Toddler Bed, swimming

I'm super proud of my lil girl. We transitioned her to a big girl bed Friday. She had been trying to climb in and out for days, and had been coming awfully close to being successful. The first night wasn't too bad. She stayed in the bed all night, woke up in the morning, trashed her room and fell asleep on the floor. Last night she fell asleep behind the door. Currently she is napping in the bed. Yesterday we went to the twins' birthday party. It was a pool party and Ellie was swimming like a champ. Everyone, literally almost every single person, at the party was asking how old she was, and how it was that she could swim. She was swimming like the 4-5 year olds. Just her arm floaties and a strong will to swim. She was jumping in, even trying to go under water! She would turn over on her back or on to her stomach. She's a natural!

Bittersweet Achievements

Normally we are a "finger food" family. We often leave snacks on the table so Ellie can eat any time the urge strikes her- goldfish, cheerios, puree pouches, etc. She has been flying through the pouches though so the other day I sat her down and fed her an actual toddler meal (Gerber, ravioli and mixed veggies). I even gave her a fork and spoon. She downed the food and used the spoon and fork correctly! I'm such a proud mama. Now I don't know if daycare has been teaching her utensil use, or if she could have done it sooner if I hadn't been so focused on just getting her to eat all the time but all the same, she did it. My big girl! We've also switched her to big girl cups. She doesn't seem to care too much for them, though. The services coordinator called, because Ellie is turning 2 soon (*sniff, sniff*). She's still not talking, so next Tuesday we're going to discuss a speech therapy regimen. During the talk Susan mentioned how she remembered how tiny Ellie was when I had just brought her home and said how it just seemed like yesterday. It reminded me of when I was at the pediatrician w/Ellie at one of her first appointments, and the kid in the next room was 2 or 3. The pedi said, "before you know it, that will be you." And he was right. At the time, of course, I was like "impossible. I'll never get through all this PRS crap." But then you lose the apnea monitor, or feeding tube, and have the cleft surgery (and ear tubes) and complete physical therapy, and it suddenly seems to calm down a bit.

Swimmies

Ellie can swim! It's unreal! The lady she stays with has been teaching her and the younger boy how to swim. Ellie can swing her arms and kick her legs. She has all the mechanics down. A few people have said she will be in the Olympics in no time! So very, very proud of my special lil girl!

GI appmnt

Well, we didn't get "cut" from seeing the GI but that's not to say it was a bad appointment. Ellie weighed in at about 20 lbs and 8 ozs, 32 inches tall. This put her right up against the growth curve, but not on it. Her height was perfect and he noticed she was getting a belly, which he loved to see on her. Still, he asked us to stay on the Periactin 3xs a day, and still push all the pediasure and food we could get into her. That said, he was confident in 3 months she would be on the growth curve. At that point he would step back and have a follow up to make sure that if/when he did cut her loose, the pediatrician wouldn't freak about not having GI support and we could show that Ellie can grow w/o his support. He said he couldn't have asked for more from her and was very, very happy with her.

Speech

I took Ellie to the pedi yesterday after she got suntan lotion in her eye, and had what looked like an allergic reaction. While we were there she cried out most of it so no biggie. However, the pedi on duty (not our usual pedi) mentioned that if she's not speaking by next month she will be referred to speech therapy. I said not to worry because we already know she needs ST and her next eval will be right after she turns two. Regardless, this led my husband to ask if she's mentally impaired, or has other problems (a/k/a is she dumb). She's not, she just doesn't want to talk. However, I looked up ways to help speech progress and one way is to get a dog. My husband is adamantly against this. I looked at the sheet the original ST gave us, which wasn't helpful. But of course, now I'm worried.

Words Ellie "knows" - I use quotes because sometimes she's only said the following words once, albeit clear as a bell. Mama Dada Howie Nite-nite All done Eat Niles (not that clear but we know who she's talking to) Yes No Nay

Things I don't want to forget

There was a commercial for Hershey's chocolate syrup that sings "Stir it/stir it/stir it up" and when Ellie was a baby, Bryan would take her hands and make her "stir." When she gets tired, she lays down, puts a monkey on her face/head, and sucks her index finger. She has a billion nicknames. Doodles, deedles, sugerplum, turtle dove, Ellie bellie, splish splash (especially in the bath), monkey, crazy, sack of spuds. She LOVES to rough house. She loves when I "fall" on her and "Squish her." She loves being upside down and swinging. I either hold on to her ankles or throw her over my shoulder. She is an animal lover. She loves our dogs, daycare lady's dogs, all the dogs in the pound... Daddy's hand was the "scary ghost" and tickler!