A busy week-end

Our first long weekend to start off the summer was quite a cold weekend but we had lots of fun. Mommy and Daddy had a wedding out of town and left Elizabeth at home with her worker Erin. This is only the second time we have left her overnight and she had a blast. We feel so at ease leaving her with Erin as she loves Elizabeth and they have so much fun together. Erin and Elizabeth went to the park, they had lots of junk food and Erin took her to an 'underground' (indoor) playground as Elizabeth called it. Mommy and Daddy had a great time at the wedding (thank you Karen) and even got to go Antique shopping and bought a beautiful shelf to start a new big girl room for Elizabeth. The next night we met Olivia and Avery at the horse races for family night. The girls had a blast; there was a petting farm, a bouncy castle, craft table, face painting and fireworks. The Daddy's had a good time betting on horses as well. Elizabeth tried popcorn for the first time and loved it, I always thought she would choke so I never gave it to her. Elizabeth and Ivan ended the long weekend with a nap together in our bed (they were exhausted).

No more Follow-Up

Another whirlwind day where nothing got accomplished at home and Elizabeth spent her day being dragged from one appointment to another. Her first appointment was to review her AFO's as we are still concerned with her Rt. knee hyper-extending and the Orthopedic surgeon wants to her try a newer splint. I discussed this with the Orthotist and his student and they agreed to try a new splint. As they have not done this before it will be a trial and it will be free of charge for us (her splints run $2800). They will use it as a case study if it works which is fine by us.
Our last appointment was the Growth and Development Clinic and as she is 3 it was our last follow-up. They completed the Bayley's scale on her and she did very well, I was so proud to see her answering the questions and following directions. She scored quite well with her only major deficits in gross motor. We met with the Dr. who also specializes in CP and I had lots of questions for him. He said that yes Elizabeth's does have Ataxia (the first time a Dr. admits it) and that it probably has nothing to do with her prematurity as it is quite rare to have Ataxia. He questioned that it may be a genetic condition but cannot speculate until an MRI is done (we are still waiting it has been 10mths now, arghh). We hope this is not the case as we really want another baby and Elizabeth deserves to have a sibling as well. He did mention he also sees it in her hands as well as her arms and hands do shake/tremor and this is something we have noticed lately as well. He was very pleased with her cognition and language but was concerned with her articulation and questioned why we are not using hearing aids. It is so hard to figure out is her articulation related to Ataxia, poor oral motor tone and hearing loss, she is monitored closely so it is not a big concern for us.
Her last preemie stats are wt. 26lb and height 82.8cm.
Elizabeth was so good only a couple hairy moments from being cooped up too long. She also had a poop on the potty today, we are so proud.
Overall a good day; free splints, a diagnosis and a poop on the potty. A day at the park would have been preferred but we will take what we got today.

What she learned at Pre-School

When Elizabeth came home from school she showed me what a little boy in her class has taught her and she preceded to make a the face above. Elizabeth has thoroughly enjoyed her first year at pre-school and has learned so much and really enjoys being with her friends. As usual most of her favorite buddies are boys but she is spending more time with an energetic little girl. She still recieves support from her Resource Teacher half the time and recently told her to 'go away' as she is on her to make sure she pays attention and completes tasks. Next year she will be going into the 3-4 year class which will be good for her as she needs to learn from older peers and as her teacher says she needs to be around older kids who have more language as the children are younger in her class and cannot keep up with her conversations. I was really happy to hear that as I was concerned that socially she is falling behind. She is also showing a real independent streak at school and does not want to sit in her special chair and wants to do most tasks on her own. She is also walking down the stairs independently with the railings for snack time. Next week she will be going on her first field trip and on a yellow school bus she is so excited.