A Whole New World, A Whole New Girl...

Now that Katelyn is back in this world, she is improving so much, and in so many areas. Her speech is flourishing, her play skills are growing, and even her social skills are developing more. She actually initiated play and "conversation" with her cousins, Anthony and Lexi, who are 8 and 4, respectively. She usually follows their lead, and she normally does not approach other children, so this is a huge step! I am hopeful that she may initiate play with other children, especially peers her own age, since she usually does not even acknowledge their presence.

And she also has been incredible with her baby sister, Ashley. She loves to be around her, share toys with her, talk to her, sing to her, and more. And Ashley absolutely adores Katelyn. It is truly beautiful for us to witness this since we weren't sure if Katelyn would ever have a special bond with her sister.

Katelyn will be attending a new playgroup on Tuesdays, starting in early March, through Early Intervention. Unlike her Monday playgroup where the parents stay, at this playgroup the parents attend a separate meeting of their own in another room. This is specifically designed to help children get ready to transition to the pre-school environment. I am ecstatic about this opportunity and I believe that Katelyn will really benefit from this experience.

Katelyn has been doing wonderfully with her ABA therapy. Aimee, her ABA therapist, said that Katelyn is so bright that she is breezing through all of the programs so quickly that she is having to find other programs to do with her! This obviously brings a huge smile to her family! We couldn't be more proud of her. Aimee said that Katelyn is very academically smart, so we are going to focus on her behaviors and social skills, as well as providing more challenging academic work as well. And of course, being the mathematician that I am, I am really excited that she loves numbers and already counts up to 10.

Overall, we have seen a drastic improvement in Katelyn recently, and this gives us hope that she will be very successful academically and hopefully socially. But the most important thing to us is that she is happy, and with each success, she is gaining confidence, independence, and most importantly, happiness.