I am happy to report that Samantha’s morning teacher and I are communicating more often now (and I didn’t even have to contact the social worker). Sam came home without her mittens, and she happened to still be at the school (and the mittens were still in Sam’s cubby), and we were able to get a nice chat in about everything (or as nice as could be, given how socially awkward I am when it comes to talking on the phone). She has a new communication notebook, and it’s helped a lot.
In other news, Samantha is wearing panties almost all of the time, so potty training may be close to complete. We had a goal of her fifth birthday, so even with the autism, we are making progress. On the bad side, she isn’t good about telling me when she needs to go, but I’ve given her free access to the potty, and she’s been really good about using it and staying dry.
Unfortunately, Samantha has used her newfound free access to all of the house to figure out how to open the exterior doors and open interior doors that she shouldn’t open, so we’ve had to retrieve the cats from the basement more than once and retrieve her from the great outdoors. I thought doorknob covers were past us, but since she doesn’t seem to get the danger in messing with those doors, I’ve ordered some more.
Fortunately, thanks to Swagbucks giving me Amazon gift cards in exchange for the bucks I’ve earned from using their search engine, I was able to get the covers I wanted for free. If you would like to join Swagbucks, you can go to http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/LadyCygnet and it will tell them that I sent you. 🙂
I’m really proud of the progress that Samantha has made so far. I don’t know if parents of neurotypical children Samantha’s age get this proud over simple things like writing things that resemble letters, staying dry, or even hearing their child say, “Mama,” but I’m not ashamed of my enthusiasm over the little things.