Welp, I said it

As all of us know, we wait about twice as long (if not more) to hear those precious first words come out of our child's mouth. Because of that, I swore I'd never get tired of hearing Payton talk and would never tell her to stop talking. I ate my words. Finally at around 10:30 last night I said "Payton, stop talking and go to sleep!". Her response was ofcourse, "I am!". Most of her talking was going over what she was doing today.....I get so tickled at her because she'll ask "Tomorrow I wake up, go to Dawn's?" "You pick me up?" We go over and over and over it. Usually she says "say it again" or "say it with me". I'm suprised I don't repeat it in my sleep. She cracks me up.

There hasn't been a lot going on - we're just packing, getting ready for the move, and enjoying time outside. Packing has been a bit difficult because Payton tries to unpack every box we've packed but I think we've finally gotten her to leave them alone. When Bob was gone to his folks for the weekend I was trying to pack some. My mom had given me some shredded paper from her work to use and I had left it in a trashbag in the living room. Payton reminded me that I shouldn't leave her alone for more than a few seconds :) It shouldn't have suprised me one bit when I walked back in the room and saw the shredded paper everywhere. Payton and my cat were in heaven! (I wasn't). Because the damage was done I left it for a day or so for her and the cat to enjoy. And just rounded up paper as I packed.

In the next week we have some meetings for preschool. Payton's teacher called me last week and said she was almost finished reading the book I'd given the school on WS. I about passed out - that book is huge and I couldn't believe she'd read it cover to cover. She said she had some great ideas, wanted to focus on Payton's strengths and had some questions she wanted to go over with me. I'm already impressed with her. I haven't told Payton much about going to school yet because I know if I even talk about it she will think she needs to go right then (even if it's midnight) and the anxiety will kick in and she'll ask about it 24/7 for the next two weeks. I know she'll love it - she always loved being with the kids in the past. So, I'm excited for her to get to go. I did ask her teacher whether Payton would hear the bell ring and she said only at 9am. They are going to get special headphones for her and make sure a teacher is with her at 9am when it goes off. Otherwise, I know Payton would not be easily settled down once she heard it and wouldn't be able to concentrate at all for fear it would go off again. So, as you can tell, school hasn't even started yet and I'm excited about the things they are already doing for her. Next Wednesday I meet her aide. I've heard wonderful things about her and honestly can't wait to see the advancements Payton makes this year.
Check out Nancy's post about her last day at the convention. The emotions she described are exactly how I know I would feel. Nancy's words about ws speaks volumes to us:

There is no end in sight to Williams syndrome.

Your baby never has been and never will be normal.

People are going to call your child a retard.

Your child will always be childlike.

There is no rest for you.

No relief from this agony and perpetual worry.

Ever.

Bob and I feel the exhaustion isn't really from having a child who requires so little sleep, it's from the emotional aspect of it all. Thanks, Nancy, for sharing your story on the convention. It really helped the rest of us who were unable to attend.