More Please

Edie can now sign More, All Done, Eat and Dog. She knows Milk but never does it. Funny thing is she used to sign More all of the time and then she stopped and would only do All Done. Now she has gotten to where she does not do All Done as much and is back to doing More. This time she does More really well. She puts her fingers together when doing it insted of just slapping her hands together. (as you can see on the video).

We recieved her latest evaluation from ARC and The Bell Center recently. Edie is doing quite well. These were the results from her ARC evaluation:

Physical/Gross and Fine Motor: 8.5 - 10 months with a >25% delay

Cognitive/Relationships to Inanimate Objects: 11.5 - 13 months with a <25%>

Communication/Expressive and Receptive: 11.5 - 13 months with a <25%>

Self-Help: 10 - 13 months with a >25% delay

Social/Relationships to persons/Emotions and feelings/Coping behavior: 12.5 - 15.5 <25%>

This shows that although she was 15 months at the time of the evaluation she shows being on a 8.5 - 10 month level in physical and fine motor, 11.5 - 13 month level in cognitive and communication, 10-13 month level in self help and 12.5 -15.5 month level in social skills. We were told that in some areas she is doing what an 8 month old would be doing right now while in others she is doing what a 16 month old would be doing right now! So she is basically doing great in the mental learning areas and she is working toward developing the more physical challenges. Which to me is all expected due to her low muscle tone. It is harder for her to pull up, stand and keep her balance, walk, crawl, cruise, etc. All of the things we normally take for granted in a baby and just expect them to learn and do on their own. Edie has to work harder in these areas. However, I will say that once she gets it she "gets it"! She is now crawling and pulling up like a mad man. She is beginning to cruise very well to her left side. We are working on her right side now. All of the therapist continue to comment on her strength and how well she is doing. She no longer has to wear her hip pants (the baby spanx) unless she is showing weakness while standing or keeping her legs too far apart while standing, sitting, etc. So I am soooo happy about that. They can put a kink in a baby girls wardrobe. It is hard to look good in a T-shirt and biker shorts!

Edie is also really showing off with some of her toys. We are still working on "in and out play" and "give". Edie likes to throw. She has a few toys where she has to put a ball in a hole to make it sing or move. She has learned this and so often we will catch her sitting on the floor trying her best to get the ball in the hole. Most of the time she makes it and will raise her hands in the air to show her excitement. She loves to clap and play "peek-a-boo". She is too cute. Sometimes she will put her hands to her face and peek out from her fingers or if she has a cloth of any kind she will throw it on her head and wait for you to say "where's Edie?" then she will yank it off and giggle. I will have to get video of that next.

Edie now has four teeth coming in at once! Three on top and one on the bottom. They are coming in sooooooo slow too. She has not shown any signs of discomfort until this morning. Or so we think it is from her teeth. We gave her teething tablets for the first time to see if it would help with what ever is bothering her. She is drooling like crazy, even blowing bubbles and spitting sometimes. She cried a lot this morning. Not cry, cry but real whine and she woke up early crying out which is unusual. Yesterday I gave her a teething biscuit for snack. She loves them but boy are they messy. She got a bath early since she had it all over her face, chest, arms and in her hair. After her bath while I was putting on her lotion she started sucking her thumb (which she does now to show she is sleepy or hungry). So I picked her up and rocked her to sleep. It was so nice. Just me and her rocking in her room. I wanted to hold her all day and I probably would have if it were not having to get back to work.

She is growing so fast. I know I say that a lot, but she is. Too fast. Honestly, selfishly, sometimes I am thankful she is not walking yet. I feel this way because I know soon she will be. It is only a matter of time and when that day comes we will be so proud of her! But I love being able to hold her longer than most moms get to hold their babies. I love that she is a baby just a smidgen longer than most. I don't want her to grow up so fast that I can't remember where the time went. I want to savor every moment. She has the rest of her life to be a kid,a teenager and then an adult. Right now I am grateful for my baby - just still being a baby.