That's My Girl!

Can you tell she is homeschooled....look how she is into that book.

Emily laughing because she realized I was trying to take a picture.

Emily has been getting Early Intervention for the last 7 months. The woman that does it, Sue, has a son that plays on CJ's baseball team. Emily was originally assessed last year in July when she was 7 months old. Sue called late morning to ask if she could bring the team by and do her assessment early (it wasn't due until next month) since they had a cancellation. I told her it was fine so Sue along with 4 other ladies came by to watch and assess Emily do things on command.

Sue and I were both worried how Emily would handle having so many strangers around. She is not really a sociable kind of child. Just having people around that she doesn't know will make her clam right up. Even when we are outside running around. If she is running and one of the neighbors says "hello" she will stop dead in her track and either run the other way or straight over to my leg. I really wish people could see how she is at home with us. She hams it up!!!

Well to our delight (and surprise) she did AWESOME with everyone here. She still took some time to warm up but she did FANTASTIC with the assessment. She is 17 months now. There was only one area that she did not preform at or above level. Expressive language she was at 12 months. They have to actually hear the child say words and babble. Both Sue and I knew going into this that she wouldn't do it in front of them. Language development is the reason why she started getting EI to begin with. I am happy to say that in the last 3-4 weeks though she has been making leaps with her noises. If you went back just a month or so ago she could go the whole day without saying a word. Now around the family she sings, points to things and has little baby conversations (especially with the dog).

Because of the language delay she will continue to get EI 2 times a month plus she is going to do a play group every Friday for 1 1/2 hours to help with her socialization (she doesn't do well with even "strange" children). We are very proud of the job she did today. She actually smiled for everyone and made a few sounds before they left. I am hoping someday everyone will get to see the playful, happy, smiley side of Emily that we get to experience daily. I am glad that she lets us be a part of it. She real does warm a heart.