Busy Busy Busy!...

Hello to you all! I hope all is well with everybody. Things around here have been a little busy, and it seems that they are fixing to get a little busier...this week at least. A few updates on Emily being busy learning first of all. She is doing great right now! Her Speech Therapist has been doing a great job experimenting and trying to figure out how Emily learns the best, and she has learned that Emily needs to "see" things in order to learn them. In other words, we are learning some signs. It seems that when she sees us signing the word on top of saying the word, something registers, and she just gets it! It's amazing! :) We have also been trying to learn some songs that involve some motions about body parts such as "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and "The Wheels on the Bus". She's been doing "The Wheels on the Bus" motions for a while, but now, she's finally starting to sing the words as well. I just love watching her sign a word while she says it. It's just the sweetest thing! She's also starting to point at stuff while someone is counting, if that makes any sense. LOL It's one of those things you would almost have to see. Basically, the therapist had a counting book that she was reading to her, and, as she was counting, Emily started to point at the individual things on the page as she counted. To both of us, this was pretty amazing because we had not worked with her at all with numbers or counting or anything like that. It just appears that she figured it out on her own, maybe with the help of a big sister or something, as well :). All of this will play a big part in tomorrow, as well, I figure. I'm taking Emily to be evaluated for school tomorrow to see what services they think she will need and how often. This is the first big step in getting her into school. Since we have decided to wait until August to let her go, we still have quite a few more months. However, there's so much to be done from getting this eval done to start getting Emily to wear her Medic Alert bracelet (which she did this morning...it was so cute with the little lady bugs! I picked that one because she has always been my little stinker bug, so it just fit :) ) to getting everybody at the school that will be in contact with her educated about Diabetes. It all starts this week! Busy Busy Busy!

School Woes...

Ugh! Will this ever end? Will I ever be completely comforatable with every aspect of sending Emily to school? I met with the pre-k teacher today and the school nurse, asked some questions, and have come to this conclusion...I don't think I'm ever gonna be comforatable with this. There's just so much more to think about with the Diabetes, and I want somebody to look me in the eye and tell me that they are gonna take care of my baby!!! All I have gotten so far is a bunch of hesitant answers because nobody has ever had to deal with the Downs Syndrome and the Diabetes. At least one question that has been nagging at me the last few weeks has been answered...send her in March or wait til the beginning of the next school year in August. The answer seems a bit easy now...August. I don't like all the hesitation, and I feel that I need more time to pound all this stuff into these people's heads! I think it will just be easier on everybody if we wait til August...including Emily. She was sooo tiny compared to all the other kids in that classroom...made me a little nervous about that, too. But, August is far enough away that I think she will be walking and doing some other things that I think she needs to be doing before she goes to school. That's just the way it is. Now, the daunting task of getting her therapy worked out to where she can still get it after she turns 3. Probably lots of paperwork, etc. Oh joy! I guess I just wish it was easier. Who doesn't wish their life was a little easier and less complicated? Have a great weekend!

The Snow Days!...

Well, the winter freeze that has swept across the South has froze up our area. The schools have been shut down the last two days because of icy roads. It may not be a whole lot of snow and ice compared to what some of yall see (Sara :) ), but it's a rare thing that we get two days of schools shut down and any kind of accumulation on the ground. It's not supposed to get back up above freezing until Monday, so this is a little uncomforatable for all of us southerners down here. We're getting a little chilly! LOL We love the snow, though, because we hardly ever see it. So, I thought I would share some of our snow with yall today.

A step in the right direction...quite literally!

Today, I got to see Emily getting even closer to doing something that I have waited for almost two years for her to do...she's ALMOST walking. A step in the right direction...I turned around today and witnessed her standing on her hands and feet, but then...all of the sudden...she moved one hand forward and then a foot...then she moved the other hand and foot. She took a couple of steps before she sat down and started grinning probably because of the look that was on my face. She can always tell when I am super proud of her. :) Then, this afternoon, I was sitting here at my computer, and she started doing it again, except this time, she walked a complete circle around the living room...TWICE! LOL! It was so funny and cute, but it just makes me know that she is on her way. LOL And as I am sitting here typing, she is continuing to do it! It would be such a blessing to see her walk and to know that she has come that far. That's the next big milestone we are waiting on, and I know it's just around the corner.

Sitting still...

Not too awful much has changed since my last post. I'm still trying to decide what is best for Emily concerning her schooling. I'm leaning more towards at least waiting until the Fall to send her...maybe that will give her enough time to start walking and possibly be drinking from a straw...just a couple of things that would help TREMENDOUSLY. I know the straw thing seems kind of silly, but if she can drink from a straw, then she can drink out of a juice box when her sugar gets low, which is a whole lot simpler than having to make her eat applesauce. I'm planning on visiting the preschool here in a couple of weeks to talk to the teacher about all of this and just see what she thinks about it. That might make me feel better if she can explain to me how things would go and how comforatable she would be with having to do all of this. Other than that, we have a pretty busy week ahead of us. This time of the year is when all the government agencies want a little of my time to re-evaluate our situation for Medicaid, SSI, and WIC. Medicaid's appointment was this past Wednesday, but the other two are both this week. I have that on top of Emily's eye doctor appointment on Monday and therapy on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning. After that, I suppose things will settle for a few weeks while we continue to rack our brains over school stuff. Hope everybody's year has started off good and everybody has a good weekend!