Preschool and valium

Avery started preschool last week!! I can't believe it! But so far it's going great, and she loves it! Once she's settled in properly (in about a month) they'll do the PT evaluation to see what she needs specifically as far as physical therapy goes, but until then there are also a whole bunch of other goals on her individualised education plan (IEP). What a great program. There are 8 kids in her class, 6 boys and 2 girls. The other girl's name is Ava, so they have an Avery and an Ava! The teacher is really great, and then there are also two paraprofessionals in the classroom with them. Today they did some fingerpainting. Avery has an issue with getting her hands dirty, so I was pleased to hear that she didn't get too bothered by the paint on her hands, and that once they started she actually got into it a little bit, so that's great.

At the end of her first day
Waiting for the bus
Still waiting

An update on the valium front: We started giving her 0.3mg of valium once a day before bed. The first week she seemed to be more irritable and sleepy and stuff, but then that sort of went away, but there was no noticeable difference in her muscle tone. So we upped the dosage to 0.3mg twice a day (before nap and before bed), and now it does seem to be making a difference. It's a lot easier to put her braces on even, because her ankles are a lot more flexible. Since she started taking it she's also made some exciting progress with the standing and walking. She will now attempt to take a step or two before she falls over when she balances independently, and on top of that she can also stand independently for longer than before - sometimes for almost 10 seconds! So that's exciting, and I don't know how much of that has to do with the valium, if anything, but as I said, the valium is definitely making her muscles more relaxed, which is great. We see Dr Brown again next week so we;ll talk to him about the dosage and how long she might be taking it, etc, because we still only want to give it to her for as short a time as possible.