What's up?

What's new with M lately?

She's turning into a little girl. When did this happen and where did my baby go? She wants what she wants when she wants it and isn't really all that interested in how anyone else feels about the matter.

Her speech has made some big leaps recently. She WANTS to use words to communicate some things now ... unless her speech therapist is in the room. She's not a big fan of ST as the focus for so long was on feeding and she did NOT want someone messing with mealtime. It's not the sole focus anymore, but M made up her mind about ST then and isn't very cooperative. Oh that iron clad will of hers ... so 2.

She had an assistive technology appt with Easter Seals a few weeks back. It was a 3 hour appt with an OT and SLP. They are looking at getting her some equipment to help her communicate more until her language catches up (and they believe it will). She needs a large screen because her point isn't accurate enough for small pictures but she can't obviously carry around something really heavy. Early Intervention doesn't currently cover I-PADs but this is what they have suggested for her and we're hoping that might change before she exits the program in late December.

I was amazed at that appointment. They gave her choices and asked her lots of identification questions. For example, there might be a picture of a refrigerator and a picture of a ball. "Maryn, where is the refrigerator?" She got almost all of these right. Now, keep in mind that when we read books and I ask similar questions she usually won't identify much of anything. If I ask her what something is ... something I know she knows, she doesn't indicate that she knows it.

It's hard sometimes. We read books, and play games and puzzles that work on numbers, colors, animals, and animal sounds for example; she enjoys it, but sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like she isn't getting it. Then we go into this appt and she is identifying things we haven't even worked on. She clearly is a sponge soaking up so much of her environment. I need to remember this when I'm being a pessimistic baby. It's got to be about her timeline. Slow and steady ...

Her receptive language is great. She clearly understands so much of what we say and ask of her. She probably uses 20-25 words sporadically and just a handful of words often. "All done" communicated by sign language and/or with her voice, makes multiple daily appearances but "maddie" "bye" and "no" better know as "na na" still top the list of most used words along with
Isla (pronounced as eye or eye-uh). She's starting to use more simple phrases too, namely, "I love you" and "mama please."

She imitates more and more in both language and actions and I think her little sister will probably have a huge impact on her development when she starts moving around.

I have lots more to share, but I'm out of time for now.

GrandMa Jo

With grand-babies Asa and Isla

Easter 2011

Fun in the Sun

We spent a few hours this past weekend at my dad's enjoying the 80 degree weather. Isla enjoyed the shade while M practiced walking up and down the steep hill, kicking balls and collecting flags.

M Update

5 or 6 months ago while I was at work Maryn slipped and banged the back of her head on the floor of our home. Mike said she started to cry and he picked her up to comfort her. A few seconds later she suddenly stopped crying and her eyes went blank. He said it was as though she lost consciousness with her eyes still open. After about a minute of this daze she returned to normal. Mike does not dramatize things. If what he saw concerned him I knew it was serious. Worried it might have been some kind of absence seizure we called her neurologist. If we saw anything else unusual he said he would order an EEG, otherwise we should just keep her next follow up appointment as usual.  We didn't see anything else concerning.

undressing herself

Toddlers are obviously prone to bumps and bruises as they learn to navigate their environment in growing bodies, but Maryn's sensory issues and low tone have contributed to a higher level of instability since she started walking last autumn. She does fall often, but is pretty resilient and usually just gets back up again without much fuss.

As I've said before her ACC puts her at a much greater risk of developing seizures so we are on heightened alert when it comes to any unusual behavior. Even though we hadn't seen anything else concerning after that incident I couldn't help but worry that it was the first sign and the other shoe was about to drop. Also, I think I had a heightened anxiety level because I had heard about the incident second hand instead of seeing how her body reacted with my own eyes.

I had my chance to see it for myself.

Yesterday evening while the family was in the kitchen getting ready for dinner Maryn slipped. Her feet went out from under her completely which caused her to fall and hit the back of her head on the hardwood floor. I was immediately at her side. While trying to pick her up her body went limp and her eyes went blank. Scared, I sunk back to the floor with her in my arms noticing all the color had drained from her face. She hadn't taken a breath. I blew a short firm puff of air into her face and she finally inhaled. She started coming back. Mike said this is what happened last time. I looked up at her granny, who was thankfully over for the evening and saw the whole thing. She encouraged us to continue to try and engage her in calming activities she enjoyed. We offered her her bink (which she gladly accepted) and each took turns holding and interacting with her. Over the course of the next 15 minutes or so the color came back into her face. Granny, who happens to be a nurse, doesn't think there was any abnormal neurological event at play. She believes it was all respiratory

a little less anxiety lives inside me today

pajama party