Wordless Wednesday: Pooh Bear

Wordless Wednesday: Eskimo Girl

Wordless Wednesday: Traffic Woes

No More Secrets

Oh Hi!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...life became a little chaotic for most of August. My Mom fell while visiting us and broke the humerus in her right arm (and scraped her head) just four days prior to her scheduled return. I became her nurse for three plus weeks until we could get her returned home (we traveled with her as she was so limited with arm mobility). We're back now and trying to catch up with work and life.

The Little Miss was a bit out of sorts during this time. I had so little time with her spending much of my day helping my Mom with everyday tasks she could no longer do. The Little Miss' language is exploding and she's such a sensitive little person and SO observant. For days after my Mom's fall she'd pretend play she fell and "Bumped my head and broked my arm. I need to go to the doctor." She would find something to wrap around her arm then locate a pillow to prop her arm up to rest. She also quickly learned to "fill me in" (and anyone within earshot) on all the happenings while I was busy with Grandma.

For example:

• "Daddy's not happy with me cause I'm not listening."
• "Daddy is a little frustrated."

• "We played puzzles and Legos and had a picnic on the floor and I spilled my water but Daddy wasn't mad."
• To her dance teacher: "Grandma broked her arm and bonked her head and Mommy has to wash her hair."

• "Friend-Friend (our greyhound) peed on the floor! Doggies don't pee on the carpet. Doggies poop and pee outside. Maybe I can go poop outside. Maybe"

• To her Aunt: "Mommy's stressed out."

Needless to say, we can no longer have any secrets in this house. She's a sponge...even if we think she's not listening. If we say anything in front of The Little Miss, we need to be prepared for it to be repeated. Good or bad.

Wordless Wednesday: Masterpiece

A little catch-up

Wow. As much as I hope to be completely on top of this blog it. just. doesn't. happen. There are a few things to catch up on:

Speech Therapy: The Little Miss is currently on a "service coordination" plan. This means she's improved so much that she no longer needs bi-weekly play therapy. This worked out well as her therapist is on maternity leave and she's to be tested in another week to see if she needs/qualifies for continued therapies with the school district. Her vocabulary is pretty huge at this point. The biggest issue we have is proper enunciation. Essentially, if we make her slow down and we demonstrate proper, exaggerated enunciation, she'll speak the word perfectly.  I'm wavering on the pre-school idea. While I really do wish to have her in that type of setting, I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be there at age 2 1/2 for four days a week.

Potty Training: Well, she mastered this long ago. The end of May had us traveling to Missouri for my niece's graduation from high school. The Little Miss had been doing extremely well. She rarely peed in her pull-up and was wearing underwear more and more at night (from the time she woke from her nap until bath time).  The week prior to our trip she decided she was DONE with the pull-ups. We had planned to really work on potty training when we got back but she decided for us. She wanted her underwear on and she wanted it on from the time she woke until she went to bed at night. I was fully prepared for our trip, putting her in pull-ups on the flights and she never once needed them. She went on the plane (that's fun, let me tell ya!) multiple times and even held it once when she had to go and we were mid descent and couldn't get out of our seats. This continued the entire time we were in Missouri and she's been going strong since. We still put a pull-up on at night, not wanting to risk a solid-night's sleep for accidents, but she's been completely dry for weeks now at night.

When did she turn into such a little girl!?

Gymnast or Dancer?: We received some really sad news that our local The Little Gym is closing it's doors for good the first week of August. The Little Miss LOVES her classes there and has been talking, non-stop, about taking the dance/tumble combo class when she turns 3 with her teacher, Mrs. C. Very few dance studios allow toddlers under 3 to take classes. There are two studios in town we're looking at, but we're also trying to decide if we want to abandon gymnastics all together or do some sort of combo class (which is difficult to find). She really seems to want to go for dance. In fact, we discussed the fact that if she took dance I couldn't be in the class with her. She smiled and said "I a big girl Mommy! You watch me!" She may change her mindset when the time comes but, for now, she seems to be okay with the fact I'd have to watch from the lobby and not be in the class with her. We don't want her to have so many activities she doesn't have time to just be a kid but we'd like to expose her to activities and give her a chance to socialize outside of her comfort zone of home. Decisions, decisions.

The Rings. A perpetual favorite!

Ta-Da!

So, life here continues its usual amount of crazy. We had one of The Little Miss' older cousins out for two weeks and soon, Grandma will be out for a few weeks. In between our travels and company we had landscapers performing a total make-over of the backyard. We now have GRASS! A complete novelty here in the desert and something we're really enjoying. I make no guarantees with the blog. I'm currently trying to focus on quality time with The Little Miss than just quantity of time. I admit to work preoccupying my time and, in turn, I'm distracted by email or the latest assignment that needs to be finished. In doing so I may be with The Little Miss physically, but I'm not fully being with her.

Wordless Wednesday: Jump!

Overheard:

With The Little Miss' budding language skills, she's had a lot of humorous quips lately. These were recently overheard:

While getting some food out of our side by side freezer, a few small things fell to the floor. Sophie, who was playing nearby, exclaimed, "Oh Mommy! Be careful!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Calling the dogs to go out for one last potty break before we headed out, they were ignoring me instead hoping for the treats we usually leave for them. Sophie, ever wise, sighs, shakes her head and says "Doggies, NOT listening."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting onto myself for forgetting to do something, I said "Oh I'm so dumb." Sophie, never one to miss a great repeat says, "Mommy's dumb!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After dealing with several headaches this month and needing to medicate and find a quiet spot to reduce the pain, Sophie grabs her burp cloth for her head (they've become very soft security blankets of sorts), lays on her beanbag and says, "Oh my head hurts. Need rest."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y, heading off to meetings, came in to kiss Sophie while I was busy putting away some laundry. Noticing he hadn't kissed me she scolds, "Daddy! Kiss Mommy!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y and I have both been extremely busy with work and have had to placate Sophie with a few "I need to finish this. I'll play in 5 minutes." Sophie, busy playing, turns to me when I tell her it's time to get dressed and says, "10 minutes, Mommy!"

View From the iPhone (photo intense)

I always seem to forget about photos taken with the iPhone when we're out and about, and even forget to download them frequently so months go by before I remember to sync my phone and pull the pictures from the it. Some fun activities were captured on the phone and some of my favorite snapshots, too! Enjoy a peek into those "brief" moments that were photo-worthy.

Waiting for Grandma....

Grandma's flight was delayed in November so we stopped at a park for some playtime.

Checking out the lake.

"I don't see any ducks!"

Birthday Girl!

A birthday trip to the zoo!

After Grandma's departure....

Aunt Niki would be so proud! Riding on a quad!

View from under the slide...

Whee!

Circles!

Her first real circles (you know, the ones that really look like circles)!

Leaving on a jet plane.....

Sending kisses to my family as we head back home.

Can't fly without some shades!

Grover!

Can't go anywhere without Grover!

More artwork and random fun:

"Trees, Flowers and Bees"

Baking with Nana.

"Red 'pider"

Ready to go fishing!

Making rectangles...

She is her cousin's twin! 

Elmo!

Let's Go Fly a Kite....

This past Thursday, The Little Miss was enjoying an episode of Sesame Street on Sprout while I was trying to get a grip on the migraine that was getting increasingly worse. As part of the episode, a little boy was flying a kite. The Little Miss was mesmerized. She asked me "That?" (this is her way of saying "What's that?"). I explained it was a kite and the wind makes it fly high in the air. She smiled, still mesmerized by the kite flying. When the kite segment was over, she looked at me and said "Have kite?" I laughed, telling her we'd have to buy one at the store figuring she'd forget about it and move on to something else.

Wrong. All she talked about for three days was "Tite." "Have tite?" "Tite up, up!"

Saturday we ran some errands and ended up at "The Big Red Ball" store (Target). The Little Miss insisted on "walk, walking" through the whole store and the entire time all I heard was "tite?".  She was on a mission and so excited once we found her kite!

Her Yeye came to visit today and it was a perfect time (ie: not too windy) to try out the kite. She'd cheer and applaud when the kite finally made it in the air but cracked up laughing every time it would come crashing down.

Super Moment with the Super Moon

Yes, I know, the "Super Moon" was last weekend but it's been a little busy....

While awaiting the rising of the moon over our horizon and mountains, S and I were outside gazing at the stars. My Dad had been on my mind and in my heart a lot last week as a close friend lost her Dad to cancer just a few days prior. While S and I were chatting about the stars I told her, "Grandpa is up there in the stars. He's watching you every day. If he were here right now I'm sure he'd be showering you with hugs and kisses."

S continued looking at the sky deep in thought. She then looked me in the eyes then back up at the stars and in her sweet little voice said, "Hi, Gampa!" while waving her sweet little wave. Tears formed in my eyes while I gave her a big squeeze. She has no idea how much her acknowledging her Grandpa meant to me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 28 months!

Earlier Today....

::Sophie knocks on the door::

Me: "Who's there?"
S: "Tookie! Num Num!"
Me: "Cookie Monster?"
S: "Noooooo!"
Me: "No? Who's there then?"
S: ::runs over to hug me:: "Pho-phie!"

Ahhh....love these little bits of progress she's making speech wise!

You say tomato....

The Little Miss grunts.

A while back I mentioned I was worried about Sophie's speech development. She seemed to be progressing along normally until just around 18 months all progress stopped. She was no longer using two-word sentences and using very few words in general. It was either "eh eh eh" or "uh uh uh" or a point or sing language or some combination there of. We spoke to her pediatrician about her concerns but were told "She's still in the 'normal' range. Let's look at it again at her 2-year visit."

We switched pediatricians for her 2-year visit (same practice, different Dr. - long story). Anyway, we discussed our speech concerns and The Little Miss even demonstrated her "babbling" and lack of speech. Our pediatrician said there's some definite cause for concern so let's start the ball rolling for speech evaluation. That was in November.

I called the requisite numbers for all the referrals and were told "We can get you the hearing evaluation but speech evaluations are running 4 to 6 months out." Geez. Apparently I went into the wrong field! Her hearing evaluation was scheduled for early January, just after our holiday trip. We'd yet to hear from the speech people but were on the cancellation list so knew we could possibly get a call any time. As we assumed, Sophie had no hearing loss. Two days later, we get a call from the Speech center with a last minute cancellation. Literally. They called at 9:30am for a 10:30am appointment. The Little Miss wasn't dressed, I was dressed but not for public consumption and it takes us 45 minutes to get to the hospital where the evaluations take place. C-razy! But knowing how long it takes to even get an appointment I jumped at the chance. We made it, with 5 minutes to spare.

After an hour and a half evaluation with a FABULOUS SLP we learned Sophie does indeed have a delay. She has a greater than 50% deficiency in "expressive speech and language". In some language areas she's functioning at a 36 month level but in expressive speech and language she's barely functioning at a 15-18 month level. (Which makes sense as that was when she stopped progressing normally speech-wise.). There's some concern she may have a possible motor disorder called Apraxia of Speech (or Speech Apraxia). She has several "characteristics" of Apraxia of Speech like being able to do something once then never again (two word sentences, saying a word once then never again, etc). Other characteristics include having trouble forming the sounds and words consistently. Sophie can watch our mouths closely and attempt to make the sound but come out with something totally different. Unfortunately, Speech Apraxia can't really be fully diagnosed until age 3.

So where does that leave us? In limbo, really. Our insurance will not cover speech therapy for developmental delays. It was recommended that The Little Miss initially receive 16 weeks of therapy with a re-evaluation at 12 weeks to see how she's progressing. Through a local hospital and The Children's Miracle Network's Helping Hands program we can receive 4 sessions. That still leaves 12 sessions to fund. We're in the process of getting The Little Miss evaluated for Early Intervention home therapies. Generally, children like Sophie with one deficiency don't qualify BUT we learned recently there are funds available for just Speech Therapy. We're keeping our fingers crossed she qualifies. We have a couple of other options to look into but if she doesn't qualify for anything else we'll be paying out of pocket.

Next month, well week actually, she's being evaluated for EI services. The following week she begins the first of four sessions through CMN. Family members have asked if I'm "distraught" over her diagnosis and I'm not. Not at all, really. I'm glad to know I wasn't crazy and my concerns over her speech were founded. I'm glad we know what's going on; why she's delayed. I'm glad other people (outside of family/friends) are seeing just how bright she is but how frustrated she gets when we don't understand her "jargon". I'm glad she's going to be receiving help and we're going to be learning some tools to work with her at home. She's already making progress. Since her initial evaluation we've been practicing using two-word sentences and focusing on the ending sounds of words she knows. She's been using those words more and more and trying to use sentences when she can. She gets frustrated when she fails (head down, bottom lip out) so we encourage and get excited about EVERY attempt. It's going to be a long process. She should catch up we just don't know how long it will take. I'm heartbroken to see her so frustrated at times but thrilled to see her eyes light up when she KNOWS she said something correctly and we understood her.

We hope to report, in a few months, that we can't get our little jabberbox to STOP talking. I'm positive she'll be full of some VERY interesting and imaginative stories.

A cousin's tutu makes for a great head piece!

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Girl

While I was MIA from the blog, she turned 2!

Still with me?

Hello dear readers!

My intent was not to abandon this blog but, well, I've been busy.

This has been occupying most of my time.

I hope to return soon. The holidays were excellent, though far too busy. There is some news to update you on regarding The Little Miss. Be patient....I will return.

In the meantime....

Can you believe how big she's gotten!?

Wordless Wednesday: Curly Sue

Wherein I babble about our crazy life....

So.  Hi, Blog world!!

Life is just insane right now. Most days I feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off.

Let's see if I can summarize:

My in-laws are on a 70-day cruise (lucky them). We've been given the responsibility of watching their home, keeping up with their mail and making sure nothing burns down/explodes/leaks, etc. Last we checked everything was still standing and dry. That should count for something, right?

The Little Miss is taking pre-gymnastic classes at The Little Gym. She loves, loves, loves these classes. Most Wednesdays now go like this...wake, quickly shower, scarf down breakfast, prep the diaper bag (water, snacks, extra clothes, etc), clothe Sophie, fix her hair while she runs around excited for Little Gym, drive as fast as we can without breaking too many speed limits and catch our breath as we have 10 seconds to remove our shoes and run into the gym. Crazy much???

Potty training. What is there to say about this process? We're in the VERY early stages of potty training. We've had some successful tries as well as times where she just sits on the potty but doesn't do anything. She's asking to go more and more but still hasn't made the connection of when she needs to go, she should head to the potty rather than go in the diaper. We're not discouraged in the least as it's still early but as anyone who's potty trained knows - it's a process!

Dogs. I'm not sure how much I've written about our dogs here. We have two retired racing greyhounds. They're great dogs and Sophie adores them but man are they sucking us dry of money! Duncan has his fair share of issues - pain mixed with severe anxiety means lots of medications and resulting to labwork to insure his liver isn't damaged in the process. Friend is regressing because Duncan has received a lot of attention lately and has now decided the hallway is her personal toilet. It's a good thing we love them to pieces because some days I'm ready to pull my hair out!

Kid number two? No, that's not an announcement. It's me admitting I'm not ready to go through EVERYTHING I have to go through to get pregnant (if we can again) and successfully carry a child to term. Infertility and the resulting treatments are a HUGE stress on me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I'm struggling to find the time to exercise and lose the MANY pounds I need to lose. Some days I feel like I'm being pulled in two different directions. My heart says "I can't wait to share my love with another child." while my mind and body say "Are you kidding!? Do you know what we have to go through to get there? Have you FORGOTTEN!?" I haven't forgotten. It sucks and I really wish we were part of the lucky ones that could just try with no medical intervention.

New business venture. Well, not really new....let's say re-started business venture. In early 2008 I decided to start my own photography business. I did a few shoots, loved it, realized I still needed lots of practice especially with posing and getting the lighting/metering just right but was on my way. Anyway, 2008 brought some intense times with fertility treatments, the pregnancy, being told we miscarried when we didn't, on-again/off-again bleeding, falling on my belly during the second trimester and the resulting Little Miss. I did a few shoots through my pregnancy but then Sophie arrived and I focused my time and attention on her - not growing my business. With the economy so questionable my "real" job isn't the most stable position at the moment. With that in mind, I decided to take another leap and work on getting the photography business up and running again. The past several weeks have been devoted to compiling a portfolio, getting some advertisement going (and offering my services in a raffle at The Little Gym), and scheduling some portfolio building shoots.

I think I'm crazy. 

There's more but I'm positive you're bored out of your mind. One of these days I hope to get back to regular blogging. Sophie is a riot and also VERY trying. Gotta love the approaching twos and increased independence!

If I had a nickle for every "No!" I heard throughout the day.....

Paranoid Much?

No. Not me. NO way.

Ha!

The Little Miss is sick. Nearing a week now. She's caught a cold. The first full day of sickness she ran a really low-grade fever, had some vomiting and a cough but is mostly just MAJORLY congested. I've wiped a snotty nose more times than I can count and my hands are raw from all the hand washing and hand-sanitizer using. I got little sleep the first few nights as she struggled sleeping with all the congestion. The next couple of nights saw some better sleep but we were still being woken after a few hours with her getting choked and coughing.

Last night rolls around. She'd had a bit better day. Her nose wasn't running as much but she's very gurgle-y (parents with sick kids, you know what I mean). She crashed pretty quickly after taking a really late afternoon nap. I jolt awake about 4:45AM. I first check the bed - nope, she's not in bed with us. I then check the video monitor. She's in her bed, face down. I think to myself "I'm sure she's fine." Then I begin to have the starts of a panic attack remembering just how congested she's been. I slip out of bed, tip-toe into her room, lay my hand on her back, and breathe a sigh of relief that she's breathing.

Around 5am she starts coughing and can't stop so I rescue her from her bed and bring her in to sleep, elevated, on me until her coughing slows. I told Y that I'd checked on her at 4:45 to make sure she was breathing. His response? "I did the same thing at 3am."

Nope. We're not paranoid AT ALL!

Big Girls....

...sleep in Big Girl beds:

And Big Girls learn to dress themselves:

Such concentration!

Look at that belly! Hahaha

 

Can I just say I'm AMAZED at how quickly the Little Miss has jumped to these "Big Girl" stages after showing no real interest in some of them!? We'd practiced dressing ourselves now and then but it was never a huge feat for her. She'd try to dress herself but, honestly, she just didn't care. Tonight while folding and sorting the clean laundry she took her pajama bottoms, sat on the floor and started dressing herself. She did 95% of the process COMPLETELY on her own. So proud.

As for the transition to her toddler bed..well, that just sort of happened. After Y's surgery napping (and going to bed at night) on her own were a struggle. In the months just after the surgery all she wanted was to be held. To have me close by. Every time we'd try to return to her sleeping on her own there would be fits and tantrums and pure refusal. It was most likely the WRONG move but I gave in..choosing to SURVIVE the day with a nap vs. no nap. I'd have to rock her to sleep, place her in her crib and stay in her room, working (thank goodness my work is done on the laptop!) while she slept. If ever she woke and I wasn't there, the nap would be over. During our trip to Missouri in July, there just wasn't a good place for her to nap other than on my Mom's bed. Sure we had her PeaPod Travel bed but it just wasn't real easy for naptime. So we began working on having her fall asleep next to us, not in our arms. Most days it was successful. Once we were home, we continued this, having her fall asleep next to us on our bed and it's been a HUGE success. This began transitioning to night time as well. Instead of being rocked to sleep, she wanted in her crib to snuggle in on her own. Soon she began to get frustrated that she couldn't get in or out of bed on her own (and quite frankly we were tired of leaning over the crib to pat her back now and then). 
(Disclaimer: We TRIED CIO and Ferber and it just didn't work for us. So while it may have been hugely successful in your household, it wasn't in ours and, really, Y nor I could handle the tears.) 

So, we discussed converting her crib to a toddler bed. We questioned whether or not she was ready; whether or not we'd be spending the night sending her back to her bed. And then one weekend, while her grandparents were here visiting, we just DID IT. I'm SO proud of how well she's done. She climbs right in at night after some milk and snuggle time with Mom or Dad. After whispering some sweet words she's out for the night. We haven't had to struggle with her getting in and out of bed - she just sleeps.

Potty training seems to be not far behind. She's beginning to tell us when she needs to go poopy and pulls at her diaper wanting it changed when she's very wet. We're not going to push it - just waiting for signs that she's ready and take it one step at a time.