Tuesday's Report

Yesterday we went to the zoo. It was S's first trip to the zoo. You're probably wondering why her first trip to the zoo wasn't until she was already 2 &1/2 years old. Well, the reason is that I just didn't think she would be at all interested in it. She did look at the animals when I pointed them out, but wasn't excited about them in any way. She pet the emu in the petting zoo, but wasn't interested in petting any of the other animals. I put her hand on the sweet baby deer, but she didn't really like that. We went inside the aviary and she was really interested in the birds. She tried to pet them and grab them. Her sisters were feeding them,so she got to see them really close up. When we were feeding the giraffes, she was a little scared of the giant giraffe head right next to her, but she had a little smile on her face, so I know she liked them even though she was a little scared of it. Someone was calling their child and yelled out, "Mike". She repeated right after the mom, calling out, "Miiiike!" The boy looked back at her wondering why she was calling him too. It was hilarious.

She has done 2 new things in the past couple of days. I was singing the head, shoulders, knees, and toes song and she started going through the motions. We've never done this song together, so I was surprised that she started doing it. She has done the itsy bitsy spider to herself before, as well as this little piggy, but she won't really point to body parts even though she knows where they are. We haven't had anymore talking in the car, but yesterday her sister started singing Twinkle Twinkle and she started singing after her. She didn't know all of the words, but had the tune right. I've heard her try to sing before, but only a little bit and it was quite some time ago.

Today, we went for a trial session at the early intervention center. It looks like we're in, so I'm really excited. The most wonderful part of it was that I couldn't tell who were the special needs kids and who weren't. They are grouped according to developmental age and not chronological age. There is a limit to the age range, but it was good to see the kids at a close developmental age. I'm proud of my little girl each and everyday, but today I was especially proud. She played nicely with the other children and did a lot of talking. She tried to take some toys from other children, but in a very innocent way. She wanted what they had, pure and simple. If they hung on tight, or in most cases ripped it away, she was fine with that. One child from another class gave her a big shove when she went near him. She thought a couple of girls needed some encouragement to go down the slide, so she gently put both hands on their back and said, "Push". I tried to explain that they didn't need her help to go down the slide! She had a big smile on her face and was so happy to see them go down the slide. I'm happy that she will learn how to interact with other kids her age. I don't think she'll be bothered by the rough kids. They had a texture board and she was all over it when they showed it to her. She was a little slow to warm up to the finger paint, but played in it after all. She also wiggled her little body to the music that was on. The best part of the day was when they had some pumpkin pie and whipped cream on a plate. She took the spoon and put it right to her mouth. Once it touched her lips, she wiped it off, but putting it to her mouth without hesitating was huge! I can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings. We left first thing in the morning today and she was put in bed for her nap as soon as we walked in, so no therapy today yet. I did a little bit of rapid movement through space today in the shopping cart. She was getting bored so I gave her a wild ride down the isles with some sharp turns. We were running a little late this morning taking her sisters to school, so I think she got a little bit of a sensory experience in the car with some bold traffic maneuvers.