May 1, 2009

We're getting a huge expansion in vocabulary and words used everyday. The word combinations are increasing also. Yesterday, S was climbing on her swingset/play set, and she climbed to the top of one part of it. As she was getting to the top, I heard her say something I didn't understand. She repeated it several times and I figured out she was saying, "Big girl". She knows when she accomplishes something she hasn't before, we say she's a big girl. When one of her sisters is out of sight, she asks, "Where is she?" I thought this was sort of a learned repetition, but when 2 sisters left, she asked, "Where are they?" She continues to surprise me with things she has learned a long time ago but takes a while to express it to me. I had a Disney shirt with many of the Disney characters and scenes on it and she pointed to the teacup and said, "Spin" It's been a while since we've been to Disney, and she's only been on that ride once or twice. I didn't even think she enjoyed it, but she obviously remembered it. It's just so darned exciting to see her unfold. Everyday is a new surprise. She is saying, "Mommy" with a whole lot more enthusiasm, and even says it very endearingly. I got a big hug the other day where she gave me a huge squeeze. I've gotten hugs before, usually with a running start and slamming into me, but this was from a standing position and then a big squeeze. At school the other day, I told her I was leaving the room for a minute and that I'd be right back. I've done this before and she lets me leave without even watching me go. This day was different. She turned away from what she was doing and looked up at me and watched me leave. Her teacher told her I'd be right back and she still looked toward the door. The teacher turned her head away and distracted her. This was a big moment for her and I. She showed me that she cared that I left. Ever since she first came home, she would always be looking at me when I wasn't looking at her. She very secretly keeps her eye on me without me knowing. When she's at school, she glances over to make sure I'm there. She has no problem clinging to me when she is scared, so it's not like she's to proud to cling to me. All of the classrooms have one way glass so you can spy on the kids from the outside. I waited to go in to see what she was doing. They put some music on and she was dancing around the room. It was so nice to see her having so much fun. She has just started to move to music since we started the program. She really let loose this day, and she was actually dancing. At school, she did another really mature thing. She had 2 bowls she was playing with. A little girl started carrying one of them away. S took the pther bowl and started following her, spouting off a string of words I didn't understand. It looked and sounded like she was pleading with the girl to give it back. When the girl took off faster with it, she just said, "Okay, bye bye." I can tell you from being in that classroom with her everyday, if it were one of the other kids, they would have just grabbed it back from them.

She is catching up at a rapid pace and I'm so excited for her. Our last hurdle is getting her to eat, that will come. I'm just so happy with her progress, and it's so nice that I don't feel the need to get her to do anything before she's ready. Most of what she needs to know is in there already, she just isn't ready to let it out. The teacher that comes to the house once every other week thinks she can't do a lot of things because she can't get S to do them for her. She matches colors at school every time, yet she won't do it for anyone else. Now I know why some people try to mainstream their kids in regular schools. The special needs schools and providers seem to concentrate on what the kids can't do as opposed to what they can do. I thought we'd gotten further than that by now. I do have to say, our OT is S's cheerleader, always being positive and never expecting her not to do something. He always likes to be pleasantly surprised whe she does something he's challenged her with. She may be cautious, but she's also curious. Today she was stringing beads and then she realized by holding the bead and pulling the string, she'd made a pulley. She kept pulling it up and letting it down to see how it worked. She loves to see how things work, she turns all of her toys over and around to see how they work. If she can find an alternate way to make a toy do the same thing, she'll do it that way for a challenge. She's always been that way. Only 2 weeks until her re-eval, can't wait to see how she's doing.