A day of Mention

Some days come and go without much todo, but when it rains it pours, and today was torrential. Life Happened here today in Monumental and Incidental ways, all in all balancing out to be a magnificent, if dirty, day.

1. Today is Elliot's fourth birthday. Hard to believe that four years ago he was a scrawny but LOUD newborn babe. Now my Moose is a funny, cuddly, busy, endearing, smart little man who can dress himself, run fast and climb high, read and write. He was sooo excited to be four, hoping it meant he might outrun Jack from time to time and insistant that his feet reached farther in the car than they did last night.

2. Paxten had liquid poop this morning, and while we were weighing the benefits of keeping her in a pullup at daycare with the risk of regression in toilet training, she threw up on the couch. She spent the rest of the day at home with Steve, NOT being sick. She was so fine that we gave her some noodles with a teeny bit of sauce, lots of water and a small piece of chocolate cake for supper. A half hour later she threw up from the tv to the kitchen sink (while I carried her acrosst he room, stepping in the trail). A half hour after that she shat from her shoulders to her ankles. Looks like she'll be eating bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast again tomorrow.

3. We received confirmation at lunch time that our agency sent our "Letter of Intent" and "Nurturance Plan" to the CCAA this morning, and it was confirmed to have been received. The average wait from this point has been about 2 months for our agency. The next step is waiting for the CCAA to write us and say "sure, you can have her, do you still want her?" Do we!

4. Steve's truck is in the shop. He says it hasn't been shifting right, and it started leaking tonight so he took it in. Something's up with the transmission. We will get quotes tomorrow on fixes, each with their own chances of being successful. We will have to decide how much money to put in a truck that may not be worth much more than the expense of fixing it. It's a stupid old truck, but Steve loves it.

5. I received an email from our agency contact giving us more information about Chun Wen. She is making good eye contact with her caregivers, is using pointing, shared attention, making requests and is fully, independently toilet trained. In short, she is not autistic. I knew this intellectually, but with a diagnosis of "Expressive Language Delay" and my mind in overdrive after spending all week with lots of families battling autism, I was focusing on that very very small chance of an explanation for her delays. This email has settled my stomach and put my mind at ease, and I'm sailing on cloud nine tonight.

So, all in all a great day in spite of puke, shit and transmission fluid. My little man is happy, healthy and four years old, my little lady is healthy and we are one huge step closer to her.

N