Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Prayer Requests September 2014

Today's prayer requests- continued improved vision- she is no longer legally blind (Thank you God for answered prayers!) yet still can't consistently see far away, it takes a lot of focus and concentration to watch tv from the couch and watch shows or parades or observe life in distances of 20plus feet. 
Her left hand- seeing it every day it is hard to see the improvements, but last year she had to concentrate so hard to open and close her hand, if she worked it too hard, releasing her grasp on something would be a fight. She is using her left hand without hesitation now. We accept she may not have fine motor control with her left, but we also know with confidence that God has granted us many requests, so pray that her hand continues to gain strength and control and functionality. 
Attitude- she can be extremely difficult to work with in school and therapy and home. If she doesn't want to do something whether it is therapeutic or necessary she can throw a tantrum to end all tantrums. We have learned to pick battles worth fighting over. So please pray for more cognitive reasoning skills of what is good and necessary. Simple things like brushing teeth can become a battle of 5-10 minutes of screaming, crying and restraint for 30 seconds of the toothbrush in mouth. Getting ready for kindergarten will need to be more smooth as well as assignments in kindergarten next year can't be fought tooth and nail. (Her sweetness and joy far outweigh her serious feistiness, but her lack of being able to reason with is becoming more problematic.)
Her cognition and school readiness- nothing to worry about yet, but prayers appreciated.  With hundreds of therapies appts and a year and a half of school Katie can't successfully write her name. A few letters are staring to emerge. Even tracing her name is so difficult she shuts down quickly. She has immaturity in general and with social skills and understanding. She is a leader without a doubt, but needs to have some flexibility and openness while playing with other 4-5 year olds. She screams, pouts, hits and fights with anyone who doesn't want to play the way she does. I want her to be her and I want to respect her love of attention, direction and leadership, but reality is to be a good friend requires compassion, mutual respect, compromise and understanding. 
Her swim lessons have made leaps and bounds in the last 9 months. She went from crying and screaming in the water to swimming. Yes my daughter is starting to doggy paddle. For most 4 year olds a 2 week class would teach them the basics and  maybe within 2-6 weeks they could swim as proficiently as Katie has learned in 9 months. But for Katie with her left sided weakness she has to seriously focus and think about using her left side. With the amount of concentration and exertion she does while swimming her left side wants to posture and lock up stiff as a board. She has to fight against her own body to move especially her left arm. But she can swim several feet, but she has to focus and work very hard. Pray that she can continue to improve and that swimming becomes more fluid and natural. Pray that she becomes truly and consistently water safe and that her strength and coordination flows over into other areas.