Tamara turned 6 yrs old on June 21st� Woo Hoo! She continues doing pretty well, and we hope that she keeps right on growing mentally and emotionally through her different therapies, and classes she will be taking over the summer. She participated in Bible Camp at our church in June right after school was finished for the year, and she had an absolute blast. There were many things to do and learn, and she did extremely well. She had a one on one teen helper the entire time, and that really put our minds at ease through the day. She just went to another church last week where they did the exact same program, and we think it was a huge benefit for her to have that extra exposure.

Tam just finished a music class, and has started swimming lessons, which will run for the next several weeks. She is also in therapy with a wonderful guy named Michael to assist with behavior, and cognitive growth. All of these things together should have her more than ready to return to school in the fall. Tam will most likely be repeating Kindergarten, as we feel that emotionally she just will not be ready to go onto 1st grade. We also want her to have more time during the day in the larger class setting than the hour or so she had this past year. This year she will probably spend about half of her day with the big group, and we think it will do wonders.

Tam has started asking and answering �why� questions, and that is very significant, because as far back as we can remember she had never done that. She could ask and answer �what and where� type questions, but she just could not seem to reason the �Why�s�. This is just a part of the growth we have seen. She has also learned to respond to adults much more clearly, and even begins conversations with us, when nothing is said to prompt her. This is so terrific, that we have don�t have enough space here to try to put down all of the descriptives we feel, when we think about how far she has come since her diagnosis.

Her current mix of Dilantin and Lamictal continues to work fairly well, and although we do see a few more minor seizure episodes than we would like to, we remain very pleased that the Major ones stay away.

Tamara, along with her sister Allyson, and brother Nathaniel, had a ball at the 5K in May, and will be on hand again this year for the October Golf Tourney. (for info on either event, click on the Upcoming Events tab).

We so look forward to what the rest of the summer will bring, and even more, what the new school year has in store for our little Blonde Haired, Blue Eyed Beauty. Thanks for your interest in how Tam is doing, and we will have another update for you soon!

Peter and Sharon
Last Updated July 19th, 2004