How is Bella doing?

We get this question asked of us quite often.

The short answer….Bella is good, Bella is Bella, Not much has changed.

And it’s the last answer – Not much has changed – is the one that is most depressing.  In that tiny little statement we actually mean. 

1.  Bella is still teething/not sleeping through the night/making us exhausted all the time. 

2.  Bella hasn’t made any noticeable progress with development, so to most people she is exactly the same she has been forever. 

3.  While life is good, life is still a struggle and always will be when Bella is concerned.

As we are starting a new chapter on life called “Full day Kindergarten” (Cue the chorus of angels singing), I thought maybe I would take a few minutes to document Bella’s preschool experience.

Bella started preschool when she was 2 years old.  She had 4 years of preschool, one year with Children’s TLC downtown Kansas City, and 3 years in our school district.

If you asked me what she has accomplished in her 4 years of preschool in an overall observance I would say.

1.  She eats better.  She still has to have her food pureed, you still have to feed her by spoon, but she can manage the food better in her mouth and she doesn’t choke as much.

2.  She holds on to more objects in her right hand for longer periods of time.

The end.

I’m not joking with the statement above.  That is in general her progress in the last years, that is why I have come to except that Bella will probably stay the same for the rest of her life.  What I don’t know is how hard things will be as she continues to get bigger and harder for this short person to manage?

That is why in the end, I just want to figure out what makes her happy and how we can make her life enjoyable in whatever capacity she has.

Tomorrow I will go into more depth on her actual goals, therapies, and what really happened in preschool.