Labor Day, Flu Season, and More

Today is Labor Day! It also happens to be my Mom's birthday.. Happy Birthday Mom!! It's also the beginning of fall.  We are so sad to see our summer come to an end, but we have a lot to look forward to in the fall.  It is supposed to storm and shower in the desert today and we might actually see double digit temperatures later in the week.  This has been the 2nd hottest summer in Phoenix's history!

With cooler temperatures, comes cold and flu season.  Owen always likes to kick start the season with a cold and looking back on previous posts, it is definitely a tradition.  We have spent the entire weekend feeling icky.. shivers, stuffy, achy, and just plain tired.  I keep thinking we'll wake up tomorrow and we will all feel better.  As soon as that day comes, we'll all be getting our yearly Flu shots.  We usually stay pretty healthy in the winter so hopefully we will keep with that trend. 

Last week ended with a play date with Owen's speech therapists.  Owen and his good friend had "preschool time" with the three therapists and it was really fun!   I've been working at home with Owen on his basic preschool concepts.  We talk about the weather and draw pictures in a journal.  Then we practice writing his name and do little worksheets working on counting and letter sounds.  Owen is so smart and picks things up really quick.  He certainly has no learning delays, which is fantastic! 

Speaking of learning.. we had a meeting with the school district this week.  Owen qualifies for integrated preschool through the school system due to his speech articulation and gross motor skill delays.  The meeting was set up to determine what home bound services he can receive since the option to attend preschool is not an option right now.  It turned out to be nothing that we expected.  They won't offer an IEP (individualized education plan), but rather an ISP (service plan).  He already gets services through our private insurance.. Physical therapy, speech therapy and feeding therapy.. so he doesn't need services through the school system.  I asked about the preschool curriculum and also kindergarten prep and was a little taken back by their response.  "We don't have a curriculum."  They continued to tell me they don't offer a home bound education plan until the student is in 1st grade.  When I asked what they do in preschool, I was told they "Play".  That is great and I think you can learn  a lot through play, but I also think there should be some sort of lesson plan involved in an education setting.  Long story short.. we'll just continue doing what we do at home and definitely be moving into another school district  when Owen gets older.  Kamryn has been on a boundary exception to another district since 1st grade.. but I had hoped the school district would have improved since then.   At least we know. :)

Kamryn continues to rock at school!  She is loving her final year of elementary school and still shares every detail of her day with me.  I love chillin on the couch with her after school as she replays her entire day to me.  I hope that never changes!

Owen continues to potty train.  We bought big boy underwear and he had an "accident' pretty soon thereafter.  "Uh oh.. Mom.. I pooped on Nemo!  It's okay.. accidents happen!"  True.  They do.  It turns out he does better with diapers than in underwear.  I like to use underwear, then slip a pull up over it.   The idea is that he feels the wet against his skin in the underwear, but I don't have a ginormous mess on the carpet because the pull up catches it.  So far so good!  The last two days have been a little rough because he doesn't feel good, so it's easier to just lay in bed than to exert the energy to go to the bathroom.  We'll attack the potty training a little more aggressively when he feels better. 

One last bit of exciting news..

I got a call from Owen's wish Manager on Friday!  He is booking the trip in the next two weeks.  The actual Make A Wish portion of the trip is 7 days and we will stay at Give Kids the World!  I have heard some pretty amazing things about it!!  We have the option to extend our stay out of pocket.  We decided an extra 4 days would be more than enough and so I have been working on that portion of the trip.  It turns out that Disney has FREE dining the four days that we are extending so all the table service restaurants are selling out fast.  I created a very basic itinerary with LOTS of downtime for Owen, as we don't want to overdo it with him.  I am still searching for a great hotel deal, but I was able to make most of our dining reservations since we will be eating for free at Disney those four days!  If anyone has suggestions of restaurants, hotels or anything else Disneyworld related.. please do share! :)