Reflections

So this is quite the landmark day--3 posts in one day. Since I have a moment to sit and think in quiet--I love nap time!--I thought I'd reflect on what what going on around this time last year. Around April 17th, 2007 Madeline started at Jefferson Preschool. She was going through the process of serial casting at the time and we were not sure what kind of things we would be facing. She finished the casting well and moved into braces. She still wears the braces as the casting corrected her legsphysically, but did not do much to correct her walking. Due to her sensory issues, her Physical Therapist thinks she will always have trouble walking, but the braces will help maintian her stretch. Over the past year, we've seen incredible strides with her muscle tone and coordination. She finally learned how to ride a bike and now we can hardly keep up with her she is so fast on it! She still struggles with low muscle tone and probably always will, but we're happy with the progress she has made. Her progress at Jefferson has been remarkable. She started last spring in Miss Jenny's class with about 10 other children that also had special needs of some sort. She continued in Miss Jenny's class in the fall with a whole new set of 10 children. She seemed to be ready for a more challenging environment, so they decided to try her in an integrated classroom (some tuition paying kids, some special needs kids) and she did really well. She seemed better suited for the intelectual atmosphere of the integrated classroom although she struggled socially. She transitioned in January and February and is now in the integrated classroom full time. She is being challenged socially and responding very well to it. She is learning so much more in this classroom as well. We are very excited about the change and we're so proud of the hard work she's been doing to be in that classroom. The biggest change in the last year is that Madeline is FINALLY potty trained!! After 2 years of on and off training, I finally took away the pull-ups in March and went cold turkey. To my amazement, she did really well (after a few days of wet pants of course). She is so proud of herself now and I can't believe I finally have her out of diapers!! This has been an interesting time for our family and it hasn't affected Madeline the best, but she's been a trooper. I'm constantly reminded that her world is hard enough without upheaval. She's an incredible little girl and I'm thankful for those that have been brought into our lives that have been so much help in bringing understanding to her world. I'm looking forward to being able to write next April about all the great accomplishments she is going to make this coming year!