My Little Monkey

I came home from work the other day and Kimmie was sitting at the table in the kitchen. She looked up at me. She had black crumbs all around her mouth. I said to her, "Have you been eating Oreos?" She grinned and shook her head, "Yes."

She does love Oreos.

--Mom

My Little Collector

Kimmie never likes going to the dentist, although she does hug and hug and hug all over the dentist.

But the part she likes the most is the treasure box. For a while she was collecting plastic ducks for her bath, but now she has started collecting bouncy balls. And of course one is never enough, she has to have one for each hand. So when she went to the dentist this week she came home with two more bouncy balls.

Of course, after all the crying and the screaming and the hugging, everyone feels so sorry for her that they would just about give her the moon. Two bouncy balls, no problem.

--Mom

Trauma at the Dentist

Kimmie went to the dentist yesterday afternoon. Always a traumatic experience. She doesn't fight as hard as she used to, but she does cry and scream and wiggle a lot.

She looked like she had been in a fight the rest of the evening. Her lips and cheeks were puffy with red blotchy spots on them. She never eats well after the dentist, and yesterday was no exception. She ate maybe 4 or 5 bites of supper. We tried to get her to drink instant breakfast to give her some calories. But even drinking seemed to be a problem.

Poor little girl. It always seems like she has to endure so much more than her share of problems.

--Mom

Kimmie's Laughing

Kimmie's laughing. It's such a happy sound.

Last Saturday I was taking my other daughter someplace and we were driving a way we have not gone in a while. We approached a stop light on the green cycle at an intersection with a little hump in the middle. It's a fun intersection to go through a little fast on the green because the hump in the middle gives you that "whoosh" feeling.

Kimmie always loved going through that light on the green and feeling the "whoosh." She would laugh. I told her sister on Saturday when we were laughing that I could hear Kimmie laughing in my head even though she was not with us. And see her signing, "funny slide, funny slide."

We'll have to go that way soon so Kimmie can laugh as we bounce over the hump.

--Mom

School Dance

Kimmie has been having happy days at school. Yeah!

Yesterday at school she did a hula dance, her air guitar dance and she pretended to be a soldier (she likes to salute).

And she danced on the bus again.

What fun!

--Mom

School

School started this week.

Kimmie had a good first day. She even danced on the bus.

The second day she danced for them at school, but she threw her glasses on the bus. Little stinker.

Her sister's response to the first day of school, "School was awesome!"

--Mom

School Registration

I took Kimmie to school this week for registration. She received her schedule. We paid her class fees. Then she had her picture taken for her school ID.

It was a rather entertaining activity.

We had been telling her that we would be going, but she would repeatedly sign "No." I picked her up at home, loaded her in the car and off we went. When we arrived at school, she sat in the car signing "no, no, no" and refused to unfasten her seat belt or get out of the car. After I promised to take her back home afterwards, she calmed down and climbed out of the car.

When we entered the school she insisted on clutching my arm, hiding her face, and then she giggled. She wanted to go in the office, but when she looked in there, whoever she wanted to see wasn't there so she finally walked on with me to the cafeteria, clutching my arm and half hiding.

When we entered the cafeteria there were tables around in a semi-circle with different letters of the alphabet on them. Two people, mostly women, sat behind each table. There weren't too many in there registering, so the folks behind the tables were mostly sitting, looking around, waiting.

They were mostly sitting there with ho-hum kind of faces, until we came along. As we walked across the cafeteria and they spotted Kimmie, one by one their faces lit up with a smile. I guess that's the effect Kimmie has on people. She makes them smile.

We took care of the paperwork and then went across the hall for the picture. We had to wait behind a couple other students. Kimmie was pretty good. She decided to pretend she was playing baseball and she assumed her batting stance, complete with "digging your foot into the dirt" motion. One of the women from the office was helping with the ID cards. I knew she was one of Kimmie's buddies so I asked Kimmie if she wanted to say "Hi" to her. No, Kimmie was too busy "batting." As we moved up in the line and were closer to the woman from the office, Kimmie spotted her and over she ran with her arms out. This lady was pretty smart. She jumped up and went around the table so she could get a good Kimmie hug. And it was a good one, a double hug. One around the waist and one around the neck, with a really good squeeze.

Registration was actually kinda fun, watching everyone's reaction to Kimmie.

--Mom

Vacation and Another Friend

Last week we were on vacation. The first evening we stopped at a restaurant to eat. Kimmie was sitting at the end of the table where the waitress stood to take our order.

It wasn't long before Kimmie was hugging her. When Kimmie finally let go the waitress started telling us about her brother being autistic.

After she walked away, Daddy just looked at me and said, "That's another one, another life she touched."

I said, "Yes, Kimmie made another friend."

--Mom

Kimmie's Birthday Celebration

I'm very behind on my stories. It's already August and I haven't even written about Kimmie's birthday celebration.

Since Kimmie's sister was going to be gone to camp on Kimmie's birthday, we celebrated early. We told Kimmie when we were going to celebrate her birthday about a week before and boy was she ready.

Not normally a morning person, Kimmie was up at 6:20 am. We weren't celebrating until evening, so she had a long day of waiting. Fortunately she was pretty good about it. She signed repeatedly "Grandma Grandpa over." I reminded her that they weren't coming over until evening. She was amazingly patient.

It did start to get the best of her when she could see the presents, but she had to wait for us to all finish our cake and ice cream. We all knew that she'd been waiting a long time, so we gulped down the cake and ice cream to get to the important part -- presents.

She was very excited. One of her new loves, this summer, is Teen Titans. One present was Season One of Teen Titans. She has been carrying it around and sleeping with it ever since. (Well, when she can convince Daddy that she needs to take it to bed with her.) She doesn't ask to watch it very often, but she keeps the movie box close by. Sometimes she cries in the night and we have to find it for her.

She is enjoying her new books and toys.

It won't be long before she starts talking about Christmas.

--Mom

Shopping

Kimmie has a one track mind and lately it has been fixated on shopping. Unfortunately she is not happy to just go out and wander around looking. She thinks she needs to buy something every place she goes.

Usually she also has in her mind something that she wants to buy. Unfortunately it is often something that we cannot find in the stores.

As you might guess, shopping with Kimme usually involves a lot of screaming. Screaming because what she wants is not in the store. And screaming if we try to leave without her buying something.

It's a challenge.

--Mom

The Waiter

Tonight we went out to eat. Kimmie was determined to hug the young man who was our waiter. Every time he came to our table she would look up at him and hold her arms out. Dad would try to distract her and redirect her.

One time she was smiling at the waiter and I asked her if she was flirting. The waiter laughed and said, "that's ok" as he went about his work.

We managed to keep Kimmie off him until we were leaving. As we were leaving the waiter came past us to speak to us as we left. Kimmie's arms went up and he got his hug. Another waiter went past about that time and paused to say he must have done a good job. Our waiter laughed and commented that his customers love him. It was cute and sweet and funny.

Kimmie's sister was laughing as we finally made our way out of the restaurant. She observed that every time we go out to eat Kimmie hugs the waiter or waitress. I pointed out that most people who work as waiters and waitresses are outgoing, people persons, which is good because they are not too bothered by a little girl hugging on them.

Another life Kimmie touched.

--Mom

The Back Dilemma

Kimmie's back problems have become a bit of a dilemma. This week we went to the neurosurgeon so he could look at the MRI films and determine if her spinal cord and related problems would be ok through scoliosis surgery. He looked at the MRI but could not determine for sure whether her spinal cord had become reattached and tethered again. Since he could not determine this, he could not say it was ok to have the scoliosis surgery, nor could he say that she needed to have the tethered spinal cord release surgery again.

We continue to wait for the doctors to figure out what can be done about Kimmie's back. The neurosurgeon said he would get with the radiologist and spine/bone doctor to see if they could figure something out. Maybe the radiologist can see more than he can see? Maybe there is another test or a different angle that could be done to see the area more clearly?

The neurosurgeon's assistant is suppose to call us when they decide something.

Waiting is not my strength.

--Mom

New Friend

Kimmie made a new friend this week.

Kimmie was complaining about her mouth hurting. We couldn't exactly pinpoint a spot that looked like a problem, but Kimmie rarely admits to anything hurting. She's too afraid of going to the doctor or, worse yet, the dentist.

Her dentist is on vacation, so we were given the phone number of the on-call dentist. A new dentist, new staff . . . Dad decided he better meet us there to help hold her still. The dentist did real well with Kimberly. Dad held her arms out of the way while I kept her legs straight so she couldn't dig her feet in and leverage her whole body around. The assistant stood a couple feet away looking a little lost, not knowing what she should do.

When the dentist was finished looking, he received about eight hugs from Kimmie. The assistant received a really nice big hug, too.

When we were leaving, all the staff appeared to breath a sigh of relief, along with smiles and comments about how well it went. I couldn't help but think about how Kimmie had touched some new people that day. I think the dentist and the assistant will remember her and her hugs for a long time.

--Mom

July

July has arrived. An exciting month for Kimmie. Her birthday month.

Unfortunately it is also her siblings birthday month and Kimmie's birthday comes last. Celebrating her sister and brother's birthdays while waiting for hers to arrive is a very difficult thing.

Kimmie is not very good at being happy for others especially when it means that they are opening gifts and she is not.

--Mom

The Missing Turquoise Socks

It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that we had not seen the beloved turquoise socks for a while. I wondered what had become of them. I thought that one of the kids might have carried her clean laundry up with the socks tucked in between. I made a mental note to go through Kimmie's clothes looking for the socks.

It's a little thing, but something that brings her joy. So much of what makes her happy is simple little things.

Before I went through all her clothes we discovered a couple pair of socks behind her bed. And one was the turquise pair she loves so much.

The socks went into the laundry and as soon as they were clean again they went on her feet. She had been searching for them in her drawer off and on during the time they went missing.

--Mom

A Day at the Hospital

This past Monday Kimmie had an MRI of her spine, under sedation.

Poor little Kimmie.

We let her sleep until it was time to leave for the hospital. Then we wisked her out of bed, put clean clothes on her and hustled her out to the van. No food or drink allowed at that point.

She was hopeful, hopeful that we were going on vacation. . . . Nope.

As we drove closer to the hospital we passed the baseball field. She signed baseball game. . . . Nope.

By now she was getting a little worried. As we arrived at the hospital and pulled into the parking garage, the wimpering began along with lots of "no" signs.

She did pretty good in the waiting room. She just looked like she was fretting and worrying. Every time we had to get up and move to a different location the wimpering would start.

The wrist band they put on all hospital patients upsets her, too many memories. We always have them put it on her ankle (she can't reach it as easily to rip it off.)

Poor little Kimmie.

The nurse who came in to take her vitals was not very well received. One of the things Kimmie hates is the bandaid like thing they wrap around her index finger to monitor her oxygen level. It looks like a bandaid, one of her big phobias.

The blood pressure cuff sends her into hysterics. I don't think anyone has ever been able to get a reading until after she's sedated. Having that thing squeeze her arm gets her fighting so hard that nothing registers.

The nurse who was doing the sedation did receive a hug, but it was pitiful since Kimmie was sobbing.

Kimmie was a good girl about drinking the medicine they brought her, and once that was in her the IV was put in without any struggle.

When Kimmie woke up after the MRI, everything came off pretty quickly. It was either that or she was going to rip it all off. I think she was more worked up about the bandaid like oxygen thing than the IV.

As soon as we were in the car she started pulling at the ankle band, so we cut that off of her. She repeatedly checked her ankle to make sure it was gone and has spent most of the week telling us the blood pressure cuff is off . . . gone . . . No, No, No.

Now we wait, and wait, until July 8 when we will get the results.

--Mom

Kimmie's New Best Friend

Kimmie has a new best friend. He hasn't replaced Brown Bear, but he is going everywhere right along with Brown Bear.

Kimmie came home from school last Friday with a new Pooh Bear. She "earned" it at school. It's a beanie size Pooh and fits in the palm of her hand.

She has taken him to bed with her every night. She wants him every morning. She took him to horseback riding on Saturday and church on Sunday.

She has two others just like him that she has had for years, but they are part of the mass of stuffed animals, mostly bears, that she has.

This one is special because she earned him. She is proud of him.

--Mom

Kimmie's Back

Kimmie's back is a difficult thing to figure out.

There is the scoliosis, the tethered spinal cord and the mass of tissue at the base of her spine where it didn't finish forming.

Did the tethered spinal cord cause the scoliosis? If the scoliosis is fixed, will too much tension be put on the spinal cord. How are the tethering and the mass related.

It has become more of a dilemma now that the spine doctor has said the scoliosis needs to be fixed. Even the pediatrician says we are between a rock and a hard place. We'll soon be having more tests and additional appointments with the neurosurgeon and spine doctor to try to figure it all out.

Right now it seems like there is no good solution. Whatever course of action we take appears to have complications.

No wonder she always wants her back rubbed.

Pray for little Kimmie, her back, and the doctors.

--Mom

The Hearing

We had the hearing to establish guardianship for Kimmie as she turns 18. The hearing was Wednesday, May 20. It was interesting. Seemed like a whole lot of trouble for something as simple as our circumstances.

Kimmie was cute, cute, in a new blue dress and little white shoes. She understood enough to know it was all about her. She was excited about getting dressed up.

The judge was very nice. She smiled at us a lot.

I think it was the attorney for the state who first referred to us as "her loving family" and that seemed to be a theme that was repeated through the proceedings.

The jury was kinda funny. Six white women who all appeared to be retired and mostly in their 60s. Very grandmotherly looking group. I didn't expect any problems from them. I figured they would look at Kimmie and want to make sure she was taken care of. I thought they looked like a Sunday School class or quilting group on a day outing. They were all dressed casually and had lunch bags or an extra bag with stuff to do while they waited.

Kimmie sat next to her court appointed attorney. Nice enough man, just a bit arrogant. Kimmie thought he looked like the Blue Genie (Aladdin's Blue Genie). She hugged him when he came to our house. She hugged him in the hallway outside the courtroom. And she hugged him in the middle of the proceeding. That was the funniest. He looked a little embarrassed and didn't know quite what to do with her. And she hugged him when it was all over. I think the judge got a kick out of it. (This sweet little girl getting the best of this big arrogant man.)

It didn't take long. Like I said at the beginning, a lot of trouble for something that was basically very simple.

And yes, Brown Bear was there, her faithful friend who goes to all the important events with her.

--Mom

The Jar

Kimmie has a new toy, a small plastic jar.

Dad washed the jar and placed it on the kitchen island. He had plans to use it for something, but Kimmie found it and claimed it instead.

She picked it up, took the lid off, examined it, put the lid back on and placed it back on the counter. But a few minutes later she went back, picked it up and carried it to the table where she sat down, took the lid off and started carefully stuffing her shoe strings into the jar. After the strings are all inside she puts the lid back on and looks at all the pretty colors inside the jar. After a while she takes the lid off and shakes out the shoe strings.

When we go out, she used to wad up all the shoe strings and carry them in her little fist. Now she carries the shoe strings in her little jar.

Sometimes she gets frustrated when the shoe strings pop out and won't stay in as she is filling it, but for the most part it is a new entertainment for her, carefully, inch by inch, pushing the shoe string in the jar.

--Mom