Little Sneak

One day last year, during the time when I was taking Kimmie to school, I was getting our coats out of the closet and Kimmie was wandering around looking at her toys, or so I thought.

We put our coats on, gathered her backpack and headed to the car. After we arrived at school and were walking to her classroom, Kimmie was messing with her pants pocket. She would stop walking and stick her hand in her pocket. I was trying to figure out what the problem was, why she kept stopping. Suddenly I realized that her pocket was bulging. Yep, while I was getting our coats, she was stuffing her pocket full of shoestrings! About the time I saw that she had a full pocket, she reached in and pulled them all out.

Her teacher was standing in the hall watching us. I took the shoestrings and was showing them to her and laughing. Now the dilema. Do I take them home with me and upset Kimmie? Do I give them back to her? Will that cause issues? The resolution. Her teacher took the shoestrings and kept them as a reward if she did her work. Kimmie seemed to be happy with that. Whew!

The shoestrings came home with her. The next day she had on a sweatshirt with a pocket in the front. The perfect place to store those shoestrings! Day three, she was done with the shoestrings. One of her little pandas went in her sweatshirt pocket and that panda is still going back and forth to school with her every day.

--Mom

Boss Lady

Almost every year we have a new bus driver and aide. I think once we had the same driver for two years in a row. (To put that in perspective, she's been riding a school bus for 17 years, since she was 3 years old.)

We like the driver and aide we have this year. The driver is a lady and the aide is a man.

Every day when Kimmie gets on the bus the aide greets her and calls her the "Boss Lady." We think that's so funny! It sure fits her! She's always wanting everything HER way!

She carries a panda bear back and forth between home and school. He tells me that almost every day she throws the panda on the floor. That probably happens when she is fussing about something because she always throws whatever is in her hands and then her glasses!

Last week, for some reason she was especially happy to see me when the bus rolled up. As a part of her excitement about being home, she had to hug someone. He was the closest person to her, so he received the hug. He was so thrilled he was dancing up the aisle chanting "she hugged me, she hugged me." He was so excited he hugged the bus driver!

I'm not sure who was more surprised, the aide when Kimmie hugged him or the bus driver when the aide hugged her.

--Mom

A New School Year

Today is day 14 of this school year, so we almost have three weeks under our belt.

We expected it would be a rather smooth transition. After all, this is the beginning of Kimmie's fourth year of high school, her fourth year with the same teacher and her third year with the same signing aide. Many of her classmates are probably the same.

Of course, she did have a new bus driver and bus aide to break in.

However, there was one little difference this year. Kimmie's sister, for the first time ever, leaves for school before Kimmie.

For some reason, seeing her sister leave each morning really upset Kimmie. Bethany tried sneaking out of the house, but Kimmie would look around and know that Bethany was "all gone" and still be upset. Kimmie would be "mad, mad, mad" getting on her bus. At school, she would remember, and fuss because Bethany was "all gone, school."

Kimmie is very attached to her sister, but we really weren't sure why she was so upset.

Did she not realize that Bethany went to school?
Was she worried that Bethany would not be home when she arrived home?
Did she think that Bethany was at home all day waiting for her bus to return?
Was she worried no one would be home when her bus returned?

We really don't know, but for the first 10 days of school she cried and was mad every morning when she climbed on her bus. She would bring it up at school and would fuss.

But, on Day 11, she was happy when she climbed on her bus, and she had a great day at school. She has been happy ever since and has had good days at school. Whew!

We only have a 4-day streak going, and it could snap at any moment, but we'll take it for now. The bus driver and bus aide seem to have relaxed this week, and they seem to be smiling more.

Kimmie's sister wonders, "What will Kimmie do when I go off to college?"

--Mom

Carrot Cake

At school each week Kimmie goes shopping with one of her teachers. They take her to the grocery store where Kimmie practices finding the items in the store and purchasing them through the self-scan or a regular check out lane.

Each week I send in a list of three or four items for Kimmie to shop for that week, along with money to make the purchase. Of course the list has to be non-perishable items that Kimmie can bring home on the bus, but I try to mix it up with a variety of stuff . . . canned goods, cookies, crackers, pretzels, pudding, paper towels, toothpaste, pasta, ketchup, soap, chapstick, cake mixes, brownie mixes . . . you get the idea. I try to keep them moving around the store.

A few weeks ago I put on the list a cake mix, whatever flavor Kimmie chose. We all expected her to come home with a chocolate cake since that tends to be her favorite. Much to our surprise she came home with a carrot cake mix.

A couple weeks later I baked the cake. We asked Kimmie if she wanted some carrot cake. She looked at me kinda weird and shook her head yes, but when I set it down in front of her she pushed it away and signed, "no, no." I guess it didn't look quite like what she expected. I let it go that night even though I was sure she'd like it if she tried it.

The next evening when we were eating more cake, we asked her again if she wanted some. She again said yes, until she saw it. BUT, we didn't let her off the hook.

Instead we kinda ganged up on her. Her Dad, her sister and I all started singing the "magic eating song." (See previous post.) Kimmie tried to resist, signing no and turning her head away, but by the second verse she couldn't resist any longer. She started signing the song with us, and then her mouth popped open. In went the carrot cake, and we all stopped singing to watch her reaction. As soon as the cake hit her tongue, her eyes lit up. We knew she'd like it once she tried it.

We didn't have to sing any more, and her piece of cake disappeared quickly.

She's so funny!

--Mom

The Panda Mask

Kimberly is in art right now at school. We weren't sure how this would go since she really cannot use sharp tools and is always sticking her fingers in everything. But, she actually seems to be doing well in art.

She is especially proud of the panda mask she made. Evidentally paper mache is right up her alley. Something she can get her hands in.

She carried the panda mask home the other day and showed it to everyone. Her teacher observed that it looked like something you'd buy in a store. Not sure I'd go that far, but it is really nicely done.

She likes to put it up over her face, although she can't see out since she wouldn't let them put holes in eyes. She carries it around the house, hugging on it. When she stops playing with it, we'll probably hang it in her room. It's definitely a keeper.

--Mom

What a Day!

What a day.

Took me an hour and ten minutes to drive to work. A drive that is normally 10-12 minutes. Hadn't even gotten my coat off when Kimmie's teacher called. Kimmie had picked her nose until it bled and bled and bled. She (Kimmie) was hysterical.

Fortunately Kimmie calmed down while I talked to her teacher, and I didn't have to go back out on the ice to get her.

And we have ended the day with another major nosebleed, right at bedtime. Hope we can get some sleep tonight.

--Mom

Transitions and Cooperation

Kimmie is not too good with transitions. Going back to school this past week after being off for three weeks was pretty bumpy.

By Thursday the word was that if her behavior improved, she would be taken grocery shopping on Thursday, but if not, the teachers would not take her shopping. I told Kimmie that I was putting Oreos and pudding on her shopping list, that she needed to be good so she could go shopping and buy her favorite foods. She had her best morning ever on Thursday! (Mornings not being her best time of day.) And she did get to go shopping. Shows you that she can pull herself together and cooperate when she WANTS to.

It all depends on the "want to." Kimmie's "want to" doesn't work too well!

Maybe tomorrow will be the start of a better week. We can always hope!

--Mom

Kimmie's "Book about Me"

The first week of school, Kimmie's homework was to complete a book about herself and then present it to the class. The pages were already started. "This is a picture of my house." "This is a picture of my family." "My favorite animal is__________." "My hobby is___________." Kimmie was to complete the pages by drawing or pasting pictures.

As is often the case, Kimmie's homework turns into Mom and Dad's homework. I hunted up and printed off several pictures to complete Kimmie's book and then wrote captions for each page. I sat down with Kimmie and we looked at the book together. She really liked it.

Her hobby is horseback riding. Her favorite animal is the Panda. Her favorite food is chocolate pudding and oreos. And her favorite movie is Aladdin.

After she took the book to school, her teacher asked if they could keep it at school for Kimmie to look at during free time.

Kimmie's favorite page seems to be "My favorite memory is _____________." For this page I put in a picture of Kimmie and her sister hugging Eeyore at Disney World. They were 6 and 9 at the time.

When we went to school on Open House night, Kimmie had to get her book and show us her favorite picture.

--Mom (Stay tuned for Part II)

School Dance

Kimmie has been having happy days at school. Yeah!

Yesterday at school she did a hula dance, her air guitar dance and she pretended to be a soldier (she likes to salute).

And she danced on the bus again.

What fun!

--Mom

School

School started this week.

Kimmie had a good first day. She even danced on the bus.

The second day she danced for them at school, but she threw her glasses on the bus. Little stinker.

Her sister's response to the first day of school, "School was awesome!"

--Mom

School Registration

I took Kimmie to school this week for registration. She received her schedule. We paid her class fees. Then she had her picture taken for her school ID.

It was a rather entertaining activity.

We had been telling her that we would be going, but she would repeatedly sign "No." I picked her up at home, loaded her in the car and off we went. When we arrived at school, she sat in the car signing "no, no, no" and refused to unfasten her seat belt or get out of the car. After I promised to take her back home afterwards, she calmed down and climbed out of the car.

When we entered the school she insisted on clutching my arm, hiding her face, and then she giggled. She wanted to go in the office, but when she looked in there, whoever she wanted to see wasn't there so she finally walked on with me to the cafeteria, clutching my arm and half hiding.

When we entered the cafeteria there were tables around in a semi-circle with different letters of the alphabet on them. Two people, mostly women, sat behind each table. There weren't too many in there registering, so the folks behind the tables were mostly sitting, looking around, waiting.

They were mostly sitting there with ho-hum kind of faces, until we came along. As we walked across the cafeteria and they spotted Kimmie, one by one their faces lit up with a smile. I guess that's the effect Kimmie has on people. She makes them smile.

We took care of the paperwork and then went across the hall for the picture. We had to wait behind a couple other students. Kimmie was pretty good. She decided to pretend she was playing baseball and she assumed her batting stance, complete with "digging your foot into the dirt" motion. One of the women from the office was helping with the ID cards. I knew she was one of Kimmie's buddies so I asked Kimmie if she wanted to say "Hi" to her. No, Kimmie was too busy "batting." As we moved up in the line and were closer to the woman from the office, Kimmie spotted her and over she ran with her arms out. This lady was pretty smart. She jumped up and went around the table so she could get a good Kimmie hug. And it was a good one, a double hug. One around the waist and one around the neck, with a really good squeeze.

Registration was actually kinda fun, watching everyone's reaction to Kimmie.

--Mom

Tantrums and Sweet Moments

Kimmie's teacher is currently on maternity leave, so Kimmie has a new, long-term substitute teacher. Amazingly enough, the first couple of weeks Kimmie was really good. She came home almost every day with a note that said "Great day." We were like, "WOW!"

It didn't last, though. By the third week the tantrums and grumpies had set in. I offered suggestions to the new teacher and apologized for Kimmie being so much trouble. Her new teacher responded with this comment:

". . . She is a very sweet girl and for every tantrum she throws she has just as many sweet moments. She does a good job balancing them out."

I love the way she describes Kimmie. We always think of Kimmie as being sweet, but sometimes I wonder why when she can be so grumpy and throw hugh tantrums. This new teacher described Kimmie perfectly. It's the sweet moments that we remember.

She's our sweet little Kimmie girl.

--Mom

Such a little stinker

I had a meeting with Kimmie's teacher and speech therapist this week. Her teacher was telling me a Kimmie story that I just have to share. She is such a little stinker.

In our schools there is a lot of testing that the state requires in an attempt to gauge how well the schools are doing at teaching the kids. They even require the special education students to be tested and graded. Kimmie's teacher gave her a series of these tests recently. The teacher would read the question to Kimmie and Kimmie would choose her multiple choice answer. When taking the first couple of tests Kimmie picked a multiple choice letter, like"b" or "c", and she put this as her answer for every question.

When Kimmie's teacher was giving her the next test, she said to Kimmie something like, "You know that the answer to every question is not going to be "c", so lets mix up the answers this time."

According to Kimmie's teacher, Kimmie guessed and did mix up her answers. When the test was graded, Kimmie scored 100%.

I have shared this story with the rest of the family and we have to wonder if she guessed or if she knew the correct answers. It seems improbable that she could answer all the questions correctly guessing. We know that she has an exceptional memory and receptively knows and understands a great deal. Her disabilities are mostly in expressive areas like communication, cooperation and behavior.

I don't know what the test was about, but I tend to think she knew the correct answers.

She is such a little stinker, and oh, so smart.

--Mom

Mornings

Poor Kimmie. She is not a morning person, never has been.

This year her bus comes at 6:10 each morning. We try to let her sleep as long as possible, so we get her up about 5:45-5:50.

She's hustled out of bed while her breakfast is heating in the microwave. Her clothes are already laid out. She staggers around with her hair in her face and her eyes more closed than open. Brown Bear securely clutched in the crook of her arm.

She is quickly stuffed in her clothes. Breakfast is shoveled hurriedly into her mouth. Hair brushed. Teeth brushed. Glasses washed and on. Coat.

Then she boards her bus. I'm not always sure she is fully awake when she gets on the bus, and we think she often goes back to sleep on the bus.

No wonder she's grouchy in the mornings.

--Mom

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

When Kimmie was three and four-years old, she attended a preschool program at our local elementary school. This was a preschool program that was open to any three or four-year old. The school district would also place developmentally delayed children in the class along with extra aides. Kimmie was one of those developmentally delayed children.

The first year, when Kimmie was three, she went just in the morning. The second year, at the teacher's recommendation, she went all day. Going all day gave Kimmie the opportunity for more social interaction with the other children.

Nap-time, however, was a bit of a problem. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kimmie didn't sleep. She didn't take naps. It became a challenge for the teacher and signing aide to find ways to keep Kimmie occupied during nap-time.

One of the activities that they would sometimes do was review Kimmie's sign vocabulary. We kept a list of all the signs that Kimmie had learned to date. The aide would say the word and Kimmie would show her the sign. This was done to make sure Kimmie didn't lose any of her signing vocabulary.

One day Kimmie and the aide were sitting on Kimmie's nap mat reviewing the list of words/signs. On the next mat was a little girl who's family was of a religious group that did not allow for participation in holiday events or any reference to religious matters. Since this little girl was laying there listening and watching Kimmie and the aide, as the aide went down the list saying each word, she skipped over all the religious words like God, Jesus, Lord, Bible, pray, etc. The aide spoke each word and Kimmie responded with the sign.

After they had gone through the entire list of words, the aide looked at Kimmie. Kimmie looked at the aide and started signing. Very deliberately, without any prompting, she signed each of the words that the aide had skipped: God, Jesus, Lord, Bible, pray, Christ, church, amen . . . The aide, who was a young Christian lady, wasn't sure what to do at that point. Without saying a word she started signing "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

When the aide finished signing the song, Kimmie launched herself into the aide's lap, wrapped her arms around the aide's neck and gave her an enormous hug--as if to say, "You know my Jesus, too!"

"Jesus loves me, this I know."

--Mom

Signing

When Kimmie was about 18 months old, the doctors were unsure about how well she could hear. She did not respond consistently to sounds or to her name being called. I took Kimmie for an auditory brainstem response test. According to the results of this test Kimmie had a significant hearing loss, not profound, but moderate to severe hearing loss. I'm not sure the results were accurate. Following this test Kimmie was fitted with hearing aids and we began signing with her.

We had already begun to learn sign with some friends who have a deaf daughter. After Kimmie's test results, we began working more directly with her and she began to use sign. When Kimmie was 3 years old and in preschool, her teacher recognized that sign was Kimmie's natural means of communicating. The teacher made a point of hiring for the next year an assistant with signing skills. She also directed us to have placed on Kimmie's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) the instruction that Kimmie required a signing assistant. Since Kimmie was 4 years old she has had a signing assistant with her at school.

Kimmie signs in sentences now, maybe not always complete sentences, but she strings the words together. We can fill in the articles and prepositions that she leaves out to make the sentence complete. Kimmie can spell almost every word that she can sign, or at least string enough of the correct letters together that we can sound out and decipher what she means. Sometimes it gets challenging as we try to remember all the letters and sound them out in our heads.

She is a smart little girl with a fabulous memory.

--Mom