3 years ago I wrote about how nervous I was about traveling to Colorado as a family. I was nervous about how Courtney was going to handle the flight, the wedding we were going to, the hotel room. I was so nervous that we almost stayed home.

At the beginning of our autism journey, Joe and I vowed that we would not let autism deter us from doing things like take vacations and so far we have stuck to it.

Traveling with kids special needs or not is hard but when you add autism to the mix, it changes things. The list of things you have to worry about multiplies. The change in routine during your vacation, the size of crowd during different activities, food, public bathrooms (I really need to do a blog just on how inaccessible public bathrooms are to older kids in diapers), sleeping arrangements, how will I calm her during meltdowns, ways to meet sensory needs, how accessible are the different places to strollers and the list goes on.

It would be so much easier to just skip vacations all together but that isn’t fair to Alyssa nor is it fair to Courtney. So we take choose to take the chance.

I post our pictures from vacation on social media and like everyone, the pictures show the highlights that make it look like a seamless trip. I don’t include the scars on Joe, Alyssa’s and my arms from Courtney’s aggressive meltdowns. I don’t share the tears that I shed as I struggle with the extra stress traveling can cause. I don’t talk about the stares we get as Courtney walks around all day with headphones on.

What I do share are the pictures that remind us why we keep doing this. The pictures that show that with every rough moment on the vacation there is a memorable moment that keeps us going.

Our most recent trip was to Mackinac Island. I got a great picture of the girls and I while on the ferry to the island. I sent the picture to my parents and my dad replied back to look at that picture if there are any rough moments. He was spot on. Those are the moments that keep me going because there were rough moments. We took them on a bike ride and they both sat in a carriage that I pulled. Poor Alyssa got attacked as Courtney got frustrated. We had to leave a cocktail hour early because Courtney was attacking me because she couldn’t handle the crowd. She became more and more dependent on her headphones during the trip. I can honestly tell you we won’t remember those moments though. what we will remember is watching Courtney conquer her fear of playing in a big pool. I will remember the waitresses becoming our friends, I will remember the girls loving playing by the fountain. I will remember how fun it was to coordinate our dresses as we dressed up for dinner.

I sent the following text to my good friend before we even got to the island…

Trying to remain positive but I can see this being our last trip to Mackinac Island for a while. Courtney’s anxiety may do us in and we aren’t even there.

She replied back…

Try not to look to far into the future, a lot can happen in a year.

Mary, you are right. I love how my village reminds me to stay positive. We will be going back and we will be taking more vacations because like always, we managed to have a beautiful vacation.

Courtney has a very strong love/hate relationship with water. She is one who can spot water of any kind a mile away. A puddle of water, a pond, a cup of water…she will find it and will want to find a way to play with it or in it.

On the flip side, she hates water. Actually, it’s more a fear. She can not handle the sound of running water at all! I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult bathroom are. She even hates baths because there is a faucet that could potentially be turned on. Fortunately bath time has improved. Her therapists are helping us with her washing her hands because that involves running water.

As much as Courtney loves to play in water, she can only handle it if the water is below her knees. Anything above the knees, her heart starts beating out of her chest and she’s forms a death grip on the adult next to her. It breaks my heart to see this fear knowing she loves the water so much. I would do anything to help her conquer this fear.

The running water is because of her noise sensitivity and we are finding ways to work with that. The fear of water above her knees? We are pretty sure it has something to do with the loss of control she feels when her feet can’t touch the ground. We can even hold her in the water. She struggles with swings for the same reason. Her feet are not grounded. The girl can climb all heights but when she loses that sense of gravity because her feet aren’t grounded, forget it!

A couple years ago we had Courtney in Aqua Therapy. There are so many benefits to Aqua therapy. I so badly wanted it to be a positive experience for her. Session after session we hoped she would suddenly start liking it but it never happened. I keep hoping to go back to it. I’ll watch her enjoy a baby pool or zero depth pool and think maybe just maybe we can get to enjoy bigger pools and aqua therapy but then when we visit a big pool my hopes fade.

Of course we can spend plenty of time at a place with baby pools or zero depth pools but then you stay at a hotel with a beautiful big pool and no baby pool. Her little sister loving every moment of being in it but all Courtney can handle is pacing as her heart races. Well that’s how the first trip to the pool at The Grand Hotel went. Day 2 there was progress. We went down to the pool as a family of 4 with all sorts of back up plans so both girls can enjoy the hour. Joe was prepared to swim with Alyssa and I was prepared to run in the open area with Courtney. It ended up Courtney was completely content pacing around the pool. While pacing, she started going to the steps of the pool and tipping her toe in. Each trip to the steps she seemed more at ease. Eventually she even got 3 steps in! She then even enjoyed sitting at the edge of the hot tub with Joe!

I think the huge baby steps is why I’ve always enjoyed working with children with autism. Those small baby steps just feel so big and so rewarding. 3 steps and feet dangling is huge and I will celebrate it!

While hanging out at my parent’s house a while back, Courtney asked to go outside in the backyard. Because of all the rain, the backyard was muddy and all I can picture was Courtney (my little Peppa Pig) being covered in mud from head to toe so I said no. My dad, her grandpa, was near her when I said no. She did not like my answer nor did she like that Grandpa was holding the sliding door shut so she lunged toward him to attack him in anger. My dad, who has been attacked by his little granddaughter before, asked me curiously, “so what happens when she’s older and stronger?”

Good question, Dad. I only wish I knew. What I can say is it is something I think about daily. I don’t just think about it, I worry about it. I’ve actually asked a similar question as a teacher in regards to some of my students who have aggressive tendencies. Since I was only their preschool teacher they would move on so I wouldn’t worry too much. I have to worry with Courtney though.

There is something about a child with autism having a meltdown. Their strength becomes unimaginable. Their fight or flight kicks in and suddenly they are as strong as a bull. Now imagine that child an adult! This scares me.

Fortunately the frequency of her aggressive tendencies isn’t out of control but it is frequent enough that it happens daily wether it’s towards someone or herself. It happens frequent enough that i actually get nervous when she is interacting with someone in close proximity because it can happen out of nowhere. It happens frequent enough that instead of trying to get her to get in a group picture at a kids party, I choose to not bother because it’s bound to end with her pinching someone. It happens frequent enough that when a new doctor, educator or therapist asks me to describe Courtney I make sure to share that she can be aggressive. It happens frequent enough that I worry about if friends and family will grow to fear being near her as she gets older and stronger.

I struggle the most when Courtney hurts another child. She recently pinched another child at my nieces birthday party. The parent of this child knows Courtney and her struggles so she explained to her daughter that Courtney didn’t do it to be mean. The mom made the comment that it’s so hard to explain that to a young child. Right there is why I struggle with it. The next day Courtney bit her cousin because I took a piece of candy from her. I could see in my nieces eyes how hard she was trying to hold in the tears and act brave. I was so proud of how brave she was being but felt horrible that she felt she had to hold in how much it hurt. My sister and I both shedded some brief tears later when I asked how my niece was. She shared that she was scared but also sad that her cousin couldn’t talk.

I realize that this point in the game I’m only driving myself crazy for worrying about this all now because if there is one certain thing about autism it’s that there is no way to predict the future when they are young.

At this point I have to take comfort in knowing that we are doing all we can to make sure these behaviors improve. I have to take comfort in knowing that those who truly care for my family understand that Courtney acts out because of her inability to communicate. I have to take comfort in knowing that these same people will continue to love and support her throughout this bumpy journey. Through the ups and downs, the laughs and the tears, the celebrations and the frustrations. Because this is autism.

(The photo is of Courtney with her Great Aunt. We watched this beautiful moment with caution hoping it stayed beautiful, which it did. Not surprised my amazing aunt can such a beautiful moment with her.)

Let’s talk about parent shaming. I apologize ahead of time if my blog becomes rated PG but a recent Facebook post in a neighborhood group struck me the wrong way.

I at first wasn’t going to blog about my feelings on what she posted because my blog is not private and wasn’t sure if I wanted it to get back to her some how. Someone could easily say I should just scroll on and not let it bother me. But then it hit me, if posts like the one i saw are still out there then a lot of education still needs to be done so my public response needs to be made.

Someone posted in a Facebook group that they saw a family out at a restaurant on Father’s Day and a young child in this group was on their tablet completely engaged in rather than their family. As a teacher she did a public service announcement of how much harm screen time has on a child’s development. This poster completely shamed this family whom she didn’t know. My first thought was, “yikes, she would have a field day with my family.”

Now before people go ape shit on me, yes, I completely know and understand the harm that too much screen time has on a child’s brain. I am not arguing that.

Let me take a step back and just talk about what a meal out entails. A meal out means a new, different or out of routine place (unless you go there regularly). At a restaurant there is extra noise including people you don’t know talking, utensils scraping against plates, people slurping drinks through straws. Restaurants have different lighting maybe even lightbulbs that are buzzing. There are a numerous amount of smells. There are “rules” to be followed at restaurants. Rules that are different from home. Now imagine you are someone who has sensitive ears and you hear the noise of a fork scraping on a plate. Imagine you have a sensitive nose and you are at a restaurant that serves curry or something strong smelling. Imagine needing a strict routine and your food takes longer to come out than usual. Now, imagine it’s Father’s Day and your family wants to take your dad out to a restaurant and the only way you can celebrate it with your father is by some how getting your child with one or all the above sensitivities to this restaurant. But wait, there is a way you can make it work. You can give your child a tablet. The other choice is staying home.

What is dinner out with Courtney like? We go out to the same restaurant almost every Saturday with Joe’s family. The same amazing waiter waits on us every time. If you were another costumer at this restaurant you would see her at almost 6 years old sitting in a high chair. There is a strong chance you will see her socks and shoes under the high chair. In the diaper bag that still carries her diapers is food and milk brought from home. Milk in a straw cup made for toddlers. Within 5 minutes of sitting down, without asking, the waiter will bring out a plate of fries and put them right in front of her. And yes, you will see am Ipad in front of her. What you will also see is a family enjoying a meal out together. You will see me actually sitting and enjoying a meal instead of inhaling a meal while standing at a kitchen counter. If it’s an occasion where Joe’s sister and family joined us you will get to see Alyssa enjoying time with her cousins. All of this is possible because we are letting Courtney have the iPad. Yes, we can work on taking it away and maybe sometime we will but this poor child is in school and therapy just as long if not longer than a typical work week. I think she earns a time where she doesn’t have to “work” on something.

So back to this Facebook post that caused me to rant. I know what some are saying. Yes, parents of “typical” children do this too and the person who post this comment very well could have seen a “typical” child on their tablet. My answer to that is to each their own and mind your own business.

So the next time you are out at a restaurant and you see a child on a tablet, before you blame the parents, ask yourself if you know their story. And if you are pretty sure it’s a “typical” child then just be thankful that they aren’t disrupting your meal.

Thank you for allowing me to vent. Goodnight, I’m going to continue to try to put Courtney to bed with the help of an iPad 😉.

After the ceremony of my college graduation, I hugged my parents with tears streaming down my face. While hugging my dad he said, “we did it.” School was so difficult for me and I always needed so much help from my parents along the way. So when he said, “we did it”, I knew exactly what he meant and he was right, “WE did it”.

Well, Courtney, we did it. We got through your preschool experience!

It was such a growing experience for our whole family. Starting from the district being the first one to officially say Courtney had autism. I found it ironic that her last day of preschool was exactly 3 years to the date after the day we took her to the preschool to be evaluated. The process that officially changed our lives forever. Not only has Courtney grown in so many ways during her 3 years at preschool, our whole family has grown.

For me, Courtney’s preschool years taught me what it is like to be on the other side. I’ve been a teacher of children with autism for several years. Having a child with autism in preschool gave me even more compassion for the parents of my students. It gave me so much insight on what they are going through. I have grown so much as a teacher. Courtney’s preschool years taught me how to be an advocate. I didn’t realize how strong I was until she started school.

The biggest growth of course was in Courtney. Three years ago, we walked her into that school with her unable to do so much. Unable to do so much, unable to communicate, unable to understand what we wanted of her.  This little ball of energy with so much stuck inside her and no way to get it out. Three years later, she is still a little ball of energy but she has found ways to show us just how smart she is. The school has helped us give her a functional way to communicate her wants and needs. They have helped teach her how to be a part of  a group. She is now able to imitate her peers and even play next to them. These past 3 years have brought us tears, laughter, frustration and excitement. There have been many scratches, bites, pinches, hits and meltdowns. There have been moments where I’ve wanted to scream and moments of huge celebrations.

It takes a village to raise a child and when it comes to raising a child with special needs, that village needs to be large, it needs to be strong, it needs to be ready to put up with the good and the bad. We will forever be grateful for the village we found at Courtney’s preschool. They have been such a huge part of her growth these past three years. I wasn’t prepared for how hard this transition was going to be because my family will have to start all over with building trust with a team. But, that is exactly how I felt three years ago today and look where we are now.

To the team at Courtney’s school, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking such good care of our little girl and helping her grow. Courtney, I couldn’t be more proud of you. We did it!!!

This is the look of sensory overload. This is the look when a simple beep goes off when the front door opens up. This is the look when the ice dispenser is being used. This is the look when a lawn mower is being used outside even though you are inside. This is the look when the cousins are over and making a lot of noises. This is the look when it’s raining during horse therapy. Actually, this is the look we got when the rain was beating loudly on the car.

This is the look we’ve been seeing more this past week as it appears Courtney is going through a phase of being extra sensitive to noises. Courtney has always been sensitive to certain noises such as vacuum cleaners, blenders, hair dryers, her sister’s whining (she’s not a lone on that one). This week it’s exasperated. Little noises that never bother her are causing her to immediately cover her ears. Sometimes her covering her ears is all she does but sometimes the noise also causes her anxiety to go up. She starts sounding and looking distressed. Sometimes the moment is quick but sometimes it heightens her anxiety for several minutes or even longer.

The other day three of her cousins were over. I had not gotten home from work so I did not see it happened but apparently Courtney got overstimulated by the noise they were making. She usually can handle this. This time she couldn’t. She eventually hid down in the basement in a corner to escape the noise. Fortunately this calmed her down. When I got home a little later, although calm, I could see in her eyes that she was still trying to recover from all the stimulation.

Today was the worse meltdown do to noise that I’ve seen from Courtney. Storms rolled in while we were at horse therapy. This made it very loud in the barn. It was loud for me and I don’t have sensory issues. She started crying hard and covering her ears. She wanted me to cover ears but also didn’t want us to touch her. She was in full blown sensory over load. We finally ended therapy early. The hardest part to watch was how her sensory system was so heighten after this that it took the rest of the afternoon and evening for her to truly recover.

Today autism won. Today it paralyzed her. Today autism determined our day. Today autism was hard on all but we powered through because this is autism.

My younger sister and I were so excited to have children that were around the same age. We couldn’t wait for them to grow up together as best of friends. So as our 4 children have gotten older and their bonds continue to form, it has been difficult to watch Courtney not bond with her two children like I imagined she would. Don’t get me wrong, there is a bond and a bond that I cherish, but the bond is just different.

Twice a week we visit with them for a little bit. We’ve been doing this since Courtney was born. Twice a week I watch Alyssa play with her two cousins while I watch Courtney play by herself in another room. We work on encouraging them to play with each other but of course, Courtney is always more content playing on her own. It is absolutely beautiful to watch the relationship Alyssa is forming with her two cousins. She wants to do everything they are doing. She is like that annoying little sister trying to get into everything they do. You see her cousins loving having her around at one minute and then wanting her to leave them alone the next moment. Seriously, it’s the love/hate relationship we wanted. Just like siblings. As for their relationship with Courtney? They love her, you can tell they do. They watch out for her and they let me know when she’s doing something she shouldn’t.

As of recent, her two cousins, L and R have been asking me more questions about Courtney. The biggest one being “why doesn’t she talk?” There was also a time recently where Courtney had a pretty bad meltdown while at their house. I wasn’t there but apparently L was pretty scared by it and not understanding why she was so upset. It broke my hearing that Courtney’s behaviors scared him.

This week we were over at their house like always. Alyssa, L and R were dancing and Courtney just happened to be near them. Alyssa grabbed Courtney’s hand to get her to dance. Courtney loves the touch of other children’s hands. The engagement looked normal and beautiful. Alyssa moves on but Courtney wanted to touch more hands so she grabbed L’s hands. In typical little boy style he got put off because he was being touched by a girl. We explained to him that Courtney likes the feel of hands. Later outside, Courtney actually sat down next to L and grabbed his hand again. You can tell he was uneasy about it but then my dad and I explained why she was doing it. I told him that she likes when people gently scratch her hands. L then let her play with his hands. It was beautiful to see the bond happen. This moment also showed me that it was time to really teach her cousins about autism,

I almost didn’t blog about today’s celebration. It hurt too much. How does a celebration hurt? See…I lost a family member last week. Actually she wasn’t blood related but if you ask anyone of my siblings, we felt like she was. Nancy was one of our big supporters in our autism journey. Without a doubt, anytime I posted something about my girls or anytime I blogged, she would “like” it. She would never comment but if it was something really big she would send me a text message. She always sent me latest research on autism and I will never forget her eyes lighting up when Courtney got all cuddly with her on a recent visit. Nancy was also my go to person when we were having a hard time finding her favorite fruit pouch at stores. She never failed in finding them on line and get hundreds of dollars worth shipped to us. I may never open another fruit pouch without thinking about her.

So today when we had a moment that needed to be celebrated, I paused a moment and wondered if I was ready to blog about it knowing she is no longer around to “like” it.

But maybe she does know. Maybe she was the little cardinal outside our window that Courtney saw and verbally labeled “red bird”. Yep, that’s our celebration, Courtney said a two word phrase! If Nancy was here to read this I can almost guarantee she would have sent me a picture of a cardinal via text message. No message just the picture.

I actually didn’t hear her say it, her dad heard it. He was so excited to come into the family to tell me and her team of home therapists who were over what he heard. We immediately knew why it was easy for her to label it. “Red bird” is in her favorite book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”. Courtney has always enjoyed flipping through the book while occasionally (usually when she didn’t think someone was watching) labeling each picture by its color. As of recent she has actually trying to label each page by the color AND the animal!!!

This recent explosion of language via talker and her voice is amazing! I feel like I’m knowing more what she wants at a given time and I’m getting to hear her beautiful voice.

Nancy may not be here to “like” this post but I know she has a big smile as she watches over us.

Describing what it is like to have child who is non-verbal is not easy. Of course it is heart tugging to never hear your child call you, “mommy” or hear the three magical words, “I love you”. That is just heart tugging. That is not the difficult part at all! Having a non-verbal child means not able to know their basic wants and needs. You are living every moment guessing what they want moment to moment, why they are crying, how they are feeling, what they are thinking. Having a non-verbal child means a maddening silence in the car. Before you start saying silence could be nice in the car, I’m not meaning silence with no noises. I’m meaning, no “how was your day”, or “look mommy, an airplane”. Heck, I’d even take, “are we almost there”! Having a non-verbal child typically means more behaviors. It’s hard!

Fortunately, verbally speaking is not the only way to communicate. I am so incredibly thankful for technology. Thanks to technology, Courtney can still have a voice. But it isn’t as easy as just handing her a device and her learning how to talk.

Back in the fall of 2016 we introduced Courtney to a device otherwise known as her talker. The journey with her talker has been long and hard. First we had to find the right system. That took us a while. We were with one system for almost a year and then decided to try another system. We have been with that system for over a year now.

Teaching a child how to use the talker takes modeling, getting everyone on board, training and most importantly time. For Courtney, the progress has been slow. She learned quickly how to use single words to request her most favorite items. That list slowly grew. We started to even see some two word requests. Then with all the medical issues she had this fall, we saw regression. It was heartbreaking to watch. Once we worked through those health issues and made some modifications to her device, she started progressing again.

Within these last couple weeks we’ve seen a beautiful spike in progress! I feel like she is finally catching on to the magic of the device. She has caught on that if she uses it, she can get not only food and toys but get people to do things. She’s quicker to turn to her device instead of using other methods that are not as effective. She’s even starting to use two words together to request items such as pink iPad versus the black iPad.

A couple weeks ago I was so impressed when she spontaneously used her talker to tell me to leave her alone by pressing the picture “living room” and then pushed me away. That was HUGE for her. Here we are, a couple weeks later and she has topped that moment! Her Dad had the day off today. Usually she gets home from school on Mondays and she has a snack with her Papa. Today was different. Dad tried to have a snack with her. Courtney started getting frustrated. She then used her talker to say “go home” and pushed her dad away. TWO WORDS!!! She independently used two words to express what she wanted her dad to do! I was at work when I got the text from her dad telling me this story. I was almost in tears!

My little girl is communicating!!!!!

I’m struggling finding the words that truly explain the emotions parents (or at least me) experience before during and after an IEP meeting. I want to share every raw emotion, the good and the bad, so the school personnel who read can get a sense of what it is like to be on the other side, so other parents understand they are not alone in their feelings, and so family and friends that don’t have children with special needs understand why we are lunatics around IEP time.

Courtney’s IEP meeting was yesterday and leading up to it, I was a nervous wreck. I let myself get so worked up before her meetings even though there is typically no reason for me to be worried or nervous. I let myself get more worked up this time because placement for kindergarten was going to be discussed. When you are on the path we are on, it takes a meeting to determine what the next school year will look like. It’s not just sending your child to their neighborhood school. Now that the time is here, I am finding that harder to take than I expected. I know, it’s just a school. But it’s the school that Courtney and Alyssa were suppose to attend together at some point. I loved being in the same school building as my siblings. When push comes to shove, you knew your “people” were in the same building to help you. I remember when I was in kindergarten that there were times I would be upset and they would bring me to my older brother so he can say hi to me and that was all I needed. Nope, not the case for us. Not the path we are on. Gulp, hold back the tears and time to move on.

Let me back up though. Let’s talk about how overwhelming it is for a parent to just walk into an IEP meeting. The more severe the child’s needs are, the more staff that are involved in your child’s education. Courtney’s school team includes a teacher, a speech language therapist, an occupational therapist, a health clerk (partly because it was a re-eval and all the health issues we had at the beginning of the year), a social worker, a psychologist, and then the admin of the school and a representative of the kindergarten placement. That is 8 adults, all there to talk about the needs of my child. There actually wasn’t enough room around the table for everyone. I lead meetings like this and I still find it overwhelming.

The meeting always starts off with sharing the child’s strengths and celebrations. It’s a great way to start the meeting. I loved hearing about all the progress the team has felt Courtney has made. Some of the staff members have been a part of Courtney’s team for 3 years and it was amazing to hear the growth they have seen. This is followed by what the next steps are and the growth that we hope to still see in the coming year. It’s an emotional roller coaster! We finish talking about how great she is doing and then remember how far she still has to go. My 5 almost 6 year old is still learning how to communicate her wants and needs. Still learning how to use words. I know…baby steps. All that matters is we are making those steps forward. Who decided anyways that progress needed to be made at a certain rate for every child?

I actually wonder after sitting through a placement meeting why every child’s placement isn’t done so delicately. I was so impressed on how much detail went in to Courtney’s placement part of the meeting. A representative from the proposed program attended the meeting. Her current assistant principal stopped the meeting at one point and had me explain to the representative the events that occurred in the fall regarding her health and prefaced it with how important it is that they know how much her health plays a role in her ability to perform. You want to paint this beautiful picture of your child for a new teacher but the picture I was painting was a child with aggression and communication issues that really limit her. I know, nothing they haven’t heard, but again, difficult. And difficult to relive the moments of the fall and hear the staff even say how heart wrenching it was to watch.

I was in awe as the representative described the program that was being proposed. It was the program we observed. It truly is a perfect program for her. I was so excited to hear about the community outings they do with the students so they can generalize everything they are working on outside the classroom. Now, we also found out at this meeting that though we know the program she will be a part of, we do not know what school she will be at. The district has to open up a third classroom of this program and they have yet to determine what school it will be at and may not be decided until this summer. So as most people know what school their child will be attending, we do not know. This does leave Joe and I concerned. A structured learning classroom is so unique. It is so much more than just a classroom.  This likely means a whole knew team of teachers and therapists. It is training the entire staff and community in the school how to work with children like Courtney. This is hard to do in a year. We shared our concerns with the team. They acknowledged that they understand how nerve wrecking it is. The representative even said she would probably feel the same way. Though they assured us that opening up this classroom will not be taken lightly, we are left still with some uncertainty. I will keep holding on to how much we like how the program looks in the other schools.

I think the other emotions I’m feeling comes from the fact that Courtney has been in this school for 3 full years. Through the ups and downs of how we felt about program changes at this school, she made so much progress. She is comfortable there. She loves it there. She is happy there. But in just a few short months, we will be saying good bye to all of them and trying to find a way to thank them for all they have done. So many emotions!

In this picture, Courtney is wearing a shirt for autism awareness. It shows puzzles pieces and says “Until all the pieces fit”. Seeing so many people in this meeting shows how many puzzle pieces it really does take. But together we do find a way to make them all fit. I will forever be grateful for the staff at her preschool that helped bring her so far.