Darcy at Four-and-a-Half

Our little Darcy is coming into her own and making tremendous progress. Between her wonderful preschool and the work we've been doing at home, she certainly has come a long way in the past 6 months. Although her accomplishments may not sound groundbreaking, each represents a HUGE effort, mostly by Darcy, with a little bit of nudging (TONS of nudging) from those of us who love her.

* Darcy has just started riding a tricycle at therapy! The cement at our house has proven to be more of a challenge, but Darcy is riding all over her PT room and doing a great job. She's even mastering the steering part, which requires a lot of concentration and hand-eye coordination! In true Darcy form, her favorite way to ride her bike at home is to sit on it and tell Beckett to push. He pushes her up and down the cul-de-sac and they both giggle like crazy.

* Darcy is VERY CLOSE to being able to use the bathroom, including washing her hands, on her own! We've had a few falls into the toilet, so we can't be far away. Nevertheless, I feel like the day I've been dreaming about, the day I can yell, "Hey Kids! Wash your hands, its time for dinner!" is near at hand!

* Along those lines, Darcy can now take her shoes, pants and socks off on her own. This is huge! And even more huge, she can put underwear and sometimes pants on by herself if we lay them out for her. Watching her struggle with her clothes, I imagine what it would be like to put clothes on with huge ski gloves on. That is how I think it must be for her. Her little fingers just don't move with any sort of agility or strength. Every movement is a struggle. To watch her trying so hard, with her little tongue sticking out, is just one of the most precious things in the world.
* Darcy can spell (out-loud) and recognize her name. She also knows the letter "D". So far that is the only letter she can identify, which has been incredibly frustrating for me since I know that kids learn to read in kindergarten and they have to know their letters first. But baby steps : ) She can't write any letters yet, but she is starting to draw lines and circles a little bit better and those are the precursors. We're really hoping that over the next year we can work on identifying and maybe even writing some letters.

* And finally, she can count up to SIX OBJECTS!!! Until a few weeks ago, Darcy's version of counting objects was to randomly point all over and shout out numbers in no particular order. The light finally went on that there is a one-to-one correlation when you count, and all the sudden she got it! She can consistently count up to 4 and can sometimes make it up to 6. Way to go, girl!

Darcy's verbal skills are incredible, which is her biggest strength. She is very creative and loves imaginative play. Who knows, she might end up being a famous actress some day!

Bottom line, you can't underestimate this girl... She just keeps chugging along. Astounding us all and making us realize, newly each day, that there is no limit to her potential.