Bursting with pride

I'm just so proud of our girl today, I'm ready to bust.
I have to brag a little!
We had two big appointments today, one being QQ's speech therapy evaluation (including the government rep, the occupational therapist and a speech therapist). The second was our pre-operative appointment with the plastic surgeon who did Q's palate closure and lip adhesion.

The therapists sat down with us and asked us a lot of questions about her development, and watched QQ play with some evaluative toys for about an hour.
All three therapists were not only thoroughly charmed by her (a common reaction) but also extremely impressed with QQ's social abilities as well as with her development.
Their evaluation was excellent - much better than we had expected. They felt that she was extremely socially adept (but we knew that much!), and that she was also very bright, curious, willing and capable for her age. They said they felt that she would probably only need a nudge in the therapy department, and that she would probably be off and running with language very quickly, since her comprehension is extraordinarily high at this point. They said they anticipated that we might not need the therapy sessions for very long.
One of the evaluative toys was a small pegboard with loose pegs, and to my absolute delight and pride, QQ was able to put the pegs in their holes quickly and accurately. This is a very new skill for her, and I was amazed once again by her aptitude and dexterity.
They were thrilled with her affinity for counting games, her direct eye-contact and agility with communication, her eagerness to learn and her comprehension of both words and concepts (they could not believe that she had already grasped the concept of prepositions! Through, inside and outside, etc are among QQ's favorite things to demonstate, which amazes us as well).

The word "gifted" was tossed around, and one of them suggested that we might want to look into programs for gifted children in the local school systems even before she was ready to enter.
Of course, we feel that she's extremely apt, but it was really thrilling to hear our suspicions confirmed. After all, doesn't every parent assume their child is exceptionally bright?

As for the pre-op, the surgeon felt that she had healed beautifully from the initial repair, and that this upcoming surgery would be much easier than we had anticipated. If we're lucky, she may even be able to come home the first night, instead of spending the miserable night in the hospital like we did last time. This, too, left us walking on air, since we were all dreading another surgery and the attendant pain and lengthy recovery period. If this second surgery involves only the completion of her lip repair, she will only have to wear arm braces at night for the first week, as opposed to three weeks of misery on all our parts following the inital surgery. She really hates those arm braces - we think that was the worst part of the whole ordeal for her, even worse than the pain (which was probably pretty bad after that 4-hour palate repair!)

Just like the first time, it's hard for me to imagine her face being changed yet again. I have grown so accustomed to her cute kitten-face that I have a hard time visualizing what she will look like after her lip is fully closed. Her mouth is going to be teensy! But having been through it once already, I know that I will quickly adjust to her new face, and that she will be just as beautiful and expressive and funny and gloriously happy as she has been all along.

All of this is fantastic news...the best we could have hoped for, and I am so very, very proud of our bright, eager, swiftly-growing girl!

Now, if she can just slow down her pace of growing a bit, I would really appreciate it! She is such a joy at this age, and her astonishing growth rate makes me feel like she's going to be 13 the next time I blink, which scares the crap outta me! I want my baby to stay a baby for just a bit longer, please!!