Well, we made it through the holidays fairly well this year. This was the first year that Lonnie had expressed a desire for particular items for Christmas. She was constantly repeating the list to me and asking me to repeat it back to her so I would not forget. I finally had the idea of writing the items on a sticky note and putting it on the refrigerator where she could see it and that seemed to settle her down a bit. I told her clearly that she might not get all the item on her list, and sure enough a couple of things proved to be too expensive and or unavailable. But she got plenty of extras that were not on the list and all in all seemed content.

Lonnie was born on New Year's Day, so with her birthday following only a week later, she received more than enough.

Because Lonnie has a tendancy to obsess on something in particular, I always strive to make sure she has a variety of different things to interest and challenge her. Sometimes she goes from one activity to another every 15 minutes or so, but it helps keep her anxiety levels down.

Lonnie continues to make good progress in her social skills and communications. Math is her worst subject in school - she has a lot of trouble with abstract concepts. Mostly she just memorizes for now, and that's okay. I have confidence that it will fall into place for her eventually.

Her music class is rehearsing for a presentation of a musical version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and in one number they are rehearsing, Lonnie is the Sun. She is so excited about this part - she talks about it alot. I hope to get some pictures at the show.