We invited Emily’s Early Intervention speech therapist (Robin) over for dinner yesterday. Robin worked with Emily from the age of about four months until she turned three and we lost EI benefits. Emily didn’t qualify for continued speech intervention with the school system because her speech was too good. So it was a mixed blessing. We really miss Robin’s regular visits, and we still have some concerns over Emily’s speech even though she sounds very good at this point. But we do recognize that Emily has moved beyond the need for speech therapy, at least for now. So, like those early weekly visits to NYU, we kind of had to let go.
Emily had other ideas. Last week she began asking “Where’s my friend Robin?” It was so cute and prompted us to invite Robin over for dinner. Robin’s cat just had four kittens and she brought one over – the girls loved him! Emily is cuddling with him in the above picture. She named him Tom (after Tom and Jerry) – he’s just six weeks old.
I really really want the kitten, but Jim’s put his foot down. We have two adult cats and he’s the only one who cleans the litter box. Maybe I should promise to help him. hmmm…
Here’s that same picture without Robin and Ana cut out of it. I won’t lie. Ana and Emily fought over who got to hold Tom kitten a lot.
Ana was very sorry to part with the kitten when Robin went home.
Robin says Emily’s speech is excellent. She couldn’t believe how clear she sounds. She does have a lisp, but she seems to be trying to correct that herself. She also has a difficult time with her “f” sounds but she’s even getting better and better with those. Her speech is so good, sometimes I think it’s Ana speaking and not Emily. I’m so glad.
And some final, exciting news – next week we’re going to NYU to be interviewed for a show called Today’s Family which is doing a story on the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction (NFFR), the organization which provides funding for NYU’s Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. The NFFR contacted us and asked if we would be willing to discuss Emily’s treatment and talk about her story! Of course she’ll be video taped as well. I wish I could provide a link to the show, but they don’t appear to have any sort of website. I believe the show will air on ABC Family and ION – once I know more, I’ll post the dates here. This is an honor and we’re very excited to participate. I hope that more families will see us and find Emily’s blog – and thus we can expand our reach a little beyond the Web.