Welcome Grandma Patty!
This morning, Patty, Dalia and I drove toward Playlab, Dalia's daycare, at the Hannaford Career Center at Middlebury Union High School (affiliated with the Parent Child Center).
As we turned into the parking lot, Dalia sat up, eyes lit up, and said, "Howdy? Howdy?" -- Howdy is the name of her favorite teacher. She loves Howdy, she loves "school." She's been going to day care for the past 2 1/2 week -- went right in and played with the play-do and the dolls and the markers right away. We are SO fortunate to have this child!! And so fortunate to be able to send her to such a positive place. 15 kids, 4 teachers, some rotate from the Parent Child Center but three are there every day. The kids go for walks through town, they explore the new bridge being built over Otter Creek, they walk to the river and look for frogs, they go to the playgrounds.
Today, my friend, Pam saw Dalia on one of her walks. She waved to Dalia and Dalia waved back. Mama was happy.
Today, we also went to visit Dr. Laub for Dalia's second post-operative appointment. All looks fine, though there is one of the fistula (holes) that is clearly still healing. We leaned Dalia back to take a look into her mouth. I could see perfectly -- a sore spot ... and a tooth!! In the middle of seemingly nowhere (no other teeth). But Dr. Laub couldn't see... so, Grandma Patty made Dalia laugh by blowing up a rubber glove... and finally Laub confirmed.
Now - we work on her speech, or rather, SHE works on her speech with her speech therapist and on her own. We see if she still has the strong nasal sound with air coming out of her nose when she speaks. And we see the speech specialist on the Cleft Lip/Palate Team in the spring.
Her vocabulary is multiplying. She can now say several two-word sentences and three-syllable words. Moccasin. Dalia's room. Come back, sun! Grandma in there. Elmo sleeping. Night night, Mama.
