Who is this kid?

Sometimes I am amazed at how far Zoey has come over the past month, and especially the past 6 months. She is now talking up a storm. You can't always understand her and she often has to repeat a sentence several times before she gets the whole thing out, but she's such a chatter box. While that in and of itself is wonderful, what I am truly amazed by is the complete 180  that she has done in terms of her social interactions. 

Social deficits were always the thing that I saw as a sign that she might have autism, and when she was diagnosed this past May she was so far behind socially. She did well with adults that she felt comfortable with and who met her at her level (down on the floor playing), but she shied away from less familiar adults and basically ignored other children. Now she is almost overly social. She says hi to people at the stores and restaurants. Tonight she ordered her dinner herself and used good manners (We still need to work on inside voice and waiting until it is her turn to order). At school she has made a "best friend" and talks and interacts with the other children in her class. At daycare, where I was told she played by herself and didn't seem interested in the other kids, she has a best friend and several other kids who all engage in the cutest exchange of squeals and hugs when they see each other. 

We've also had some disappointments socially. I was hoping that soccer this fall would be a great experience for her since Spring soccer had gotten so much better towards the end of the season. It wasn't. It was worse that the start of Spring and we actually ended up pulling her from it because it was making everyone involved miserable. 

So tonight was a bit of a test in my mind. We went to see Santa. In previous years this did not go so well. Two years ago she refused to go anywhere near Santa, so he let her sit in his chair and then he sneaked up behind her so we could get a picture. 

 

Last year involved some tears and we barely got her to stand next to Santa

This year it was like I was there with another child. She was super excited to see Santa. She tolerated waiting in line for close to an hour and did so better than most of the adults there. When it was time to see Santa, she went right up to him, sat on his lap, and told him what she wanted, a book. (We had read a social story about visiting Santa and it said you could ask him for a toy, a book, or a game and she picked a book. Black and white, concrete thinking at work there). He must have asked her a book about what, because then she proceeded to talk his ear off about the book she wanted, which was about a train. She even showed him how a train says "choo choo". LOL! Then when she was leaving she told him Merry Christmas! 

 

Seriously, who is this kid!!!!