I'm Shouting From the Rooftop - Can ya' Hear Me?

This has been a super fantastical, amazingly delicious day! And I'm so happy to finally back up all the praise that I've been giving to Zach on this blog.

First, I went to Zach's school today for a half hour art session. While it was fun being there with him, I was kinda dreading taking Katie in, disrupting my morning without Zach on my hands to get stuff done, and all that. BUT, it turned out to be great! Zach's teacher pulled me aside and praised him endlessly about how smart he is and how well he's doing in her classroom. She said that she is having a problem keeping him challenged these days. She said that for instance, before parents got there this morning they were doing their daily worksheet. She said that Zach finished his, correctly, in under a minute while the other kids had barely started theirs. And that this has been happening frequently as of late. So she has made him a helper to the other kids! She said that she does this not only to occupy him while they are still working, but also because it helps him in talking with and to other kids too. Smart lady. Then she went on to talk about him reading, memorizing things very quickly and so on. I was beaming with pride when I left there!

And THEN, Zach had Speech Therapy this afternoon. When we got there I was telling her about the good report from his teacher. She agreed with it all saying that she's been seeing great advancements from him lately as well. Then she said.... drum roll please.... that she was going to talk to me anyway about dropping one of his weekly sessions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huh? My jaw dropped. I did not see that coming! She explained that she really feels that he has been doing so well with her and she thinks that once a week would be ample now. Understand, this is a woman that works for herself, and therefore makes money by the client, by the session. So she is losing a straight $85 a week by doing this. Which means that she really, truly feels this way about his not needing her twice a week anymore. She said that as years pass, and school work changes, he may need her twice a week again for things like understanding word problems, etc. But that will all come later, and may not even be an issue. Time will tell. But for now - after two very long and very, very costly years of Speech twice a week, we are dropping to once a week. That is huge. And what a great accomplishment for our little man!!!!

So this was a million dollar day. We are so proud of Zach. And we are so happy for all of us. Two and a half years ago, we didn't know if he'd ever speak sentences. We saw no clear skies in the future. We feared the worse and wanted to have a crystal ball so desperately to be able to know that it would get better. This is a first real, true glimpse into the future for us. And we all deserve it. And Zach has earned it!