Feel some hope today

I got several encouraging emails. Jaden has an excellent therepist through the Early Steps program who is teaching us so many ways to work with her at home. And each day she makes some small steps that fill my heart with hope.
Today, we had a busy day. Kirsty came at 9:30 and both of us worked Jaden hard ;O) Then we went to the PT and Miss Robin gave Jaden her inserts for her shoes, that will help her to walk correctly. (She has flat feet) Jaden got to 'play' on all the cool equipment that is typically found in physical therepist's office... then we went home, had lunch and a quick snooze. Then it was time to take Morgan and Kady to their important business, so we packed a small dinner and headed out. We dropped Kady off at school for drama practice and Morgan off at church for dance and then we went over to the library to drop off many long-overdue books. I quickly fed Jaden at the back of the library so that her yelling might be tapered off, but it didn't work. She yelled the whole time. Loudly. I wish there was sound on this thing so you could know the seriousness of what I am saying.....We hurried out of there but it was raining hard. I checked the time and realized we still had some time before we needed to pick Morgan up (Kady was getting a ride home later) so I just plopped myself down on the ground next to Jaden's stroller and we did some 'people watching'....(has always been my most favorite thing in the world to do--sit on a bench at the boardwalk and watch the people but I hardly have time to do that these days..) Several people passed us by and said hi to JadenGrace but she acted like she didn't hear them. I was enjoying watching the rain pound the earth and how cool the air felt because of it. I was also liking how quiet Jaden was outside compared to inside. Suddenly, she reached out her hand, pointed to a tree and said 'tree'. This sounds simple, I know, and not worthy of praise but you have to know that Jaden never points at anything in the air. Only in books, and even that skill took months and months....She has said tree many times but never with a point of the finger.
I almost hollered, I was so excited....People walking by must have thought I was crazy encouraging my 2 1/2 year old to point and speak....hehe...
Then, an older man came out. He stopped by the stroller and reached out to touch her hand. I only had time to say "ummmm...." before Jaden backed up as far as possible in her stroller and looked at me, right in the eyes, and shook her head NO......Again, if you know how big this is for an autistic child to do you are hollering with me at this moment....If you think it's not a big deal, than holler cuz it's just the right thing to do....
Praising God for these days....