eye patch black, put a bandana on his head and he was good to go!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
It's Been Awhile!
The kids are having a fun, busy summer so far. Last week, Taylor, Nicholas, and Addison went to vacation bible school. They all had a really good time. That was Addison's first time doing anything like that all on her own. Of course she had no trouble--she just went right in and found her group and joined right in. I wouldn't be surprised if she led the group next time. :)
Two weeks ago Taylor went to a "spirit squad" day camp. She had a great time doing cheers and making hair scruchies. In a few weeks she will go back to camp for "mad science." She's especially looking forward to that and two of her girlfriends will also be in that camp.
We've been going to the library and the park, running through the sprinkler, having playdates with friends, etc. Time is going by very quickly. I've been working on "school activites" with them also. Taylor gets her worksheets done before I can even get Addison and Nicholas settled. It's a struggle to get her to get her reading done though. She'd rather play Webkinz on the computer all day with Olivia.
Nicholas has improved a lot with his writing over the past couple of months. He has started karate at the Y and is really enjoying it. There's another Nicholas in his class with the same exact birthdate and year. Weird huh?!
Taylor had her first appointment with a vision therapist about a month ago. Taylor has "exercises" that she will be doing to improve the vision in her left eye. The hope is to get her vision in that eye to 20/40 which is legal for driving. When we get to that point she will no longer need her glasses for protection of her "good eye" and she will be fitted for a contact lense in the left eye. She was excited to hear this since she hates to wear her glasses. This keeps her motivated to do her exercises. Pretty simple stuff actually. She has glasses that have a red and a green lens (like 3D glasses) and she wears them while watching tv or playing on the computer and we put red and green cellophane over the screen. The point being, that if she is not using both of her eyes she won't be able to see the whole picture on the screen. She also has some tracing activites that she does while wearing the glasses. Again, if she's not using both of her eyes, she won't be able to see the picture in order to trace it. It's actually very fascinating stuff.
Taylor has since been back for a recheck and her vision has improved significantly. She went from 20/200 to 20/70 in a matter of three weeks! We will go back for another recheck the 3rd week of July.
We are very excited to learn that our insurance company has reviewed our appeal and reversed their decision about CHOP. They just finished reviewing all of Aron's medial records and met with their "team" to discuss who he should see while he is out there. He will have 14 different appointments while we are there. Now his file has moved to "complex scheduling" and when they figure everything out they will call us with the dates of when we will go. It looks like it will be late fall or early winter.
I am thrilled to report that since my last posting, Addison is completely potty trained. Once she decided she was ready, it was very easy. I was a little worried last week when she was at VBS because I wasn't with her to remind her and she was still pretty new at the whole potty business but she did remarkably well and did not have any accidents!
Aron is using his little muscles to stand from a squatting position without holding on to anything. His little thighs are going to be built up in no time the way he continues to squat and then get up over and over. Yesterday he even stayed stainding while I handed him his cup and drank from it. He's definiely getting stronger everyday.
It's also been wonderful to discover that he is understanding more and more of what we are telling him. The other day, I was calling him from the other room and he "called back" back to me saying maaamaaa. At first I wasn't sure I heard him right so I did it again and sure enough he kept calling me after I would call him.
Yesterday he was a little peeved at Paul for installing a lock on his favorite drawer in the kitchen. He loves to empty out the tupperware drawer which is harmless enough but when there is 50 pieces of tupperware and he does it 50 times a day, it can be a little exhausting---for me.
Last Wednesday Paul and I started volunteering for the Awana program at our church. I think it's going to be a very rewarding experience to work with the kids. It's a great family activity that we all participate in. We go at 5:30 and have dinner first and then we're off to shepherd the kids!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Another day, another pair of undewear...
Taylor's looking forward to a field trip tomorrow at Severson Dells. I'm glad to see we're supposed to have nice weather. Tomorrow night is her 2nd grade concert at Machesney Elementary which she is also looking forward to. She is definitely a very outgoing girl who loves lots of different activities and is not afraid to get right in there and join the fun. I love that about her and I hope that she will always be so confident. I will try to do my part to continue to encourage her and nuture that part of her.
This morning she was sitting with me watching the news and she saw Farrah Fawcett's name on the screen. She laughed that Farrah was a name. She informed me that Farrah was a hairstyle, not a name. Oh the things she's learning in 2nd grade!
Nicholas had a play date with Emma from down the street on Sunday. On Friday he came home from school and said, "Guess what mom? Emma had a pretty dress on today." He's a very complimentary young man. We walked down to get her for their playdate and he told her she better ride her bike down because he lived several miles down the street. On the way home after dropping her off, he asked when he could take her to breakfast. I suggested maybe she could come for hotdogs for lunch sometime and he thought that sounded ok.
Aron is finally well. No ear or sinus infections. He went for a recheck from the recheck on Friday and she gave him the all clear. It's about time. He had 20 straight days of ear drop antibiotics four times a day. That's 8o doses!
He and Nicholas are going on May 21st for tubes. Aron is having his right one replaced and Nicholas is getting them for the first time. Nicholas has fluid in both ears that's been there for a long time so this should take care of that and prevent further problems.
Now it's time for me to switch loads and get Addison into the bathroom!