I started 2015 with hopes that Mia would be talking before 2016 came along. I hoped that she would be attending school at Bal Swan. I may have even hoped that she would no longer need to attend therapy at Children's Hosptial.

Now that the year is in it's final hours, I am taking inventory of where we are. Mia is not speaking. By the most liberal of estimations she really only makes word approximations. "Gu" "mu" "hap" "pwe". I know the words are in her head, just as someone learning a new language can hear it in their head perfectly but can't make it sound right when it rolls of their tongue.

She is attending public school two days a week. We attended parent tot classes at Bal Swan for five months. Two times we went to meet with the teachers to see if she had made enough progress to attend. She hadn't.

We started the year attending Occupational and Speech Therapy at Children's Hospital. We still attend both once a week. She has difficulty attending to tasks at hand, and is often distracted.

It may sound like our year has been marked with a lot of failure. My hopes have seemingly not come to fruicion. But in reality, this year has been anything but a failure. I am seeing so much progress in Mia in other ways. She is far more outgoing than she ever was before. She will often go up to other's, pulling them to help her with a task. Her eye contact has greatly improved. Now, when she makes a request she always will look us in the eye. She is doing great at her current elementary school. The other kids greet her by name, and have even given her a hug when she arrives at school.

What I wanted to begin 2015 is much different than what I have at the end of it. Would I change where we are now? No. Mia is happy, healthy and I couldn't be more proud of her. My hopes for 2016? Keep surprising me baby girl, I leave the progress up to your timeline.