Past Due

I will be honest - I needed this time to think, regroup, and really know where my thoughts were before I could write to you. It has been way to long since I have updated you on what's going on in life baby but as you will soon read, it has been hectic to say the least. I am not even sure where to begin - you continue to surprise me everyday. Your growth and development is shocking and I often times have to step back and realize you still need room to grow. That you still need to be allowed to be a 2 or 3 year old and that we cannot skip these milestones or you will always struggle socially and emotionally. This post will be a longer one but I will break it down to catch you up.


School
This has been the most time consuming and most stressful on Mommy for the past four weeks. You made strides everyday at preschool. Making more transitions on your own and developing friendships and relationships that helped push you forward. With this though, you are going through your terrible two's. You throw items, on occasion hit your friends, and throw tantrums over the small things. As much as the director said she wanted you stay and that were were constantly moving in the right direction, I could not continue to wonder when would be the day you crossed the line. When would be the day you screamed to loud or throw a toy at somebody and hurt them. For this reason I started to fight the public schools system to see what our placement options were. As I have always said, I would not place you in a self-contained classroom, at this time, because you have not had the opportunity yet in a less-restrictive environment. Additionally, you do so much incidental learning from your peers that we cannot recreate in a more structured environment. After ten hours of meetings we did make head way and Loudoun County schools and I have agreed upon an educational program for you. For this reason today was your last day at preschool - one of the hardest things I have had to do yet - and on Monday you will start Kindergarten. As I told many of the other parents if it was not for the last eight weeks at preschool you would not be ready. You have grown so much over these two months I know you will be okay in the new environment. You will definitely test your boundaries, throw your tantrums, and try to get others to do for you what you know you can, but I also know you will be pushed on a different level and that we had to do this. This will also offer mommy the opportunity for more support in the home which is vital right now. As hard as it was to give up all the friends you have made I can only hope we will keep some of those friendships and continue to see the children outside of school and that you will continue to make friends at your new school. Time will only tell and I pray that we are both ready for the roller coaster ride we are yet again getting ready to go on!

Therapy
Things are about to change. With starting the new school I will also be increasing your home therapy hours. I am trying to find the program balance that will meet all of your needs and not only overlap on skills but also assign certain skills to certain therapists. You will have Linda three days per week for two hours and her concentration will be social, emotional, and play. I am hoping we will have play dates every thursday afternoon and she will facilitate these. Then, you will continue to have Brittany on Wednesday afternoons and also have aquatic therapy on wednesdays (as long as you stop drinking the water), and then on Fridays you will have Teresa. Hopefully, in November I can add a therapist on the weekends for you but I LOVE having my weekend time with you. With school being four hours a day now and then therapy five days a week I am hoping we will find the balance we are looking for.

Stubborn
Oh, there are no words to describe your persistence and how stubborn you are. This is a quality that will carry you far in the future and one that I have no room to talk on as I tend to be this way too, but let me tell you, we are going to have quite a few battles before it is all said and done. One of our newest focuses is having you independently complete the potty routine (take off pants, go potty, put pants back on, and exit bathroom). You are not happy about this. You want someone standing in the bathroom with you and telling you what to do. For this reason I decided I was no longer going to tell you and just wait you out. That you know what you are supposed to do so I would just wait for you to do it. Umm.... needless to say, you are build to of steel. At 8:15 p.m I sent you up to go potty and you stood in front of the toilet, rocking back and forth, until MIDNIGHT!!!! Finally, after almost four hours and mommy staying completely silent and just checking in every few minutes, you went potty. Huge victory for both of us. Mommy for not getting angry at how long it took and yelling and you for letting down one of your small walls. But seriously baby, did it really need to take four hours because then we have to get up two hours early in the morning in order to allow you time to complete all of your routines.

Medication
We have had much success with the Clonidine patch. You were on Clonidine in pill form for awhile but the dosage with hard to judge and you had a lot of ups and downs since it did not build up in your system and we had to start from scratch every morning. So, about a month ago we switched you to Clonidine in the patch form and after you sleep for the first 12 hours we have so much more consistency and you are extremely happy. It still allows you to be who you are and talk and play and be active but it just takes the stress and tension out of your body. I have to tape the patch around your arm so you cannot pull it off but other then that we are excited with what we have seen and only hope for this to continue.

Mountain Weekend
We had a GREAT time with Dave and his family at his parents house in the mountains. It was wonderful to walk into an environment where even though everyone did not know what to expect from you (to include me) but to accept you for who you are, not question your behaviors, and have the patience for you to settle in and find your own at their house. I am starting to realize you are more typical then we all like to give you credit for. You love riding the tractor, playing with the dogs, and just relaxing around the house. Oh, and did I mention you ate as if no one had ever fed you before! You loved the home cooking to include eating four pancakes, two sausage links, and bacon one morning after you had already eaten oatmeal. Hmmm.. Maybe I should cook for you a little more but it just wouldn't taste the same!