Lots of Firsts

Elise is doing great and we're seeing some firsts from her. I'm full of hope. She started the UCLA program on Thursday. The first day she stayed with hubby in her new classroom while I did a parent interview with her head teacher, the program nurse, a social worker and her clinic coordinator. Hopefully they obtained a lot of useful information to help Elise. Elise was very happy that evening, so we took it that she liked the program.

On Friday, she had her first full day of school. She separated from me with absolutely no problem. She pretty much ignored the fact that I was leaving and was having a great time playing with the new toys. I stayed and observed in the observation room for 20 minutes or so. The teachers are so encouraging! Her class has 4 teachers and 4 students. On Friday, there were 5 students because the boy Elise is replacing had his last day. There was a party for him and apparently Elise enjoyed herself at it. In fact, when hubby picked her up she wasn't ready to go because she was too busy dancing. The mother of the boy gave a present to Elise. It was 3 puzzles - perfect for our family :) The card she enclosed had her contact information. Her son was pretty amazing to see. I don't know where he started from, but he seemed to be doing really well.

All the staff keeps mentioning the fact that they have 2 girls in the class. Apparently this is not the norm since autism strikes boys so much more than girls. It's really nice for Elise and the other girl that their time in the program coincides. I'm very excited about the program and the prospects of it helping Elise a lot.

The last couple of days Elise has been amazing. There are so many firsts, I don't know where to begin. Hubby told me that she hugged her nanny and him Friday. By the time I got home, she was super tired, so I didn't see any of this. Today, I took her to the pet store with A to have our dog groomed. We took time to look at the animals. There were snakes in the reptile section, but they were in a high up aquarium. I lifted Elise to show her. I pointed to the snakes and said "Look Elise, snakes." She immediately looked rather than ignoring me and then said "Hisssss....." We then went to OT. She was tired there, but did ok. After OT, we went to lunch. I was talking to her at the table. I pointed to her nose and said nose. She then proceeded to point to her own nose and say nose twice. People at the restaurant probably think it's odd that I'm clapping for her over this, but hey, who cares. I'll do almost anything to reinforce that kind of progress.

Tonight during her bath, we were playing. I told her I was going to wash her toes and she immediately grabbed her toes. She's starting to demonstrate much better understanding. She then started gazing at the bath toys. I grabbed some toys and started holding out 2 at a time, asking which she wanted. She would select the one she wanted. I thought she may have tried to say Duck & Quack, but I wasn't sure. I picked out more toys, but she would no longer pick any of them. Then, I tested by selecting the duck I thought she wanted. When that was an option to select, she smiled and picked it right away. She had been trying to say duck! B came into the bathroom and she even picked a toy from him when I showed him how to play with her.

When I was cooking dinner, I heard Elise in the bathroom. I looked and thought she was playing with the toilet seat. When I got to her, I had the feeling that maybe she was asking to use the potty. As I took off her diaper, I noticed that it was newly wet (still warm - TMI). I seriously think she had been asking but because of her communication problems she didn't know how to ask. She was really proud sitting on the potty and hubby and I made a big fuss over her.

Before bed, she was looking through some of A's books in his room. There is a Franklin book and one of the last pages has a birthday party scene. She loves that page. I started singing the Happy Birthday song. I'd say "Happy Birthday, dear Bear" and point to Bear. After the third round of me singing and doing this, she started to point to Bear when I'd sing that part. A joined us and we started to pretend to blow out the candles at the end of the song. She seemed unresponsive to this. However, on the last time we sang and did that, I noticed that she tried to blow them out also. She's really learning.

I've saved the best for last. I was in the living room and called to her in the playroom. She actually looked, so I bent down and outstretched my arms and called again. She walked over and let me hug her. I was already excited by the fact that she'd come when I called. Then, when I let her go, she opened up her arms, wrapped them around me and GAVE me a hug. It was so special. Hugs from the kids always are great, but the feel of a hug from Elise is beyond amazing. She made my day!

That's all for today - that was plenty of progress. I'm so proud of her and how hard she works. I think her confidence will soar in this program. She's finally in the right place, the place where she belongs.