Lila has been doing very well in her special needs pre-K class! She loves her teacher – and her biggest challenges at this point are a.) recess, and b.) lining up at the end of the day. We continue to work with her but she wants absolutely nothing to do with being outside at this point (the school can’t get her outside either). Luckily, they leave the door open and let her stay inside while the others go out and play on the playground.

School pictures are next week (same day as our family pictures, actually!). Her teacher is sending home a social story today so we can go over it at home, and they will be covering it in class this week as well. Picture Day involves both lining up and waiting, a schedule change, bright lights, lots of children, and an unfamiliar setting. I know they will do the best they can to make it as easy as humanly possible on both her and her classmates – fingers crossed!

Recent Developments & Random Fun Stuff:

• Lila Videos:

She loves sitting in my lap and watching videos of herself. Videos of her walking into school, taking a bath, dancing to the Bubble Guppies, vocal imitation, and getting her nails trimmed. You name it, she loves it. It’s become a great tool to aid in her therapy.

• Speech:

We’re seeing things pop up here and there. For example, the other evening around bed time I asked her “Are you ready to go to bed?”…. she just turned and said “yeah”. I couldn’t believe I had heard it so I asked again “So…. You’re ready to go to bed?”, she said “yeah”, grabbed her blanket and lifted her arms to be picked up. Absolutely incredible.

• Sensory:

She’s playing with Play Doh – she asks for it with a picture card every single day now!

• Leading us by the Hand:

She used to push us, now she is taking us by the hand to drag us from place to place, and she’s getting much better about making her exact wishes known. A couple of examples: She led me by the hand into the kitchen, then put my hand on a beaded necklace that was poking out of the bottom of her toy shopping cart. She led me to the fridge yesterday and looked up. I lifted her up and she grabbed a magnet off of the fridge. A couple of months ago each of those situations would have been her screaming in the general area of whatever it is she wanted.  Incredible to see the difference!

• Dinner Time:

Lila loves dinnertime now – she still eats “on the go”, but when Bill and I eat, she wants to come over, sit in my lap, and feed me. She also takes this opportunity to taste new foods as well! She actually put 2 curly fries in her mouth last night – then fed them to me but hey, that’s progress!

Along this same general wavelength, she loves to “feed” me items around the house. Play Doh, magnets, toys, trash, etc. LOL I either pretend to eat it, or put it in my mouth and say “yuck!”, then spit it out. She also thinks this is pretty flipping entertaining – I’m like the live-action version of the “Toca Kitchen” girl!

• Bath Time:

Bath time is still very structured and rigid. She hasn’t actually sat down in the bath tub in over 9 months. However – she is starting to relax just a bit and have fun even! We play with the stacking cups – I say “ready, set, and sometimes she says “go” then I list up the stacking cup and say “wheee!” as the water pours out of the holes in the bottom. She loves it, I’m so happy that she’s having some fun during bath time again!

• New Cards:

She has been using some of the new picture cards I made – “Counting Bears” (she can color sort like a champ now, and sometimes seems to be testing me to see if I know the difference!). She has been using the “Read Books”, “Play Doh”, “Color” (she likes to play with the crayons and move them from place to place), and “Cupcake Puzzle” (one of her play therapy puzzles) as well!

Funny Story:

One of my most dreaded moments is when Lila breaks something, then brings it to me to fix. I’m Mom… I’m supposed to be able to fix everything you know. Immediately. Or there will be a meltdown. I avoid these times at all costs. So recently right before bed, Lila tore the head off of a small plastic wiggly snake toy. She brought it to me, handed me the head, and looked at me all panic-stricken.

So…. (not my finest moment)….. but I totally pretended to eat it. I panicked! I wans’t sure what else to do, I couldn’t “fix” it! Well, her breathing immediately slowed and she was intrigued. She leaned in….. then she proceeded to try and feed me the REST of her snake 😉