12/29/08

Well, Christmas has come and gone and New Years is right around the corner! Lily had tons of fun opening her presents and surprisingly, didn't need ANY assistance :)
Lily is continuing her progress, but I think we've hit a slow patch. Not a big deal of course, but it only gets harder to watch her struggle and frustration with communication. She often starts rambling, then screams and throws herself on the floor because she just doesn't know what else to do. There are days that are better than others, but she's also at the tantrum age. She wants what she wants when she wants it and to not be able to express her wants means she tantrums more than the norm because even simple requests are not met with her expectations because I don't know what it is that she wants and she doesn't know how to ask.
On a more positive note, tonight she....

She pointed to something she wanted!!!! I could not have been more excited!! I knew what she wanted of course (her blanket that was out of reach in her crib), but I asked her what she wanted and she she signed "want" and pointed to her blanket! I hope she will continue to do that. That has been something that I've wanted her to do for SO LONG. She is also routinely saying bye-bye when she waves (not always clearly, but she does her best). I also asked her "who's that?" and pointed to Anthony and she said "Da da" which is awesome that she finally understands "who" because that can sometimes be hard for kids on the spectrum. My name is still "Bob" most of the time because she still has a hard time saying "ma ma" a lot of the time.

As far as speech goes, we've been working on getting her to say sounds for objects more spontaneously. If I ask her who her characters are she will say 't' for tinkerbell, etc. She also was able to make the "F" sound today (for Foofa, another character). I was excited that she did that one on her own, she has a harder time with mimicking the sound.

Daddy has been the one getting up with her in the night now. He has been able to get her right back to sleep, as opposed to the half hour to 3 hour stretch that it takes me. She just gets too excited when she sees me and can't get back to sleep. Which brings me to the whole separation anxiety thing that is not getting any better. I'm hoping that we can do something about that soon, because it's just not good for her. I'm not sure what can be done, don't some kids just grow out of that? It seems like such a far cry from the days when she didn't care if I was there or not. I could come and go at any time and she didn't take notice at all. Anyone caring for her would do. She didn't really have a preference. It's nice now when I come home and she gets so excited to see me and covers me with affection, but I'd like to be able to use the bathroom without her having a complete meltdown. Oh, how I would love a happy medium!!