Monday, February 25, 2008

Off to a good week at school...

Grandma got a lovely email for Miss Cathy, my teacher. It appears she told her how I am putting a puzzle together correctly, placing pennies in a bank all by myself and learning to stack cubes! The email has grandma flying high tonight!

I even drank from a straw 3 times last week! Look out world, Miss Emma is on the move in more ways than you can imagine. And more yet to follow. :-)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

What a great week...

Hi everyone! I do not know where to begin reminiscing of my week first. I guess I will start with Tuesday's visit to the neurologist. We chose to see one affiliated with Dr. McBride's practice locally in Medina. His name is Dr. Enlow and he is just as nice and attentive as she is. Grandma took me in so she and he talked for about 45 minutes or so. All the while he was checking me out, letting me play with his stethoscope,tear the paper off the exam table and laughing with me rather than at me. :-) He is so cool. I even grabbed his glasses and he didn't even get angry about it. Gotta love a doctor with a sense of angel-humor inside him.


Anyway, he asked grandma how the Keppra was working out and she told him no seizure break through noted, but that I was definitely a bit on the hyper/agitated side since we began using it. She told him that she chose to go with Keppra as she didn't want to see me poked for regular lab work if we could avoid it and he seemed to understand. He suggested adding Catapres/Clonidine at bedtime to my list of meds/vitamin supplements. Grandma immediately responded; "Isn't this a blood pressure medication?" He told her yes, its an older b/p med that has many uses and works well for ADHD. He suggested we try it as he and grandma did not want to use any other ADHD meds like Ritalin if we could find a method to slow me down a bit and allow me to get back to focusing better like I had before the seizures and Keppra became a part of my life.


Well......guess what? It worked! Not only am I more focused but I am more vocal and my left hand tremor/shakiness is totally gone. Can you believe this? I have had this shaky hand thing for as long as anyone can remember and its gone, totally disappeared. Woo hoo! Now this is totally cool if you ask me. I can eat and drink without my hand shaking and am steady as can be. And I only take 0.05 mg of Clonidine to achieve this. I also started my Omega 3/DHA soft gels this week and only eat yoplait kids yogurt with DHA and 25% less sugar now. I cannot even tell the difference with the less sugar and its far easier to scoop with my spoon as it is whipped not creamy! Grandma told daddy its all about brain food. She is so funny about this and feeding my little brain these days. Always on daddy to cut back sugars and foods with lots of coloring added to it. Poor daddy, grandma does tend to read him the riot act at times but deep down we all know she is only looking out for my best interests and keeping me healthy and on track.


Speaking of on track, let me share this one. I have become quite independent with my mealtime and using of my utensils too. Daddy still wants to help and I have been rejecting his assistance most of the week now. Grandma laughs and tells him if he wants to help, just hold my bowl or plate but give me back by spoon/fork cause I want to do it myself. So.....he finally gives in and away I go. You cannot begin to imagine just how fast I can feed myself till you actually seen me in action. :-) I am one speedy little eater these days and have become quite the pro eating with a fork and spoon. I think daddy is having a hard time seeing be grow up these days. Grandma and I have been chatting about that. He loves being my hero and taking care of me as he has done for so many years now. And I do love him for this, but like grandma keeps telling me we will just have to bear with him as he adjusts to my new found independence and give him extra hugs and kisses along the way.


Saturday daddy took Tori and I for new hairdo's. I got mine a cut a wee bit shorter this time to keep it out of my way while I eat. Daddy told grandma I sat like a big girl almost all the way through this salon visit. Of course we think that is also related to the Clonidine medication I am taking now. Tori wanted a new hairdo too. She wanted hers cut like Miss Robin's. Daddy told the stylist to cut it to her shoulders so she did. Tori looked at it and told the stylists it wasn't short enough and asked her to cut off more. Daddy looked at her, looked at the stylist and said do as she wishes. Now she has the cutest hair cut and it has a wee flip on the ends like a grown up. She looks like she is going to be older than 6 years old in 2 weeks! Everyone loves our new haircuts!


This morning was a shocker for me as grandma spent the night. When I got up this morning she took me to the big girls potty and sat me on it. I wasn't too sure why, but I went along with this little game. The next thing I knew I was going pee-pee on the potty! Yes, your reading this correctly. Don't worry, I was stunned too. I looked at grandma, looked down between my legs at what was happening, looked back at my grandma and she was hooting and carrying on telling me what a big girl I was. I am still not quite sure what that all means, but something tells me this is the beginning of a long journey to potty training. At least I thought that is what I heard her telling daddy this morning. Uh-oh, here we go with yet another lesson for me...... Gee whiz, do the lessons ever stop for angels? The don't at my house!


Here is a picture of the potty chair system grandma is buying for me! I had to sneak on her computer and snatch this so you could see what I mean about her and daddy's latest conversation. Looks like I better get prepared for this one!

Did I mention Grandma has been reading Maddie's web page posts and is trying to come up with more lesson ideas for me? Something to do with ABA-ish, PROMPT and spelling? I think I need to angel-fix her computer to keep her from doing so much reading. All she does it get new ideas to try on me and that means more work for one of us namely me! If you could have seen her face this past week when she read how I put a puzzle together at school and that I sucked from a straw 3 times in OT, you would have thought I ran a marathon. Grandma just goes crazy when my teacher and therapists send home these notes telling her and daddy how my day went and what I did at school. I don't know what the big deal is but they sure think its something. Hey, if it thrills them to read about my day at school, I say go for it. But it generally adds to my lessons at home. Like since Rita (my PT therapist) and grandma met, I get to do my exercises 3 more times a week. :-( Since she taught grandma how to do them I have to sit on the floor and watch PBS kids and exercise while watching my cartoons. No rest for this angel that is for sure. Who would have figured my cartoon time would turn into an exercise program? Certainly not me!!!!
Well folks, its a school night so gotta go to bed and get my rest. Who knows what this week will bring for me....but you can almost bet it won't go without a lesson of some sort. LOL
Angel hugs and sweet dreams to all.