Week 2 Kennedy Krieger - Nov 19th

Lauren's been wearing her cast for about a week and a half now and she's doing much better than I would if our roles were reversed. She has a friend at therapy named Isaiah who is 19 months old. He also has his left arm casted so I think that normalizes the treatment for her. For Lauren's whole first week, Isaiah called her "the baby". I'd see him pushing the mini-shopping cart up the hall and telling his therapist "let's go see the baby". Pretty ironic since Lauren is bigger than him and throws far fewer tantrums.

So far, I've noticed that her right hand is not as tight and fisted all day. It's very loose and flexible and she's able to open and close it relatively well, but can't open to full extension. She was coloring this morning in the therapy waiting room (with help) and her fist strength is improved from last week even. The choice of coloring book is interesting, though. The only coloring book in the pathetic waiting room here at Kennedy Krieger is about the history of America. Lauren started by coloring a bank robbery in Dodge City, KS, then moved on to coloring a sketch of the Boston Tea Party, and finished her trio of coloring American history with a picture of the Redcoats and Militia Men.

I've noticed the staff at Kennedy Krieger in general really have their acts together. Lauren's schedule in therapy is very organized and the therapists are always very prompt and upbeat, yet firm with Lauren's therapy. Everyone who passes by greets me, including the handymen and painters. I don't know how they get that kind of atmosphere here, but I'd like to find out. One thing I've learned being in the waiting room for 3 hours at a time is that Lauren and our family have it easy compared to some other families coping with special needs kids. In the waiting room, I made sure to show Lauren the framed articles with pictures of other kids with casts on playing putt-putt and doing classwork. Sure, everyone wears casts sometimes, right?

Delanie's back home since Sunday, and she had a rough time in school on Tuesday. It was her first day back after a week at grandma's house and according to her teacher, she was really misbehaved. Ms. Belinda had to pull grandma aside when she picked up Delanie to ask her what was going on at home. Grandma told Ms. Belinda nothing much was new, except Delanie was out of town for a week getting two-on-one attention from the grandparents, her sister is now wearing a cast for a month, and the whole family is moving in two months. No big upheavals there from a four year old perspective, heh?

Delanie and I had a talk and she was very good Wednesday at school except "one minor problem involving physical aggression" according to Ms. Belinda. I love how Ms. Belinda always gives the vague story and says something like "but we're working on that, right Delanie?" in a cheery voice. Delanie will then climb in the car and tell me all the details. "Cassidy butt in line in front of me to wash our hands after we came in from outside, so I pushed her". We have the obligatory "What should you do next time instead" talk and fingers crossed, she'll have no problems today. After all, movie night is on the line.

Delanie, Lauren, and I always have interesting conversations in the car on the way home from school. Usually they involve an exchange such as:

Delanie: "Don't look at me!"
Lauren: "Don't talk to me."
Delanie: "I told you not to look at me"
Lauren: "Don't talk!"
(Both break down crying)

Last night, as we're driving over an overpass, Lauren announced "I want to go in a building." Hmm, pretty vague. "What kind of building, Lauren?" "WaWa," she replied. Then Delanie jumped in, "I want to go in to 7-11! We never go in the 7-11." "No, Wawa!" "Ok, we'll go in the Wawa tomorrow morning for coffee." To which Delanie argued, "but I want to go in the 7-11. It's so BIG in there. Lauren, I bet we'd lose you in there it's so big in there." "NO!!!" Lauren shouts in terror. (Both break down crying)

Only kidding, they didn't reach the crying stage last night. I thought Lauren would break down this morning on the way to Kennedy Krieger when we were having our typical in the car conversation. She told me a cheerfully, "I can't use this arm," while holding up her casted arm. I told her that she was going to practice using the other arm for a while, and then we'd use the left one again later. She replied, "nooo" in a sad voice and moaned like she was about to cry. "Look!! Lauren, outside the window, it's a BUS STATION! and a MAILBOX!" Lauren: "A MAILBOX?!?" She was immediately highly entertained by a mailbox. Have to love a two year old psyche.

Lauren really has continued to have an awfully big growth in speech with her constraint therapy, despite Delanie returning home. She informed me when she woke up that she is a big girl now and no longer likes her crib. When we stopped at the Wawa this morning, she said "Look at all these people getting out of their cars." (FYI: Delanie and I went to the 7-11 last night too because we never go there. I am a pushover.) In the car today, Lauren sang me such classics as "It's raining, It's pouring . . " and "Twinkle tinkle, go away, come again another day". Looking forward to hearing what else she has to tell us . . .