Quiet Little Miracles

I woke up this morning to the sound of The Princess singing in her room, waiting for Mommy to peel herself out of bed, away from the nice warm dogs, and take her to the potty. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes and tearing myself away from the puppy hugs, I made my way to her room where I was greeted with a huge smile and a "Momma".

From there we headed across the hall into the bathroom, where The Princess stepped up on her stool and patiently waited for me to get her jammies out of the way so she could sit down. And not a second too soon - the very moment her butt hit the seat I heard the glorious sound of tinkles in the toilet instead of in her pants.

It was going to be a good day.

I worked from home today, and Julie (The Princess's speech therapist) dropped by for her Tuesday morning session. Kiddo has started cycling back to having a fit when she sees Julie - we were good for a while, but last week it started up again. This morning, she was inconsolable for about 37 seconds, until she spotted a toy in Julie's myriad supplies that just couldn't be ignored.

For being two years old, this little girl amazes me more than I ever thought possible. Being a parent means worrying...when something seems off with your kid, you can overreact at levels previously unheard of. This is your child. Nothing can possibly be wrong, and when it is...well, it's the end of the world. We've gotten over the negative attitudes about The Princess not speaking thanks to a few reasons:

1. What good does it do to worry all the time when you could be playing with your kid?

2. Her social skills are visibly improving, especially after upping her therapy sessions to twice a week.

3. She's begun to communicate clearly, even if it isn't spoken.

A bit of background for those of you who are new to my story...my daughter was born in April of 2007. At 18 months old, the pediatrician did an autism screening and she hit all but one point of concern. As a result of that screening, Dr. Joe recommended a more in-depth evaluation from a state-funded program called Early Intervention.

We were put in contact with our case worker at Options & Advocacy, a local non-profit that works with Early Intervention. Heather is a delight, and she's been unbelievably helpful through all of this. She set up our first evaluation, where they determined that The Princess is 50% or more behind where she should be as far as speech is concerned. Heather then set up weekly speech therapy sessions for The Princess with Julie, another guardian angel who has swooped into our lives.

After about 6 months of therapy with Julie, we requested another evaluation because we didn't feel that the changes were as significant as we'd hoped. And the state funding runs out when Kiddo turns 3 -- after that it's up to the public school system to help her out if I can't pay out-of-pocket (Lord, help me!). At that time we received the okay from Options & Advocacy/Early Intervention to increase her speech therapy sessions with Julie from once a week to twice a week. So for the last few months, Julie has been coming over to play on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.

You wouldn't believe the difference. She's not speaking yet, but the lines of communication are certainly open. She has begun to indicate clearly when she wants something, and if you're not paying proper attention she'll let you know. She'll take her sippy cup and put it in my hand when she's thirsty. If she's hungry, she'll hand me a plate or a bowl. If I'm not paying attention she'll grab my hand, turn it over, plop whatever she wants into it and give me a look like, "Come on, Ma! What's a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?"

These seem like trivial things, I know, but when you spend so much time with a person with whom you cannot communicate, you take what you can get. Small things, like my grabbing her cup when she really wanted a snack, used to cause inconsolable meltdowns. Now there's no doubt what she wants - she is telling me in her own way. I couldn't care less if she decides to speak yet - showing me is just fine.

Since Julie started coming twice a week, The Princess's tantrums have decreased - I kid you not - by about 75%. Now that's saying something.

I just love to watch her play with Julie - you can almost hear the wheels turning in her head as she picks up on things. I swear sometimes I can actually see her learning.

It's too early to diagnose anything like Autism at this point. As a mommy, I'm going to love my daughter the same no matter what may happen down the line.

But it's those sneaky moments, the ones that seem inconsequential if you don't look hard enough, which make life so great as it is right now. Sitting on the potty, with a grin spreading across her face as she realizes she has to go...knowing that if she tinkles in there like a big girl you'll let her flush all by herself. Playing the picture matching game with Julie and getting every single solitary one right on the very first try - the pride in her eyes, the joy in her giggle. If you're not careful, these quiet little miracles can slip by unnoticed and vanish into the night like so much fairy dust.