Oh my gosh I can't believe it's been 2 months since I lost posted! Wow I'm really bad at this blog thing. lol Well probably the biggest thing that's happened in the last 2 months is Elena TURNED TWO!!!! My little baby is growing up so fast.
We had a very nice little part at home with only family coming, although with Damon having such a large family is was no small party! My grandparents and even my dad got to come which was a totally shock but really nice. My mom didn't come though because she was in the hospital recovering from back surgery. She's doing great now, by the way. Elena got a bunch of gifts including a Many Kisses Elmo (which she LOVES), a couple alphabet toys, a ridiculously cute outfit (which is just a tad too big), and a super cute monkey blanket my mom made. You can even feel the fur on my monkeys! I'd post some pictures but my sister has all the pics on her camera and she has yet to email them to me.
Elena is finally beginning to communicate with us and it's awesome to see her language skills grow every day.
to be continued...
Elena
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tantrums
Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. It's been kind of crazy over here. I just got back from spending a month at my mom's house. Elena is doing great. Her speech has gotten 10 times better and she's just as cute as can be. She has started throwing tantrums if you don't give her something fast enough, say no, stop singing or reading to her. She really trows tantrums when there are other people around, even if i am already giving her my full attention.
So maybe you, my reader (if anyone is even reading this) can give some advice. How do I get her to stop throwing tantrums and how to get her to just stop doing them in the first place? When she throws a tantrum, she cries as if someone is hurting her and arches her back. She'll also try to climb up on me. If i try to give her a toy to calm her she just pushes it away forcefully. I've tried letting her cry but she'll keep going for a half hour or more. I tell her that I'm not going to pick her up if she is crying and i try to talk to her to calm her down. If she gets quite enough that I do pick her up I tell her that I will not continue to hold her if she keeps crying. I've also tried putting her in timeout in her bed for a couple minutes but that just makes it worse. I know she doesn't understand a lot of what I'm trying to explain to her but that's all I know to do. So any help?
So maybe you, my reader (if anyone is even reading this) can give some advice. How do I get her to stop throwing tantrums and how to get her to just stop doing them in the first place? When she throws a tantrum, she cries as if someone is hurting her and arches her back. She'll also try to climb up on me. If i try to give her a toy to calm her she just pushes it away forcefully. I've tried letting her cry but she'll keep going for a half hour or more. I tell her that I'm not going to pick her up if she is crying and i try to talk to her to calm her down. If she gets quite enough that I do pick her up I tell her that I will not continue to hold her if she keeps crying. I've also tried putting her in timeout in her bed for a couple minutes but that just makes it worse. I know she doesn't understand a lot of what I'm trying to explain to her but that's all I know to do. So any help?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
ELENA WALKED!!!!!!
20 months old and she finally walked!!! I am so excited! Last night, Elena was leaning again the wall, standing up. Her cane was leaning against the wall too. She found her cane and suddenly decided to let go of the wall. She stood for at least 5 seconds just making sure she could do it. She was totally stable. Then she walked about 4 steps to the couch. I couldn't believe it! And I had left the camera upstairs!! I was so excited that I put her back to the wall, hoping she'd do it again. She let go of the wall again, this time for about 10-15 seconds but she didn't walk.
After waiting for like 10-15 minutes and doing everything I could to motivate her to come to me, she still wouldn't walk again. I decided that was good for tonight and we'd try tomorrow. As we were walking to her chair so she could have dinner, she started walking and standing by herself again! She only did a few steps at a time and she walked in circles but it was awesome. She no longer had an interest in food so we walked up and down the living room for like 30 minutes. She stilled used my help a lot but she also did quite a bit on her own. She even laughed while walking and threw a fit when I made her stop.
I am SO proud of her! Hopefully she continues with this and doesn't get scared and quit. She has another physical therapy appointment in 2 weeks. If she continues like she's doing there's not telling what she'll be doing in 2 weeks!!
Oh I almost forgot to say, as long as Elena had her cane in her hand, she would walk. It didn't even have to be touching to floor. She just had to be holding it. I guess the cane gives her the confidence she needs. :D
After waiting for like 10-15 minutes and doing everything I could to motivate her to come to me, she still wouldn't walk again. I decided that was good for tonight and we'd try tomorrow. As we were walking to her chair so she could have dinner, she started walking and standing by herself again! She only did a few steps at a time and she walked in circles but it was awesome. She no longer had an interest in food so we walked up and down the living room for like 30 minutes. She stilled used my help a lot but she also did quite a bit on her own. She even laughed while walking and threw a fit when I made her stop.
I am SO proud of her! Hopefully she continues with this and doesn't get scared and quit. She has another physical therapy appointment in 2 weeks. If she continues like she's doing there's not telling what she'll be doing in 2 weeks!!
Oh I almost forgot to say, as long as Elena had her cane in her hand, she would walk. It didn't even have to be touching to floor. She just had to be holding it. I guess the cane gives her the confidence she needs. :D
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Time has Flown!
My goodness I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote. Life has caught up with me and I haven't done so well with balancing it. So much has happened. It's all been very exciting and very exhausting.
Elena got her first cane! It's a free 25 inch cane from the National Federation of the Blind. It's so cute.
First she would only hold it if my hand covered her hand but now I have gotten her to hold the cane in her right hand while I hold her left hand so she can walk. She still can't walk by herself but Damon (husband) did get her to walk a few steps on her own. It happened once and only once. He did it by holding her around her waist while she walked. Then he let go and she kept going, until she realized what he had done. Now she leans back on your hands like she's saying "I don't think so! You're not letting go again!"
Elena is an avid reader. YAY! She loves reading. As soon as I ask her if she wants to read, she immediately turns around on my lap like she's ready to go. She rubs her hands on the pages, turns the pages and even "reads" the book to me. Her babbling sounds like words. I can even pick out a phrase or two sometimes! She now knows the word "again" and uses it ALL the time! She'll read the same book a thousand times.
Now for the bad news. Elena has been having ear infections at least once a month since around November. They get really bad and last time she had a 103 fever. We finally got her in to a Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, today. He said her ears are full of fluid and so swollen that nothing can get through, not even the Wally's Ear Oil that I bought at an herbal store. People tell me this stuff is a miracle worker. Anyway, because of all her issues she will be getting tubes put in her ears next Friday. They will have to put her to sleep to do it. Usually they don't suggest putting tubes in ears of kids so young but Elena has them so frequently and so bad that she has to have them. One of my brothers had a lot of ear infections when he was little so my parents put tubes in his ears. I think he was around 2. They said he never had an infection again. Please pray for Elena to have the same results!
Elena got her first cane! It's a free 25 inch cane from the National Federation of the Blind. It's so cute.
First she would only hold it if my hand covered her hand but now I have gotten her to hold the cane in her right hand while I hold her left hand so she can walk. She still can't walk by herself but Damon (husband) did get her to walk a few steps on her own. It happened once and only once. He did it by holding her around her waist while she walked. Then he let go and she kept going, until she realized what he had done. Now she leans back on your hands like she's saying "I don't think so! You're not letting go again!"Elena is an avid reader. YAY! She loves reading. As soon as I ask her if she wants to read, she immediately turns around on my lap like she's ready to go. She rubs her hands on the pages, turns the pages and even "reads" the book to me. Her babbling sounds like words. I can even pick out a phrase or two sometimes! She now knows the word "again" and uses it ALL the time! She'll read the same book a thousand times.
Now for the bad news. Elena has been having ear infections at least once a month since around November. They get really bad and last time she had a 103 fever. We finally got her in to a Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, today. He said her ears are full of fluid and so swollen that nothing can get through, not even the Wally's Ear Oil that I bought at an herbal store. People tell me this stuff is a miracle worker. Anyway, because of all her issues she will be getting tubes put in her ears next Friday. They will have to put her to sleep to do it. Usually they don't suggest putting tubes in ears of kids so young but Elena has them so frequently and so bad that she has to have them. One of my brothers had a lot of ear infections when he was little so my parents put tubes in his ears. I think he was around 2. They said he never had an infection again. Please pray for Elena to have the same results!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Video
This is a video from June 2009. I make a noise that Elena thought was just SO funny. Thought I'd share the laughs.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Time to brag
As all parents do, and should, I'm going to have a brag session for a minute. Elena has been doing do many cool things that I just can't help but shout it out to the world, especially since her vision therapist said she's never known a baby at her age (18 months) to be able to do some of the stuff she's doing, regardless of vision problems!! I'm so proud! (Can't ya tell?) lol
Hhhhmmm where should I start? I guess...words. Her vocabulary is growing every day. She's such a fast learner. You only have to tell her something 6-12 times and she's got it for life! I've been trying to keep track of all the words she says like are recognizable. Here they are: shoe, wipes, cereal, star, square, circle, squish, bless you, push, meow, moo, chair, simpsons (Yes she is a Simpons fan!), dada, eat, done, whats up, awesome. There are MANY other words that she says that aren't understandable unless you hear them in context and hang around her all the time. And of course all the words she does say have a "accent" to them. For example, "done" is said "DA!" and "meow" sounds like "ow". She copies almost every word anyone says.
Elena can also tell you what a cat, dog and cow say. Today she learned what a duck says and
almost has it down. She can name many body parts including head, ear, mouth, nose, shirt (yes i know that not a body part), tummy, foot, and diaper. She also grabs her foot when you ask her where her shoe goes. If her give her a brush she will stroke her head a couple times.Elena not only knows the names of shapes (circle, square, star and almost has down "triangle") but she can also pick them out of her box of shapes, when asked! Her therapist said she doesn't know any at this age who can do that. Today we had a funny experience with the shapes. Elena was holding a toy cow that has shapes on the side of it. Her therapist asked her to bring it to her and show her what she had. Elena turned around toward her. :) Then I asked her where the circle was. Instead of finding the circle on the side of the cow, she immediately pulled herself up to her toy box, found her box of shapes and pulled out the circle while naming it!! It was SO funny and I was SO proud! She's my little baby genius!
She can climb the stairs all by herself and, until she discovered the wall, would zoom up the stairs. She is so close to walking on her own that I just can't stand it. We got her a small pieec of PVC pipe to use as a cane until we can get her one. She seems to be more stable holding that than holding my hand while walking. I keep expecting her to let go of my hand and start walking around the room like it's nothing.
Elena loves to read. Well she probably likes turning the pages more than reading. She turns them so fast I can't even finish the page! On her touch-and-feel books she knows where all the touchy things are. In one of her books it talks about a lambs tummy. I don't even have to read it and she immediately touches her tummy!Well I think that's enough bragging for one day. I will hopefully have some video of her awesome skills soon. She senses when the camera is out and stops doing cute stuff. Goodbye for now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)