Leah 3.5

    I surprised almost daily at how grown up Leah seems all of a sudden. Yet also reminded daily of her very definite 3 year old emotional and social level! She is reading first grade level books, doing first grade math, can write her first and last name, count by tens, name the days of the week, months of the year, and remind you of the specific details of an event that happened well over a year ago. Yet she still starts screaming if she can't get her shoe off the instant she wants it off. Or whining if her toast is not cut to the right size or shape. Or have a terrible freak out if her shirt has a drop of water on it. And lets just say that her friends are VERY patient. Leah has a few good friends now that she plays with on a  regular basis and WOW has it helped! But....
    I have still been a bit concerned about whether or not Leah is in the normal range for an average three year old with emotional and social skills. So rather than worry I had her tested. I will be honest I was kind of hoping she would FAIL. If she did it would insure her a spot in the preschool program at our local elementary school for next year. This would have been the perfect social partner to her private class she goes to now(only three kids) and would have greatly helped with the large group anxiety she has. Well she passed....barely. Ok, I should clarify for when I want to reference this later. Leah took the DIAL4. This test is broken into parts testing for everything a child needs for kindergarten readiness. Normal range is a score of 80-115. Leah got an 84 on the social/emotional part. So still on the low end of normal. In EVERY other part of the test she got the same score-  135- which is the ceiling score(the highest the test goes). We were so close! 84! Only 5 points off! If only I would have not let her sleep the night before or something. Gave her a candy bar before the test? She would have crashed half way through! Ah well, I guess I will just continue to be her social director with play dates and park dates and hope things continue to improve over the next two years. Yes, she still has two more years until kindergarden. Surely that will be enough time right?
     A few fun facts to remember about Leah:

favorite color- yellow
favorite food-  vegetable coconut corma
favorite song- Tennessee waltz
teacher- Mrs. Sharon
best friends- Ava and Emmie
school mates- Jeanne and Nia
favorite book- Franklin books( all of them)
Leah loves to "work" at the sign shop with Dave,"help" with anything Dave is working on, feed the animals, teach her sister new things, ride her bike to Harmons, go to the library, visit Grandma Mary and Papa Joel, and read books!