Back to school baby -- oh yeah!

So Tuesday was Amelia's first day back at school. We drove her as I was too afraid to put her on the bus. The woman on the bus who handles the kids is lovely -- but it's such a hectic couple of seconds as you pass off your non-ambulatory child to this hefty woman who puts them into their car seats, before the bus driver closes his STOP sign to oncoming traffic and I scurry across the street to catch a glimpse of my girl in the window, who laughs at me as I make a fool of myself on the street waving goodbye to her and blowing kisses. But Tuesday we drove her. She did so well that we decided to send Amelia on the bus on Wednesday. I told the bus driver and woman who places the children in their seats that Amelia had surgery on her belly and has stitches there -- and I could see she really placed her gently. THANK GOODNESS! So that's back to normal -- sort of.

Amelia has a new nurse at school, Luiza. She is a sturdy Russian woman who is very sweet, but clearly overwhelmed by the crazy school schedule. Amelia needs a lot of care and Luiza has another little boy who she needs to tend to here and there. But she seems to be getting the hang of it -- as reported to me today. I was afraid she wasn't going to last the week. I'm not sure how Amelia has taken to her, it's hard for me to tell because whenever I see the two of them, Luiza is talking to me about "how hard today" was. On the other hand, she must be bonding with Amelia in some way because Amelia doesn't cry when she sees her -- crying is usually the first sign to me that whoever it is taking care of Amelia isn't making the grade. So we'll just have to see about this one.

All in all, I know Amelia is so happy to be back at school with all her friends. They were so happy to see her too. Amelia's teacher, Patty sends updates daily in her "communication book" (it's a composition book). Yesterday Amelia came home with glitter everywhere...I mean EVERYWHERE! Her diapers were sparkly!!!! So fun!!! Her therapists report that she's doing really well too. I know she's seeing and hearing better and it's really something to see how remarkable her eye contact is since the strabismus surgery. Amazing! She responds more vocally and is into everything. Lots of playing with two hands and incredible sitting up. Amelia's belly is still sore. Her norm is to lie on the playmat on her belly -- can't do that -- so she's sitting up so incredibly, for an hour or so, just playing with her toys. We're also noticing a lot more mouth breathing and she's much quieter than she was.

Next week we go for our follow up appts and to get the stitches out of her site. That should make her more comfortable.

Also, we rented out our house upstate so we're in the process of emptying out 20 years of stuff. Sooooo much stuff. An overwhelming task to say the least. Gotta be out by July 1st. OY! Well, wish us luck -- we're gonna need it.