Our Abigirl

I diverted a tantrum tonight by asking Abby to help me make quiche. She got to sprinkle the bacon, red peppers and cheese in the crusts. She is becoming quite knowledgeable about all the cooking utensils and even some cooking terms. We have been working on her cooking badge for American Heritage Girls for awhile.

The other day she called tongs "tonsils". Cute.

One thing I have been noticing about Abby is her need for attention. The more I include her in what I'm doing, the more content she seems to be. This past week we worked on her "Star Student" poster, looked at her baby pictures, and spent a lot of time reading together. She hasn't thrown a tantrum in 5 days I think. That's pretty much a record for her. She still has her moments, but I see her able to control herself so much more when she starts to escalate. We are making progress, and I am so happy for all of us. This Sat., she cleaned her room, with a little help from me. She reminded me so much of myself as a teenager (kind of scary). She really got in to organizing her things, had her boom box blaring "America's Top 40 (that's what reminded me of being a teenager) and was humming along cleaning and just enjoying straightening up her room for a couple of hours.

My outlook for Abby has changed so much over the last 4 months. This summer, we were really at our wit's end, very discouraged, and I definitely was feeling desperate about our ability to help Abby. Now, we see HUGE improvements in her behavior. We don't know if she is just maturing or if it's the play therapy or if it is in part, the Feingold Diet, or the routine of school, or the confidence she now has in her reading fluency, or just simply God is working a miracle in our little girl. But, whatever the change, we praise God for it. We aren't naive. We know there is more to come with her, but we know she is capable of change and for that WE HAVE HOPE!