Wingless.

 This little figurine used to have wings and a hand with a streamer of hearts. Until Gracie found it.
Now it is a symbol of Gracie to me. Wingless. Big Heart. Stuck on earth. "Timothy Green" if you saw that movie. Someone that just doesn't fit in. Someone I can relate to.
BUT sometimes she makes me soooooooooooooo frustrated.
She had a great day today. A great speech session. She answered alot of questions vocally! Great responses! She had a good afternoon session with her therapist, Lindsay. No outbursts of any kind.
Then I was cleaning up a special sushi dinner from Wegman's and I thought it was quiet but didn't do anything about it. Bad Mistake.
I went into the living room and she had one of her ( and my) favorite pop up books!!! and was ripping everything out of it - letter by letter. I got so mad. But I made her clean it up and throw everything away. SHE KNEW I was not happy with her. SHE KNEW she was not supposed to do that! SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING!
We had to put screws in the windows in her room so she would not be able to open them and throw things out of them!!!!
Some days I don't know what else to do.
She is so smart. I just with I could get into that brain and figure out why she does what she does.
That would make my life easier.

Who is this girl?

Gracie at Aunt Peewee's New Year's Party

making a new friend

 I don't know what happened today. Well, actually, it started a few days ago.

We went to Ocean City to spend time with our friends, the Grays, and the last time we were there, Gracie wouldn't come out of her room. She usually dreads it. But this time, there were no tears on the way. Just a little resistance when we got to the house. But she gradually came out of her shell and by the last couple of days, was wandering around the house and actually ended up IN THE KITCHEN. If I haven't explained this before, Gracie has had a total aversion to going into the beach house due to ( we think) a high pitched noise our fridge had made. The past several visits have been hellish! but I don't know what happened to make her come out of her shell. I just hope it lasts.

 It may not seem like much but for us it's HUGE!
Now for today. The last time I took her to Aunt Peewee's I had to practically drag her out of the car, crying, and she ran straight to her safe place in Aunt Peewee's bedroom and cried the whole time. So I went out prepared for war today. But when we got there, there were NO tears. She walked right in the door with a smile on her face?!?
She went to her safe space in the bedroom, but she was happy and she decided to go out of the room on her own!
I think 2014 is going to bring lots of surprises!

wearing her new pressure sleeves