WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

I am still in disbelief! I am going to tell this story from the beginning, so hold on tight. It is no lie that Ed and I are no spring chickens, and parenting a two year old after the two big ones left us tired and dry, has been a bit of a challenge. Not a bad challenge, a perfectly wonderful challenge, but a challenge. One that I welcome and love and would not trade this "perfect" child for the world. `Our challenge is not our child but re-training our old, tired bodies for the extreme hyperactivity of our two-year-old. Let's just say we have been literally running a marathon for a year and a half without sleep. However, for the past two weeks, Leah is becoming more a little girl and less a toddler. The speech and occupational therapists have noticed too. Her language has improved so much and I have actually taken her shopping twice without the stroller, which serves as a restraint! PROGRESS!! But today! Well, as most of you know, she has been experiencing sleep issues. And although we have had good nights and bad nights, she still wakes up every night. For 2 months she has been starting off in her bed (which in itself is a miracle) and at about 1 or 2 am wakes up and comes to our bed. While in our bed she still has night terrors in her sleep. Most of the time they last less than a minute but they happen every couple of hours. For the past week there have been no night terrors!!!!!! Then this morning I was awakened by Ed saying "bye" when I jumped out of the bed realizing Leah wasn't in it! Yes, people, she slept soundly, in her own bed, ALL NIGHT!!!! Will it last? I don't know, but we will celebrate regardless. Thank you. God, for the gift a good night's sleep.

One More Chance!

We have been awarded one more chance! I know I was more excited than Leah!. Thanks to Jasmine! Leah's little friend Jasmine started "Fairy Ballet" class last week. They really enjoy playing together so Mimi let Leah try out the class one more time. Mimi also has an assistant now, so its a little easier. As the parents watched from the window, I was almost too afraid to look but the other parents told me to come see that they were all doing great. Great is was. They were all so cute. Leah seemed to stay with the group better so Mimi's assistant, Chelsea, was able to get a couple of pictures. She is still learning to listen and follow directions but she seemed less distracted this time. It was a huge improvement. The children are allowed to bring a stuffed animal or doll to class and she even shared nicely. At the end of each class the children get to color a picture that goes along with the theme of the week. That part is too much for Leah as she is still unable to sit and work on one task for over 3 seconds, but we are working on it and this will help her with that as well.

Leah's First Expulsion

Leah has been expelled from Mimi's "Fairy Ballet" class. The studio has a wonderful program for children ages 2 and a half to 5. Leah started in September. We were all worried about how she would do but she surprised us and followed directions, got along well with others and did great. The program is really cute and the girls seem to love it. She did so great that I decided to enroll her twice per week instead of once. BIG MISTAKE!! Saturday's class has another little girl who is just like Leah (Minus the hyperactivity) and the 2 of them together was more than Mimi could handle. Let's just say that the only thing that was not happening in that class was actual ballet. Mimi was so angry the last time she asked me not to bring her back. I was so sad that it has taken me a couple of weeks to write this post. What, you ask, could this sweet child have done to put her loving and doting big sister over the edge? Well, where do I begin? Michelle's exact words were "she is very distracting to the other girls who pay no attention to me because they watch Leah to see what weird thing she will do next". This class uses lots of props, Leah plays with the props when she is not supposed to, takes things away from the other girls, when coloring a picture of first position she scribbled on the other children's papers, she no longer follows the steps and does her own wild dance instead, in which of course everyone then stops to watch her. OK, she is only 2. Michelle didn't start ballet until she was 3. We will give it some time and start over. Despite this rocky start she is still my favorite little ballerina and I have hope that she will calm down some by the time she is 3.