Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't know what you are thankful for, but we are thankful to have our family together after three years of waiting! We are thankful that Cassidy is getting to experience her first Thanksgiving! We are thankful for progress!

Since I last wrote, lots of things have taken place! I have put Cassidy to bed six times. The first time she seemed to cry forever. She cried so much that I made a point to time how long she cried the second time... 24 minutes. Then she only cried for 10 minutes the next time. There was actually an attempt after that which I'm not counting because I didn't think she was ready for bed when the process was initiated, so I handed her off to her mother in order for her to enjoy the fruits of her insistence that she was ready. The next time I tried, which was last Saturday, she didn't cry at all. That sounds like we made it over the last hurdle but she was back to crying on Sunday night. She only cried for about three minutes that night. The great thing about those events was that she slept through the night in her own crib three of those times. (Those would be the only three times she made it through the night in her own crib.)

Shari was so desperate for a completely undisturbed night of sleep a few nights ago that she really wanted to test that connection. Well, I'd only put her to bed on a weeknight once before, and that seemed to pose a problem. There is something about me not being around during the day that works against her receptiveness to me. She cried and cried... but I am wise beyond my years... or just lucky. Against Shari's judgment, I had allowed her to continue to hold a little toy bottle while I rocked her. After so much crying, I decided to test a little tough love. I took the bottle from her... which really hacked her off. (I relearned that she has a higher gear above the routine, ordinary sob.) I looked her in the eyes and said, "Shhh." When she quieted momentarily, I handed her the toy. When she started to cry again, I took the bottle away again and said, "Ahhh..." I repeated, "Shhh." When she quieted again, I handed her the toy. She didn't cry again, and then she was asleep within two minutes. She's a very smart girl. (She gets that from Shari.)

So have we gotten over the final hurdle? Well, even if we had, I imagine that she'd reserve the right to climb back over the hurdle again, so we could enjoy some of the unpleasant stuff. From that standpoint, I guess the final hurdle will be the end of the regressing. Other than that, the hurdle will fall whenever she no longer acts as though she is settling for me. It's either that or perhaps when my holding her calms her as consistently as Shari's holding her. She's so fond of Mama that she stops sobbing if she so much as thinks she's being handed over to Shari. The act of handing her over takes her from red-faced wailing to silence and sighs of relief in no time at all. It's interesting to observe... and still moderately deflating.

But enough about me, you're here to read about Cassidy. She has endured a lot of medical junk lately. Just two days ago (or was it yesterday?), she survived three therapist visits. The most interesting things we learned is that she verbally grades out at a nine-month-old level (she's 22 months old now), and her motor skills are at a year-old level. Neither of which is insurmountable for such a smart girl. Last week, she got to experience two trips to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital to be evaluated by doctors who are a lot smarter than we are. We've been told that it's highly likely that the Chinese diagnosed her incorrectly but that it's probably still a vascular issue. In English, the good news in that no one is thinking cancer since it has been stable in size since birth. The bad news is that it probably won't go away without treatment. The doctors are in the process of setting up an imaging session at Barnes in order to determine just exactly what we're dealing with and exactly what the treatment needs to consist of.

What else? I guess the most interesting tidbit occurred on the 19th when I was left to take care of the kids. First of all, it's interesting whenever Shari leaves the house, because Cassidy seems to automatically default to me as the go-to person. If she's upset and crying, I'm suddenly in the position to calm her down immediately. The downside is that I get put back in my place the second Mama returns home. Anyway, on this particular night, most of us were sitting on the couch, and Cass was sitting on my left knee, facing away from me towards the television. Katie was sitting immediately to my right, practicing writing her name on a Magnadoodle. For the most part, Cass and I were watching "America's Funniest Home Videos." She was wide awake, totally focused on the show, and completely content as she sat on my knee and leaned forward into my left hand placed around her belly.

Katie asked me to look at what she'd written. I looked to my right, told her she needed to switch a couple letters, and looked back in the direction of Cassidy. In the span of roughly five-to-ten seconds, she had gone from wide-eyed awake to being asleep in my hand. She then slept on my chest for the next half hour. It was sweet! Then she woke up screaming. Not so sweet...

Don't be alarmed, though. We do not have a narcoleptic on our hands. The doctor assured us that it is highly likely that she is just now decompressing and coming down off the high-alert mode she's been on for a month now. She's simply that relaxed.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Appreciate your family! Even the ones you normally don't appreciate...