Day Twelve: Fantastic

I do have to say that today was my favorite day by far.  I went in with Laila in the morning and she had been playing with a little cell phone of Emma's that we found in her diaper bag so I let her bring it to school.  She did not shed one tear while being on the potty when we got there!  She didn't go but it was so nice to see her be able to sit the whole time withoutgoing through any of her cycles of getting frustrated and giving up.  Ok, Ok I believe the teachers now when they say it is possible.  She was even taking one hand off the bar to play with the cell phone and was still not losing her balance (too much) and getting bad.  Then we got her up to the table for the beginning songs and activities and she sat up.  Now mind you the past week or so she has just laid her head down.  Well, here's proof!

I think the best part about it is that I am able to be excited about it but not be broken down tomorrow if I go in and she's not doing it.  I'm learning to be excited for today and move on to whatever challenge tomorrow brings.  I had lunch with a couple other parents today and we were all talking about how conductive education is just as much training for the parents.  It has been so hard for me too!  I see her do these things and I'm upset when she can't do it the next day.  Go back and read the comment from yesterday from my friend Tara who is also a therapist.  She explained it well on how these kids learn and just because they can do it once or a few times, we have to give them time to master the skill.  It was so nice to be able to talk about that with the other parents today.  I also got a different perspective from them about how sometimes being the one from far away is good.  Laila is getting complete attention and intensive therapy right now and where if we lived here and did this all the time she might only go two days a week or something like that where she's getting a huge dose of learning this way.  Never thought of it that way. 

She also did pretty good with her holding and keeping her head up at lunch today as well.  I stopped in for a minute before my lunch with the parents.

Laila loves her Miss Julie

 I had a very special visitor today as well.  My friend Julie drove up to visit us for the day.  It was so great for her to be able to see Laila in action today.  She's so very special to me because she also had a son with special needs.  I'm blessed to have a few of those friends in my life and I'm very thankful for all of them because I don't think anyone else quite understands this life the way they do.  I love finding all these things that God gave and took away for me to be able to handle all of this.  The extra special thing about Julie is that our childrem were at the same hospital together so not only does she know the frustration of special needs but she also can keep up with all my medical lingo.  It wasn't weird at all having her with me at the parent lunch today because she could also talk about things that happen with Canaan.  While it's hard for her because our precious Canaan only lived nine months, she still wants to be a big part of Laila's life and share this journey with us.  She is amazing.  Julie also had to come and check out this "D" that has a crush on Laila because Canaan and Laila were soul mates destined for marriage so now Julie must approve of any other suitors :)

So silly Laila in the picture above is trying out the "H'air from the letter box because this week they are working on the letter H.  I haven't said too much about the stuff that they do besides all the motor skills.  I'm always talking about the walking, potty, eating and sitting but I wanted to make sure you know that all of this is done throughout a day of school setting.  Every morning they sing the good morning song and talk about what month and day it is.  They do all of these things throughout the day that you would normally see happening at a school.  So while conductive ed is about making those connections in the brain to coordinate movements, it's also about doing those things a setting just like any other child would.

So, today was not too terribly different from the other days but I say fantastic because I'm rejoicing in my daughters accomplishments as they come and going to try to be proud of her every step of the way :)

I also wanted to share with you a picture of my gorgeous new nephews!  Welcome Dean Thomas and Logan William to the Hamstra family!!  They were born this morning and everyone is doing great.  Special kudos to my amazing sister Brooke for carrying around almost 13 pounds of baby in there and looking fabulous.  Love you sis!!  Congratulations Kevin & Brooke!!