Thanks

Thanks to everyone who checks up on us. Nora is doing great. She is happy and healthy and making progress everyday. It is sometimes hard for us to see but every now and then she wows us with something. Lately she gets so excited to see me and exclaims "Ma Ma" real slow like. It has been almost 3 years and she is finally, FINALLY saying a word for me and only me. You may think it is the same meh-meh for car, or muh-muh for more or gimme that there thing that I want and can't get. But no, really it means me, mommy, mama, the one who gets up at 4 am to change pjs and sheets b/c she pees through her diaper or the one who shleps her to every corner of Seattle for every therapy known to man. ME I tell ya. Very nice I tell ya.

But many others who see Nora every now and then cannot get over the changes they see. Even over the weekend, her teachers see big changes in how she picks up new word, or sounds or signs. She flies through her work in class with her 1:1 teacher. She has started singing some words to songs instead of just humming or putting the same word for the whole song (eg: Emma, emma, emma, emma to Twinkle Twinkle or ba ba ba ba ba-BA BA ba ba to Blue Danube Waltz.) I think we are going to check into doing some music therapy along with sensory integration therapy. And maybe even hippotherapy (horse back riding). I think now is the time for her brain to explode with new pathways for learning. And exposing her to more things and more experiences can only help. I hope.

Everyone else is good. Alex and Emma have a stomach bug that will hopefully be gone by the time the turkey is done.

I am thankful that we can look forward with hope and optimism and not sadness. We'll all be stronger and more thankful for what Nora has gone through.

Happy Thanksgiving

Lori