Happy Spring!  Now that winter is officially behind us, we look forward to spending a lot of time outside!

Meghan started participating in a program called Special Olympics Young Athletes.  The program meets for 1 hour every Monday night for 7 weeks.  There are 6 or 7 other kids in the program - some she knows from school.  Since she is unable to participate in contact sports, this is a wonderful program for Meghan to be involved in.  Last Monday was the first get together and Meghan had a blast!  She is excited to go back next week!

Jeff and I met with Meghan's school a couple days ago for an IEP meeting.  The meeting went great and everyone adores Meghan (who doesn't?!?!)  Gross motor and speech continue to be her biggest struggles, but she continues to progress at her own speed and there has been absolutely no regression in any area!  Cognitively, she is doing super!  She is able to count to 6 consistently and recognizes numbers 1-9.  She knows the major colors and shapes and can label them.  She knows her first and last name.  The alphabet is a little tougher for her.  She recognizes the letter M and is trying really hard to write that letter.  This school year, Meghan was in the Special Ed classroom which consisted of 6 special needs kids in the class.  For next year, we all agreed that it will be best to place Meghan in the preschool class that has 10 typical kids and up to 8 special needs kids in the same class.  She is ready for this transition cognitively.  There will be a few modifications needed for Meghan and due to Meghans size, she will have a more one-on-one para with her at school, mainly for her safety.  It is a faster paced class, so that concerns me a bit, but she will be allowed extra time to do her work. 

An issue that has come up within the last couple of months is sound sensitivity.  Meghan has always been sensitive to louder noises, but it has gotten noticeably worse recently.  It seems to be the higher pitched sounds that will bring her to instant tears, as well as sounds she has heard all her life that never bothered her before, but they do now.  Other than having her avoid hearing sounds that are sensitive to her, there isn't anything we can really do.  I do not think it is shunt related at this point.

This is still in the works, but when we will be in Maryland visiting Meghan's runner and her family, the Special Olympics torch run will be going through their city.  Meghan's runner has been in contact with an organizer for this event, and it's a big possibility that Meghan, her runner and her family, as well as Jeff, Luke and myself, will all be able to participate in the torch run!!  We are super excited about the possibility of this becoming a reality and are truly, truly blessed to have some pretty amazing supporters in our life! 

Growth hormone shots are going well for the most part.  There are still some days where she cries, but overall, it's going well!  Next doctor appointments will be in May and then I believe we will have the summer off from appointments...YAY!!!