Go, Catie, Go!

The girls were watching Go, Diego, Go! in our room while I got ready this morning. At different parts during the show Diego will need something to help him solve a problem or get through a situation, and he'll have his Rescue Pack change into something to help out. Rescue Pack changes into three different things and Diego (with help from the viewers!) chooses which one will help in this particular situation.

This is what I overheard this morning, after the three options were given:

Diego: "What do we need?"
Catie: "Water slide!"
Diego:"Yes, we need a water slide!"

Go, Catie, Go!

Poo Poo on the Potty!

Enough Said!

"She's not going to qualify."

I never knew how happy I would be to hear those words!  In most cases, we would think, if you didn't qualify for something, have a negative connotation.  Not this time.

Right now, Catie receives services for speech from the Golden Gate Regional Center.  When she turns 3, she will start receiving services from the Marin County Office of Education.  Today we had our first transition meeting with Pat (our contact at the regional center) and Terry from Marin County Office of Education.  We walked in and Catie immediately went to the toy box, picked up a dinosaur and said "dinosaur"!  I looked at Pat and said "She just said dinosaur!  She's  never said that before!"  So of course, Catie said "dinosaur" again!  Then she picked up a toy apple and said "apple! apple! apple!"  It was awesome!  

We spent awhile talking about Catie and all the changes and progress she's been making.  Pat hadn't seen Catie since she had her tubes put in and had only heard me telling her and of course getting reports from Catie's speech therapist and home teacher.  Both she and Terry were so impressed with all Catie's progress and Terry commented a few times on how bright he could tell she was and how he thought she was going to continue to make huge gains in her verbal communication.  Of course I was eating up with a giant smile on my face!

We discussed our areas of concern with Catie's development and Terry let me know what kind of speech services County Office of Education offers.  He then told me that Catie will definitely qualify to receive services and will be evaluated in about 6 weeks to see which program will fit her best. 

At the end of the meeting Pat told me that before Catie officially transfers they could evaluate her one more time to see if the Regional Center could still offer her services along side the County Office of Eduction.  I said that I didn't know they could offer her services after she turned 3.  Then she said...

"Well, she would have to be diagnosed with Autistism, Cerebral Palsy, or Down Syndrome to continue receiving services from the Regional Center after she turns 3."

And Terry said...

"She's not going to qualify."

And Pat said...

"No, she's not going to qualify."

That's the best news I have ever heard.

Just like Gigi!

Ginger was in the shower... and I found Catie looking at herself in the mirror wearing Ginger's brace! So cute! She loves to do watch Ginger does!

Princesses in their castle!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It was HOT today!  We took the girls to the Giants game, Catie's first!  (Another difference with the second child... we took Ginger to her first game right at the beginning of her first season, when she was 6 months old... Catie at 2 1/2!)  We had a great time but could only sit in our seats for 1 1/2 innings because it was way too hot for the girls!  When it's like 88, there isn't a breeze and the sun's beating down on us, our seats are HOT!  The girls were getting way overheated so we walked around, did the slide and had a great time!

When we got home, we turned on the sprinklers

and had water play!

"Well, it IS broken!"

Our doctor called and confirmed that Ginger did fracture her arm!  We were having a playdate/picnic at the park with a bunch of her friends and she was having a great time!  She tripped and fell on her arm and I could tell immediately this wasn't her average injury.  It there was ever a time she would bounce back super fast, it's at playdate/picnic with her buddies!  She tried to, poor thing.  She went back to the play structure and wanted to play but her arm just hurt too bad!  She has been such a trooper! The doctor even said it was hard to tell where it was hurt because she was being so "stoic"!    We are very lucky because it is the most minor fracture possible and she has a brace instead of a cast which is so much easier.  

Worst Blogger Ever!

I am officially The Worst Blogger Ever!  I have the best intentions, but run into a little trouble uploading pictures and am deterred from wanting to try again!  But Catie is doing so great, that I want to make sure I keep record of it!

She had the best session with Doug, her speech pathologist, today.  She didn't more parroting than she has, and he went through all the vowel sounds with her and she said them, and laughed so hard when he and I got so excited for her!  She was so funny!  It was so great to see her enjoying it so much.  We could tell by the look on her face that she was excited anticipating our reaction to her saying what we asked of her.  He does a matching exercise with her where he asks her to hand him the matching card to the one he is holding in his hand.  And she did it almost every single time!  It was such a great day.

Here's some more of what we've been seeing from Catie:

She's joining in groups of kids more and enjoying participating/playing with them.  

Today at school she joined in with a group of kids playing Legos.  At the Easter Egg Hunt downtown she joined a group of girls who were dancing, and it was different.  Before she would dance, but not really with the kids.  These were kid we didn't know and she was right in with them, looking up at them, laughing with them.  She's joining in a lot more with her and Ginger's friends.  It's great to watch her really connecting with and enjoying other kids.

She notices conversations going on around her.  Really looking at others when they are talking.

She's understanding commands (Come on, let's go... Please go wash your hands... Can you give Mommy a kiss) and following through.

All of this progress is awesome!   Especially all of the social progress... playing with others, joining in more, interacting more.  I feel like with that all clearing up, our autism fears are going away and what we are really left with is speech delays.   I can't tell you how good that feels!   I hear by promise to keep better records of all her progress and just our everyday activities.  Wish me luck getting my IPhoto problems straightened out so I can get some of the great pictures we've taken lately, up!