"Only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain."~Richard Nixon

Today we met with Zoey's new speech therapist to go over the speech evaluation that was done a few weeks ago.Up until now,speech was not part of our Early Intervention services but once Zoey was finished with her last round of chemo I knew the clock was ticking.Early Intervention is only available until the age of three.March the 2nd 2010 will be here before we know it.A little more then 7 months to be exact and when you get right down to it, we have only been able to utilize a very small portion of the last 2 1/2 years due to all the sidetracking.Sidetracking sounds so much nicer then actually putting down all the diagnosis' doesn't it?I often tire of writing the litany of her medical history so I think I'll stick with sidetracking.Anyway,when I met with our service coordinator to put into place Zoey's new service plan, I inquired about speech and as luck would have it, Zoey's authorization was relatively easy to come by.Zoey's speech therapist is a dream.Positive,encouraging,highly knowledgeable,kind,caring ... I could go on and on.Suffice it to say, I truly believe we have been blessed with yet another amazing member of Team Zoey.As we sat and chatted and reviewed the assessment,Zoey snoozed away while we watched the video monitor for movement and we cruised through the extremely thorough findings of the report.I am quite certain that there are some who might have read the percentages in delay or saw where their child fell in comparison with their actual age and quite frankly they might be bummed.Not me.Now,that doesn't make me right and the "some" wrong,it just makes me me and them them.Zoey is 28 months old and the majority of her Basal ages,skills that have been mastered in a specified age range,was 6-9 months.Yep,I'd say she is delayed but all I kept thinking as we went over the 5 page report was:how great is it that we are even here.That Zoey is even here!How awesome is it that we have even been given the opportunity to put a plan into action at all.That is one of the main gifts of the last 8 months.We do not look at the could have beens or the should have beens we look at the gift of now.So yes,there is work to be done.The process won't come easy and effortlessly.We hope one day Zoey will be able to convey to us her needs through a combination of signs and PECS and maybe even verbal cues and as her mother,that one day she will be able to convey to me if she is physically hurting and not feeling well because I think alot of parents out there with non verbal children, worry we won't be able to catch a subtle indication of serious illness or injury.We have a plan and I absolutely love plans.If we are fortunate we will meet some of the goals we have put in place and anything other will just be icing on the cake.Today, I feel like we are on top of that mountain.The climb was long and arduous and I often questioned whether we would make the ascent but we have left the valley below,for now,for this moment and today,right now the view is completely and utterly magnificent.

*pictures aren't the best of quality but there was just something about her in these.Some maturity thing.Some confidence thing.Some "look at me and how far I've come"thing that I just loved.