Updates

Here are a few Hannah updates relating to previous posts that I never followed up on. We've finished the initial protocol for the therapeutic listening and have deemed it a fail. Hannah was compliant and we faithful about following all the rules, but it really didn't make any difference at all. The only thing we noticed was that whatever Hannah was working on WHILE she was doing the headphones, she was HYPER focused on, but that benefit ended once she stopped listening to the headphones so it didn't really benefit her if there wasn't any carry over. We saw no improvements on regulation, either sensory or emotional. We tried, but it just didn't work for us. We didn't really have anything to loose though. Our only costs were $40 to rent the equipment and buying a discman player which we can use for other things and our time. It was worth a shot.

Hannah went to the allergist last night to follow up on that suspected latex reaction she had after her dentist appointment. Apparently there is no official skin test that can be done for latex allergies so the offices make their own preparation. Hannah survived the scratch test and showed no allergies to any of the things they tested for. The doctor said that doesn't necessarily means she is NOT allergic to latex so he is sending her to have a blood test done to find out since they are apparently more accurate. I wonder why they couldn't have just done that test first, but then what do I know. In the mean time he wrote her a script for an Epi-pen as a precaution should we ever need it. That is pretty scary to me, but then I guess I'd rather be safe that sorry. She does have a lot of birthday parties coming up to attend. Apparently balloons are big culprits in latex reactions in kids.

Hannah appears to be doing well in her new classroom although I'm not as impressed by the new teacher's communication about what's going on in the classroom. Maybe I'm just one of "those" mom's, but I still like to be in the loop and know how she's doing, what they did each day, if she ate her lunch, etc. Is that too much to ask?

Lately she's been playing quite well with other children. I worried that I'd never get to say that, but it's happening! She has even on occasion joined up with random kids out in public to play. The other child always has to make the first move, but at least Hannah has agreed to play several times and not just ran and hid behind me. The other night at the doctor's office while we were waiting for her allergy testing a sweet little 6 (almost 7) year old girl started playing with Hannah. She wanted to read her a story out of a magazine, but was occasionally having trouble with some of the words. My little girl actually HELPED a first grader with reading! Together the two of them worked through the story and when they were done the other girl turned to Hannah and said, "You're a really good reader." and Hannah actually said "Thank you," unprompted. I was proud of her on so many levels for that interaction.

Hannah's imagination has really taken off lately. She likes to play with her friends when they aren't here so she turns them into imaginary friends basically. It's pretty funny. Then there's her pretending to be someone else that is equally as funny and heaven forbid if you forget to address her as whoever she is pretending to be because she just won't respond. Today while getting ready for school she was Super Girl Grape Banana Spontak and I was to address her as such if I wanted to accomplish anything and get out the door! Usually our pretend characters are Mommy __________(insert animal) , Baby_________, Grandma _________. This morning was different. She had a very specific name and by golly she was only answering to that. I couldn't even simply omit all mention of a name and just say, "It's time to brush your teeth." I had to say, "It's time to brush your teeth Super Girl Grape Banana Spontak" Eventually she was so kind as to let me leave off the Spontak part, but I still had to get the Super Girl Grape Banana! Parenting a 3 year old is a riot sometimes!

I've still been busy with the new business, but things seem to be going quite well. We are actually making some sales already and recovering a bit of our start up costs which is nice. So far I've covered 2 horse shows and my sister has done one thoroughbred race and we've sold quite a few prints from them. Now if we could just start making some sales on some of the fine art photography that is up on the website we'd be golden! If anyone's planning on redecorating a room please stop by the site and take a look. You might find something there you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE. We offer framing and matting too if you choose so are a one stop shop! http://candidcaptures.zenfolio.com/ Check us out!

Well, that's all the updates I have for now. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo Notes:

The pictures are from back in March when Hannah had her ear tube surgery. They even had portable DVD players and a selection of family movies for the kids to watch!

Latex

Hannah had a dentist appointment yesterday and she did really well. She was a model patient. I was so proud of her, especially since the rest of the day (before and after the appointment) she had a hard time keeping herself together! However, within minutes of leaving the office Hannah started complaining that her arms itched. She was tearing into them like crazy and when I looked into the backseat at a stoplight to tell her to stop scratching I saw that her face was beet red and that she had a rash all over her arms and face. Her nose was also so stuffy that she was breathing completely out of her mouth and her eyes were watering like crazy. Moments later she started scratching her face too. When we got home I checked her over and the race seemed confined to only areas of her skin that were exposed, areas where the dentist and hygienist had touched her. I started thinking she was having an allergic reaction and wondered what it could be too. At first latex didn't even cross my mind since she's been to the dentist before, had 2 surgeries, and spent two weeks of her life considered infections and everyone who touched her had to wear gloves. She's had plenty of exposure to latex and never had an issue. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the dentist office was the only thing out of the norm for the day and the rash was really only was in places where she had been touched by the staff who were wearing gloves. Not to mention the fact that all the symptoms appeared immediately upon exiting the office. I started googling latex allergies (what would we do without the Internet) and sure enough I read that an allergy to latex could develop after repeated exposures and that mild symptoms were exactly like what Hannah was displaying. Today we gave her some benadryl to try to get the itching and swelling (her cheeks are all puffy today as well) under control and I called the doctor and she agrees with me that it could very well be a latex allergy so we have an appointment to meet with her this afternoon. Please wish us well and pray that this ISN'T a latex allergy that could potentially escalate in severity as she grows older, but that it's some other benign contact dermatitis and not a life long problem we'll have to deal with.

Photo notes: More pictures from our recent house guests and Hannah riding her bike. Notice the concentration on her face! Again, gotta love that 3 year old fashion sense in these pictures! Click on them to see them full size to get the full effect.