Here are a few of our favorite things.....

Butt Drops



Hopping

Bailey's Best Friend

I was upstairs and heard crunching and giggling, I grabbed my camera and this is what I saw :-)

Camryn has a FRIEND!!!

One of the things we have been working on with Camryn is helping her relate to her peers better. She has a WONDERFUL class full of kids that really, truly adore her, but I have always been afraid that if she wasn't able to add anything to the relationship that someday these kiddos would just give up on her and feel it was too 'hard' to be her friend.
Today, when I picked Camryn up early for her marathon therapy day I was shocked and amazed by my little gal once again. We were just getting to the bottom of the stairs and a little girl came around the corner (I did not recognize the girl and the girl did not say anything to Camryn). This was TOTALLY 100% spontanious peer conversation for Camryn!!!! Camryn said "BYE JAYLA" Hearing those words, the girl, now grinning from ear to ear approached Camryn and they quickly embraced in the cutest little bear hug ever :-) As they were hugging, Camryn said "see you tomorrow!!!" Then they turned and went their separate ways, as I stood there crying at the bottom of the stairway of Neeskara Elementary. It was awesome!!!!!

One year on the Autism Waiver

Today, May 14th marks the one year anniversary of Camryn being on the autism waiver. This is important because once you complete a full year, the child (if they stay functionally and financially eligable)is automatically eligable for autism services through the state until they are 21 years of age. This is HUGE, since none of us know what the outcome will be.
Camryn has made some HUGE strides in the past year. She is fully potty trained!!! She has made great advances in her speech and language and the stack of things she has "mastered" fills up a shoe box, LOL (really we need another box, it is getting pretty tight) We have done peer play sessions and the therapists have helped out tremendously with school type stuff. She is writing better and is not too far behind her same aged peers in reading. She is also starting to ask us "what" and "where" types of questions.
This doesn't come easy for her and her schedule is quite grueling. She has school full time on Mon, Wed and Fri (7:30 am until 2:30pm) and then has therapy from 3-6pm. On Tue and Thurs she has school until 10:45 and then has therapy from 11-2pm and again from 3-6. She is one busy little gal but really enjoys learning.
I hope to have some video available soon so you all can see the tremendous gains she has made.
Thanks to the angels who have made all of this possible, you know who you are :-)

Mother's Day Art Project

Camryn made this beautiful butterfly art project for me at school. Her handwriting is really coming along and she remembered making it!!! I asked her what she made (without showing it to her) and she said "HANDS." I would have to agree, that was probably the most memorable part of the project. It is now hanging on the refrigerator.

How did I get here?

I guess we never know what lies ahead for us in life.. But seriously, how did I get HERE???
I got a call from the girls' school asking me to sit on the school governance council, it is a council of 51% parents, teachers, administrators and a "community" person. They want a special ed parent to be on the council to make sure they are addressing the needs of ALL students.
So weird to reflect on this, I am a parent of special ed students. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect this role. I am not sure how it happened or why it happened, and if I am even very good at it. Sometimes (many times) it would be so easy to just quit and sit back and let things just 'happen' but these are my KIDS. Who else will stand up for them?
Here I go again, down a path I never thought I would take.......

My little "moment" with Camryn at church

Camryn is really beginning to READ now. I know she is reading, not really memorizing, which she is GREAT at (she memorized ALL of her books, before she could read them) because she is reading stuff at church.
She is also very into singing and dancing (I always think, if live were a musical,
Camryn could take the lead!!)

So we were at church this past Sunday, and Camryn really wanted to sing all of the songs. So she would say "sing with me" when the music started and I would get the book out, open to the page and point to the words we were singing. To my amazement she started reading along and really singing the words (a little pitchy, but hey, she gets that from Andrew LOL :-)

It was really a moment for me, there was a time, not so long ago, that I used to wonder if she would ever speak. I never imagined back then, that she would someday be READING and turning those words into music. It was so awesome!!!