Now You're Talkin'

Yesterday Kasia said her very first 3-syllable word! Yeah! It was awesome - three little syllables sounded like so much coming out of her mouth - I could almost imagine what it would be like to hear her speak an actual honest to goodness sentence!

So what was her very first 3-syllable word? Basketball! Why basketball? I'm not really sure!


I couldn't get enough and she obliged me by saying it over and over, eliciting squeals of delight from me as I relished everything about the way she spoke that one word. The tone of her voice, the cadence of the word, the way her little tongue curled around the "s", and the way her cheeks bunched up in a smile that told she was proud of herself too.






And although I did my very best to capture her on video, she eluded me as cleverly as Michigan J. Frog. As soon as I turned the camera off, she would shout "Basketball!" When I turned the camera back on, she would only poke at the lens with a finger or toe.






So hopefully this is the beginning of something more. I've noticed a lot more chattering recently and strings of sounds that resemble sentences. Maybe starting up speech therapy again is helping, or maybe she's going through another one of her crazy developmental leaps. Whatever the case, it's progress!



"Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step." ~ Samuel Smiles

Cognitive Assessment

I've really grown to hate assessments. I guess they're useful and all, but the mere mention of the word "assessment" these days makes my stomach churn like it did back in high school on exam day. Looking back, who really cares if I got the definition of "osmosis" wrong in Biology and barely passed Calculus. Big deal! No one sat my parents down, pulled out a big checklist and proceeded to label me as mildly, moderately, or severely delayed in math or science.


But that's exactly what I'm now being subjected to with Kasia.


Assessments. Labels. Definitions.


Yesterday I received a call to set up a Cognitive Abilities Assessment, which will determine whether or not Kasia is "globally developmentally delayed". This LABEL is necessary to get her extra help & services in the school system. Without it she won't be able to attend certain schools and/or she may not get the help we know she requires. Apparently the assessment will also indicate her strengths & weaknesses, how she learns, and how much we can expect her to achieve. (Doesn't that get your heart racing???) Maybe that's information I'd rather not know! Perhaps my heart wouldn't have taken the beating it did had I not been told what to expect out of her when she was a newborn. I mean, good thing I didn't decide to jump out in front of that bus after they told me how she would never walk, talk, or interact with us in any way. And how she may not live past the age of 2 years!





So here I am faced with this stupid assessment and I'm angry already. Should I take it with a grain of salt and continue to cheer on Kasia as she defies all that has been said about her thus far? I think so. Will it still hurt to get the results?


I know so.

When Life Hands You Lemons....

Wow! Thank you Jess at Connor's Song for this Lemonade Award! I too will pass it along to a few deserving bloggers who I think display strength, courage, dogged determination, and upbeat attitudes!

Barabara at One Day at a Time - who's picture should be right next to "dogged determination" in the dictionary.

Jeanette at Down Right Faith - who's amazing attitute towards life is utterly inspiring.

Julia at The Monster Stomp - a new read for me, but one that definitely displays the above mentioned characteristics. Funny too!

Chill Baby!

Brrrrr.....it's chilly out here!!

Chillin' on the potty

What mess? Chill out Mom.....

This morning's wake up surprise......The Big Chill
(soooooo very tired of winter and snow)

Potty Party!

It looks like we might really be getting somewhere with potty training! The child has always loved to sit (and stand) on her potty, but that's where it ended. Sure, we'd had some lucky breaks a few times, but they were more coincidences than anything else.




But I think she might be on to something! Yesterday, after insisting to go on the potty, she peed! This morning, though I was scrambling to get myself ready for work on time, I gave in to her "ka-ka" mantra and plopped her down on her pretty pink potty. And holy cow.....she pooped!! I was so stunned...... I dropped everything and the potty party was on! We danced and jumped around, hooted and hollered and picked out a sparkly sticker as her reward.


Oh yeah, but then I had to empty it. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

Haircut!

Although she's almost 4, Kasia really hasn't had a haircut. Not a "professional" one anyways! Nope...mostly it's been me, hovering over her while she sits on the bathroom counter, snipping half hazardly like I have a clue about what I'm doing. (Gulp.... I realize that I'm about to take responsibility for the following photos.)

And that is how we've ended up with the raggedy haggedy

mess of a 'do she's currently sporting! It's the complete opposite of a bob - not refined enough to call itself a shag - and even too messy to try to pass itself off as grunge.

Okay,okay...but most of the time it looks pretty cute, but I'd really love to be freed from the pony tail prison we're currently in! Right now, if I brought Kasia anywhere with her hair not nicely contained in a ponytail or two, people would think she was a feral child I found running around the neighbourhood.

So today was the big day! Her first real haircut. She sure squirmed a lot but we managed to come out with a pretty decent little hairdo! Behold.....

Great (and not so great) News!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times........

And so goes my life.

Last week brought FANTASTIC news! Although we thought that Kasia had not been accepted into the Senior path preschool program (preschool assessment and therapy) at the Children's Treatment Centre, it turns out that a spot has now opened up! When I was originally told that hers was the next name on the waiting list, I didn't think much of it. After all, who in their right mind would turn down such a wonderful opportunity for their child?!?! (Imagine it: 6 kids, 3 therapists, 1 teacher, 1 co-op helper.....it's magic.) But, sometimes strange and unexpected things happen! This was the best news that I had received in a long time, and it not only made my day, it made me want to run outside, scream at the top of my lungs and jump around. Somehow I managed to restrain myself.

However, the celebration was short lived. Later that evening at my parent's house, Kasia spiked a temperature and had a seizure. Although she had been mildly ill with the beginning of a cold, the seizure took me completely off guard. It's sad to say, we're now used to these horrible seizure-things and managed to deal with the situation without having to get medical attention for her.

So, the worst was over. Wasn't it?




The Patient - Feb, 2009


All weekend Kasia was sick. Really sick. At one point we had even considered her bringing her to the ER, but convinced ourselves that it was just a really bad cold. But instead of getting better, she seemed to be getting worse and by Monday it was apparent that it wasn't "just" a cold. The fevers weren't going away, she was crying a LOT, not eating or drinking, losing her voice and coughing up mucus like crazy. Luckily she had an appointment on Tuesday at the cancer centre and her doctor noticed that she was definitely not herself. After a quick chest x-ray, he admitted her to the hospital. As it turned out, she was severely dehydrated and had viral pneumonia. So Kasia & I spent some quality time together from Tuesday to Thursday on the pediatric unit of the hospital.

But while still in the hospital, more bad news. Although Kasia had gotten in to the Senior Path preschool program at CTC, she had not been chosen for their JK classroom - something I had really really been hoping for. Once again, she's on the waiting list, but what are the chances that lightning will strike twice?


Kasia's first day of Junior Path - Sept, 2007 (pudding painting!)

I'm staying positive though! Monday Kasia will start Senior Path and I'm sooooo excited. The changes that Junior Path brought about in her were incredible so we're hoping for a little more of that magic this time.