Hair Therapy

Actually two different topics hair and therapy.

First off I was excited to actually get Bella to lay on her stomach long enough for me to be able to french braid her hair. This picture was even taken after she had been rolling around on it. I'm sure it won't last the whole day because her hair is so very fine. But as long as it lasts it will help to keep it off her face, and keep it from becoming too ratty.

These other pictures are of her cup and bowl. Bella knows that food comes from the bowl, and her drinks come from the cup. I am going to print out these pictures and see if we can get her to pick one and then give her the corresponding food or drink from them. Hopefully we can then begin to get her to communicate her wants in some form. I am starting with food and drink, because I believe these are the two concepts she understands the best. And hopefully this can progress into other items as we go.

The Questions

I was doing some inspirational reading last night on blogs from families similar to ours who have children with special needs. One in particular was talking about the when questions. When was her son going to be able to feed himself? When was he going to be able to eat solid foods? She was glad that they had moved on from the will he to the when he, meaning they believed he would someday get there.

Bella makes progress but it is so very slow, so I must admit that I am stuck on the "will she" questions. Will Bella every be able to walk? Will she be able to eat solid foods? Will she be able to feed herself? Will she be able to sit unassisted. Will she be able to communicate with us? I'm hoping someday to make it to the "when" side of life.

When Nature Calls

Bella and I went shopping this morning, when we got home I saw a bunch of geese in the backyard.I quickly went in the house and grabbed the camera to take a picture. They were fine with me when I was in the driveway and using the zoom, but as I started walking towards them, they decided to head in the other direction.

I had a trick up my sleeve though, and went back inside to unleash the "hunters". Colby and Elle went barreling outside on the deck and at first were not paying much attention. Colby noticed them first and went flying down the stairs barking.

By the time I grabbed the camera again, Colby had chased them off and was back on the deck, still barking
Where was Elle? Well when you have to go, you have to go!!

Sorry Elle for the invasion of privacy.

Ground Hog Run

I meant to do this posting a long time ago, but Bella's preschool, Children's TLC is having a fundraiser next weekend. It's a 5k/10k run located all underground (at a balmy 70 degrees so you don't have to worry about what the weather is doing). Jesse and I are participating along with some friends. If anyone else is interested in joining the cause, or just making a donation the website is http://www.sportkc.org/sportkc.aspx?pgID=866&event_id=315

28th Annual Groundhog Run

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Groundhog Run, the agency’s largest and longest running annual fundraiser, was founded in 1982 by Van Cooper, a long-time volunteer and Board member. Since his death in 1991, a memorial trophy has been given in his name to the first place 10K team. A 5K event was added in 1998 and the first place team receives a memorial trophy honoring Martha Steadman, volunteer, friend and former Board member of Children's TLC.

Believed to be the biggest organized run in America which takes place completely underground, the Groundhog Run will take place at the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis. Hunt Midwest has partnered with Children’s TLC to hold the run since its inception, and the Subtropolis provides an ideal venue for competitive running in the cold Kansas City winter! The races are sanctioned by the Mid America Running Association.

How to Get Involved
You can become involved with the Groundhog Run in any of the following ways!

Register to Run – Individual runner registration fees are used to help directly supply much needed educational services and therapies to children at Children’s TLC. Registration is limited to the first 3,500 applications, so Register Now!

Be a FUNdraiser – You don’t have to register to run in the Groundhog Run to make a difference… You can be a FUNdraiser! Use this easy online tool to create your own Individual Fundraising website. Invite your family and friends to help you meet your personal FUNdraising goal. Whether $5, $15, or even $50, every dollar raised helps children win and the race of life! You will earn SPECIAL PRIZES by becoming a FUNdraiser, so sign up to today and start earning your way to the prizes below.

Raise $10 ...	Receive a pair of BLUE BIRD SHOELACES
Raise $50 ...	Receive a Groundhog Run TECH SHIRT
Raise $100 ...	Receive a $25 Gary Gribbles Gift Card
Raise $150 ...	Receive a $50 Gary Gribbles Gift Card
Raise $250 ...	Receive a $100 Gary Gribbles Gift Card
Raise $500 ...	Receive a $200 Gary Gribbles gift card + An invitation to the Awards Celebration

If you would like to volunteer at the 2010 Groundhog Run, contact Coeli at cbaker@childrenstlc.org

Brought to you by

Children's TLC

I have a talked a lot about Bella's new preschool, but I haven't really ever explained exactly what it is. So I have copied some information about the school, and if you are interested further feel free to check out their website http://www.childrenstlc.org/AboutCTLC_OurPhilosophy.html

Our Story - Children's TLC

Children's TLC began in 1947 as the Cerebral Palsy Nursery School. Its purpose was to prepare children of pre-school age for formal schooling. The Center was founded by a group of volunteers – Mary Shaw (Shawsie) Branton, Jane Dick and Jeanette Luhnow -- in response to a need identified by teachers who realized that age six or seven was too late to begin basic skills training. They were quite forward thinking. The importance of early intervention with children has since been well documented and accepted.

In 1956, the organization's name was changed to Crippled Children's Nursery School (CCNS) to reflect the acceptance of children with other major physical disabilities. CCNS became affiliated with Children’s Mercy Hospital in 1964 as a division of its department of pediatrics. Children's TLC has a long history of affiliation with Children's Mercy Hospital, but has always been a separate corporation. Responding to community needs, the program was expanded in 1975 to include children with hearing impairments. CCNS changed its name to Children's TLC (Therapeutic Learning Center) and expanded services to include early intervention with infants, toddlers and their families in 1991. In January of 1993, Children's TLC and Children's Mercy Hospital agreed that Children's TLC would assume independent programmatic and fiscal responsibility. Today, the two entities continue a close association that is beneficial to the children and families served.

In January 1999, following four years of planning, fund raising, building design and construction, Children's TLC, the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) and the YWCA moved into the state-of-the-art Children's Center Campus at 31st & Main. The partnership enables the agencies to share resources, promote interaction among children with and without disabilities, and provide a continuum of services to their families. In April 2000, the YMCA assumed responsibility for the YWCA’s operation in our facility.
Children’s TLC began providing services for the infants and toddlers of Wyandotte County in July, 2006, and opened an office on the Kansas side of the state line. Additional outreach programs include therapeutic service contracts with several area school districts, Operation Breakthrough, the Berkeley Preschool at UMKC and outpatient treatment options at our main campus.

For nearly sixty years the Kansas City community has supported Children's TLC through the guidance of a volunteer Board of Directors, a faithful corps of community volunteers, and the generosity of private contributors and public funds.

Our Philosophy

We believe that learning begins at birth and that all children deserve to be taught with kindness, respect and compassion.

We believe that children with and without disabilities are more alike than different and that emphasis should be placed on each child’s unique ABILITIES.

We believe that all children should receive appropriate educational and therapeutic services, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

We believe that the needs of the child’s family are equal to the child’s needs.

We believe in a trans-disciplinary, team approach for establishing and implementing each child’s treatment plan, which includes the family as an integral part of the team.

We believe in programming which incorporates each child’s strengths, as well as his/her challenges.

We believe in evidence-based educational and therapeutic programs with measurable goals and outcomes.

We believe in respecting each family’s cultural and linguistic differences and taking those differences into consideration when working with the child.

We believe parental and professional accountability are critical if a child is to achieve his or her maximum potential.

The project within a project

Project 1 for 2010 - Master Bedroom

We started to tackle our latest project during the Christmas holiday, which was our master bedroom. And we are still working on it. The most time consuming part of it was tackling my closet. Here are a few pictures of the closet project, which is now almost complete. Next we have to tackle Jesse's closet where we will be installing the same closet system we did in mine. Then we have a few more doors to paint and hang, and pictures to put up on the walls, and the room will be complete. I would expect to see pictures of the completed project sometime in February.Originally closet system made of white painted boards haphazardly put up on the walls, to include the old owners clothes. I believe the man of the house used this closet, which I, Kristen will now be using. We tore out this system the week we moved in so we could install new carpet.

And this beautiful wall is what we found under the closet system. This particular closet must have been two separate rooms that they combined, and they never bothered to finish the back wall and instead put a piece of particleboard in front of it. Which we didn't want up, so now we were left with trying to make the wall presentable and getting a nice smooth finish out of it.

Here is the same wall with our new closet system in front of it. Jesse did a great job with the wall, and together we tackled putting up the system. It only took us 2 days to install the closet, and only a few choice words were exchanged. Mostly due to the fact that even though the wall got smoothed out, it was so very uneven we probably should have torn the whole thing out and replaced it before trying to put a very unforgiving system in place. But it looks great now, just don't peak behind my clothes where you will see shims installed almost near 1" in thickness, it's our little secret.

Back to Preschool

Bella finally went back to preschool today after what seems like almost a month off. She was actually supposed to go back yesterday, but on Sunday evening she decided to be awake from 9:30 pm till after 3 am, and I didn't think she should be woken up to go to school, where she wouldn't want to do anything because she was exhausted. Of course Bella decided to wake up at 8am that morning, so I should have just awoken her, but at that point it was too late to get us all ready and get down there to get anything out of it before it was 11am and time to come back home.So today was the first day back. She was still a little tired, but slept better last night. The teachers reported that she fell asleep at 10:40 am during circle time, and they couldn't get her woke back up. I got her at 11am and she was wide awake and very vocal on the way home. But then for lunch she was almost falling asleep again. She is currently in her crib, and I would guess she isn't sleeping because that would be giving in, and Bella doesn't give in to sleep during the day, unless of course she is supposed to be doing something else.

I started volunteering at her preschool this morning. I had orientation and then was placed in a classroom. I won't be helping out in Bella's classroom, unless they absolutely need someone. I believe I will be more of a floater and can help out where ever they need me.

Mom had no idea

Bella got this toy last year for Christmas, and we have set her under it for the past year now. She will occasionally play with it and bat at it, but all of the sudden today, she decided it was great. I placed her under it as normal, and she scooted herself around. I figured she was actually trying to get out from under it because she didn't want to play with it. But then she got to the right position for her, and started making noises like mad and hitting all the keys like a crazy person, just having a great time. So I guess I didn't realize I hadn't been putting it at her optimum position, and now that she can move more, she has figured out how to do it for herself. Oh and the one sock off, it's just how she rolls!