Today of course was Abby's 8th birthday. Unbelievable. The crazy thing about all of it is that the first moments, months, and years of her life seem so long ago - but at the same time we have arrived at eight years far too quickly. Eight just sounds older. Eight is two small years away from double digits. Eight seems impossible.
Along with celebrating Abby's birthday, we had Abby's annual IEP. Now, for those of you who may not know, IEP stands for "Individual Education Plan". In other words it is the time when we sit down with Abby's teachers and therapists and talk about her progress this past year, and discuss goals for next year. In essence it is a parent/teacher conference on steroids.
These meetings always tie me into knots. We weren't expecting any surprises, but you never know. Since the meeting was in the morning, right after school began, Jason decided that he would bring Abby to school, and I would come from my school. I loved the fact that we were all there together. That Jason and I could walk Abby to her classroom and get her settled in, and pop in on her after our meeting. We even got to hear the all-school announcement from the principal wishing Abby a happy birthday. I know she was feeling like a queen.
The meeting went very well. Abby is making great strides. We are so pleased with her progress. Even better, I got out without crying - this really is a major achievement. After a quick trip to the book fair, we went down to see her one more time before we left. We found her diligently working on the computer when we walked in. She saw us and popped her headphones off, telling us she was working on the alphabet. How far we've come! When we turned to leave there were no tears, no fits, no, "I wanna go home"'s, she simply put her headphones back on, and told us she'd see us later. Wow.
It happened to be a half day for her, therefore she got to come home early. Jason had taken the day off, so he was here to greet her. The two of them ran some errands and even stopped in to visit me at the end of my day. A very happy surprise indeed.
Tomorrow will be the big celebration, but we couldn't let the day go without cake, ice cream, and presents. Abby has always loved to have "Happy Birthday" sung to her, so of course she loved that portion of our evening. She blew out all eight candles like a pro, took two bites of cake, and started asking about her presents.
She is a machine when opening presents - all wonder and amazement while she's getting the paper off, and then on to the next one with barely a glance at what she'd gotten. All that ripping is just too much for her.
Yes, today was nearly perfect. It was a day when the three of us celebrated Abby - a little more than usual, that is.
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| This one really needs no words. |
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| She got all of those candles out all on her own - and didn't even have to use her magic wand once. |
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| Mmmmm, ice cream cake..... |
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| We may have gone a bit overboard.... |
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| She was excited to see her Mavis bat. |
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| ....And her "Brave" book and triplet bears from Aunt Pam and Uncle Todd |
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| The local toy store is run by some pretty smart people. Yesterday we got Abby's $10 gift certificate in the mail, because she belongs to the "Birthday Club". She and Daddy took a trip over today after school and she picked this lovely costume out. If you remember she got a pink superhero costume for her birthday last year. It was time for an upgrade apparently. |
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| Healthy school plans mean healthy birthday treats. So this year Abby brought in some grape caterpillars. |
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| They must have sung "Happy Birthday" to her. How do I know? She's blowing out the imaginary candle on her caterpillar, that's how! |
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