Friday, September 30, 2011

Student of the Month - September

Our little smarty pants came home with a letter a few days ago congratulating us on Rachel being Student of the Month in her class for the month of September!! She was very excited as she's been trying so hard to obtain it!

Here she is being congratulated by our principal, and then by her teacher. And here is an up close shot of our big girl. She was so excited to get a special pizza lunch today and all the goodies that come inside this folder!
Way to Go Rachel! We're Proud of You!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Update: Speech Therapy

Rachel has had speech therapy on a weekly basis since May 2010, with the exception of maybe four or five times we went two weeks between therapy, and those times were due to vacations, Rachel's surgery last November, as well as another time or two. But for the most part, it's been every week for the last 18 months!

We had a normal therapy session on September 14th. And at the end of that session, Dr. D'Antonio thought Rachel was making enough progress in her carrying over and conversational speech that we could stretch to two weeks.

Today marks two weeks since our last Speech Therapy session. At the end of our session today, Dr. D'Antonio thought Rachel had made remarkable progress in her carry over and conversational speech that she suggested we go three weeks in between sessions.

I must admit, I was a little nervous when she said that. We've spent far too much time, energy, and money(!!!) the last 18 months for all of Rachel's speech to go to the way side now. So as she left, we left it at three weeks for therapy, but if I noticed any backsliding or regressing all I had to do was contact her and we'd go two weeks.

So that is where we are with Rachel's speech. Exciting times. Nervous times. At this point, Rachel's next speech therapy session will be in 3 weeks!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tae Kwon Do Tournament

This evening, Steven and the girls had a Tae Kwon Do Tournament. And all did very well.
Here, Rachel performs her Green Belt Form.
She places 3rd in her division for Form!

Rachel also placed 3rd in sparring. She had a little bit of a panic in the midst of one of her sparring competitions. Her opponent had punched her in the nose! You know, the nose that had a nose job on last November?? The nose that is still pretty tender?? Yea, that nose. But after some tears were shed and after she was looked over by Mom and Dad, she went back into the ring accompanied by the support of clapping onlookers.She had already taken off all her gear by the time this picture was taken.

She did a great job and was VERY pleased with herself and her accomplishment!

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

2nd Grade Picture

Rachel
7 years old
2011-2012

Monday, September 05, 2011

Cementing Her "D"

We were really at a critical point with Rachel's speech, so we decided that despite it being her birthday, we were going to proceed with our normally scheduled Wednesday afternoon speech session.

Rachel has been having problems with making the "D" sound in her words, especially when they are in the middle of the word (DADDY) and when they are the final letter in a word (hard, card, etc). So for the few weeks leading up to speech on Wednesday, we've really been working on the sound of "D". Drilling it, reenforcing it in our everyday speech, etc.

This last Wednesday, after a little bit of drilling to see where she was, and how she was doing, it was determined that Rachel was ready to 'cement her "D" sound". She'd been hitting it about 90% of the time and it was was time to make it permanent. Thus the reason/need to cement it.Rachel was very proud of her accomplishment, as you can see by the expression in that last picture! It was a fun speech activity to do, even if it was her birthday! :)

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Birthday Celebrations!

Rachel's birthday fell smack dab in the middle of the week this year. So her birthday ended up being celebrated all week long!

Her celebration began on Sunday, when I took cupcakes to her Sunday School class. When you turn 7, you move up to the next class, so this was kinda like a 'send off' for her to the 'big kid class'. Her teacher brought balloons and a gift bag with some fun pencils and a notepad. Wednesday was Rachel's actual birthday. She was up and dressed and ready for school in no time, especially when it meant opening presents from Mommy and Daddy and a package that came in the mail from Great Grandma!When Hannah was in 1st grade, it became my tradition to bring the girls lunch on their birthday. Of course Rachel picked McDonalds. And that is what she got! Hannah scored as well, because it was minimum day schedule, her lunch was immediately following Rachel's, so she scored a couple double cheeseburgers as well. :) Rachel had speech following school, and her and Dr. D'Antonio did a special activity, which I'll blog about separately. But later that evening, we went to Applebees for dinner with Gramma and Papa, which is where Rachel picked to eat!

Friday night was the "official celebration event". LOL. It was small and intimate, just the family (grandparents, and cousins) and became even more intimate when Auntie fell sick, Uncle Robbie had a gig with his band, and Gramie couldn't make it down the local mountain pass and it was completely shut down due to an out of control wildfire. But Haylee and McKenzie were spending the night and having the cousins around always makes everything just fine. Rachel got a guitar from Gramma and Papa. And is already rocking out and creating some tunes!Rachel had a great week of birthday celebrating! She's one blessed kid!