Last day at 'School'

Today was Mairead's last day at 'school' at Early Intervention. We have been calling it 'school,' and she has loved it! This picture is from her very first day in January.



And today for her last day. We are sad to see this program come to an end because she loves it so much and we know how much it has helped her. Also, her teacher, Mary, has become very special to Mairead. We are really excited about her new preschool in the Fall, but EI has been so great to us and I know she will miss it.

On a positive note, how stinkin' cute is this girl?

These are just a few cell phone pictures from out at the pool.

Juice boxes by the pool... life is good.

I know this looks bad, but I really don't think Ben is trying to push Jack's head into the sink.

This was Mairead's first visit to an ice cream stand. Seemed like the best thing ever. You just walk up to a window and they give you ice cream. I took her to Meadowlands one night when she was insisting that we go in the car. We were driving around and she said, "Find music on the radio. In the backseat." She definitely got that from Blues Clues, but it was great to hear her say all of that and to make connections.

Mairead kept scooping ice cream out of the dish and adding it to the top of her cone. Not a bad idea, actually.

She is learning so much, lately, which we are thrilled about. She still has a long road ahead of her and hopefully we will find some help from our neurologist and eventual neuropsychologist. Also, we are hoping to make some progress with the schools once September rolls around. In the meantime, we are hearing longer phrases and sentences from her, which is great.

Jack and Ben are also learning a lot. Jack has more phrases (more bye bye, where's the bird, me down, I see cat, etc), but Ben is really great at following directions (ironic, in a way). If you say, "go get your car," he will go and look for it. He does say a lot of words, too, but spends more of his time climbing on the furniture.

Thanks for checking in with us!

It's about time...

...these two started earning their keep.

I mean, they ARE 16 months old.

They are getting bigger and stronger every day. So much so, in fact, that Early Intervention has discontinued services for Jack because they feel that he is progressing very well (Ben was discharged a few months ago). How nice to have someone tell us that we have two 'typically developing' healthy children. This is new for us, so it's exciting news! We will be sad for Jack's final appointment with Ashley, his PT, tomorrow, but it's for a happy reason!

We do have many sad goodbyes in next week, however. Mairead's third birthday means that she is no longer eligible for Early Intervention services. We had our last session with Molly, her speech therapist, this week and that was hard. Mairead loves Molly- she has even been sitting on Molly's lap for her sessions lately. Molly always brings fun toys, the most beloved of which were these tiny little animals. Mairead LOVED them and would cry when Molly had to pack them up to leave every week. So, sweet as she is, Molly bought some new animals to give Mairead as a gift so that she could keep them for her own. She has not let them out of her sight since she received them!

Tomorrow will be Mairead's last day at school through EI. This will be really hard for us because she just loves it there and she has done so well. She has little friends there and her teacher, Mary, is very special to her. Mairead doesn't realize what is going on, so she will not be sad, but I will! The staff has been amazing and we are forever grateful to them for their help with our little girl.

Monday will be Mary's last home visit and Tuesday will be Ashley's final session. Wednesday is the last hippotherapy session, which is really sad because Mairead loves it so much and is getting so much out of it. The farm is trying to work something out with our insurance, but we are not too optimistic about that. at $80 for a 30 minute session, it's just not something we can continue without coverage. Wish us luck with that!

It is unbelievable to me that in just 8 days, Maired will be three. Of course, I have regular mom emotions about my baby getting older, but 3 is such a scary thing for a child who gets so much through EI. I am going to have such a hard time saying goodbye to her therapists and facing the fact that we are pretty much alone in this fight now since the schools have been less than helpful and working with the neurologist is a long and slow road. She is so young that it is difficult for him to make a lot of medical progress, if that makes sense. Also, I know how M loves these people and her 'school,' and I can't even explain to her that we won't see them anymore- she wouldn't get it.

I also have to talk to the schools about her IEP, talk to insurance about a neuropsychologist, get her preschool paperwork in, and I just got a call from Children's saying that the order for her bloodwork is in, so I can bring her in to the lab anytime. That means a trip to Boston for a blood draw-- and we all know she is going to feel about that!

I also get very emotional on August 1 because that is the day she had the stroke and we almost lost her. Luckily, we will be enjoying a family vacation that day and it will be easy to look around and see how much we have to be thankful for, and how much she has overcome since that terrifying day three years ago.

We have received a lot of emails, phone calls, and facebook messages of support from all of you, and it truly means so much. It is very humbling to look at the counter on this blog and see that people have visited over 20,000 times just to read about our kids and to share their lives. We can't thank you enough for all of that!