When you come to a Y in the road...you have to say goodbye

As Alayna turned 3 over the weekend we have come to a Y in the road.  As parents we always want what is best for our children.  Sometimes making those decisions is so hard to know if you are doing the right thing.

Alayna and her PT, Erin

We are finished with early intervention and leaving the Lee Ann Britain Infant development center, where Alayna has had classes and therapies since she was 3 months old.   The girls could stay at IDC up until kindergarten but, since we have such a fantastic school district and equally fabulous preschool included that is minutes from our house we made the decision to move the girls just to the school district.

Dariya with her OT, Angie

As we come upon this "Y" in our journey I would be lying if I told you that is was an easy decision to leave this great program that we have taken part in for the past 3 years.  Just looking at Alayna with her PT Erin for their last session brought tears to my eyes remembering how just a few years ago my little girl couldn't even hold her head up on her own.

The staff at IDC has walked with us on our journey of understanding how we can help Alayna (& now Dariya) reach their fullest potential.  They have provided us with friendship, love, support, education, advocacy, and given our girls a great start.  Many of the staff were there to greet us when we arrived home from Ukraine with Dariya which again was another huge blessing.

Alayna with her ST, Amy

We know many places around the country and especially around the world don't have a fantastic facility like this close to them so we count ourselves blessed to have been able to take part in this program.

We celebrated our last day with our IDC friends in style, at the pumpkin patch.   We had a blast! We bounced, rode the train, rode the horse swings, played in the corn crib, tried the slides, rode in the wagon, picked our pumpkins and had a final snack with our friends and hugged them goodbye.

Seriously the BEST out of all the shots.  UGH!

Weeeeeeeee, I love that her eyes are closed!

Dariya is asking, "Are you sure you want to go get a pumpkin instead of a snack?"  This sweet little boy is George, he was Alayna's teeter totter buddy everyday at recess.

Alayna hopped off the wagon and spots her pumpkin right away. Dariya didn't want to have much to do with pumpkin picking. She was heading for the wagon to go to the snack table...

Enjoying one final snack with our buddies

Ms. Ann will forever be etched in our hearts. 
We ♥ you Ms. Ann!
Alayna loves Ann so much that she let go of my hand and said, "No! Ann" and ran off to hold Ann's hand.

With sadness we say goodbye to the girl's teachers, therapists, friends and staff at IDC.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for loving our girls and teaching them so much.  We will miss you.


We are super thrilled with the staff and services the girls are getting at the school district.  Alayna had her IEP last week and is beginning to adjust to the school's preschool.  If you are new to following us, the girl's sped teacher, Ms. Juanita has a son of her own that has ds and my girls are like rocks stars to their family.  How awesome is that?  God always knows what is best.


Another HUGE bonus is today was the first time in 6 weeks (besides weekends) where I had my girls for a morning!   We played our hearts silly and Dariya even sported big girl undies all mornings with NO accidents.  Ah, it is good to have preschool only 3 days a week.  For us this is the best schedule for now.