Super Saturday

We had beautiful weather here yesterday which made our busy day even better.

We started with a birthday party at the always enchanting Highfield Discovery Garden where we got to celebrate with our friend A.  Happy fourth birthday, sweet girl!

Watching frogs and fish

My handsome boy enjoying the train display

After a refreshing family nap and cranio-sacral therapy for Rex and Ella, we headed to the zoo for member appreciation night.  We had so much fun with all the special activities the zoo was offering yesterday evening.

Emilia feeding the camel
with a little help from her daddy and big sis

Rex's turn

The kids loved the P&G Big Band

My Bulgarian girl never passes up the opportunity to dance with great joy:

We couldn't have asked for a nicer, more entertaining day.

Pictures Of The Day

I picked 25 pounds of strawberries in an hour today at our local U-Pick.

And I am not ashamed to say we had this for dinner:

Cincinnati Art Museum

The Cincinnati Art Museum recently started offering early hours on certain days for families who have members with developmental disabilities.  Today, we were able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity for the first time.  We were lucky enough to have Ms. Brooke in tow, so each child had one on one supervision and we could tailor the visit to different needs and preferences. Ella and I split off for our own explorations and we had such a great time.

There were play/sensory/learning stations throughout the exhibits and here's one that was of interest to Ella.  She created her own piece of art in front of the original.

While working on it, Ella started a rather informed conversation with the docent to which I listened in amazement.

Ella: Do you have any Alexander Calders here?
Docent: Yes, we have one mobile on the ceiling in front of the cafe.
Ella: Good, I want to go see that.
Docent: Did you know that Calder made...
Ella: ... a mobile every day?  Yes, I knew that.  Ms. Carroll taught us that.
Docent: And did you know that he wore...
Ella: ... a red shirt every day?  Sure, I know that.
Docent: Did you build a mobile at school?
Ella: Yes, we used wire.
Docent: Well, you will enjoy the mobile downstairs then.  It's called 20 Leaves and an Apple. It was originally at a hotel here in Cincinnati. (I looked it up later and it's fascinating to read about the Terrace Plaza Hotel.)

Our last stop at the museum was the Calder mobile.

Thank you, Cincinnati Art Museum, for giving our family the opportunity to experience your collection in a quiet, sensory-friendly, and inclusive manner.

Three Years

What a difference three years can make!  Our Armenian spitfire the day we met her on May 5, 2014 and today.

Neurological Re-Organization 3 Month Update

We had our first follow-up with Bette Lamont this week and she was quite impressed with the progress, particularly for Ella.  She did some of the same tests again that she used in January and the difference in Ella was evident.  For example, with her eyes covered, Ella was able to touch specific spots on her arms within one inch accuracy from where Bette had pointed.  In January, she was about three inches off.

Here's a list of all areas in which Bette noted progress:

1) Outline perception/horizontal eye movement
2) Perception of vital sensation, heat, cold, pain and hunger
3) Crawling in the prone prone position culminating in cross pattern crawling
4) Appreciation of gnostic sensation/proprioception

In addition, Craig and I have seen the following positive changes:

1) More physically affectionate
2) Less physically rough
3) Grade average has improved by a full grade
4) Better understanding of math concepts
5) Overt expression and processing of trauma

Ella graduated from her two floor patterns and has been assigned a new one, along with continuing to crawl/creep, receiving vestibular stimulation and vibrations on her joints.

Emilia's progress was less pronounced because she is scared of some of the activities included in the program and reluctant to participate.  Bette has recognized this about Emilia and reduced her assignments for the next period to what we believe is most crucial right now and will give us the best results.

Emilia has improved in these areas:

1) Outline perception/horizontal eye movement
2) Crawling in the prone prone position culminating in cross pattern crawling

Craig and I have noted progress in:

1) Academics (9 IEP goals met and most of them in the last quarter)
2) Self-help skills (dressing, shoes, hair care)
3) Behavior (less screaming)

Emilia will continue to receive vestibular stimulation and vibrations on her joints, both of which she loves, focus on crawling and creeping, and we'll be trying just one floor pattern.

So far so good.  We're keeping on.

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's teacher appreciation week at our kids' school and our PTO is... let's say... very enthusiastic about it. There are suggestions of what the children should do or bring for their teachers for every day of this week to make them feel special.  Given that I have three kids in the school and that 15 professionals work with them, we whittle it down to two of five things.

Yesterday, I was lucky to find a lot of clearance flowers at our grocery store for just $5.50 and make some lovely little bouquets for our kids' teachers, intervention specialists, and aides.

Each bouquet has a short note of thanks attached and Ella wrote her own.  She did a great job.

Thanks to all the wonderful educators who are part of Team Martini!

IAC Sessions 387-389 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 387 which was held on February 16, 2017:

1) Canadian dossier from May 2012 referred a female child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

2) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 7 months

3) French dossier from November 2015 referred a female child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from July 2016 referred triplets, male and female, ages 4 years and 4 months

5) US dossier from February 2017 referred a waiting child (#3332) with a profile on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 388 which was held on February 22, 2017:

1) Spanish dossier from June 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 10 months

2) Spanish dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 6 years and 8 months

3) Irish dossier from October 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from May 2012 referred a male child aged 7 years and 8 months

5) Italian dossier from February 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 7 years and 3 months & 4 years and 6 months

6) US dossier from June 2014 referred a female child aged 5 years and 2 months with features in health status

7) US dossier from August 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

8) US dossier from February 2017 referred waiting siblings (#2804 & #3140) with profiles on the MOJ site
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 389 which was held on February 28, 2017:

1) Spanish dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 3 years and 5 months

2) Spanish dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 3 years and 6 months

3) Spanish dossier from June 2012 referred a waiting child (#3372) with a profile on the MOJ site

4) Dutch dossier from July 2012 referred brothers aged 6 years and 8 months & 4 years

5) Italian dossier from November 2012 referred a female child aged 7 years and 2 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from October 2013 referred sisters aged 8 years and 3 months & 4 years and 6 months

7) Spanish dossier from December 2013 referred a male child aged 8 years and 3 months

8) US dossier from January 2016 referred a female child aged 11 years and 4 months