Ch-ch-ch-changes

Just when we think we've adjusted to a new routine, something changes. Ugh. Morgan doesn't do changes well and honestly, I like my routine too. We'd just started to get into a nice groove after the holiday break. Morgan was looking forward to school each day and I've been taking advantage of having just Piper for a few hours in the morning so I can get some errands done or even have a few play dates with friends/kids closer to Piper's age.

Now Morgan's preschool teacher wants to switch her to the afternoon session. There are a lot of reasons for this and some against it. We are leaning towards the switch, but it's a tough decision. The afternoon session starts this week and her teacher is taking a little time to get to know the new kids. We don't have to make a decision right away, but it will be in the next week or two. We are also hoping one of the Morgan's "friends" from her class will move with her so she has one other child who is familiar to her. Luckily the teachers will all be the same. One pro is that there may be more opportunity for "academics" (letters, numbers , etc.) in the new class since there will be more kids at a similar level as Morgan. Of course she knows all her letters and numbers, but I'm sure they will gear the activities towards something challenging for her.

Other info on Morgan:

Language
Morgan is gaining some more spontaneous language. At least we think it's spontaneous because we know it didn't come from us. It could be some things she's heard at school too. When we ask her a yes or no question she'll respond no, no way, nope, yes, yep, okay and sure. Sure? Don't know where that came from. Yesterday I asked her to hang up her coat and she said "Okay Mama, that's a good idea!" Hee hee. Yesterday at dinner we asked her if she wanted anything else to eat (as usual, she was not touching what we gave her), and she said "cinnamon rolls!" Hmmm. Unfortunately we had no cinnamon rolls to offer (and would not have given them to her for dinner anyway), but it was a unexpected suggestion. There are a lot of other examples, but overall she's making strides. This makes me feel good that she's still making progress, though she's not currently receiving speech/language therapy. You may remember she didn't qualify for this through the school, but it's still an area of concern for us.

Fine Motor Skills
Morgan is also making strides in this area. Her Occupational Therapist says she is doing so well that she may have to write new goals for her already. Go Morgan! As you saw in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday, she is now (finally) building with her Lego's. It's so neat to see her create on her own. She usually wants me to do it for/with her. She's also using her coloring books with a lot more skill too. We still don't know her "handedness" yet though. She switches back and forth between her right and left pretty equally.

Potty Training
Still a no-go. Will sit on the potty, but won't do anything in it. I read something that said that many kids with autism spectrum disorders do not show clear "readiness" signs like typical kids do. Basically you have to switch totally to undies and deal with the accidents until they "get it." I'm tentatively thinking that I may want to start in March and I've started to tell Morgan that the pull-ups are going away "soon." We'll see if I stick to the plan. Yikes!

I think that's whats going on with Morgan for now. I'll do a Piper update soon too.