She has no idea how spoiled she is. And you can’t blame her. 4 brain surgeries pretty much earn you anything you want in my book. You can’t see Daddy’s arm perfectly propping up this pillow to have the optimum drinking angle. Hopefully some day we will all get good chuckles from all the doting. #epilepsywarrior #purplepower #
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Yes, we had some milk spillage tonight, and no, that is not a yoga pose or a new form of child punishment. I mean come on folks, ain’t no thang in this house — especially on a night like this. I was so calm when I heard the telling “oops” from behind me. But honestly, how could I yell, or even get exasperated and scold when I was the distant one expecting my six year old to pour his own milk. And that’s when I realized on a seizure night everything is different.
We all assume different personas as we cope and grasp at anything that can ground us. My son becomes super helpful and responsible. (He is good anyway,) but he starts buzzing around trying to do anything that makes us all feel better. Continue reading No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk
Control is not something I feel I have much of these days. It takes so much for us to just maintain a normal routine, and that’s mostly out of our hands, too. It depends on who is sleeping well and who is hungry and if I don’t get away when Reese is sleeping, then how do we juggle things like groceries and making dinner, because she is my shadow. All. The. Time. It’s sweet. I love it so much. Having been away at the office five days a week for so much of her first two years, there was always that worry I wasn’t with her enough. (I think it’s safe to say she’s not holding any grudges.) So I think if you take all of her needs and you throw in our free-style rapping, ninja-loving, super-energetic wild man who never, ever takes a break. Ever. And yeah, it’s kind of just crazy all the time around here.
And yet, when I start to feel our routine, (ok, so it’s more of a small town’s train schedule that is written on paper, but hardly ever kept, because of the sheep stuck on the tracks or the sleepy old driver. Routine might be a little too strong for us.) Still, when I feel it coming back into focus, I do almost have a sense that we are managing all this crazy.
Snapped these when I found her in the corner of forgotten toys. Weeks ago I stacked up some odds and ends behind the couch and she managed to wedge herself in here between the pirate ship and the monster truck.
I figure this tough little girl is bound for a tomboy future, and entitled to just about anything else she wants, too. But it’s a bigger deal than just being a toddler… Continue reading Our Little Exploradora
Reese started running a fever Wednesday. I freaked out. We can’t have any more fevers! It’s hard enough to get Tylenol in her and harder to monitor the fever because it’s low. Had to convince the urgent care doc that it was worthy of extra attention because I don’t want to be in the ER over the weekend, again.
Luckily he gave us the antibiotics shot again. And then my guilt kicks in. She has no immune system, so we have to do it, for now. But I wish we didn’t.
Plus, we are having her adenoids removed Tuesday. So hopefully this will be that last round for a long time. Just have to hang on a little longer, I think. Then I remember it’s almost cold and flu season.
So, it renews, no it emphasizes my goal to get more consistent with essential oils. So I am making this hand soap AND the matching house cleaner and going to keep us germ free as much as we can. Plus, I’m rubbing Thieves on everyone’s feet every night, ok almost every night. Remember, baby steps.
It’s been since the last surgery that we noticed Reese pulling out that left pointer finger. It’s one of the many things we take for granted as parents. Your child just figured it out, naturally. One day they can separate their finger from their hand and voila! They can manipulate things. Reese has been sneaky, clever really, in how she has gotten around her limitation. But now she has achieved a new milestone because therapy saw the repeated use of that finger and that means it’s no longer an accident. Add that to all her intentional eye contact and expressive nonverbal communication and we have had a monumental two weeks. Hooray!
It’s been a good week. Super hectic. Crazy, really. But, still great progress for Reese, so it’s a winner in my book.
To be brief, Reese has shown some real mental strength and focus this week. It’s an amazing feeling to witness her little breakthroughs — lots of pointer finger work with the left hand, length of attention has expanded, deep personal connecting, and a little bitty step in advanced reasoning.
On top of all that, we’ve grown! It’s hard to tell in pictures just how small she is I think. You probably forget, like most people, that she is nearly 2.5 years old. She looks like a small 12 month old.
This is presumably because we’re down to a very small dose of steroids allowing her body to start behaving normally and maybe realizing it needs to kick it into gear and start taking care of her.
And I have to share, we had a super great wrap up to our therapies today. She communicated her need for water using our picture book we have made. She might as well have won a Gold Medal in my mind! Thrilling!! She also is grasping “cause and effect” more and more. She pushed buttons on a book with sound effects. This is an imperative skill to get to understanding things like “NO.”
But above all, she is just connecting and showing her sweet little self to everyone she is with. I know they feel it, too. Her expressions show this amazing appreciation and love in her eyes, and I know we all can’t wait to see what she has to say when she’s ready.
So…. There I was with this block of cheese…. #ifbabiescouldtalk #letstalk
Sweetest big brother. Crawled into her crib to keep her company after her nap.
Happy girl. At least for a couple seconds. Then she started whining to get down. We get 10-12 min in the high chair these days before she is just done.
It was still a nice dinner, she was in a chatty mood. Gave Daddy a few special looks, too. Of course I wasn’t fast enough to catch her sounds.
