Keek-a-HOO!

I'm so happy this week is over.

We finally finished the girls' CPSE evaluatioins. Miss Princess S. didn't do so well on her last day: Too many strange people in a strange place, and she freaked out. She was hiding behind me, trying to sit in my lap, wouldn't do the things they were asking her to do. I was practically in tears. At the end of three long hours, the clinicians and teachers are leaning toward the fact that S. is apraxic, not PDD-NOS. For the initiated, apraxic (in its simplest terms) means that she has all of the information in her head, but she lacks the motor coordinatioin to make the words. As such, they are recommending that we discontinue her ABA therapy in preschool, which scares me. However, I understand their point: S. has pretty much mastered the concepts and tasks; she now needs to figure out how to take those skills and generalize them. And she needs the social benefits of being in a preschool, playing with other kids. Its hard for me because try as I might to think of the girls as separate individuals, I tend to think of them as a unit because we had the same diagnosis, and the same therapies.

Now I need to start praying that the preschool I want will have seats available for us.

I came to the realization today that the girls will be in school in about six months. SIX MONTHS. Now is the big push to make sure that the girls are ready for school. The teachers all say they will be. I hope they're right.

The feeding wars continue. I got our other speech teacher involved in the feeding fiasco just to have another point of view. He's made some good suggestions, but also some very impractical ones - like feeding the girls separately. That's SO not going to happen. Not only will I spend all of my time keeping one kid out of the kitchen, but I also believe that mealtime is a social thing for the entire family. Some of what's going on with the girls is behavioral, some is sensory, and its hard to know where to start. On the plus side, Dr. D. fed herself with a spoon this week. So I've suggested that maybe we divide and conquer at mealtime: continue working with Dr. D on the spoon feeding, and work with S. on introducing new foods. Maybe then we'll have a shot at some progress, without the two of them feeding off each other's behavior-we'll see.

Dr. D. has been playing "peek-a-boo" this week: She puts her hands over her nose (not her eyes, mind you) and says "KEEK-A-HOO!" She's also obsessed with "The Backyardigans" and has been found walking around siinging various songs. And speaking of, my cable provider finally got on the bandwagon and we now have Nick Jr. and Noggin ON DEMAND. I am on cloud NINE, people.

And just because I haven't done it in weeks, here's The Friday Feast:

Appetizer
What does the color pink make you think of? -- My daughter, Dr. D. Pink is her signature color.
Soup
Name something you thought you had lost, but later found.- BWAAAAA HA HA HA...how about my dignity?Salad
In 3 words, describe this past week - stressful, exhausting, worrysome
Main Course
What are you obsessed with? - Other than my daughters and what preschool I'm sending them to? Scrapbooking.
Dessert
What kind of perfume or cologne do you like to wear? Usually "Grace" or "Falling in Love" by Philosophy