Life as a Leach

On Monday, Matt and I met with Abby's preschool teacher for a conference.  She meets with all of the parents to discuss strengths and weaknesses before kindergarten (Abby has another year, but she's in a class with older students).   I couldn't stop the tears from falling when she said, "If I didn't know that Abby had concerns, I would never suspect anything."  This woman has known our family for so long and she is well aware of how far Abby has come.  Her words meant SO much to me.   When you have a child who you were told would be little more than a vegetable, you learn to be thankful for every milestone.  You try not to compare to other kids and just celebrate as she gains skills, but you constantly Google age-appropriate skills to see where she falls.  You pray from the beginning that she will have a natural love of learning and are so thankful when she does.  You incorporate learning into everyday play and live a therapy lifestyle.  ...

The preschool where Abby and Anna go had an adorable little Christmas program.  The kids sang a few songs, played their bells, and enjoyed some treats! Of course, Abby and Anna were side by side.  Double trouble! The both kept talking to Lucy in the audience. Proof that Abby sang.  :) Anna started trying to think of ways she could get into trouble... ...and decided to just take a step off of the stage.  Abby was quick to say, "Ah, ah, ah!  No, no, no!" and attempt to pull her back to her spot. The pastor shared a little story with the kids.  He started talking about presents, and Abby jumped up and gasped, "I have presents TOO!" complete with dramatic hand motions.  It was pretty cute! Making smiley faces at Lucy Her hot date, apparently.   I loved every minute!

Recently, Abby's preschool took a trip to a local farm to learn about the animals and pick a pumpkin.  (If you are keeping a grand total of pumpkin-picking, we're up to 6 pumpkins.)  Sadly, they didn't decide on a date until the last minute and I was already leading a staff development on the day that was chosen, so I wasn't able to go.   Thankfully, Matt is off on Mondays and enjoyed a little Daddy-Daughter time. Plus, anywhere with Anna is fun! Matt was my photographer, so I have no idea what this is.  A dog?  A goat?  A gigantic rat?  Who knows, but she's petting it!  Kids enjoyed time in the corn pit! Everybody checking out the animals! I have more pictures, but I'm very careful not to post pictures of non-family members without permission, so I've limited it to the ones that don't show faces.  But I think you get the idea.  Abby loves going to the farm, no matter where it is!

Abby had a wonderful first day of preschool!  She went right into class and began playing with Anna without any hesitation.  They were playing dress up (without masks, of course!!) when I left the room. I was surprisingly completely fine!  I didn't even shed a tear because I was just too proud of her to be sad that she was so grown up.  It also helped that I left there to volunteer at Caleb's school, so I was kept busy while she was gone! Enjoy a few of her first day of school pictures!  (Side note:  Abby was not very cooperative this morning!  I do hope this is not to mean she's going to start acting like Caleb does when the camera is out!) Aren't they the cutest set of "twins" you've ever seen?!

Tomorrow is Abby's first day of preschool.  I never, in a million years, would have been believed two years ago that she would be going to preschool on her own, trach-free, without an assistant!  God has amazed me time and time again with this girl. We are supposed to send in a baby picture tomorrow.  Ours aren't exactly the norm, but nothing about Abby is!  I've been taking a little walk down memory lane tonight and looking at some early photos of my sweet girl! This was the very first time I ever held her.  I will never forget that moment. This is probably my favorite early picture of her.  Look at the determination in those dark eyes of hers.  She was a fighter from the start! What a long way she has come!  I will definitely post some first day of school pictures, so stay tuned!

Abby goes to a Friday program at our church called Mom's Morning Out.  We just call it school, and she loves it!  Her teachers are wonderful and have really helped her to blossom this year.  The main teacher sends an awesome email each week explaining in detail what their activities were for the day.  This is really helpful for a mom whose daughter doesn't share too much with me!  They even have a Snapfish album where they upload pictures so that we can see what they do each week. I've so enjoyed seeing the pictures of Abby at school interacting with her friends.  I picked out a "few" of my favorites and thought you might enjoy them too! I love the way she's reaching here.  We try to encourage standing on her tiptoes to strengthen calves, gluts, etc. Amy and I love dressing the girls as twins when we can.  They are the only girls in the class, so it's pretty cute.  :) Making applesauce ornaments Halloween twins! ...

She loves school!

Check out Caleb's signing during his preschool graduation!  I don't know if you can tell too much here, but he didn't even usually need to watch his teacher for reminders of the signs.  I was really proud of him! They did another signing song, but Blogger is being really weird and will only post certain videos.  I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it, but it's very annoying.  :(

Here is where I bore you with all of my Proud Momma pictures of Caleb's preschool graduation.  Love it or hate it.  Either way, I'm sharing them!   After a pot luck dinner, everybody watched a slide show.  I took pictures of a few of the photos of Caleb. Why am I not surprised that there are so many pictures of him building with Legos? This is hard to see, but they are inside of this huge "space bubble" made out of trash bags and blown up with a big fan.  He's dressed in astronaut gear, complete with soda bottle oxygen tanks! The kids were taught to line up to receive their diploma with their right arm out and their left arm behind their back.  It was hysterical to watch them!  Note the progression of the kids here in these next few... Yeah, not a single kid is doing what he/she is supposed to be doing now! My graduate...sigh! His arms went back into position for the handshakes!  rece...