Anna still primarily crawls up the stairs, but we've been working on strengthening her hips, legs and balance so she can walk up and down them. A couple of weeks ago we were on the front 'porch' saying goodbye to Anna's speech therapist and Anna shocked me by hanging onto the railing with her left hand and walking down the six or seven stairs to our front door without any prompting. It certainly took a lot of effort, but I was impressed at her initiative and ability.
I thought that was going to be the beginning of her consistently trying to walk up and down stairs, but instead she still resorted to crawling. She was starting to put her foot on the next step instead of her knee, but she wasn't ready to go up without placing her hands on the next step as well.
Over the last couple of days she's been hanging onto the railing with both hands and walking up the first few steps of the stairs in our front hallway. So I'm looking forward to her reaching this 'stair' milestone over the next few weeks. And based on past experience I bet I'll have news of other unexpected milestones that come as a result of this pending accomplishment. I'll be sure to report back.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Balloons
Well, we already knew Anna loved balloons, but this last experience with them takes the cake.
Dave's birthday was last week, but since he was away for a couple of days and Anna's Mimi was visiting, we celebrated Dave's birthday and Mother's Day on Sunday. I bought a dozen helium balloons and Anna's eyes lit up as soon as she saw them. But since they looked so pretty the way I fixed them in the dining room, I decided to make her wait a little before letting her loose on them.
As soon as I untied them she was mesmerized by them. She loved pulling them down and then watching them float up to the ceiling. She shared nicely as well. She passed out balloons to Mimi, Grandma, Granddad, Daddy and Mimi's friend Claire only to collect them and start all over again.
You'd think she grow tired of them, but the next morning she headed right for the chair where I had tied them to the night before. After breakfast Mimi played with her as she giggled away with the balloons bouncing around her. After dinner she found them again but discovered a new way to play with the balloons. Recently she's been placing pillows on the floor and diving on top of them. She decided the balloons were a good substitute and dove in the middle of them entertaining us all. I was pretty impressed that she could manage to dive in the middle of them and then wiggle her away out of them only to do it all over again. She only grew a little frustrated when she got herself a bit too tangled and the ribbon started to pinch her leg. But with a little help from some scissors, peace was restored and the balloons regained their place on her favorite things list!
Dave's birthday was last week, but since he was away for a couple of days and Anna's Mimi was visiting, we celebrated Dave's birthday and Mother's Day on Sunday. I bought a dozen helium balloons and Anna's eyes lit up as soon as she saw them. But since they looked so pretty the way I fixed them in the dining room, I decided to make her wait a little before letting her loose on them.
As soon as I untied them she was mesmerized by them. She loved pulling them down and then watching them float up to the ceiling. She shared nicely as well. She passed out balloons to Mimi, Grandma, Granddad, Daddy and Mimi's friend Claire only to collect them and start all over again.
You'd think she grow tired of them, but the next morning she headed right for the chair where I had tied them to the night before. After breakfast Mimi played with her as she giggled away with the balloons bouncing around her. After dinner she found them again but discovered a new way to play with the balloons. Recently she's been placing pillows on the floor and diving on top of them. She decided the balloons were a good substitute and dove in the middle of them entertaining us all. I was pretty impressed that she could manage to dive in the middle of them and then wiggle her away out of them only to do it all over again. She only grew a little frustrated when she got herself a bit too tangled and the ribbon started to pinch her leg. But with a little help from some scissors, peace was restored and the balloons regained their place on her favorite things list!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Blowing
Awhile ago I taught Anna that when something is hot, it's necessary to blow on it before eating it. At first, she just laughed as I blew on her food for her. Then she started imitating me. Sometimes, she would even start blowing in my direction when I mentioned that the food I was making her was hot. Now I can actually hand her slightly hot food and simply tell her it's hot. She sets to work scooping up the hot food on her spoon and blowing on it lightly before clumsily shoving it into her little mouth! Quite a sight for sure!
Five O'Clock Farms
We visited Dave's best friend from college and his family on Saturday. They have a farm in Southern Jersey (Mullica Hill). We lucked out and had a beautiful day in the sun. They have lots of animals, but Anna liked the little gray cat the most. We were disappointed that the video camera wasn't charged because they made the cutest pair walking down the gravel driveway together. The cat kept rubbing up against Anna while Anna pet her and laughed the whole time.
The dogs showed a little interest in Anna as well and she did really well with them. The only thing Anna didn't like was when Jonathan (their wild four year old!) got her a little wet when they took the water slide out. Not a big deal since she was standing a little too close for comfort. Plus, it taught her a good lesson and only lasted a minute or so.
Jonathan was a friend from the start. He immediately took her by the hand and showed Anna his trains. Catherine helped out by giving the two little ones a wagon ride and introduced Anna to the Webkinz website. Not sure she completely got it, but she sure was attentive to Catherine's instruction. Nicholas came a bit later but he helped out with the kids too and entertained us at dinner with his corn eating ability! I met Nicholas when he was six and would barely eat plain noodles - now that he's a growing 13 year old, things sure have changed!
Nick took us all on a tractor hayride - it was great to be outside in the sun - glad we came prepared with the sun screen. And Cheryl made a delicious chicken barbecue dinner. But by the time dinner was ready, it was a little too cool to eat outside. No big deal - it's still early!
We had to leave right after dinner since it was getting late and Anna has an abridged nap. We headed to the hotel (about thirty minutes) away and settled in. Anna was a little wound up when we got there which was just as well since we had to get things organized and weren't ready to put her right down. She had tons of fun jumping on the bed and exploring the hotel room. She definitely knew something was different and seemed to like the idea that we were all in the same room.
After we put Anna down, we tried to watch a little TV but were pretty tired ourselves so we retired a little before 10 pm. Dave and I didn't sleep very well, but Anna did pretty well. I heard her stir a little bit, but she was quiet until almost 8 am when the light started to make its way through the heavy drapes.
We put on our bathing suits and headed for the indoor pool. Once Anna got over the initial shock of the cold water, she seemed to really enjoy the water. But even though she seemed to be having fun, her teeth were chattering so we decided to get out. As soon as we got out she started saying 'more', but we decided to get cleaned up, have some breakfast and head to our picnic (see 'Hemi-kids Picnic'.
It was fun seeing the Lacovara's again - it's been awhile. We were especially happy that we were finally able to introduce them to Anna. So thanks Nick, Cheryl, Nicholas, Catherine and Jonathan. Thanks for showing us around the farm and spending the day with us.
The dogs showed a little interest in Anna as well and she did really well with them. The only thing Anna didn't like was when Jonathan (their wild four year old!) got her a little wet when they took the water slide out. Not a big deal since she was standing a little too close for comfort. Plus, it taught her a good lesson and only lasted a minute or so.
Jonathan was a friend from the start. He immediately took her by the hand and showed Anna his trains. Catherine helped out by giving the two little ones a wagon ride and introduced Anna to the Webkinz website. Not sure she completely got it, but she sure was attentive to Catherine's instruction. Nicholas came a bit later but he helped out with the kids too and entertained us at dinner with his corn eating ability! I met Nicholas when he was six and would barely eat plain noodles - now that he's a growing 13 year old, things sure have changed!
Nick took us all on a tractor hayride - it was great to be outside in the sun - glad we came prepared with the sun screen. And Cheryl made a delicious chicken barbecue dinner. But by the time dinner was ready, it was a little too cool to eat outside. No big deal - it's still early!
We had to leave right after dinner since it was getting late and Anna has an abridged nap. We headed to the hotel (about thirty minutes) away and settled in. Anna was a little wound up when we got there which was just as well since we had to get things organized and weren't ready to put her right down. She had tons of fun jumping on the bed and exploring the hotel room. She definitely knew something was different and seemed to like the idea that we were all in the same room.
After we put Anna down, we tried to watch a little TV but were pretty tired ourselves so we retired a little before 10 pm. Dave and I didn't sleep very well, but Anna did pretty well. I heard her stir a little bit, but she was quiet until almost 8 am when the light started to make its way through the heavy drapes.
We put on our bathing suits and headed for the indoor pool. Once Anna got over the initial shock of the cold water, she seemed to really enjoy the water. But even though she seemed to be having fun, her teeth were chattering so we decided to get out. As soon as we got out she started saying 'more', but we decided to get cleaned up, have some breakfast and head to our picnic (see 'Hemi-kids Picnic'.
It was fun seeing the Lacovara's again - it's been awhile. We were especially happy that we were finally able to introduce them to Anna. So thanks Nick, Cheryl, Nicholas, Catherine and Jonathan. Thanks for showing us around the farm and spending the day with us.
Hemi-Kids Picnic
We went to a picnic yesterday for kids who have had strokes. It was in Media, PA at Linvilla Orchards. We had lunch, fed a variety of different animals and went for a hayride. Dave even got some perennials to bring home for our garden!Anna was one of the younger kids and she quickly made friends with a much older girl who played with her a lot of the day. She got a ton of exercise since she wanted to walk everywhere and the place had some hills to contend with. She had a great time with all of the kids and behaved wonderfully. She was so wind up from the day of fun that she was a bundle of energy for the first fifteen minutes of the car ride home. But exhaustion soon took over and she dozed for awhile in the car. She's not much of a car seat sleeper, but luckily she was content enough to hang out for the remaining forty-five minutes of our trip.
She was happy to get home and have some dinner and then played energetically until it was time for her to go to sleep. She went willingly and talked for awhile in her crib since she had a lot to tell 'everyone' back in her room. It's so funny to listen to her babble away in the dark until exhaustion finally takes over her. Unfortunately she still tends to wake up crying when she's gone a day without a nap. Luckily, it just takes a quick minute for me to cover her back up and tell her to calm down and go back to sleep. Even so, I'm looking forward to her outgrowing this slight interruption because I was really comfortable when she decided she needed a little help!
She woke again at 5 am, but this time she was simply laughing and babbling quietly to herself so I decided to leave her alone. Anna is not an early riser so I decided to let her have her fun and fall back to sleep without any intervention. She finally roused around 8:30 am ready for the day!
It was nice to spend some time with people in similar situations even though spending the majority of the day discussing therapies and other medical interventions was a little draining for me. Obviously we only had 4 hours to socialize and swap stories so I understand why this occurred, but I was happy when we all took a break and fed the animals together and went for a hayride. By then, everyone had had a chance to talk for awhile and was ready to just enjoy one another.
Everyone was really nice and open - I only wish we lived closer to someone especially to someone with a child Anna's age. I know once Anna starts school she will make a lot of friends since she is so social and so far pretty mild mannered (at least around other kids!). But I don't know what it will be like for her growing up a little different than the other kids in her class so it would be nice to have someone else a little more like her around. I guess only time will teach us how to deal with this kind of situation if and when it occurs.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Kissing
Anna didn't kiss us for the longest time. Dave was especially bothered by this. But, when you think about it, it makes sense. After all, kissing is a motor skill and Anna has low tone in her mouth. But all of our teaching has paid off because Anna loves to kiss now! Perhaps we taught her too well. :-)
And Anna kisses more than just people: bowls, utensils, toys, books, her pacifier, stuffed animals. Whenever we put anything away, it first gets a kiss and a 'bye bye'. In fact, she has learned that if she is sick of a certain food I've given her, she kisses it and says 'bye bye' in order to tell me she's had enough! Last week I couldn't blame her - I had given her the same left over chicken three nights in a row.
Now when she sees me and Dave kiss, she walks over for a kiss as well. We better watch out. Pretty soon, she's going to see perfect strangers kissing in the mall or super market and is going to lean in for her kiss. If anyone is putting together a kissing booth for a local fair, you may want to think about hiring Anna to 'man' the booth!
And Anna kisses more than just people: bowls, utensils, toys, books, her pacifier, stuffed animals. Whenever we put anything away, it first gets a kiss and a 'bye bye'. In fact, she has learned that if she is sick of a certain food I've given her, she kisses it and says 'bye bye' in order to tell me she's had enough! Last week I couldn't blame her - I had given her the same left over chicken three nights in a row.
Now when she sees me and Dave kiss, she walks over for a kiss as well. We better watch out. Pretty soon, she's going to see perfect strangers kissing in the mall or super market and is going to lean in for her kiss. If anyone is putting together a kissing booth for a local fair, you may want to think about hiring Anna to 'man' the booth!
Time Out
So we've started giving Anna time outs. I started right around her second birthday. Usually we just ignore her when she has a fit, but when she gets really out of hand, she goes into her crib for two minutes.
Last week she was hungry so she started to climb onto her high chair. When I didn't respond right away, she just started to freak out rather than simply tell me 'eat'. So upstairs and into the crib she went. I went to get her a couple of minutes later and she had stopped crying. But as soon as I asked her what she wanted (looking for her to tell me 'out'), she started wailing again. So another two minutes was added to the clock. When she calmed down, I went in and even though she was still wimpering, she did manage to say 'out' so I took her out and rewarded her with a snack - what she was looking for in the first place.
Luckily, for the most part walking away from Anna does the trick just fine so time outs are few and far between right now. But only time will tell!
Last week she was hungry so she started to climb onto her high chair. When I didn't respond right away, she just started to freak out rather than simply tell me 'eat'. So upstairs and into the crib she went. I went to get her a couple of minutes later and she had stopped crying. But as soon as I asked her what she wanted (looking for her to tell me 'out'), she started wailing again. So another two minutes was added to the clock. When she calmed down, I went in and even though she was still wimpering, she did manage to say 'out' so I took her out and rewarded her with a snack - what she was looking for in the first place.
Luckily, for the most part walking away from Anna does the trick just fine so time outs are few and far between right now. But only time will tell!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
