Things have changed a lot since I started this blog almost 4 years ago.  The biggest one being we have had another child.  Josiah was born May 10th, 2010.  He is our little sweetheart, the easiest two year old ever.  Far from perfect, but so much fun and very obedient for 2.  Although I never mentioned it on here before we have been foster parents for 6 years now.  I don't talk about a lot of details on line because of confidentiality reasons but is a big part of our lives.  So the title "Changing Family" works very well for us.  This summer we are planning on doing a lot of relief for other foster parents so the size of our family has already changed twice and the summer break has just started.  I find my self forgetting how many kids I have sometimes.   We just had two extras for 2 days, which put us at six as we already have an extra little one living with us.  I have to say it was quite fun for two days having 6 kids, thankfully Paul was home the whole time.  We kept ourselves very busy, but the kids loved having other kids to play with.   Jodi Lin specially enjoys it when we take care of little girls as she gets tired of being the only one.   

Both kids enjoy going to school at Central Baptist Academy.  Many times we have considered homeschooling again, but it is so hard with extra kids coming and going.  Dominic does have some learning difficulties and I try to work with him more at home, specially during the summer.  If I ever feel the need I will take him out of school and homeschool him, but the school has been doing great at getting him the help he needs and he does amazing considering his struggles.  Check out his blog for more on our miracle boy and all his challenges he overcomes.  God has surely been watching over him.  We have just had a couple of assessments done on him and are still waiting for the letter from the one pediatrician.  He is currently diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech and a Communications Based Learning Disability.   He also has some handwritting and motor difficulties and some anxiety.  He does so well though and we are so proud of him.

Jodi Lin has some struggles as well.  She seems to suffer from some anxiety and problems focusing sometimes.  Although these problems are clearly there she does great in school.  She worries a lot about her friendships and people not liking her, but she has some really good friends at her school.  We sometimes have some big behaviours from her, like full out temper tantrums still.  I hesitate to say it because these are not often but can be extreme.  She is very impulsive and when she is in one of her moods she is hard to talk to or reason with at all.  She is a drama queen, sometimes this just drives me crazy, but at the same time her acting can be so cute.  Not in the middles of a tantrum, but when she is pretending to be all grown up.  She wants to be grown up so bad, yet she still has some really immature reactions to things.  She has a real fear of being alone, that we will leave her and not come back or that someone will steal her away.  We try to encourage her to be the best big sister and set an example.  She is a lot of help.  She started changing diapers over the christmas holidays and loves to be able to help.  She will feed the baby, get the little ones dressed, put on their shoes or just entertain them for me.   We really need to get her some regular routine chores, because she loves to help as long as it is not cleaning up her room, or any of the messes she has made. 

Josiah is doing amazing so far.  His speech is a little delayed but he is so much further ahead than Dominic at this age, that we are very grateful for every word he says.  He now has atleast 200 words, but does not use them often together and needs to be encouraged to talk sometimes.  He is very polite and says his Thank yous with out being asked at all most of the time.  He also is great at saying sorry.  I think it is so cute when he walks by you and bumps you by accident and apologizes.  "Oh, sowwy"  he says.  I just wish the big kids would apologize so automatically.  He responds very well to consequences and if you remind him of what the consequence will be, he normally quickly fixes his behaviour or does what you asked.  Often he doesn't even need the reminder.  He does seem to have a problem with change and a fear of the unknown.  He doesn't like to get new shoes or coats. He will cry and ask for the old one, you have to physically force him to get them on.  He has meltdowns when I change his sheets and can be picky about what he will wear.  We had to take him 4 times to the hairdressers to get his second haircut.  His first one was at a year and a half and he sat completely terrified but quiet the whole time.  The second, third and fourth times he just cried and refused to even sit on my lap to get it done.  Today we took him again and I just had him sit on my lap until he began to settle a little, then the hairdresser started cutting.   He continued to cry but sat pretty still and we made it through.  He smiled at himself in the mirror when he saw his new do.  We managed to get a good amount trimmed off, but he still has some curls.  Josiah is also the cuddliest kid ever. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he was my longest nurser (16 months), but he will sit and snuggle on my lap for like a half hour with his "taggie" and his thumb.  I love this time with him.  I truly wish he would "Never Grow Up" and that is the song I sing to him each night when I put him to bed. 

I wish I could type more about the extra little ones who come into our lives, but like I said I try not to put much online.  But each child who has come into our home has a special place in our hearts and we feel that we are parents to many.  The little one we have now is a real sweetheart and absolutely adorable. 

Thank you for checking up on our family, I will see if I can keep up on blogging a little.  I definetly have lots of little stories I can share.  

Goodbye for now!

Okay so maybe I need to change the name of this blog!

For those of you who are wondering I have decided to put Jodi Lin back in school. She was beginning to act very much like a two year old, but yet asking to go back to school. I was finding she really needed some time with kids her age. I was also finding that I had very little time to homeschool. I am very busy with Dominic's appointments. Some weeks are worse then others but it was getting very hard to find the time somedays. I felt like Jodi Lin needed sometime with older kids, but yet I didn't have to time to homeschool her and also take her places where she could socialize. I was very confused and spent sometime in prayer about it. I felt she needed to go back to school, but did not want to send her back to where she was. I didn't feel french immersion would work for Dominic and didn't want them to go to different schools. I really wanted a Christian education as well. So we looked into the Christian schools and she is now going to Central Baptist Academy.

She really enjoys it and I feel that it was definetly the best choice for both of our children. As Jodi Lin started coming home with work I realized that in most areas she was starting at school just where we left off for homeschooling. Considering I had not been looking at the Ontario curriculum at all....this was a miracle in itself. They actually are using one book that we used at home and they were right where we had left off. Jodi Lin comes home happy, but sometimes is touchy and emotional and I think that is because she is exhausted. She seems to be doing well in school although there are a few things we do need to catch her up on. I am still doing some work with her at home in the evenings and am working with Dominic at home. Dominic is very much ready for JK as long as his teacher will understand him. He is now writing his name....although he needs help with the order of the letters. He is a very smart boy and when recently lansdowne did and assessment on him for academic skills he came up six months ahead of his age, although he is more behind in other areas because of his communication skills. He loves to work in work books at home though and I am starting to do some Jolly Phonics stuff with him and hoping to teach him the letter sounds before he even starts school.

So there is still some schooling going on here, but I am so happy with our decision. I think that God had me take Jodi Lin home for some time....to get her caught up and to have some time with me. She was ready to go back though and it has been great.

As far as the diet goes, we are eating Gluten again. I am waiting for an appointment with a gastroentrologist (or however it is spelt). I am going to be tested for Celiac and in order to get a positive test result you do have to be eating Gluten. I will see how this test comes out and then I will see about a natropaths alergy testing for the kids and myself....specially if the test comes back negative. Anyway I will likely return to Gluten free but wanted to get this test done to be sure.

Anyway thanks for checking in on me and my family,

Jenaia

Pictures of School Room

I am just going to post a quick update with the pictures. I posted pictures of the school room, but we actually haven't been using it as much lately. I have been doing school with Jodi Lin when the little ones go down for a nap. I would like to try school with all the kids, but I think Jodi Lin does so much better when she is not distracted by the other kids. We may start doing part of our day downstairs and then the rest up hear when the kids are in bed. I don't want Dominic to miss out on getting some one on one as well. He hasn't really been doing any school at home as we are doing it when he is sleeping. One good thing is things seem to be a little less busy around here so hopefully we will get things back in a nice working schedule. The kids are so much better behaved when the day is well planned out.

Thanks for checking in, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Jenaia

Busy Days!

School has been difficult lately as we have been crazy busy. Jodi Lin is doing school work wherever we go and we are doing as much as we can on the days Dominic is in school. Jodi Lin has finished the kindergarten hooked on phonics and is working her way through grade one and still picking up on all of it quite quickly. Dominic is enjoying school, what a big boy he is getting to be. It is kinda sad to see my baby growing up so quickly. His speech is improving slowly but surely. He wants to talk just like any other kid...you can tell, but it is just not something that is coming easy for him at all. I am considering sending him to school when he starts JK as he will likely still need the social time, but I feel that I will very likely need to homeschool him on the days he is home. I truly hope I can find a way to send him to the christian school.

Anyway I have set nothing in stone, they may both go to school next year. We will just have to see how things turn out.

Thanks for checking in!

Jenaia

P.S. I am now down about 13 pounds.

Some Time With Just My Girl!

Dominic started at his preschool on Wednesday he is going from 9:15-11:30 on Wednesday and Friday. He cries when I tell him that we are going there, but goes in fine and really seems to enjoy himself. At this preschool they work on teaching the kids how to write their names and Dominic is learning. We have been working on tracing letters at home and trying some by him self too.....he does have good fine motor skills and is doing well with this. The teacher said she had to take him out of the car room (where the kids play with all the cars) because he kept smashing the cars. This is a sensory thing that he has done for along time and has always been a bit of a concern for me as he can't play cars well with other kids because they all get upset when he smashes their cars. I explained his issues, so hopefully she understands him a little, but obviously taking him out of the room is the best option. One cool thing is that his teacher had heart surgery when she was five, so Dominic and her have matching scars, not that she is showing hers off or anything.

Jodi Lin and I have had a great time with Dominic in school. We went to McDonalds on Wednesday where she had some breakfast and we did some school work and then she played in the play structure with me watching her and only her. I think she really enjoys having one on one with me and I enjoy having this with her too. McDonalds was quiet and she did well with her work, she finished much quicker then she does at home. On Friday I took her to the library. We found a nice quiet table and did some school work, she did really well again. We learned a little about counting money and she did great counting dimes and is beginning to understand what a penny, nickel and dime are and what they are worth. She pretty much learned all of this on Friday at the library. It was kind of neat to because about 20 feet away from us and older lady was teaching a middle age women how to read in english. So as Jodi Lin and I were doing her phonics you could hear the other lady going over her list of words. Sounded very similar to how Jodi Lin is learning. I was able to explain to Jodi Lin that sometimes adults need to learn how to read or sometimes they know one language but they want to learn how to read in English.

When we were finished in the workbooks, she found a computer and played some games while I looked for books, games and movies to borrow. I borrowed a ton again! I love our library, there are so many options. I got out some books on thanksgiving so we can learn a little about it before next weekend. We borrowed like 6 movies and 3 computer games for Jodi Lin and 2 for Dominic. They love the computer games and they are alway educational ones.

It is so nice to have Dominic in preschool and have some time with Jodi Lin. I really think that our relationship has gotten so much better since we have been homeschooling and that Dominic being gone a couple of mornings will only make it even better. Dominic is learning a lot too at home. He now knows all his letters (I think!). He doesn't say them all but he can normally point them out. Actually last week Jodi Lin for some wierd reason was pronoucing a W like a U and I told her "no that's not a U, what is it?" she kept insisting it was a U and Dominic looks over her shoulder and says "dubawoo". What a smart kid! He knows some of the sounds now too and is doing really well with trying to write the letters. Most of the time he seems to know his colours and is getting his shapes. He has just recently picked up on patterns as well.

Homeschooling is definetly working out well for me and my kids!

Thanks for checking in!

Jenaia

Oh I forgot....

I am also down 3 more pounds so I have now lost a total of 9 pounds!

The Beauty of Homeschooling

Last week was a very busy week....this week too! There are just so many appointments for some reason. We also had a very brief foster placement last week, which lost us a day of school. It is all good though, because we have lots of time to make it up. Jodi Lin is continuing to zoom through the kindergarten hooked on phonics and sometime in October will be starting the grade one. I am sure things will likely go a little slower after that as the kindergarten should be just review. She has now learned 3 memory verses and is starting on the fourth. Her handwritting looks very good for a grade one (I think). She does not space her words that well though. She always wants me to put my finger down to create her space. In math now she is learning fractions...just 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4. When she was working on addition and subtraction earlier I watched her use the abacus. If the number she needed was 7 she would leave 3 behind as opposed to counting out 7. I thought that was pretty cool, she was subtracting right there with out even knowing it. I don't think I am going to worry about the abacus much at all. She will just stop using it eventually as she gets better. We are starting to get into more detail with the clock and learning to read the minutes, I am sure this will take a little time. We are starting to learn about measuring. We started to day by measuring stuff around the house in centimeters tomorrow we will be weighing things. I am trying to bring a little bit of science into our weeks now. I have a book on science experiments and I want to spend sometime learning something about science.

I have still not figured out what is going on with Dominic and preschool. Hopefully this week we will get it all sorted out. The test Dominic had done turned out not to be what I had thought and was just a hearing test. His hearing is fine...although I already knew that. The man said he would look in to doing a brain stem test, but he didn't sound very promising. He said they don't normally do this test this young unless the hearing test comes up with something. They were also concerned about sedation and his heart...they weren't sure where they would have to do the test. I think it is all very annoying. I want them just to do it, so that I can know if auditory processing is his issue. The OT is coming here tomorrow during school time to watch him in his own environment. She says that she thinks we should go through the autism assessment although it may seem like he does not have it....he could be high on the spectrum. I don't know what I want to do about this. I feel quite strongly that Dominic does not have autism (and it is not denial). I just don't feel that he really fits into the spectrum, I think it is more sensory or at least auditory processing problems. Autism is the popular thing now....although I know it is way too common, I just feel like they want to assume it first of all and don't look enough into other disorders. I just want to make sure I know what is the best way to teach him. Anyway hopefully the diet will help with this a little. I am starting to think he has stopped his throwing. Dominic was throwing obsessively. I mean throwing random things across the room at random times with no reason....all day long. I haven't been noticing this so much lately and I am wondering if this is the diet, he doesn't seem to be empty things constantly either. I don't know though because he still can't seem to play by himself, still puts things in his mouth all the time and other sensory behaviours. Maybe the diet is helping some though. I can't really say I have noticed any differences in his speech though.

So it looks like we may have been contaminated quite a bit. I realized recently that rice milk can have gluten, it was really dumb for me not to check this out as it is something we have been drinking everyday. I was actually making Dominic drink his before he left the table and he didn't want to. We had been drinking Rice Dream and apparently it has a small amount of gluten in it, they admit it. I don't think it bothered us at all though. Last week I decided to purchase a different kind of rice milk as someone told me it was better tasting. I didn't even think to make sure it was gluten free, I was thinking more of a milk that was dairy free. Well last week I had bad cramps....as I wrote on my last update. I was also starting to feel tired more again. Dominic has had the runs for a week now. I am now assuming this is why. We have switched to soy milk and hopefully that will work much better. Already it is working better because Dominic actually likes it. Anyway we start again!

Okay I gotta go, as I was typing this update the people from child care services called and told me that Dominic will be going to a daycare on Clarence. Apparently they do Jolly phonics and handwriting without tears there. Sounds like a good one. We have to go sign some forms and figure out what we will be paying. Better get ready to go, we have to be there in a half hour.

Thanks for checking in....sorry for the long update!

Jenaia