"It's like a lightbulb has been turned on.

Catie has been having some of her best days at preschool. She is really enjoying it and interacting with the other kids and is so comfortable with the routine of all of it. She's been doing great at speech, especially with the matching game she does with Doug and her quiet/focusing exercises she does. She tends to talk more with her home teacher than in speech. This is mostly because it's a more natural environment with the home teacher, they're here at home, playing and incorporating a ton of language. With the home teacher she's putting together a puzzle that has three pieces for each space, in this case dinosaur. She has only done puzzles with one piece per space before, but she did this one the first time we gave it to her! And when we asked her to clean it up, she did and said, "dinosaur" each time she put a piece in the bag. Last week she said "clean up" every time she put a piece in the bag! She's pointing to her nose when we ask where it is, EVERY TIME! And she's getting her eyes and ears too! She's saying "Here you go" when she hands me something! She's is coloring vertical and horizontal lines when we draw one and the ask her to do one. She's following directions so much more. She's answering "No" more consistently when she doesn't want something or to do something. When I say "Catie, look" she's stopping what she's doing and looking! I put her on the potty tonight before her bath and she said "Pee pee on the potty"! She is saying "Hi" a lot more, hugging and kissing constantly (nothing new!!!). When her friend came over the other day she said "Leah" before any of us did! We were so excited! She definitely is right in with the kids at play dates now, before she use to hide out and play more by herself. Easter was our first big family get-together since Catie's surgery and it showed us a lot. Before, Catie spent a lot of time by herself, in her playroom or somewhere else separate, it always seemed like the big family get-togethers were too much for her. On Easter, we drove up to my Mom and Jim's and Catie fell asleep for a little while in the car. She woke up a few minutes after we got there (which use to make it even more difficult, because when she had just woken up, she had an even harder time warming up to everyone). It only took her maybe five minutes in my lap to warm up, and then she was right in the middle of the party ALL DAY! Such a huge change! And such a welcome one. As I have said before, having the social concerns clearing up means so much to us, because we know now that we are dealing with speech and focusing difficulties, not autism.

All of these changes have been amazing. Britt said it best when someone asked him what the biggest change has been. He answered, "It's like a light bulb has been turned on." Exactly!