No Pneumonia
The doctor finally called Friday afternoon (or maybe Cathy called him) and said it’s not pneumonia. We are continuing the breathing treatments and antibiotics and she seems to be doing better.
Friday was her last day with her speech therapist. He has to move into an administrative position because of this new state program which is going to offer more services…by taking people out of service to sit on committees. Typical government “huh?” planning.
Anyhow, we aren’t completely devastated by this. He was a really nice guy and we liked him, but he just wasn’t effective with Maria. I think he works better with kids who can give him some back and forth. He’s probably great with older kids, but I think Maria was too much for him. He of course absolutely adored Maria - to the point it was borderline creepy 
We hope to find a speech therapist who has experience with hearing impaired kids, which he agreed was a great idea. However there is a huge shortage of speech therapists in Phoenix - even more so now that some of them have to sit on silly committees.
Maria did something pretty exciting today. I had her on the floor and she wanted to stand. I helped her to her feet and she started to take a step forward. She took three very deliberate steps (I was supporting her of course) and stretched out her arms toward the TV. I wondered what she wanted there since she hasn’t ever shown much interest in TV, but then she abruptly squatted down and picked up her Elmo doll which was in front of the TV! I really think she deliberately went over to get it.