Having a difficult time on re-entry...
We got home Sunday afternoon, but I'm having a cold AND an allergy
attack, my agency moved on Friday but part of my stuff is still over in
the old offices and the rest is in boxes packed by an intern (the dust
the move generated is part of the reason for the allergy attack, the
other part is I think I got unused to Virginia), and our babysitter gave
notice Sunday evening. Can we go back now?
We did have a wonderful trip, though. Laurel LOVED the program she went
to! We'd ask her in the morning if she was ready for school and her head
would just snap right around to look at us. She was in the best mood
that she'd been in for months (at least until the cold). The therapy
type (Feldenkrais) is very gentle and easy for her to tolerate. The kids
had one group "lesson" each day and then incorporated the
principles into the other things they did at school. Laurel also had
three private lessons. At the second one, the director/therapist (Kinga)
got her to stand with her feet completely flat, without AFOs! I can't
tell you the last time I saw that. Kinga also worked on side-sitting
with her and said that she felt that Laurel was responding to her cues
much faster at the third lesson than at the first. We can't claim that
we've seen any great functional changes, but Laurel seems much looser
and, for lack of a better word, squirmier. For follow-up, we are going
to see if we can occasionally take Laurel up to a colleague of Kinga's
in Northern Virginia. The colleague is actually out in San Francisco
right now for training, so Kinga is going to fill her in on Laurel and
we're supposed to call her next week. Kinga also thought it was very
important for us to get an adapted tricycle for Laurel, which Laurel
seemed to really like the one time we got to try it - but we didn't
realize until after we got the pictures back that her one foot had been
out of her shoe/off the pedal for the ENTIRE time she was on it (we
thought that had just happened at the end), so now we're not sure how
she really tolerates it and we're thinking we need to find another one
to try. It's extremely, extremely expensive, so we've got to be sure it
will work for her before we commit to trying to find the money for it -
I'm figuring that configured for her, it would be about $2700.
Meanwhile, Bob and I had a GREAT time getting to run around and see the
sights! There certainly is a lot to do in that area. Lots of nights we
just sat around and talked to our friends, too, and that was good - we
don't get to do a lot of that sort of thing anymore. Then the first full
weekend we were there, we took Laurel to see a couple of things in the
area (on Saturday with my sister and her husband and the friends we were
staying with), and the second weekend, we went to Yosemite.
Unfortunately by that time, both Bob and Laurel had a cold, and Laurel
really hated all the driving so it wasn't all that much fun. But still
very beautiful. The last week we were there, we went over and visited
the family that had told us about the Avalon Academy to begin with
(there was originally supposed to be a bigger get-together of BRIGHT
families, but the family that was supposed to host got sick and it
couldn't be rescheduled while we were there).
Anyway, you know you're having a good trip when even after three weeks,
you're sad to go home! And coming home to 80-something-degrees with
matching humidity AT MIDNIGHT didn't make it any easier. We looked at
each other and said, "How do we stand this?" Seriously, as
good as the program was for Laurel (who BTW tolerated the six hours a
day with no problem! We'd been worried about that) and as much as we
enjoyed the area, we'd consider moving out there - if it didn't cost 3x
as much to buy a house as it does here! Kinga lives in a one-bedroom
apartment and pays $200 a month more than we pay for our three-bedroom
house. Guess we'll have to start playing the lottery. Meanwhile, we are
hoping that we can swing another trip last year (I guess we didn't drive
our friends too crazy, they invited us back 
).
We took lots of pictures and I'm hoping to get a few up soon, but need
to do some work to get some of them into the computer (including taking
a CD to work! On top of everything else, both our CD drives at home are
broken), so that will be another day. Heading for bed now... 
Laurel did some great stuff last night, but her mommy wasn't doing so hot.
Last night I laid Laurel on the floor on her side to play with some
toys while Bob and I ate dinner. She rolled to her tummy AND got her
left arm out from underneath her AND got both arms in front of her. This
is the first time she's ever done all of that without any assistance! I
wish I understood why she was whining and fussing while she did it,
though? 
A
little later she was sitting on Bob's lap and she said something that we
both swear sounded like "Hello." Knowing Laurel, it'll be
months or years before we hear it again, but it's still the most
complicated word-like thing she's ever said so that's got to count for
something. One of the really encouraging things we learned at the Avalon
Academy is that these kids can start talking at any time...there was a
10-year-old in the program who was just starting to say some words.
But last night, we came home to a message from the lady who's been
giving Laurel free massages for the past four years. Laurel was
apparently supposed to have had one yesterday at 1:30, and we missed it.
I had asked the sitter (who's been taking her to the massages) if there
was a schedule, she said it was by the phone, I looked and couldn't find
it - and then I forgot to follow up. The message said that she couldn't
keep holding appts open for Laurel and that this clearly wasn't working
out. I feel terrible! The honest truth is that Laurel hasn't been
enjoying the massages that much lately and we've been wondering if it
was time to stop, but I hadn't meant to end it like this. I left a big,
apologetic message on her voicemail and I'm thinking I should probably
send a letter too. 
Then for an encore, I had Laurel on my lap near the desk. Thinking she
was controlling her trunk better than she was, I moved my hands down
near her hips and she went KLONK on the edge of the desk with her head! 
Bob kept saying he thought he was going to be ill. She actually got over
it faster than he did, but she has a nasty purple mark below her eye
now.
So, not feeling like I deserve any good-mommy awards right now. But I'm
proud of my daughter!