Mick and Alli at preschool (long)

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share Mick and Alli's update

and preschool experiences.

First, they both are culturing their own little

bugs - Mick is currently on TOBI and Septra for

psuedomonas and Staph A. Alli is on Septra for

S. Maltophilia and Staph A. We got a letter in

the mail saying that Alli needs to wear a mask

when she comes into clinic because the S. Maltophilia

has a tendency to be antibiotic resistant. Ugh.

I hope we can keep it on her - it won't be easy

to keep a mask on a 3 year old - anyone have any

advice here? Super glue maybe? LOL

Their first day of preschool was Thursday and

went well. Friday's class was great, because I could

enjoy it more, since I didn't have to spend the

whole time with the school nurse going over

paperwork and procedures.

Mick and Alli were of course running rings around

the other child, who has Down's. It was sweet to

watch Alli interact with Marcus, the other student

in the class. She fed him Goldfish crackers, and

checked in on him once in a while. Mick was more into

doing his own thing, and was very interested in the

computer. The highlight was when the teacher pulled

out the parachute. Mick and Alli had the best time

running around under it as the teacher and aid waved

it over their heads, and let it drop around them.

The laughter was enchanting and infectious.

The preschool is an excellent one for the twins,

because it is a very small class - just two other

students besides Mick and Alli. Marcus, who I

mentioned before has Down's syndrome and Byron,

who has seizure disorder, but is more advanced.

Byron has been out sick with a cold. There are so

many positive things about this class, besides the

small class size. Since the other students are

also medically fragile, the parents are all very

careful about keeping their kids home when they are

sick, and everything is kept very clean. The teacher

makes sure all infection control guidelines are

met, and is willing to train for special needs, like

tube-feeding Alli and administering her enzymes.

Also, because the teacher, Cathy Riviera, has many

allergies, she is a stickler for keeping things clean

and not using powder or other substances that may

be bad for the lungs.

Although Mick and Alli are speech-delayed, their

cognitive abilities are very good, and they have

excellent gross and fine motor skills. This is a

huge blessing since they were born at 25.5 weeks

gestation and so it could have been much worse for

them (i.e. cerebral palsy and retinopathy of

prematurity to name just two common conditions

for micro-preemies).

Other than that we've been busy having our house

torn apart and put back together. Roof leaks forced

us to treat for mold in the dining room, so we had

to tear out the lathe and plaster, treat the wood

members with foul-smelling cleaning solutions and

then suffer through construction dust as they put

up new wallboard. Then, just before Christmas a

very large tree fell on the corner of our house, and

we had to have it removed. We're still waiting for

the damage to the stucco, roof shingles and drainpipe

to be repaired.

I hope everyone else's 2003 is going more smoothly and

stress-free than ours.

hugs,

C

Mommy to Mick and Alli, 3 yo twins wcf