Sunday, March 08, 2009

lightning, assessments, and Aubrey Jo

I started this earlier, but lightning crashed outside, causing Lucifer the Cat to jump from outside on the deck, to inside on the couch in one flying leap....and then the rains came. Hard rains, knocking out satellite computer and Oswald on television (OHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO) We're dodging the tornadoes up north (knock on wood) and just getting some violent rain storms that are short in duration.

Spring is FINALLY here, and the grass seems universally greener after a 10 minute monsoon. YAY! IT SMELLS SO GOOD!! My yellow daffodills are opening, and there are buds on everything else.

We are celebrating but tired here...miss Aubrey Jo has come to rock our world for the weekend. She's very comfortable at grammy's, but wouldn't sleep anywhere but WITH grammy. We snuggled on the couch all night...she stirred a couple of times, but with a few pats on the diaper, she'd drift right back off. Being acutely aware of her new found gymnastic abilities, and the speed in which she can pull them off...grammy didn't sleep too soundly.

She has changed so much!! Dang the ice storms!! I last saw her as an infant, and she returns 4 weeks later as a rug rat!

She is a dancing baby, imitates sounds i make,patty cakes, signs daddy and more, laughs, pulls ups and walks around cruising, stands independently for a few seconds..and can FLY on her hands and knees!!

She will make the "scrunch face" atcha:


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WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!! She's still quite small, making her antics even funnier as she is now the 'walking infant'

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and ohhhhhhhhhhhh she loves her food...in fact, if she hears someone in the kitchen, or spoons rattling, or cupboard doors being opened?? she is ON IT! LOOK OUT MOLLY...she's diving in for your fries!!

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Also? she is quite tasty

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She came with a packNplay, but currently molly is in it, and against all of bree's parent's warnings, SHE is not.... but has run of the house (bathroom doors closed) and she's loving it! She runs down to see grampa in the radio room...chases the cats, and loveeeeeees sarge the german shep. He just makes her squeal! There is no taking your eye off of her...not for one second. I think also, i may rename her "woomba" as even though i've vacuumed 37 times, she still is finding things to pick up and put in her mouth. Yes, Gabe, the dog food dish is secured on the back porch!

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I am so amazed by her sheer sharpness. She doesn't miss a movement, she doesn't miss a sound. Her eyes flit and scan and move her to the next escapade. I don't think I'm seeing her in such amazement because molly was so laid back as an infant, either....I think I'm amazed....because she is amazing. I see great things happening for this curious little girl.

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We did have molly's assessment Friday...to see if she's on the Autism Spectrum. The interviewer came while moll was outside playing, so we had some time to set up before calling her in. The first thing molly does is run over and give her a big hug! BLASPHEME!! SHE NEVER DOES THIS! lmao...i believe molly thought the lady was shauna, as she was young and had beautiful hair!

She filmed the eval while running thru several tests. After she left, i realized i had answered some questions wrong...YES, she does repeat words consistantly...CAT CAT CAT CAT ...should i email her? Why i am so worried about things that i forgot to say....do i WANT her to be Autistic?

Nope

Thanks to Maria, who is dealing with many of the things we are....i want answers. In my heart i would rather not have the label, but i WOULD like some answers. Those answers won't happen for a month or so. It's a long process. I just know there is a magic key to unlocking molly's intellegence, as there is no doubt that it is there, and whether or not the key lies in a diagnosis on the spectrum, or someplace else...we will keep working until we find it. Molly has many contributions of her own to make.

I will end with my frustration/chuckle of the week.

The school sends molly home all the time. She is "out of sorts" or "pushing" or "has an ear infection" (she had a bad case of wax)" "has pink eye" "maybe the flu" and it's just CONSTANT!!!.... to the point that I was beginning to think that maybe molly is just too hard to handle, and it's easier to send her home than to deal with her. And what am i to do? Tell them she doesn't have an ear infections, or take her to two dr's to make sure. Tell them NO, we will not pick her up no matter what YOU think????


Today I opened a warning notice from the school. She's missing too much!

UGH!!

Off i go...the woomba is heading for my bedroom, which is referred to as the 'toy room' by the sarge anyway....too much FUN! OH LOOK, she's found mama and dadda...and is signing with thumb on her head...and saying mum mum mum (shhhhhhhhh don't tell ally)

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I'll leave you with 4 generations (with one crooked little finger) of hands,
and hopes that spring EXPLODES in your area..the way it has ours...Don't forget to spring those clocks ahead, either!

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6 comments:

Moonfairy said...

I loved that last picture, how very special!!! I'm glad that spring has sprung, it's about time you guys got some of the beautiful weather we've been having out here in Colorado! I've got a cake in the oven for Pat's birthday party this afternoon and Eric set up an email account and a facebook page for her, so we're trying to get her online so she can keep in touch easier. Take care! xoxo ~Sara

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh my Gosh E!!!!!

I was crying when I read about Molly and being sent home!!!It's EXACTLY how it was day after day with us and Ms.T!!! We should talk!!! I'm serious!
When we lived in our other house,4 years ago,Ms.T. was sent home daily! I couldn't even work my part time job or stay in classes! It was horrible! The reason ALWAYS was:"maybe it's an ear infection!!!" Ms.T. was "pushing" in her ear!!" I wanted to die! Each time, MORTIFIED we would take her to the doc's and he found NOTHING!!!! One time it was a wax build up. Does Molly have tiny canals like Ms.T.? I swear that's the problem there! After enduring this for a year, I finally put my foot down and said NO MORE!!!! I do NOT want to be called unless she is running a fever with that or that she seems so out of sorts/disturbed by it. I NEVER got another call!!!!!!!
Fast forward to our move 4 years ago back to my old house,,,SAME thing happened! It happened for 6 months, i didn't let it go a year!!!I told them the same thing,,,,NO calls for 2 years and now there's a new nurse at the school, a good friend of mine actually and she calls me ALL the time with the slightest movement in an ear--"pushing" mostly. we did bring her to the doc's just in case (she was with a slight fever) and that 1 time it was an ear infection! In fact, she has the rollow up Weds. I told the friend nurse NO calls unless there's a fever or she's acting weird and the calls have stopped! Thank goodness!

I think you need to make it clear NO more calls home unless she has a fever, is extremely sick or is just out of sorts. Maybe that will make a difference???? Sometimes, i do think it is easier to send the special needs child home than to deal with the behaviors....at the old school, Ms.T. was so so bad because she couldn't express herself verbally as she can now and that overly frustrating for her I am sure.

Thank you for mentioning me, I assume ti was me? In your blog. I know in my heart that someday the right key will be found to unlock that amazing potential within Molly. We are seeing it EVERY day here with Ms. T.! She has been a late late bloomer,but wowwww! She recived another perfect 100% on her spelling test Fridqy and read her entire Mass. state project on her own to the class that we did (modified it was) Thurs. I wished they had asked me to come in and see that! Please email and maybe I have some ansers for you???

OMG AJ!!! WOWWWWW I don't even recognize her!!!!!!! In 4 weeks, she has changed so much!!!!! CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!!!!!!

Be safe with those storms;wish I could say spring was near, but after temps at 58 degrees all weekend, more winter heads our way tomorrow! Sleet/ice and snow!UGH!!

LOVED that last pic too!
Have a good week!
Hugs from Mass. x0x0x
Hugs to the cutest little ladies I know!

Unknown said...

One thing we're doing to battle the school's "let's send Alex home rather than deal with him" is to put an IHP into place. maybe that would help in Molly's case too? you can google Individualized Health Plans and get an idea. Our local parent's group is going to help us.

Aubrey is gorgeous!

datri said...

My daughter Kayla has Down syndrome and autism. I have to say it's fairly obvious that she is SO much different than other kids with Down syndrome. It took a developmental pediatrician about 5 minutes to diagnose her. Has the additional diagnosis made a difference? I think so. We were able to get ABA for her, and while I don't think it's had quite the effect I wanted, it's helped a bit. (Kayla's just too darn stubborn to be bothered with doing her ABA work consistently). It's so frustrating knowing your kid could do so much more if we just knew HOW to get her motivated.

BTW, some professionals still doubt that DS and autism can coexist. They just say it's "severe MR". I don't buy that. Because when Kayla WANTS to learn something (like how to operate the CD player) she picks it up VERY quickly. It's just that she doesn't want to do what everyone else wants her to do.

If you have any questions, just drop by my blog. There's also a DS/Autism Yahoo group which can be helpful at times.

Maria said...

E, thanks for taking my crazy calls :)

Maria

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