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!

GI

No discharge from the GI. She weighed "officially" 18 lbs 12 ozs but the doctor and I agree that's more likely 19 lbs. At any rate, still not on the growth curve. He's not changing the amount of medicine, only asked if we'd put heavy whipping cream in her pediasure cups. Other than that we check in again in 2 months.

Open, honest feelings

I can't express how awesome it is to see my daughter walking. Even thought I've seen it for 3 weeks now, I still sit in wonder when I see it happen. Its like watching a movie. I can't believe it happens and happens to me.

This pains me to say but I'm glad we're a step closer to generic definitions of "normal." It pains me to say because as the mother of a special child I'm not supposed to look at normal and long for it. I'm supposed to be happy and beyond thrilled at my special little girl and not take notice of how she's different. For the record, I do love my little girl more than words. I am beyond thrilled at exactly who she is. I barely notice when she's different (altho constant appearances at the children's hospital can make that glaringly obvious). But to know she's catching up to her peers, that there's one less specialist in the mix makes my heart dance.