Mindless Ramblings of Brooke: 3 years

Tomorrow is the last day of Preschool, but since I have to work tomorrow I decided to take her last day of preschool photo today, and post the pictures of how she has grown over the past 2 years.

Lets go back 3 1/2 years ago. For Ariana's 2 year check up the doctor went over the growth, seeing that she was tiny and had not even hit the growth charts yet. At that time she was growing about 1/2 pound per month. We went in every month for growth check ups. She also went to Childrens Hospital for some specialty clinics trying to figure out why she had so many issues (diarrea, growth delay in both height and weight, and speech delay). I thought she might be getting a bit slow in growth motor skills but not far enough behind to call for any extra help. After every test came back normal the doctors at Seattle Childrens had no idea what was causing the delays and diarrea. I noticed sleep apnea at about a year and a half, I kept trying to tell the doctors to look into it. FINALLY they decided to get her to see a sleep specialist and yup, in fact she had very severe sleep apnea. So severe that they were shocked and sped up the process of surgery. After the sleep test they said set up an apptointment to see the doctor in 1 month to go over the results. 3 days later we got a call from the doctor which said we have the results please come in. So we went in, knowing it wasnt good since they couldnt wait the 1 month. The wait for tonsils and adnoid surgery to help with her airway during sleep was several months so we took her to the ears nose and throat doctor thru the clinic. He wanted to do surgery right away but we had a trip to Disneyland scheduled only 2 weeks away then it was going to be the 4th of July so with my work schedule, and our trips we decided to hold off a month and she got surgery done right after the 4th of July.

After surgery her progression was remarkable. Ariana hit the charts at 5% 6 months after the surgery. Her 6-10 words increased dramatically once she entered into preschool. She finally started to thrive. Right before thanksgiving we had a follow up sleep test done and her results were much better. She still has sleep apnea and it was borderline of having to CPap but with her growing and face changing we thought putting a mask on during the night might deform her face. We decided to watch a 1 year progression, if she didnt progress well we could concider getting a CPap for her. She had her sleep test done last November and she was released from Childrens Hospital care. She is catching up quickly to her other peers on both size and speech.

1st day of Preschool (1st year)- age 3

1st day of preschool (2nd year) age 4

last day of preschool- age 4

Ariana was gettins speech therapy done at home thru a local therapy center. We seen a progression in her speech but it was so tiny compared to how she progressed once in preschool. Ariana's preschool is at a local elementry school, the class is comprised of children with a wide range of special needs. Looking back over the past 2 years while at her preschool graduation was remarkable. These teachers are truly amazing, not only did Ariana thrive in the class, but every single child thrived as well. One little girl was so tiny and shy and would hardly say a word and at the graduation she was bouncing all over the class having so much fun and talking like crazy.

Ariana started preschool at age 3 with approximatly 12 words she could say well enough to understand. Everything she wanted we had to ask her to show us because we had no idea what she wanted. Now Ariana wont stop talking. She gets so carried away she gets to studdering. We have helped her understand that when she gets talking fast and starts to studder she needs to stop, think, talk. Her mind is going faster than her mouth can spit out the words. She gets rambling and its hard for people to catch on to what she is saying, so thats something else we need to help her with. She also has some other things we need to help her with, but overall wow what a huge change. She is super smart too. She says things that make us laugh, and astound us. She loves butterflies and she will tell us all about how a caterpiller goes into a christallis (if i spelled it right), then a cacoon, turns into a butterfly and flies around. Her teachers are amazing, she has really become a bright beautiful, cheerful, helpful little girl. And I am PROUD to have her as my daughter!

Now, the chapter of preschool is closing, and a new chapter in life called Kindergarten is around the corner!!!