Round 118 – 14 weeks since last post

1. Alexi’s teacher called on her day off — told me that she heard at the end of that day, Lexi started acting up, bucking in her chair, was very loud, so the substitute asked her what was wrong – and reported Alexi answered her by saying, “feel sick” and “failure” (NEW!!) They then offered her the OT room and swing and she went and calmed down and came home. When she arrived home, she walked up our steps and said to me “Sorry Miss ____” and “Sad” before I could even ask her how her day was. When I asked, they said nothing unusual happened before she said the word “failure” seemed out of the blue. We were blown away by this, as was her teacher, as none of us knew she even knew the word ‘failure.’ -5/14/21
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2. I noticed someone had unplugged my charging phone so I went upstairs yelling “Lexi, did you take my phone?” and as I neared the kids’ bedrooms I heard music playing coming from Kyra’s room, so I went in and saw them both listening to Wonder Pets music on Kyra’s phone, I asked, “Alexi, did you take my phone off charge?” She answered, “Yes” so I asked, “Where is it?” She immediately pointed to my bedroom (NEW) – she admitted she took it and pointed — wow……….. -5/15/21
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3. Alexi kept saying “I like to dance” all day, so in kitchen during dinner I suggested “Go ahead, dance and I’ll video you” she started to dance! I said, “Turn on the radio” and she did and did some new spinning dance moves! Then I suggested she sing- and she DID! (NEW) For her to actually sing and/or dance after them being suggested to her is new for sure. Then… she watched my video of her singing and she corrected herself by saying “Lady” 2ce after noticing she had incorrectly sung, “My fair Laby.” ____________________________
4. Rainy day, lazy day. Alexi was upset when she woke after falling asleep in basement after dinner. I went down to basement and sat with her and she was scripting but obviously upset but clearly asked me “Fighting?” as if her upset was perhaps due to a dream that her dad and I were fighting – she was just so clearly asking about fighting and it seemed she was asking if we had been… wow. -5/29/21
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5. Took Alexi to Cruella movie – she was the best she’s ever been at a movie… She said, “Skunk” and pointed at main character, she was very connected to what was happening on the screen. -5/30/21
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6. I handed Alexi the phone to talk to my sister,
   Alexi said, “Hi Aunt Tanja, Georgia, Uncle Joe”
   T: Hi Alexi, how are you?
   Alexi: “Fine, how are you?”
   T: “I’m good.. Where are you going?
   Alexi: “the Diner”
   T: “What will you eat?”
   Alexi: “Hamburger, french fries, red soda”
   T: “Oh that sounds delicious, are you going to have dessert? I then prompted Alexi to ask, “What is dessert?”
   T: “Dessert is when you have something sweet after dinner”
   Alexi: silence
   T: “…like cake, or pie, or ice cream”
   Alexi: “Vanilla, white ice cream”
   T: “Oh, that’s great. So your mom is going, who else is going? “
   Alexi: “Mommy, Kyra, Daddy and Alexi, green car, go”
   WOW- No repeated questions, quicker answers than ever! We were blown away! -6/6/21
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7. Father’s day, went to the movies and last time and this time -best times ever! She watched, commented, “yellow horse” “gum” “wooohooo“ and “train” -6/20/21
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8. During extended school year during summer, this day Alexi’s teacher came out to tell me that Alexi kept talking about home during the day, and that she kept mentioning “Yellow bus, Monday” which definitely correlated to the fact that she was making sure she’d be getting the yellow bus again after the weekend for Monday’s trip to school. Then her teacher asked if we planned to have pizza that night as Alexi had been mentioning “pizza, red soda“ to her during the day as well. Her teacher was so heartened to observe that Alexi kept mentioning these things about her home life, (NEW) for her. -7/9/21
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9. On vacation, she did a great job choosing clip-on earrings as I kept having her choose between 2 till we hit upon gummy bear earrings which she ‘decided’ were the winners. She tolerated wearing them for 1-1/2 hours – longest ever! -8/7/21
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10. Alexi asked to look at our digital frame (NEW) and Pat noticed she was bringing his joint attention to every photo and when he corrected one she mislabeled she remembered it the next time ’round (NEW). -8/7/21
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11. Pat noticed Alexi and I having a conversation across 2 rooms yesterday – she was recalling details about our recent vacation and complimenting it – both of which are not extremely new but were much quicker and more appropriate than we are used to. -8/7/21
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12. At the passport office Alexi, unprompted, asked me, “Airplane?” To which I responded that we were just renewing the passport but didn’t have a trip planned while I looked around and noticed no posters, no mentions at all about how passports enable one to travel. Another example of Alexi understanding far beyond what we suspected. -8/9/21
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13. Tanja noted the following changes after her visit in about 1 year:
    “Much more present and engaged. Stating what she wants like ice cream on the boardwalk. Getting upset when not getting what she wants. Reciprocal play like throwing the ball back and forth in the pool. Answering questions with words and phrases. Wanting to be part of our conversations!” -8/9/21
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14. Eye doctor exam after 1+ years since last appt. Dr. P was really impressed with how much Alexi could do during this exam. She was able to not only identify letters, but this time she could follow all his directions, put her chin where he asked her to, and kept eyes open, looked where he asked her to look, and then she, for the first time, was able to compare 1 versus 2 and tell him which was better/clearer!!! Kyra and I kept grinning to each other as she kept complying so well, we were so proud of her! At the exam’s end Dr. P offered, unprompted, “Wow, Alexi, you really have changed since you were last here, what a great job you did!” 8/11/21
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15. later – I took her to the movies again to see “Space Jam” and she was even better still at this movie than the last 2! She shared popcorn this time without issue, she kept pointing to the screen and wanted joint attention repeatedly! “Pig” “basketball” “Rabbit” “Carrot” “Carrot juice” “Ball” – she watched the screen consistently throughout the movie even after the popcorn ran out. Wow – best movie experience yet! -8/11/21
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16. Pat observed that lately Alexi seems much less patient with being left out of conversations and activities. –August 2021 observation
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17. Another observation we made is that she is able to handle inactivity much better than she used to as she is better able to understand delayed fun activities in her future. –August 2021 observation
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18. 1st vacation we did not even think to bring Melatonin for sleep problems – she did well. Also we didn’t restrict her food per usual sensitivities and she did well. –August 2021 observation
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19. Last few months she has changed so that she’ll sing along with Pat playing guitar (NEW) and she will now sing stronger and with more confidence when she harmonizes with Kyra (NEW). –August 2021 observation