Esme School Update

Esme continues to enjoy school and will be embarking on a new aspect of it.  We have has some concerns about her speech for a while.  We tried to get her evaluated with our district's early childhood program just before things shutdown in the spring, but she was not very cooperative.  In discussions, we determined that it could probably wait until she started preschool in the fall.  Sure enough, just a couple weeks in to this year I received a call from her teacher to discuss her speech.  She had gained a lot of new words and other skills in the 6 months since she was last seen, but there were still obvious concerns about her articulation.  We scheduled another evaluation and crossed our fingers for a better appointment.

She did amazing!  We got through all of the exercises she needed to complete. She took a couple of play breaks, but observations can be made in those as well.  Then it was time to wait for the official report.  We were initially told that her comprehension seemed good, but the articulation needed work. Then we waited for the final report.

About a week later we were informed she did indeed qualify for speech under articulation.  We set up an initial IEP meeting (virtual) and I was able to meet the speech pathologist she would be working with.  They had their first virtual meeting today and it went pretty well.  I am excited to see how her speech evolves.  There are a couple videos below that you can watch to hear some of the pronunciation errors she is making.

October Snow

We got some snow flurries last week, which isn't uncommon for October.  What followed this week is not.  Initial forecasts expected 2-5" total. The snow started about Noon yesterday and we had 3" at 2:00, 5" at 3:30, and finished up with 7" total by the time it stopped.  Parker was looking outside and asking to play all afternoon.  We decided to embrace the snow and head out to the park to play.  This is our home park and we will be back again, so it's not going on our #journeyto100parks list yet.

Esme tried her best to navigate the playground, but boots and mittens make climbing a bit more precarious that usual.

I took Parker sledding a couple times last year, but this was Esme's first time.  The fresh thick powder was a little tricky at first and the orange sled we brought wasn't ideal, but we were able to make a path and get a couple longer runs.

Esme also had a great time making snow angels.  I asked her teacher if she had learned at school earlier in the day.  Other kids were making them, but not her.  A couple of Jimmy's aunts said that her great-grandma Arlene (from whom Esme gets her middle name) loved snow angles, so maybe she is looking down nudging her in the right direction.

It will take at least a couple days to melt, but should be mostly gone by next week since we will be getting closer to normal temps.

Journey to 100 Parks #7 - Parkview Park - Robbinsdale, MN

We have our first guests on our journey.  We met up with our friends, the Gillespies, for a play date.  She suggested this park, which was already on our list to visit.  This is another one that was just updated this year.  Some of the work on the grounds was still in process as well.

Key Features

Sky wheels have been a favorite of Parker's for a while.  This one has a nice high ladder for him to stand on to spin it.

Russell loved playing with Esme and they were following each other around the whole time.

The structure to the lower right was curious to me, so I looked it up on Gametime's website.  It's called a Sensory Cove Climber. This is the first time I have seen something specifically for intellectual disabilities at a smaller city park.  It's a place for someone to rest and reset or observe others playing from a distance.  It can also be used as a climbing structure.

There were a couple older boys there and Parker was drawn to their skateboards.  We were trying to keep him away, but the boys didn't mind him playing with it.

It's been far too long since we've met up with Cindy, so it was nice to catch up.

This park gets 7 swings.  I liked the updated structure and the inclusion of sensory spaces.  This is also the first time I have seen the parent and child swing with a bucket seat for the child.  I really liked these when Esme was a baby, but it's great to have an option for bigger kids not able to swing independently.  It was on the smaller side, but we would definitely return!

Journey to 100 Parks #6 - St. Croix Park - Golden Valley, MN

We chose this park because it was close to our intended date night takeout spot.  We ended up not being able to get through on the phone to order, so we went elsewhere.  This is a quaint little compact playground near an apartment complex.  This appears to have newer equipment as well with a several unique features.

Key Features

The wheel at this park is called a ThunderRing.  It makes a rain sound as it turns.  The Shadowplay flower spins with a handle near the ground.  If it was earlier in the day, it would have shown colors on the ground through the tinted glass.

In the music pod, Parker enjoyed playing the ganza, a rattle type instrument. There was also an ashiko and djembe, which are types of drums.

Esme and I took turns on the spring rider as well.

This one gets 5 swings, mainly due to its size.  While taking good advantage of the small space, our kids typically like more room to move and it could easily get crowded on a nice day.  We would come back again if were in the area, but wouldn't go out of our way.

Journey to 100 Parks #5 - Swan Lake Park - Plymouth, MN

It's getting chillier this week, so we are bundled.  Once the snow (and darkness) comes, I am guessing we may have to decrease our outings to weekends only.  This is a cute park tucked away in a neighborhood in Plymouth.  We picked it because it it close to Target where we had an order to pick up.  I could immediately tell the equipment had been recently updated.  I recently started looking for manufacture names and most of them have been Game Time, so I've taken to searching for official names of some of the structures.

Key Features

This park had lots of spinning and swinging things again which Parker loved.

Esme is getting more adventurous with climbing and growing her skills.

Parker loves the seat spinner at our home park, but this one isn't tilted, so it didn't do it for him.  But, few things are better than a brand new wheel to spin.

This one gets a solid 8 swings as well.  The updated equipment offered a great variety of activities that everyone could enjoy.