6am and wide awake

Mama got woken with a start this morning. Stacia out of the blue started crying. It was 6 am. We don't know if she was crying because of a nightmare or the fact that she was wet. I attempted to let her cuddle in the chair with me in hopes that she would go back to sleep. HA HA you have got to be kidding. We played puzzles, memory, and uno on my phone, ate some of last night's homemade mac and cheese, watched some cartoons on tv, read a couple of books, and about 7:45 she wandered into Bridget's room and woke her up. That got another cry out in our house this morning. Bridget wanted Stacia out of her room and the door closed.

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Rough Times

Yesterday I had a chance to find out how Stacia did at camp during the week. She did not do well at all though she did go from hiding in cupboards and under tables to at least participating some as long as she had one on one attention.
She came home each day and was clingy to me (mama) especially though she would accept being right on top of daddy and older sister if I was not right there. She did not want to go to bed at night and would keep giving me kisses and hugs trying to get me to stay. She cried herself to sleep at night.
Last night was the complete opposite as she didn't have camp yesterday. She was able to play some by herself for her normal amount of time without having to have one of us with her and she indicated that she wanted to go to bed when I had lost track of the time. She even picked up some of her toys without having to be shown to pick up each one and put it away. She was pushing me (mama) out of the door and turned out the light. This is the behavior that is normal or at least closer to normal for her. What I saw Monday-Thursday nights was not.
The hardest thing looking back was her not being able to tell me how she was feeling about things and not being able to talk things out with her. The guilt over my thinking it was because she didn't get enough sleep as she is used to sleeping till about 10 am especially in the warmer months when she doesn't get to bed till later. She has never been one to go to bed with the sun still up even as a baby.
While the craft things she did were cute and she had a smile on her face when I dropped her off and when I picked her up each day I am not sure that we made the right choice to send her to camp this week.
We are looking at sending both her and her older sister to Princess Ballerina Dance Camp later this summer. Hopefully that will go much better though with that one I will be able to stay with her and she will have her sister there with her as well.

How Camp is going

Stacia has done 2 days of daycamp ok it's only 2.5 hours a day. She has 9 kids in her group and there are 40 kids total. She is finding the number of people so overwhelming. Her SLP has reported that she is getting nothing out of it. She has taken to hiding in the cupboards to get away from everyone. At least her SLP is realizing that it's because she is very much an introvert like her Daddy.
We are having to make the tough decision as to if we keep sending her for the rest of the week or if we keep her at home. After talking it over we have decided to keep sending her. I am going to let them know if she seems overwhelmed to please call me and I can come and get her since I do stay in town and can be there in 10 minutes from where I usually go and hang out.

Stacia is a Camper

Stacia has reached the milestone of being able to attend Day Camp. She is going to a language and socail interactions camp this week. The interesting thing is her speech and occupational therapy place has moved to a new building. This is the first week in the building so the kids are getting to see it before the parents.
The report today was she was well behaved but did not want to engage with the other campers. When we got home she laid on Larry's chest on the couch and we thought she was going to take a nap.
She fooled us. Hopefully I can get her to go to bed and asleep a bit earlier tonight. In order to make it to camp at 9 am we have to leave by 8:35 at the latest so it means she is having to be gotten up at 8 am. Considering with the light (ok sun not setting) till later I am lucky if I get her in bed by 9:30.

Pooh is a favorite.

We have started a new game. I show Stacia the bathtub water temp float toy and ask who's this and she goes P oo. She asks for her blanket Pooh at night. So the question is do I go out and buy her a big stuffed Pooh.

Next week will be a busy one for Miss Stacia. She has language camp for 2.5 hours every morning. It should be interesting as they are moving to a new building. Today was supposed to be her last day at the current building but she woke up not feeling well.

I am thinking this evening is going to involve some cuddling and listening to Signing Time Videos, Disney Videos, and of course Silverline on youtube. Those all bring a smile to her face.

Please leave me some comments.

Tammy

Attempting to say Fish

First of all to my readers sorry that the updates are not that frequent. My computer after being 12 years old has finally died so I am stuck using the library to make updates. I promise to try and post when I can.

Last week I had the chance to observe Stacia both JoAnna and Polly her private speech and occupational therapists. She was attempting so hard to say Fish.

Last Wednesday was a very busy day for her with attempting to learn to say Fish and getting a hold of my phone. She called 911. Unfortunantly I did not get the call back so a deputy came out and visited us.

Stacia's latest happenings

Stacia is starting to make more and more sounds and even starting to put some sounds together. She is putting Ah and B together so we are trying to get her to say ABBA which is the Hebrew word for Daddy. She can say PA PA but we need some way to keep Daddy and Grandpa straight.
Not being able to do a sound combination in reverse order is common with children like Stacia who have Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She can say PA but not AP as in Apple.
Stacia's latest things that she can do includes being able to open the fridge. She has finally figured out how to operate the child latch on the fridge. When she is not getting in the fridge she is busy getting in the washer including attempting to take a bath in the washer-with the lid open luckily. If it is not the fridge or the washer she is busy with any type of computer product. She enjoys trying to change things on the computer including moving the toolbar on mommy, playing with mommy's phone, and customizing her Dynavox Maestro. She has chosen a combination of pinks and purples for background colors.
Stacia has discovered a new way to let us know that she wants to eat. She goes and gets the foam letters from Bridget's room. The ones that are supposed to go in foam frames on the floor with a boarder so there is a soft place to play on the floor. She spells out E A T showing us each letter at a time and then placing them down. She is positioning them so they are read by her and in reversal for anyone not facing the same direction.
The school has problems with Stacia's fascination with letters and spelling even to the point of reporting that she refuses to do work unless it involves things like puzzles, blocks, or the alphabet. I see that she is gifted in different areas then Bridget. Stacia loves to spell and is very gifted in it, but seems to have absolutely no interest in getting anywhere near a container of finger paint. In fact she is repulsed by the idea of even touching that stuff. Stacia is my neat freak and my cleaner. She spills a small amount milk on the floor and she goes running to get a paper towel and clean up her mess. Stacia's toys must be put in their proper places each night and if something is not in place she will put it where it belongs.
We are still working on paying off the co pay amount of her Dynavox and recently were blessed by the ladies ministry at our church holding a bake sale for her to help raise some funds towards the costs of her device.