First Day In New Class...ummm... two days ago

I screwed up. I didn't take a picture of her on her first day in her new grade/class/etc. She was so cute too in her new stretchy/comfy jeans and pink Lucky Peace and Love t-shirt and pig tails. I cut her hair just a bit  - it was down to her bum. I asked her if she liked her long hair and she said no (alright, I asked her about 5 times to be sure and each time no, no, no). So I cut 4 inches off. He hair is now down to her shoulder blades and allot lighter on her head such that her cutie-pie pigtails are back. 

By the end of her first day she was making the Peace sign to all who would see (using her right hand to hold up her two fingers on her left) - yes that is way too heartbreaking cute. I am sure someone there read her shirt and showed her how to make the peace sign which made the peace sign way too cool to be ignored and there you have it. 

Overall she is doing great with the transition. It's been a slower start than we expected. And the first day Ellie communicated via picture symbols that overall she was bored. And there have been a few bumps like the fact that her new classroom is about the size of my closet (which is way too small for a kid that needs to be on the floor to stretch out and roll, etc.) and not very wheelchair accessible. But in true "new school" style they are fixing it by this Friday with parental help. Yes, new school still rocks, still listens to us, and still cares about our Little Miss.

Today Ellie's new teacher surprised me. She showed me a sheet of images and words that Ellie had created by herself on the computer. She said, "Ellie worked on the computer today." And I replied, "Oh, did she actually touch the computer?"  Teacher looked at me like I was daft and said, "Yes! She loved it, she did this!" Showing me the sheet again.

I was happily amazed. Ellie loves my computer and Dave's. We have the missing keys to prove it. But last year when various people attempted to get her to work on "their" computers, school computers she acted like touching them was the scariest thing you could ever ask a person to do. There was, let's just say, a great deal of resistance to that idea.

So get over me why don't you. Once again warrior princess make a giant leap forward without telling me! That is such a good problem to have (not really a problem even if I appear idiotic to people who only know the latest version of Ellie and don't remember all the other versions because they weren't there).

We are on Ellie 007 I think! She is like a bond girl these days. This morning before school she insisted on going in her Pony. She immediately went over to the chair with Dave's (turned off lap top) and wanted to open it. Right, because if she's in the Pony her videos should be playing on the lap top in that room and on the TV in the other. It's a party to be in the Pony after all and the right atmosphere is necessary. She is very inspired to take big steps for kisses and hugs when she reaches me. That is the cutest thing ever, other than the other cutest thing ever I just told you about. 

I am impressed by how she is taking consecutive steps. She really understands the whole one foot in front of the other thing. She is such a hard worker and so determined. It seems like with all this activity and all these new brain waves, as they say in Ireland for epiphanies, she is having that we finally have the med balance right. One that allows her brain to relax so she can sleep which she has for two nights in a row (yes calling the Mockas...) and having enough energy during the day to rock out in her Pony and impress everyone with her vocabulary.

I can't promise any pics for the next 3 days. Tomorrow I teach my first live graduate school class and again on Saturday and Sunday and the rest of September is going to be a blur between the teaching all month and my consulting days. I love my work but I miss Ellie when work takes me a way from her either mentally, physically or both. I wish we were independently wealthy and all I had to do was take care of her. And I feel bad that she is in this big transition without me right there by her side as much as I was last year. I just miss her in general. It's been awhile since I have been flat out with this #$%^& course. What was I thinking? It's a love / hate thing for sure with my work. Sigh. Time for sleep.