Stella: Our Easy Girl

I've neglected this blog, and some have wondered what happened to Stella. Specifically people who have high needs kids, as we did. There is some good news. Parenting remains a full time job, but Stella has blossomed into a sweet, delightful, relatively easy child. We talk, we joke, she eats, and, most importantly, she SLEEPS. Every night she is tucked in at 8:00 p.m., and sleeps through the night, waking up at 6:30 a.m. or sometimes 7:00 a.m. She is now almost five years old, time flies! This August she will even be a big sister. She is thrilled about this. So, if your kid is a high needs kid, and you want to jump out a window because you think it will never end ... don't! Stella started to finally start sleeping at 16 months, about, and after two years was sleeping almost every night through. It could change for your child as well. I stopped blogging regularly because as Stella got older I felt like my blog was becoming an invasion of her privacy. When she was a baby, it was like, whatever. I needed an outlet. But now that she walks, talks and has her own opinions I want to keep her story more private. I think this is the right move. She's a kid now, not a baby, and has her own life, her own likes and dislikes. Her own way of moving through the world. I started to feel like I was exploiting her, a bit, for material. So I decided to stop. But she is the greatest thing ever. She is a very sweet, kind, sensitive, loving girl. I think she still has traces of sensory processing disorder, and sometimes is overwhelmed, even now, by loud sounds. And sometimes I think she isn't 100% engaged at school, but her teachers tell me she is just the most lovely child, and very sharp. She remembers pretty much everything, and delights in correcting us when we make mistakes in books we've read over and over again. She remembers most of them word for word, but still prefers for us to read them to her. So, keep your chin up stressed-out parents. It can get better, and almost certainly will get better. I am here to tell the tale. Chins up! And if you read this blog because you are looking "The Story of Fourteen Bears," yes, I still have it, but packed it away when we moved a few months ago. It's here somewhere, in a box I am sure, I just haven't unpacked it just yet. But I will get it one of these days. I should post a few panels for those who want to see it again. I know how you feel, I really do. Be well, and stay strong. --Dave