Great News!

I have great news to share!  I've known about it for about a month, but I didn't want to put it out in public until it was solidified.  

Drum roll, please!

LILY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED INTO PATTISON'S!!!!!

I got the call about a month ago and was totally surprised.  I mean, I had been told that Lily couldn't start until Kindergarten, next year.  I even questioned the principal about it, and he assured me that she could attend.  I got off the phone and shared the news with Gabriel (who was also excited about it), and not five minutes later, got a call back telling me that I was right.  Lily was not eligible.  HOWEVER. . .she could possibly get in under a visual impairment.  Did she have a visual impairment?  Well, her early intervention/service coordination was with The School for the Deaf and Blind.  Still, we had to get her doctor to send in proof.  Come to find out, Lily is legally blind.  (That's a term I had not heard regarding Lily and her vision.)  As it appears, these things take time, but she will start NEXT WEEK!

I'm so excited!  Camp was one thing, but school?!  This is such a big deal for her!  She's going to be surrounded by a great group of teachers and therapists and equipment that are for children like her.  She's going to have the structure of an all-day program, which I'm sure will wear her out, but I've got my fingers crossed that it will help with her sleeping patterns as well.  And I am hoping for great strides!

Not that she hasn't had any.  My, she has grown. . .and grown.  She's gained about six pounds in the past few months and gotten taller.  She's pretty much graduated from 2T into 3T, even though I do keep trying to squeeze her in to some of those 2T sizes.  And the growth developmentally!  She is still crawling, but now she is crawling with purpose.  She crawls to get to toys and to get to where we are.  She has even begun exploring, crawling to other rooms in the house on her own.  She's crawled to the hall bathroom a few times in the past week!  Not so sure what she expects to find in there.  We have two new kittens, and she interacts with them, petting them when they are brave enough to get near her.  She uses the potty in the morning--numbers 1 and 2--and would probably use the potty more often if I took the time to sit her on it more often.  More recently, she has begun switching hands when playing with toys--something I wasn't sure she would ever do.  She plays hide and seek by putting her arm over her eyes, and Thursday, she waved goodbye to two of her therapists during two different sessions.  Whew!

So, next week.  No promises here because I'm obviously not very good at keeping up with this blog, but I will definitely try to share what her first week was like.  

In other news, please say a special prayer for Lily's little friend, Rebekah.  She is in the hospital with bowel obstruction problems.  Poor baby!