Me: What is it?
Lynneah: A pi-na-ta!
Me: A piñata??
Lynneah: Yeah, a pi-na-ta!!
Me: Nooo, it's not a piñata. What is it?
Lynneah: What is it? (When she starts parroting she doesn't understand.)
Me: It's a scarecrow.
Lynneah: Yeah it's a scarecwow. {pause} Poooor scarecwow he so sad.
Me: Why is he sad?
Lynneah: Because he scared. {pause} He has a fwower on his weg.
The fact that I was able to have this funny conversation and she didn't sound like Boo from Monster's Inc is huge!
Hmmm, is she growing up in the southwest? Funny girl. I didn't even know she knew the word piñata.
We've still got *so* much cognitive ground to make up with her, but she's finally making progress, and we're so happy to see it. Her speech therapist can't believe they didn't find anything on her MRI considering what she displays in therapy sessions every week.
We were able to get her into a gold-plated language development pre-school that has her immersed in language development activities 5 mornings a week to try and get her receptive language up and running. Even after they were able to find some scholarship money, and allowing me to do volunteer work around the school for an additional small reduction; it's making our budget cry its self to sleep every night. The placement is working though, in addition to once a week one-on-one therapy, so our accounts will just have to cry themselves to sleep till she goes to Kindergarten! I'm so glad she's young and gets excited to see Mom at school rather than older and embarrassed that she's the poor kid whose Mom is doing a work trade to keep her in the good school. Again I'm humbled and have deep empathy for another group of people in the world. You'd think I'd learn my lesson already, so I didn't have to keep finding myself here!
Once kids start school there is no wiggle room for "catching up". She has to be ready when she goes in. Her October birth nearly killed me going through the ENTIRE summer pregnant... *now* I am so grateful she's a fall birthday and has to wait an extra year to go to school. Any time I'm feeling picked on/overwhelmed/lost/unsure of how to proceed/hesitant about if "it" (whatever it is) will work out/that screaming voice in every mother's head chanting "you stink and a complete failure" gets too loud, something comes along to remind me that He has a plan and knows what He dropped on us. It doesn't make it easier at all, but at least I'm reassured that there is a master plan. She was a really tough timing surprise...then I found out she was due in OCTOBER (busy time of year, usually still HOT as...well we'll leave it at HOT) and I felt very picked on. Well, our Heavenly Father also knew he was sending her to us with her insides not quite assembled correctly, unbeknownst to us, and that she'd need an extra year of early intervention before she started school. He also knew that if He threw in one more *seriously?!?* surprise really close to her she'd be able to grow up buffered between her big brother and little sister.
Yes, there is a plan...
