Catching up!

That's literal and figurative!

We seem to be doing a lot of catching up around here.

Catching up with illness.

Yuck, THAT was a mess.  Nea had a nasty ear infection that took us awhile to get diagnosed.  Her behavior deteriorated over the course of a week or so, and I really didn't have anything to "pin" it to.  When I took her to her pediatrician, I simply said, "She's head banging more.  That's it.  That's all I got.  Something's wrong."  And to her credit (which is why I love our pediatrician), she gave her a thorough examination head to too and discovered a flaming ear that a prompt care doctor had missed a couple days before.  Very grateful to have been heard and listened to with such vague symptoms as those.  I know that's not always the case for some parents and they begin weeks and weeks of frustration.

Catching up with therapies.

Because she's been sick (and not treated for awhile), therapies have gone....well, not so well.   Lots of tears, lots of yelling and "NO!" and lots of frustration for everyone involved.  After 5 days of antibiotics her developmental therapist writes this today....

"Nea's focus and language were great today!  She was asking questions, answering questions and making choices.  She had great joint attention between activities. "

This is such an improvement from the previous phrases such as "stressed today, can't seem to focus"  Nea a also drew an actual face on her shamrock today.  This is a first for her, to be certain.  She drew a face with eyes and eyeballs, a nose, mouth and toes.  All of which she named as she drew them.   (Mom note: I can't find the toes.....)

Silly Shamrock (toes included)

I hope that speech and OT go just as well this week because she needs a few good sessions!

Catching up with peers.

We had a play date on Saturday.  Nea did very well, watched the other children closely, talked to them and even talked with me about them.  On Sunday we went to the playplace to burn off some energy.  She maneuvered around the play area like a pro. and did the "Mom check-in" often.  She would come over to where I was sitting and say, "Good job Mommy!  You're here!  You did it!"  She's pulling phrases together and trying them all on in situations to see how they work.  It makes me just grin at her as she tries to navigate the crazy social scene.

Learning about CandyLand

When we were shopping she was her usual chatterbox while sitting in the cart.  She uses a lot of her jargon language to talk about all the items on the shelves.  As I tried to squeeze past a couple standing in the aisle, she piped up and said, "Um...excuse me" They smiled big at her and said, "ohh of course, Lil' Miss"  (always so happy when adults converse with her)

"NO!"

The "arm-crossed No!" is the newest thing on the scene.  It's not too sass-filled yet (and quite frankly it's kinda cute) it's just a very emphatic "I really mean it when I use hand gestures" sort of thing.

Her IEP is this week!  Already!?  How is that possible?  Wasn't I just looking up what that meant last week?

And here we go....a jump into the unknown....