Diana's post-Wednesday

Mom and Dad are taking a walk, so I thought I would do a quick update on today so far. More words are coming out! Complete sentences are coming out! Last night when Katie & Kimberly and I were leaving...Mom went to the closet to get our coats out for us...and then said "somebody's coat is over there behind the chair..." It was Katie's. She helped Kimberly with hers and then proceeded to pull out her laundry hamper and tell me it was time for me to do some laundry for her!! I've never been so excited about doing some laundry! Dad and I worked with her this morning on her coming up with things she likes...and saying "I like _____." This was hard for her...but her speech therapist wants us to work on questions like this along with using gestures to help work her brain. So, we pretend to ride a bicycle and she will come up with "I like to ride my bike." We're really supposed to work on getting her to talk with her hands...which in turn will help us to understand what she wants if she's not able to get the words out. Jamie is back this afternoon and we just played some charades with her. I think she's laughing so hard at us and how we look...it's hard to concentrate on the word she needs to get out! Ha! Imagine my Dad as an ape...me as a dog, and Jamie flying like a bird! I also worked quite a bit with her this morning on sorting things and naming things. Sorting is easy...naming them is hard. We did flashcards with shapes and colors and she did very well. (Better than colorblind Jamie who couldn't get the colors right!) Makes mom laugh...she knows she's right...he's wrong.) We're encouraged that little by little more words are coming...but we still have a long way to go. Writing is getting better...occupational therapy has been working on writing out checks and today they worked on looking up phone numbers in the phone book. She does great at card games...crazy eights and UNO so far. Her main problem continues to be finding and getting out the word(s) that we know are in there. We push her pretty hard and she has shown little frustration. I know it's because she is determined to get better. Someday, she will tell us how annoying we've all been asking her so many questions and making her do so much homework all the time! Personally, I can't wait for that day! That's all for now! She and dad haven't come back to the room yet...Hmmmm...wonder why? Maybe because she knows we'll be asking her what she's been doing?