As I mentioned before Catherine started Special Education in January.  She has made some progress, but slowly.  Catherine still generally uses one word at a time (does not say “I want cracker” – merely “cracker”) and still relies heavily on placing your hand on the object she wants.  However she is much more willing to repeat a word after you and does sometimes want you to identify objects in a picture by placing your finger on them.  But if she truly understands the words she’s using is anyone’s guess. We are working to get her to point at objects herself.  She will speak in short sentences only when she is play acting out something she saw - although she does love to say “Let’s go” when we are leaving for somewhere.   Overall there is speech, but limited to her desire to use it and when.  Seeing where we were at a short time ago, though, it's beautiful to hear.
Strangely enough Catty loves when there is story time at school, yet we can barely get her to look at a book at home.  No one is sure why there is that disconnect.  She is starting to become more self-aware and will sometimes look at herself in the mirror and laugh or giggle at things she does.  She names colors, numbers and even shapes occasionally – it seems as though she knows more than we realize. Catty looks for favorite items at school.  She likes to feed the Dora doll and then (typical Catty with the need to sort) lines up all the toy food after she has fed it to Dora.  She has responded at school and home with a "quiet card" which has a picture of someone with their finger on their lips.  A little more effective at school than home, but we are working on getting volume down.
Catty continues to love to be loved and give love.  Her new thing is giving part of her head for a kiss if she’s asked.  She seems happy and content although frustrated when she can’t get her point across.  We always remain hopeful.

Catherine has done very well in her first few weeks of school.  Shortly after she started the teachers sent home a book they made with pictures and names of her classmates and also teachers on one side and the word “Hi” on the other.  The intent was to help Catty say “Hi…” to the students in her class (there are only four of them).  She seemed to be responding to these prompts at school, but not at home.  Then one day I heard her saying “Hi” and one of the students’ names.   It caught me by surprise, but it was great to hear it. 

Yesterday when I picked Catty up I was told some really neat news by her teacher.  On her own Catherine started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and sang it the whole way through correctly.  Then, when another girl started to sing it Catty joined in with her.  We are so proud of her!  The odd part is that we have sung this song to her in the past, but it has been some time since we tried to get her to sing.  Lately we've been concentrating on the Itsy Bitsy Spider.  There has been a slow uptick in unprompted words used by Catherine.  Not a dramatic increase, but slow and steady.   She has also been a little bit more playful and interactive with the family lately and loves saying her sister Claire’s name.  Oh the dog's name, too!

Always hopeful!

On Christmas day we were so proud of Catherine.  She sat through Mass for the first time in a long while.  We kept waiting to have to take her out, but other than age appropriate squirms -- she did very well.

We decided to open gifts after Mass (Went to the 8 AM) so we kept Catherine upstairs with us while we prepped for Church.  As we were on our way out the door to Church she noticed the living room was full of presents.  Catherine still went "bye-bye", but kept looking over her shoulder -- it was kind of funny.  When we were coming home from Church I was waiting for Catherine to linger outside as she likes to do -- but nope she made a beeline for the door.  She obviously remembered there were things to look at inside the house!

This Wednesday Catherine starts her Special Education classes for K-3.  We're excited for her, but are really hopeful, as she begins her new adventure.  I have a feeling we'll be more nervous than Catherine!

Having a Christmas tree in the house is a real challenge with Catherine.  At a time when a good deal of children understand they can't take ornaments off the tree, Catherine has discovered that these bright and pretty "toys" are easily removed!  At least we had the brains to put breakable up high and safer ornaments down low.  It's not unusual for us to find wide patches of ornaments missing.  Catherine will often focus on an ornament or two that really capture her fancy.  Inevitably we find them in her bed or tucked away somewhere.  The moment that makes me laugh is when an ornament that she didn't want to come off comes off anyway... then her response usually is to hand you the ornament and say "What happened?".

When she first saw the tree Catherine wanted you to continually pick her up so she could see what was up high.  She would try to get you to move closer so she could suddenly reach out and snatch one that attracted her.  Catherine's fast!  Pine needles are also fair game.  A visitor to our house might notice some of the branches down low look stripped bare.  This year we have not put any gifts under the tree early (things from relatives, etc) because Catherine would simply pull them all out and line them up like she does with her toys.  We don't think there is really a Santa Claus for Catherine -- it's so hard to tell.  She recognizes the picture of Santa -- who she calls "Stinta".  The whole idea of him visiting and leaving toys I think is off her radar.

Catherine does respond to the word "no" or "stop", but she is incredibly persistent and will often wait for an opportune moment to strike for what she wants.  Sometimes we're not sure she understands when she's being corrected.   Just the other day, though, when her mother told her she had to finish her dinner before she could have a cookie, she threw herself on the floor.  Our son said, "I'm not sure she understands," and Mary said "Oh she understands all right  - her laying on the floor so dramatically is her way of telling us 'she gets it.'  She just doesn't like it."

Have a Merry Christmas!

This blog is as much for me as it is for my daughter Catherine.  Catherine is going to be four in January and is significantly developmentally delayed.  It has been a tough road as we learn as a family to deal with her idiosyncrasies.  Please understand... I know that there are families who have much more heartbreaking situations than ours.  I simply offer my own thoughts as to our struggles and joys with Catherine's issues.  I am grateful for the blessings of her health and the love she shows us in her own unique way.

So this is day one of talking about one of the loves of my life -- Catherine.

Catherine doesn't play like other four year old children.  Play for Catherine often consists of unpacking many items, sorting them and lining them up.  Woe to anyone who moves an item out of place!  She likes TV and while we try to control how much she watches she is addicted to the show Yo Gabba Gabba.  She will often act out scenes from the show.  Only some of the word are distinguishable so it took us some time to figure out that's what she was doing.  She also loves to gather a lot of her stuffed animals and lie down with them around her.  You can sometimes find her at night with them on top of her instead of a blanket -- though she doesn't hate blankets.

Hoping to share some Christmas Tree and Christmas time adventures with Catherine soon.