She’s On the Move

And now for the real fun! As she gets her walking legs more and more, she has started to outsmart us and it’s such a thrill to see her figure things out. Our gates don’t hold, she is always out the door before we remember to shut it, and no cabinet is safe. We find her in the strangest places — the closet, the laundry room, trying to climb in the toy box… It’s all new territory for this family.

Of course this comes with challenges. Most toddlers exploring like this also know what “No” means and have a grasp on what mommy and daddy don’t like. This girl is still oblivious. That or she has the best damn poker face on the planet. We know it means we have to be extra vigilant about her safety since she doesn’t understand the dangers around her. And of course that’s a big responsibility for Davis, too.

She’s also solving new problems. This is a great thing for Mom, Dad and Davis, who all love a good puzzle. A quick list here for my memory later:
– putting lids/tops on things
– a few new facial expressions, almost playing coy a couple times
– lifting leg to climb up on stuff
– eating from a fork (kind of)
– biting more crunchy foods — had first real rice cake today!!!
– and potentially the biggest in a while…

She is showing signs of understanding stacking! Pictures to come next time I catch her. But she is definitely close to mastering another big fine motor/cognitive development!

And all this despite having a seizure Saturday morning. Just one lonely episode. Looked the same as always, and she slept it off. But after an hour she sat up, looked at me with purpose in her big eyes and then stood up. Couldn’t believe it. Normally she would be so lethargic and wobbly. We’ve been on edge all weekend, but so far so good. Who knows why, but we will take it.

Twenty-two days to surgery and counting.

Getting Spoiled

Someone is really spoiled. Since we got home from brain surgery, she’s been sleeping in our bed parts of every night for obvious reasons. Now she seems to have decided she should start out here and save us all the time of getting up.

And the guilt kicks in. I’ve held her down and let them do terrible things to her. Of course she can sleep wherever she wants! Can’t deny her snuggles with mom and dad, now can I?!!!!

Overall though, it’s been a great couple weeks. Staples came out last Tuesday and it took me two full days to work up courage to wash her hair. Even after getting used to touching staples, her raw, open skin again made me squeamish. We both cried a little but we survived.

Doctors decided to get some blood work done to see how she looks between surgeries. Poor lab tech hadn’t even heard of two of the tests they wanted. So after 6 vials (24ml of blood drawn) and double checking on the Internet, she still managed to miss one. We head back in the morning to make R suffer again. Sigh.

Therapists are all pleased with her post-op progress and everyone who knows what they’re talking about says her scar is healing. So we are just going with the flow right now.