Saturday

OK I managed two loads of laundry, mopped the kitchen and vacuumed some of my living room; the part not taken over by toys. Theresa did get to watch a few cartoons and pretended to nap today. We managed to make a little progress on the potty training front. We'll running out of cloth tomorrow though, she has six pair and she's been going through them really fast today. I'll be washing them tomorrow afternoon as soon as she runs out, Monday she'll only use one or two, then Tuesday she'll be in them all morning.

I managed to find time to sit at the end table and do a little therapy with her today. We did a few words on her chalk board, some dough and a couple pages out of her workbooks this morning. At the moment I'm printing out a page or two for tomorrow. Monday I'll be going over flash cards and requests since we only have an hour or two and she'll work all day between preschool and therapy. We're doing more shapes coloring and the letter A tomorrow. I haven't decided what else.

She has speech, OT and ABA therapies. I'm having a bit of trouble lately fitting in what she has to do in therapy with what I'd rather she know at times. We're going to go over things that she does and doesn't know tomorrow and she'll get to color again. Following directions is the most important thing. I plan to take a few minutes on each page so she doesn't get frustrated.

Well, that about sums up today and the plans for tomorrow.

We go back to almost normal tomorrow

Well, tomorrow we go back to almost normal for us. Theresa doesn't go back to school until the 10th but we go back to speech tomorrow afternoon. He daddy doesn't go back to work until the end of the week. Theresa has been rather relaxed these last two weeks and she's starting to protest when we do anything to interrupt what she wants to do. Therapy couldn't be starting back a moment too soon.

She demanded cookies this afternoon so I threw together some sugar cookies with the aid of a baking mix. She's happy with them, the rest of us on the other hand aren't as thrilled with them. I have everything that I need to make another batch after she goes to bed or in the morning. That way I don't have to worry about Theresa touching the hot oven.

Theresa learned that there is more than one t.v. in the house over the holiday. She even learned that she could reach one of them to turn it one without the remote and figured out how to change the channel with the remote. She had to figure out which remote was for changing channels first.

At the moment she's having a tantrum because she's not doing what she wants so I'm gonna be going.

Jumping on the furniture

This morning Theresa was so hyper that she was standing on top of her little Clifford table and jumping off of it to the couch. It didn't help that she was excited about her cartoons. Every time they did something she tried to do it too. She's something else I'm telling you. She had a stubborn moment before we left therapy and tried to stay in the office grabbing whatever she wanted.

I didn't get any work done today but she did make an awful lot of request for her shows by name. We had a $5 pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars for supper. Theresa knew what it was and said "ummmmmmmm pizza" which for her is incredible in the expressive speech department. She did great during therapy though. They used connect four and she worked to get the checkers to put into it.

She wasn't feeling well today. I think her little stomach hurt but she can't express it. She can only pout and lay down quietly when she feels bad. That's how we now. Tomorrow is a school day so she'll act like she feels good even if she doesn't. That's the highlight of her day two days a week.

OK not much else to say so I'll be going for now.

I need a nap

While I would love to lay down and go to sleep for the night Theresa is acting as if she just had a pot of coffee. She's a bit hyper still and it's been a few hours since our afternoon therapy session. She's also been wearing the crown she found in a box of toys donated to the clinic since her session. The therapist didn't want to take it away from her so she asked if Theresa could just keep it. That was nice of her, she doesn't like upsetting Theresa if she can avoid it.

Of course the child has been walking around like a princess long before she ever found the crown. I once had a trained therapist tell me that Theresa's looks were going to get her way to far in life. Those big blue eyes are kind of hard to resist I must admit. The child didn't talk for the first three years of her life so she's a bit spoiled and used to getting what she wants without saying a word because of it.

Of course this afternoon she's been a bit talkative. She's been counting, pretending to read, doing the hokie pokie (however you spell that) and asking for Caillou. Once she asked for "Scooby Doo" today and I was glad for the break from Caillou even though I've seen all those episodes a few hundred times. Today was a school day so her cartoons were limited to one before school, one after school and a couple after therapy. She wanted to run around the clinic today but she actually said "Spectrum" when we pulled up today.

I waited what seemed like forever (3 years to be exact) for her to talk and now they're days when I wonder if I shouldn't have been more careful what I wished for. Her expressive speech is still massively delayed and she has trouble finding the words at times but she'll 4 the 27th and she's come so far I can hardly believe it.

Not as Long of a Day as I thought it would be

Today wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Originally we were to be gone from noon until about 5:30 today. Occupational Therapy was from 12:30 to 1:14pm as planned, then we had speech from 1:00 to 1:30. While the little one was in speech I ran across to the nearest Winn Dixie to grab her a bag of pretzels and get myself a coke and a couple of candy bars since there was an hour between the speech and final appointment.

This time I even remembered to get cash back so that I could get her complete powder. The bottle will last a month. Theresa had a good speech session and was happy to play for the hour between sessions. Then Sara came out looking not so well and told me she'd hold out as long as she could. Well, she took Theresa to the potty and a few minutes later Theresa and Kara were coming out. Sara got sick and had to go home.

We'll just have an extra ABA session one week to make up for this one. Theresa's appointments are rescheduled if the therapist is sick, all but speech because she's seen five days a week and her insurance only pays for one session a day.

Tomorrow we only have a half hour of speech then we can begin the weekend.

Just another weekend

It's just another weekend here and it's almost over. I sometimes which that we had three and four day weekends more often. I get so tired during the week taking Theresa to therapy, working around therapy and trying to work in enough time with her so she doesn't end up pulling at me to get my attention in the middle of work. She's so smart that it's scary.

I did manage to write one new article and get some editing done. Budgets are much fun, I think I figured out how many plastic training pants Theresa needs. Two packs should take care of it, then I have to buy one more pack of plastic pants and a pack of training pants and she'll have enough to take care of two to three days.

Friday I realized that one of her therapist can't tell the difference between a question and a statement when she's in a hurry. It's also kind of annoying when you make a statement and someone answers a question. It's almost the holiday season so I'll be putting up with that a lot. In-laws make the best annoyances when they like to make decisions they have no business making.

OK off to edit the second article of the weekend and try to write one more. I'll edit it tomorrow. I'm going to work on my resume tomorrow too. Hopefully I can find the template since I can't remember how to put one together. I'm hoping next weekend will give us an opportunity to do something fun. The 3rd we go to the fair so that Theresa gets to experience it for the first time.

Long Week

It's been a bit of a long week here with everyone getting back into their routines. Theresa has had the easiest time since she thrives on routines. We managed to get to therapy on time without incident this week; we even managed to go to a parent teacher conference. Theresa answered questions using pictures and got them all correct. She refused to talk because they were trying to show me how well she does with them.

Today we have to stop at the pharmacy and pick up one of her prescriptions when we get out of therapy. She'll hopefully get a B-12 shot today. She's not happy getting them but the results are great. I feel guilty about her getting stuck so often but she's making great progress and I have to make sure all of her levels are monitored to ensure she's not having any negative effects.

The food diary I started for her needs some serious work. I keep forgetting to fill it in. I guess I'm just going to have to make a sign for the "helpful" grandparents informing them that the "helpful grand-parenting" isn't appreciated; especially when they're refusing to respect my beliefs the way they usually do.

OK it's time to go to therapy so I'll be going for now. The weekend is here!! I get to work through it once again but that's OK too.

Sleepy Tuesday?

It's Tuesday and it's been a sleepy day. Theresa is out of school this week so I didn't have to get up early yesterday and won't have to in the morning. She doesn't have therapy until Thursday afternoon. She has occupational therapy at 12:30 that afternoon so we should be home around 2 in the afternoon. Friday we have applied behavioral analysis at 10am. We should be home from that about 12:30, then we have the weekend to rest. I'm really confused as to why there isn't any school next Wednesday.

Today I haven't felt like doing much of anything. Theresa began the day informing me that she wasn't going to eat her grits. She started in with "I want 'Donalds" as she calls McDonalds because she can't say it. When I informed her I wasn't going she put in for "cookies." Well, I told her we didn't have any and she started pulling out the stuff to bake them with. So I baked a few dozen peanut butter cookies for her from scratch without real butter, real milk or eggs. I'm proud of me.

We've spent most of the day just sitting around. Theresa talked and watched cartoons, hubby did dishes, I did a small load of laundry to hang in the back because I didn't feel like going outside and wasn't sure about the weather. Hubby went through a couple of boxes of my oldest daughter's clothes that she'd outgrown to get out some that fit Theresa now. Most of them still have the tags on them. I'm resisting the urge to make a display out of them for the most annoying person I know that keeps trying to buy the child clothes but doesn't have any better taste than to wear a moo-moo to renew her vows in.

I just put on some black-eyed peas to go with the leftover chicken, lima beans and green beans that will making up supper tonight. I figured out that Theresa just ran out of about $80 worth of supplements I can't replace for a few days and missed her shot last night. I don't feel like going anywhere and I don't have the strength to argue to get it in her so she's just going to have to get it later. OK time to go pretend to do some more work later.

Theresa's schedule change

This morning we had speech as usual and of course Theresa did great. After speech we usually have ABA but her therapist wasn't there today. Instead of going directly to ABA we went to the doctor's office. Theresa needed a B-12 shot and she's gotten to where she fights so much when I try to give them to her that I was ready to give up. The last one was given at the clinic where she gets therapy to make sure she got it; today the lady that gave it to her was on vacation so to the doctor's office we went.

Theresa doesn't like the doctor's office especially when she's already seen the needle since I took one with me. My sweet little girl had a panic tantrum. She actually opened the door and went outside to escape. She tried about three times to actually leave the office without me to keep from getting the shot. When we went into the room to wait for the nurse to draw up the shot she went to fussing. She knows what needles are and she fought the entire time I was trying to expose her little leg for the nurse to stick her.

Funny thing is that she fought the entire time I tried to get a hold of her hands and lay her down for the shot but she never cried. Actually as soon as I got her in position the nurse was done with the shot. Theresa didn't even cry afterward. I asked how she managed that and she told me that she changed the needle. Instead of using the 1ml needle the pharmacy gave me she used a 3ml so it took less time to get the B-12 into Theresa.

Well, we came home and Theresa ate an egg with barbecue sauce on it. Then she cleaned up after herself by throwing my bowl in the garbage instead of putting it in the sink like she usually does. Once that was all done we went back to the clinic to have her ABA session with Danielle. She's never had therapy with Danielle but she knows who she is. Theresa did great she didn't try to swat at her when she made her follow through with a task or when she kept on until Theresa said the word or phrase that they were trying to get her to say.

Theresa also got to stay up an hour past her bedtime putting pennies in a piggy bank because she told me "I want help." It's so hard to believe that a year ago she was virtually mute. I'm so proud of her that I'll never be able to make it clear enough.

Increasing Supplements Again

Theresa had preschool this morning and speech this afternoon. She also got her B-12 shot while we were at the clinic. Kelly volunteered to give it to her today since I'm having trouble getting it lately, Friday I'll take her by the pediatricians office to get it done. She's making great progress so we're not quite ready to stop it yet. I may switch her to the nasal spray when the prescription is empty though. It's $32 and it doesn't work as well as the shot but it does have benefits. The biggest benefit is that she can't cause herself an injury with the nasal spray. I'm not sure if her insurance will cover it or not but it's worth it.

We added two new supplements today to help her progress to the next level. That makes a total of two prescriptions and eleven over the counter supplements for a total thirteen. I spent two hours figuring the costs of all of them, the total and the average that they cost each month. The only thing I figured out is that the supplements are over $200 now. I also spent an hour trying to figure out my new schedule. What I figured out is that I have to do even more work while I watch the therapy sessions.

Friday she'll have ABA in the afternoon with Danielle because Sara isn't going to be there at all. So instead of cancelling they moved it to keep her from missing it. I asked them to see if they could rearrange her speech that day so that the appointments would still be together. If they can't we get to go to speech from 9:30 to 10 and then go to ABA from 1:30 to 3:30 that afternoon. It's going to be interesting to see if Theresa actually cooperates for that schedule change. She was really mad last week when she missed her therapy.

We have occupational therapy tomorrow and I still can't find her scissors. I have no idea where they went but the $15 or so I paid for them is screaming at me to find them as soon as possible.

I'm working on an article about her progress but so far it's going slowly because I'm having trouble finding the information about the supplements she's on to put in it. Theresa got her little hands on the notes that I made while I was talking to Kelly and the pediatrician about the reasons for each. She even took the paper with the risks and benefits.

The 19th of this month we go back to see Dr. Cotter for a re-evaluation of her diagnosis. It's really hard to believe that it's been a year. The 3rd of November I'm taking her to meet her preschool class at the peanut festival for special citizens day. She's never been so this should be rather interesting.

A year ago I wouldn't have even tried to take her to the peanut festival. Of course a year ago she didn't do anything but spin, line things up and echo commercials. It's amazing how much difference a year can make, she even notices that there are people around her now. Well, it's almost time to call it a night.

Bored as can be

OK I'm bored, actually I've been bored all week long. I didn't do very much work this week, not even on the school mornings. I have cancelled two therapy sessions. Friday was cancelled and that took two appointments out in one day. Monday Theresa gets to go to preschool and miss her speech because I have a follow up with the doctor. She's going to be even more confused, that pesky schedule has to be kept no matter what.

I redid the budget, didn't like it a bit. We have three girls expecting Christmas and two that have birthdays in December, this is going to be fun. Oh well, I'll figure it out I always do. My movie's about to come back on so it's time to go.

Theresa's New Loves

Theresa is making amazing progress. Her latest love is "Ye- Haw" she's been watching the "Dukes of Hazzard". Nothing gets her attention faster than when she hears that phrase. Oh well, I'll take it.

I have to say that I'm enjoying my new schedule or lack of one. Yesterday I managed to get one article written while she was at school and I did some some laundry. The rest of the day even inspired an article. I think all in all it was a rather good day considering that I managed to get home therapy into the mix. The therapy she was supposed to be getting at home had been greatly cut into with all the deadline pressures.

We have OT and speech back to back today so while we're gone I'm going to see how much farther I can get in the book I've been trying to read. Since my computer won't hold a charge  I still have paper backs. If I can ever get through them all I can go trade them in 2 for 1, get something new to read at no cost while cutting the amount of books I have in half.

Theresa's step grandmother has already begun buying for Christmas. She doesn't listen very well but mostly she got what I put on the list. As long as we don't have a repeat of last year, I should be able to control my temper this year. Well, it's almost time to get ready to go so I have to go make sure I have everything in order for the day.

Amazing to See Visible Progress

Theresa may not be cooperating to potty train all the time but what she is doing is amazing. I bought her a computer some time back, one of those kid computers with a few dozen choices of what to do. Well, lately she's been doing "Find the missing letter" and amazingly enough even with her resistance to communicate she's finding them about 80% of the time. When one comes up she doesn't know she either finds a flash card with the word so she can fill in the letter or turns the small device on and off until it gets to one she knows. So far this week she's played "Duck, duck, goose" (understood the game) and "musical chairs"although she didn't associate the music with the chairs she had fun.

Preschool starts back Monday. So Monday and Wednesday mornings I'll be without my baby. Guess I have a choice either work those for hours or use it to clean up what she's just gonna mess up again when she gets home. She'll have two speech sessions and one OT at the preschool. Then outside of preschool she'll get one 45 minute OT, one 2 hour ABA and five 30 minute speech sessions each week. It's time to go through her toys and get out the ones she's outgrown and start using the ones she's just learned how to use.

I still have to print out some individual pages for her to color, imitate, ect.... with but she's not cooperating to show me which ones she needs the most so I guess I'll just guess at it until she can vocalize that a little better. When schools starts back it'll be easier, I'll be able to take what she has to do in class and use it as a guide.

Well, it's awfully late after such a long day so I'll be calling it a night soon.

Interesting New Schedule

Theresa seems to be adjusting to her new schedule nicely. The preschool will start back on August 19th which means that she'll be away from home half of two weekdays. That doesn't require a lot of rescheduling to make sure she's still in therapy five days a week for speech. The school will give additional speech and occupational therapy. The ABA will stay on Fridays so that she gets it as long as she needs it. There isn't any school on Fridays for the preschoolers so that works out good.

Theresa can do "fill ins'. You say "twinkle twinkle little" and she says "star." Stuff like that. She's starting to answer questions when you can get her to focus on something besides doing her own thing.

I've got to get her supplements in her and get her dressed to be at speech by 11am this morning. She's out of HLC and I haven't been by the bank yet to get out enough to cover it. I've also got to find out what the alternative is and how much it's going to cost. She went through 3 bottles of HLC already this month, I think I can order it online but the shipping eats the amount that you save on it.

OK time to get back to work and get her ready. Probably need to chase a cat off a counter by now too.

Plans for the Week

The summer's here. So far we've had one speech therapy appointment this week. Today's was cancelled because of an appointment for the therapist's son. Tomorrow we have to see the school speech therapist and then the OT. 


Friday we meet with the nutritionist and then go to ABA for two hours. We'll have two follow ups with the nutritionist while we figure out what she's eating and what she's tolerating. I'll spend the following two hours in ABA with her. She's starting to respond more. 


She's made enough progress that home therapy is more organized. We only have a half hour of table time though. She won't sit at it any longer when she's at home too many distractions we have to get rid of. We're working on it. She'll sit on the couch and do her flash cards, quickly because they bore her.


OK time to improve some past articles and write a few new ones since the summer isn't going to be a complete vacation like I wanted.