Putting it in to practice

After a horrible 6 weeks that began mid August and slowed at the beginning of September, my dd immediately GREW. She went from size 7/8 to 10 in a week, from size 3 shoes to size 5 in the same week.

And in the past week, I have seen her put in to practice the social skills and manners I has desperately tried to impart upon her. AND she has made logical cognitive connections between things we've done in the past- over 2 yrs ago- to things we did this weekend! We had completely different festivities last year, as we had a sibling visit out of town last year. But even information from things we did, such as attend a pow wow, she was able to connect to a group of aztec dancers we saw this weekend. Making these connections has always been hard for her. She had no sense of tradition or ritual or routine when she came. The cultural context of our society was lost on her- DESPITE being in texas foster care for most of her life.

I am so excited about the growth I am seeing. She's voluntarily asking for more extensive school work in our home school sessions (additional to her public school education). She's been very aggressive with her spatial processing therapy- and is making tangible gains daily.

But man those six weeks of daily rage, reminiscent of our first days together, were scary. I am not saying it sunshine and roses either. She struggled Halloween day with anticipation of trick or treating AND her best friends court day for adoption today. Her behavior wasn't awesome, but it wasn't what it would have been 4 weeks ago, or a year ago, or 2 years ago.

I am so proud of her!
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