Gotta Catch up...

Gosh I've got three midterms and it's just been so crazy!  I've not had any time to write about my sweet girl!  But I've got some time to use up now, so I'm hoping I can get everything down!  We are starting next week with four days a week of therapy!  AH!  I can't believe it.  Now that we have developmental services all set up, they can start coming twice a week, for an hour each time, to work with her on whatever we decide.  We've already chosen things, such as behavior issues (she's starting to hit, arch when angry, throw fits, and will put her hands in door jams in hopes that we will shut the door on them *Weird right?*)  So there will be therapy Mon, Tues, Thur and Friday!  And then school is still 5 days a week for 2 hours a day in the morning.  I will be talking to her preschool teacher at Burton and telling them that through the IDEA Act (it's okay if you don't know what that is), if I ask for a one-on-one aide, then by law she is supposed to have one.  I wish we could do the same at BYU-I, because she's having a TON of trouble there.  There are too many kids, and so she's extremely overwhelmed.  She's starting throwing fits, arching, screaming, and becoming defiant because of the disorientation and being overwhelmed.  On Wednesday she was restrained, which made me almost go through the observation booth window (That is NOT how you work with a child) because she hit a child.  But I saw it, and it was more of a touch on the face as if you were stroking a child's face.  But when the teacher told her not to do it, and Grace saw the reaction of the other child, then OF COURSE she's going to do it again.  Redirection after having Grace show "soft" would have sufficed.  I am really going to start pushing my way to get things that I want.  First off, I'm going to figure out how to get to a real person in Medicaid to see about getting an Ipad for Grace.  Second, here's some interesting information that REALLY ticks me off.  When we first found out about Grace's medical condition regarding her bowels, we could have been, right then, put on a plan where insurance would pay for diapers.  We could have been getting diapers for 3 years now, at no cost to us, because she has a life long condition.  THAT makes me mad because we've spent thousands of dollars on diapers.  Especially since during her clean outs she goes through about 15 a DAY.  Hm...what else...  She can zip her jacket down!  She can't unlatch it, but she can get the zipper about 3/4 of the way down. :)  Good girl!  And she can just at least 1 inch, if not two.  Hm...she's now a size SIX shoe!!!  AH!  She's growing up so fast!!!  And she's dong so well with brushing her teeth!  She can brush the front very well, the way they are supposed to be brushed, and the tongue as well.  The sides of her teeth are a bit harder, but that's ok.  Hm...She's going on her first FIELDTRIP!!!!  It's her first one EVER!  It's on the 19th, and I get to go!  It's still on BYU-I campus, but it's a bit far.  They are going to the geology/fossil museum :)  I can't wait to experience that with her.  Gosh she is such an awesome kid.  I wish her whole family could see her all the time...  she misses her Dado/Papa/MeMa.  We talk about them all the time.  It was so cute because she was looking up at Dado and Papa's (my grandparents) picture and she waved and said, "hi Dadooooo, hi Papa!"  And then she said, "WUUUUUUVVVVVVVV  YOU!!!"  And then she kissed at them.  But she does similar for MeMa too.  She hugged herself really tight once and said, "hud hud (hug hug)."

I love you Grace.

Amanda/Mommy