Two years ago today Sweet Pea entered our world. I can not even begin to describe how differently I feel today than I did that morning. Let's just say that I am THRILLED to be where I'm at today emotionally! I love this little girl with all my heart and soul and I can't imagine my life without her. We all celebrate her successes and are extremely proud of all that she has done and all that she is. Sweet Pea can melt your heart with one sweet smile and you are never the same again!
Sweet Pea is doing so many things right now, but I will attempt to summarize as best I can...
Height: 31.5 inches (50% on DS charts)
Weight: 24.6 pounds (between 75% - 90% on DS charts)
Gross Motor: As I've celebrated already...Sweet Pea is walking!!!! She is getting more steady every day and her arms are getting lower than her shoulders so she isn't quite a zombie anymore. We are working on climbing up and down stairs, squats (bending down and getting objects off the floor) and sit ups.
Fine Motor: She has a pincer grasp, but it still isn't clean. We are working on getting her to hold a writing utensil (crayons mainly). She started by holding the tip of the crayon with the tip of her pointer finger in a very strange and impressive manner. Lots of work to go on it, but she is drawing lines now instead of just putting dots on the page.
Favorite Toy: Aunt R's old cell phone...we even keep it charged to add enjoyment by taking pictures, making beeping sounds, etc.
Signs: She has mastered 38 signs and has another 18 that are emerging.
Verbal: Sweet Pea has two words..."up" and "bye" and two animal sounds "ba ba" for sheep and "mmm" for cows. Sounds include "ba", "ma", "oh", "da", and she is close on "wa". She says "oh" for "go" when we say "Ready, Set..." and "mmm" when something is good. Lots of raspberries. She is getting a lot closer on a number of other words. She is working really hard on saying more sounds that have the correct number of syllables as the word that we are saying.
Eating: She can eat a lot of different foods, but she is not adventurous and it takes really good luck and a lot of patience to get her to eat many meals. Even a food that she has liked before will be refused at first. It takes us telling her that she likes it and sometimes even forcing a little of it in her mouth before she realizes that she likes it and wants more. We vacillate between giving her dairy and not because she gets sick and we wonder if the dairy caused phlegm, etc. We think she is fine with small amounts, but it's still a work in progress. Her chewing isn't great still, but we continue to work on it. We will be getting a new swallow study in a month or two hopefully and we are praying that she won't be aspirating anymore or that at least we can come down to nectar thick from honey thick liquids.
Therapy: Sweet Pea gets a lot of therapy, but she is doing really well with it and enjoys it so we aren't changing it. She has center based therapy for 3 hours 3 days a week. Physical, speech and occupational therapies are all twice a week for an hour each time. Center based and physical therapy are the only therapies that we have to go somewhere for. The others are either at our home or at daycare.
Daycare/Preschool: She attends a local daycare 2 days a week for exposure to typical kids and to give Mommy a little break. She will be transitioning to the preschool portion of the school starting on Thursday. It will be a very slow transition and start with just 10-15 minute periods of circle time, story time and maybe snack or lunch. She won't be joining the kids out in the playground or bike yard yet because she will get run over by all the other kids. She needs to be a little more stable on her feet before we try that. I know that she will be able to do it all soon, but we are going slow. I want to ensure that we are successful with every step and I'm expecting to need to be a little creative in the process, but I know that we can (and will) do it.
Sweet Pea-isms:
Giggle wars - we laugh and then she laughs and we go back and forth copying the kinds of laughs we do. I don't know who enjoys it more! It's the best way to start the day!
Hugs - not only do you get arms wrapped around your neck, but you get the added bonus of patting on your back.
Taunting - she loves to taunt us with objects and then when we reach for them she gets a huge grin, turns around and scoots/walks away. She then looks back to make sure you are chasing her and grins even bigger.
Sleeping: She sleeps through the night when she is feeling well. She moans a lot while she is asleep and it seems like she is in pain. She falls asleep on her own very well though and she loves her bed (crib mattress on the floor) and her big girl pillow. She is adorable when we lay her down in her bed and pull the blanket up over her. She just lays there and looks at us as we leave the room with a very peaceful look on her face. Love it!
Overall Health: She was sick all of February with a cold and ear infections and is currently sick with a stomach virus of some sort. She got her second set of tubes placed in November and they are still hanging in there even though the ENT thought they would be out by now. She has a lot of teeth now, but not a complete set yet. She has the front 8 teeth (a couple aren't fully in, but have all broken completely through), missing her canines (bottom left is trying to break through), all 4 1st molars (a couple aren't fully in) and 2 2nd molars (1 in and 1 almost in). We are looking forward to her getting her canines and 2nd molars as I think it will help with her chewing...that and seeing an end to teething would REALLY be appreciated by all of us in this house. We never know when she is in pain from teething, just being whiny or is actually sick.
