Lambert Dillard Memorial Kids Fun Run

We had a crazy Saturday yesterday.  The boys did a 1-mile race, we did some letterboxing, Rylan had a soccer game, we cut the grass, and then carved pumpkins.  I'm still recovering today even though we had another pretty busy day.

The race that the boys did was part of the YMCA running series and was in Smyrna at Sharp Springs Park.  This one was called the Lambert Dillard Memorial.  Unfortunately this race wasn't run as well as the other Y races we've done.  We didn't do early packet pickup since it was in Smyrna (which is 30 minutes from our house) and they ran out of shirts for the kids.  I was told they would order more but that probably means I'll have to drive out there to get the shirts (if they actually do order them).  We'll see.  They also ran out of participation medals.  However, instead of having medals for this race, they were left over ones from the Y race in Maryland Farms that Carter did on July 4th.  They used left over medals from the last 2 years and eventually found a couple for the boys.  We got ones from two years ago so at least they look different than the one Carter already has.  I wrote the name of this race on them since it says the wrong race on the medal.  The race people thought this wasn't a big deal at all and kept saying, "They won't care".  They obviously don't know Carter!

Anyway, the boys still did awesome and had fun.  We had about 20 minutes to kill before the race so the boys got their picture taken at the Walgreens photo booth ...

and played on the winner blocks.

Pre-race photo ...

The YMCA Kid Runs tend to be about 1K.  However, this one was a full one mile.  I didn't know this beforehand.  One mile isn't a problem for Carter, but getting Rylan to run just 1K isn't easy.  Since the race was a little longer than normal, I made Brian run with Carter and I "ran" with Rylan (originally we had planned to let Carter go alone, Brian would run with Rylan, and I would watch).

Carter lined up right up front and sprinted out at the start of the race.

Rylan ran hard the first 100 yards or so and then took to mostly walking.

I convinced him to run here and there but he definitely wasn't trying to hard.  I kept trying to set him little goals like catching up to a kid or just running to a certain landmark.  It worked occasionally :)

Carter finished around 10:40.

Rylan was finally picking it up once we could see the finish banner.  But he slowed down to catch his breathe and somehow tripped over his own feet.  It wasn't a bad fall but he lost it then and started sobbing.  Brian left Carter at the finish line to cheer us in and helped me convince Rylan to run the last little bit.  He finished around 15:40.

Though neither boy tried their hardest to run fast yesterday, I'm still really proud of them for getting out there and having a good attitude!  You never know with Rylan :)  It's also a victory for him that he didn't even ask me to carry him until he fell!

And here are the boys' medals that they added to their crazy collection of medals and trophies.

Soccer Pictures

We decided not to purchase soccer pictures this year because we had soccer pictures, baseball pictures, and school pictures all in the same week.  If we bought the most basic package for all of these, we would have spent over $200.  So we decided the coaches plaques that Brian would get for coaching would have to do for this soccer season.

Here are the team pictures for both teams.  Rylan's team was sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods and Carter's team was sponsored by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America - they own and manage private prisons and detention centers!!!).

Back Row: Mac H, Bennett, Angelo, Jameson, Mac B, Jackson

Front Row: Robert, Radnor, Cooper, Rylan, Frank

Back Row: Jake, Cam, Calum, Carson, Edmond

Front Row: Carter, Ian, Cade, Campbell, Jack

Missing: Brett

Cheekwood Harvest

It was gorgeous here Friday so Missy and I took the kids to Cheekwood.  Missy had all three of her kiddos and I had just Rylan.  We definitely missed Carter and need to go back before the scarecrows are taken down!

Our first stop was the pumpkin patch.  It was in a different area this year but didn't require going down a dozen steps which was really difficult with a stroller in the past.  I got a few cute pictures of Rylan posing with the pumpkins ...

There were a few games and a fun plywood cutout in the pumpkin patch as well.

Next we went to check out the scarecrows.  Like last year, they were on one path instead of spread throughout Cheekwood.  I liked it much better when they were spread out because the kids got really excited each time they found one.  Now they just run through the small area so fast that they barely even see them.

I think the kids all loved the two Olaf scarecrows.

We didn't make a scarecrow this year (it's been a hectic fall) but I was planning on doing one next year.  I was planning on a Lego scarecrow.  It looks like someone also had that idea this year ...

After letting the kids run around at the end of the trail collecting some sort of nuts and having snacks, we headed toward the treehouse and trains.

Swinging under the treehouse ...

Rylan and Luke kept holding hands (not sure who initiated it) - it was really cute.

We stopped in another nice spot for a picture ...

Rylan always has to do some silly faces (I deleted most of them) ...

Before leaving, we went down to the ponds and got a few more pictures.

Hopefully we'll have a nice weekend after the baby is born and get back to Cheekwood for our Christmas card picture (we've taken it there the last few years).

36 Weeks, 6 Days Appointment

I had an appointment on Thursday.  Nothing much to report!  Up 2 pounds.  BP was 100/60.  Barely starting to dilate.  Still pregnant :)

Carter's First Report Card

Carter got his report card for the first quarter this week.  I also had his parent-teacher conference but I'll save that for another post.

Kids start getting letter grades in 3rd grade.  Before that they receive a number rating between 1 and 5 (5 being the best).  In kindergarten, 5's are not given.  According to Mrs. Colasso, a 3 is the rating that you want your child to receive.  A 3 means "the student has been introduced to the standard and is making expected progress toward mastery".  She will give some 4 ratings, but they require that the child never makes any mistakes in the area rated and has 100% mastered everything about the skill.

Here is Carter's report card (these are a lot longer and more specific than the ones I received at this age!). If something has not been tested or introduced yet, there is not a number in the 1st quarter box.  [Click on the pictures to get a zoomed in view.]

It's hard to see the highlighting, but Carter was tested on upper and lower case letter identification, letter sounds, a set of high frequency sight words, and color sight words.  He got 100% on everything.  Mrs. Colasso made it sound like it was rare to get everything - go Carter!

Carter is doing super and we very proud of him!!!

Rylan's IEP

Rylan's annual IEP (Individual Eduction Program) meeting was a couple of weeks ago. I met with Rholanda (his main speech therapist) and the new assistant principle at Crockett who only works with the Early Childhood Program and Walk-in Speech Services.

Not too much will change this year as Rylan will continue to been since twice a week for 30 minutes.  He has almost mastered final consonant deletion which was the main concept he worked on last year (for example, instead of saying "da", he says "dog").  This school year he has moved on to two concepts ... "s" blends in the initial position and "k" in the initial position.  Rylan is really struggling with the "s" blends but has generally mastered "k" when working on isolated words.  We've been trying to really work on the "s" blends at home everyday but Rylan is very frustrated with them so it's hard to get him to practice.

Here are the two main sections from the IEP report that explain Rylan's current progress and his goals for the year:

Present Levels of Performance - Speech/Articulation

Rylan's previous goals were elimination of final consonant deletion and cluster reduction.  He currently is able to produce final consonant sounds in words (even when mixed up) with 100% accuracy independently.  He's using final consonants during a structured activity in phrases/sentences with 90% accuracy.  He continues to work on generalizing this skill into conversation.  He's able to produce phonemes /n, s, f/ and sometimes /t/ in the final position of words in conversational speech.  His average is 60%.  Rylan had more difficulty with eliminating cluster reduction.  It took him a while to combine s-clusters in words.  He is able to produce /sp/ in words given a model with 60-70%, /st/ with 60-80%, /sn/ with 50-60%, and /sm/ with 50%.  He often substitutes sf/sm.  Other errors noted in his speech are velar fronting, gliding, occasional medial consonant deletion, and substitutions for /ch, l, r/ and voice and voiceless /th/.  Rylan is stimulable for /k/ in isolation, syllables, and initial position of words.

Measurable Annual Goals and Benchmarks

1. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate final consonant deletion in structured conversational speech as measured in 3 3-minute speech samples with 80% accuracy.

2. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate cluster reduction (s-clusters) in syllables and words with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

3. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate cluster reduction (s-clusters) in phrases/sentences with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

4. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate cluster reduction in structured conversational speech as measured in 3 3-minute speech samples with 80% accuracy.

5. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate velar fronting (produce k, g) in syllables and words with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

6. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate velar fronting in phrases/sentences in 80% accuracy  in 4/5 opportunities.

7. Given rapid repetition and practice, Rylan will eliminate velar fronting in structured conversational speech as measured in 3 3-minute speech samples with 80% accuracy.

Nursery

The playroom is officially a nursery!  We are basically done.  I still need to hem the curtains (right now they are hemmed with binder clips), change out a few pictures that are of Rylan and Carter (I'll probably put up pictures of the baby), and make the birth stats print that I have in the other boys' rooms (but I obviously will have to do that later).

We kept the futon in the room as well as some of the large toys - the train table and kitchen.

From the doorway ...

From the closet ...

The right wall:

The changing table / dresser was originally in Carter's room and then Rylan's.  The photos are the ones of the boys that I'll eventually replace.

The glider is the same one I used for the boys.  The lamp is from our family room.  I decided that I couldn't part with the photos I had hanging up in the playroom from our trip to Yosemite.  So that led to the outdoors theme for the room.  Since we were also keeping the futon which has a navy cover, I also added touches of navy to the room (like this navy and white throw I picked up from Target).

I also made (and copied) this cute saying on a cut of wood.

I added inexpensive curtains from IKEA and we pushed the train table under the window.

The sheer curtains have trees and birds on them.

The kitchen and another Yosemite photo:

The crib (and mobile) was again Carter's and then Rylan's.  I put two more of the Yosemite pictures above the crib.

I got navy and white crib sheets on clearance from Pottery Barns Kids:

And a navy and white crib skirt from Target:

The bookcase was also used for both boys.  I'm going to put the baby's birth stats in the empty frame above it.

The futon is unchanged and I got the two stars and canvas on clearance from Pottery Barn Kids.  The futon wood randomly matches the baby furniture really well.

The closet is completely full right now with bins of the boys' old clothes, boxes of diapers, baby toys that will eventually clutter the rest of the house, and our hanging dress-up costumes.

There are also some baby clothes and necessities in there!