Parenting a Special Needs Child Part two

Miss E as she is referred to in the social media world is our 4 year old. Her adoption is sooo close now. She has many many issues that with every doctors appointment we find out is more and more, yet daily she progresses and meets strides we never knew she could. She has many congenital birth defects. She has a tracheostomy which requires frequent suctioning... mostly because she produces so much spit. She puts everything in her mouth and is exploring so much now through oral exploration. Most kids who have never eaten usually have a severe oral aversion, she can't figure out how to swallow most days, but she sure likes to taste things. We are hoping with some feeding therapy that she may eventually learn to use her tongue and swallowing muscles to actually eat. The ENT thinks that she may even end up decannulated, trach out and close the stoma, when she is older. She was on a vent when she first came, now we can cap the trach and she tries to make sounds and can hold her o2 saturation up in the high 90's to the 100% range. She can't walk or sit on her own, but she stood the other day while I was taking her out of the feeding chair, the fact that she can use force to stand with support is amazing considering she has severe brain damage to her cerebellum.

However, she is a spunky, opinionated little girl who is not afraid to make her needs known. What once was an all Mickey Mouse Club watching marathon has been replaced with Max and Ruby, and she'll sign more and say what sounds like Mama, when she sees Max on screen. She seeks out new toys to play with and loves to "play" with other children, she to the gravitates older ones though. She is a fashionista little diva thanks to her Daddy.

Most of all she is loved and despite the 4 year old temper tantrums, she is so easy to care for. If it weren't for the frequent suctioning requirements you'd think she was a typical kid.