Whirlwind

Lila and I have been home for a week and a half now.  A lot has happened in that time, and I am looking forward to getting back to some peace and quiet.

What has occurred over the past ten days?  Lila's teachers have recommended that she stay back in kindergarten for another year, but go for a full day.  Matt and I knew at some point that we would hear this and have to make the best decision for her, but didn't see it coming in January...5 months before the school year ends.  Nevertheless, we have to take their recommendation and do what is right for Lila.  I am sure she will thrive and am looking forward to her gaining confidence in academics.

Secondly, we made the decision to change physical therapists.  Possibly even more difficult than the aforementioned.  Libby has been absolutely amazing, however Lesley has been trained in this intensive therapy program that we have invested so much in for Lila, and are seeing such amazing results.  So, in Lila's best interest, we have decided to make the change.  This also came from Lila seeing the "cage" in the new physical therapy space and asking to do exercises on the table, right when we got back from New Orleans.  We had our first visit with Lesley on Tuesday...Lila got to work in the cage doing strengthening exercises, and then went to speech.  After 45 minutes of speech, she asked to do more exercises in the cage!  I guess it was the right decision :-)

Lastly, Lila had an appointment with the ophthalmologist, Dr. Hong, that performed her eye surgery at 18 months.  Our typical eye doctor recommended that we see Dr. Hong for Lila's next full check-up, to take a look at her weak right eye and double check her prescription.  Dr. Hong was not one of my favorite doctors early on, which is why we just stuck with our normal eye doctor, however there was a big change in the doctors demeanor during this last visit.  Pleasant surprise!  We talked about Lila's right eye, which was working 100% with her left eye the entire visit (2 hrs and 20 minutes), which was so great to see/hear!  We tested for color blindness, and talked about PVL on the brain (possible vision issue relating to Lila's lack of focus in school).  Turns out that Lila has grown out of her prescription (YAY!) and only has to wear her glasses for reading (possibly a stem cell blessing :-).  I have been talking to Lila's teachers about color blindness for the past 2 1/2 years, and there was no way to test her at such a young age.  We were able to finally do the test and see if this is a problem for Lila.  Dr. Hong was not ready to diagnose her completely, even though she did get the two controls correct, and very very fast, and then could not get any of the other letters right through the rest of the test (the five pages following the control are all related to color blindness!!!).  So, we will retest her in three or six months and see if we get the same results.  I believe this is a big issue for Lila, and if we knew for sure we could alter her education accordingly to help her progress.  So, a great visit, and very productive :-)

I had two doctor appointments today, as it is time for me to take care of myself.  Seems as though Matt and I have stopped caring about our health, which really needs to change.  I am very excited about making some healthy lifestyle changes and being a better mother because of it!  Here's to 2012!