PLEASE!!!!

We taught Megan how to say please in sign language a few weeks ago and she has gotten quite proficient at it.  If she asks us to get her a toy we will tell her to say please and she usually will do it.  What is adorable is if she really wants something, a toy or fruit, she will do please with both hands at the same time.  Most of the time she says please if prompted by us but there have been a few times when she has pulled it out all on her own and let me tell you she gets whatever it is she is asking for. 

Yesterday I asked her if she was ready for her nap and she said yes, please.  :-)

Megan has been putting toys into containers for a while now.  Tonight she helped daddy clean up the floor.  She would put the toys back in the container with him.  Of course, after everything was picked up she grab the container and started unloading it again. 

Granny gave Megan 3 pair of gloves for Christmas.  We put them on her after she opened them and she loved having them on.  Today it was a little chilly outside so I put her gloves on her so we could play outside for a little bit and she had so much fun.  It is great that she loves gloves and hats. 

Christmas and more

Megan got an indoor/outdoor slide for Christmas and she LOVES it.  She giggles and laughs and cackles.  She will hold onto my hand and if I say 1, 2, 3 and then slide she will scoot down and slide.  It is so cute and I am so happy that she is enjoying it so much. 

She also got puzzles that make sounds when you replace the pieces.  She was having so much fun putting the pieces back in which is not something she has wanted to do very much before. 


Megan is still having a lot of issues with cutting her canine teeth and in the last 5 weeks has only made it through the night one time without crying.  This means that during the day she is tired and doesn't really want to work on standing up or getting into standing.  She is still able to do whatever she wants if she is motivated.  A few nights ago, after she was in her pjs, she was getting into standing all by herself over and over again.  The past few days we have been able to get her to stand up from her chair. 

Keeping up with Sam

This afternoon while Megan and Sam were playing she grabbed his burp cloth and gave it to him.  Sam immediately sat up and then spit up.  Talk about amazing timing. 
Sam has decided that whatever toy Megan is playing with that he has to have it.  Sometimes Megan "puts up with it" and sometimes she pushes his hands away. 

Megan likes to play with a headband with us.  She wants us to put it on and then she stands up and takes it off of us.  Today while we were playing the game she took the headband off of my head with her teeth.  I laughed and of course that made her giggle.  She loves to make us laugh as much as we like making her laugh. 

Dinner with daddy

Last night Will took Megan to Cracker Barrel for dinner so that I could have a little bit of quiet time.  Will said that Megan did great at dinner.  She fed herself off of a saucer and did really well. 

What a Day!

This morning we left for our Christmas photos not long after Megan got dressed this morning so she didn't get any time standing until very late this afternoon.  After she exchanged gifts with granny and had her snack I put her shoes on her and started working with her. 

She stood up from the cushion and stayed standing for a very long time so I started working on getting her to move.  After some "security" holding from me to get her moving she started cruising on the coffee table.  She took 2-3 steps and then turned to get a toy on the ottoman and then she turned back to the table and took 3-4 steps along the table which required my hands on her hips.  I didn't do anything but she needed my hands there to feel comfortable going to her left.  She ended up doing this several times.  I was so happy for her I cried. 

I helped her get into standing from her knees a couple of times and then she did it again by herself for the first time since her "strike". 

Yesterday she even stood at her car for a few minutes - big girl heading in the right direction.

After dinner she sat in the kitchen playing with her Leap Frog fridge magnets and was able to put the letter magnet inside a couple of times. 

Gifts from granny - mom gave Megan a couple of outfits, 3 books and a cat that runs away from you.  Once she opened the first book she was done with gifts.  She did finally stop reading the first book long enough to open her next book but then granny had to open the rest of her gifts because no matter how many times mom moved the book she would do whatever it took to get back to it.

Sweet progress!

Mandy was on vacation last week so Megan hadn't seen her for 2 weeks.   When she got her today and I told her that Megan was still "on strike" she was as concerned as I have been. 

Megan didn't want to do anything for her either - after trying multiple things she finally got Megan to stand up at her toy table by holding up her favorite ball.  By the end of the session she had Megan pulling (from a seated position) into standing and playing at the table.  She even transitioned to the foot stool one time.   So we are heading in the right direction.

After Mandy left I put Megan down for a rest period because she is always tired after Mandy's visits.  When I got her up I put her cheerios on the table and sat her on the block.  She stood right up to eat them and stayed there, playing and eating, for 30 minutes.  I moved away from her, I had been getting new toys, etc for her, to get my phone and she sat down.  I went back over and got her to stand up again and she played for another 10-15 minutes. 

I am so happy that she is heading back in the right direction.  I hope that this afternoon goes well. 

Big girl skills

Yesterday Megan started trying to put her shoes on.  She wasn't successful but she was doing really well.  She has also started stacking blocks, putting toys back into containers and trying to put toys onto the table or chairs, etc. 

Sam!

Yesterday Megan was playing in the floor with Sam and he saw a toy he wanted so he got out of sitting and took off.  Megan proceeded to "yell" at him and grabbed his waist band.  That didn't stop him - he kept going, losing his pants so she yelled some more and grabbed his shirt with her other hand.  The whole time she was telling him something and she looked at me and was telling me too. 

It was so cute - they were pretty much at a stalemate until Megan let go. 

Comforting Sam

Megan knows that when Sam is upset I pat him on the rear end to calm him down.  I have showed her how to do it and had her help me a few times.  Today she was playing in the floor with Sam and he hit his head on a toy (the kid just can't stop doing that) and she scooted over to him and patted him on the rear end several times. 

How adorable is that?

Big steps and another tooth

Megan is still on strike from getting into standing and staying there when I stand her up.  So yesterday I tried something new.  For a few weeks now anytime I pick her up I make her stand up before I lift her into my arms.  After snack yesterday I took her out of her seat and had her stand on the floor (not sure why, have never done it before).  I then held her hands and I moved backwards, away from her and had her walk to me.  Megan took 5-6 steps to me!  Yay for her.  She repeated the behavior two more times yesterday and again two times today.

The other bottom canine tooth finally broke through this afternoon - it is the one that has been coming in the longest. 

On Strike

Megan has decided to go on strike from standing up.  It doesn't matter what I entice her with, what I try to do she will not get into standing on her own.  She hasn't done it since last Wednesday when she had such a stellar day. 

Glasses and Patches

Megan is doing amazing with her glasses now.  She still messes with them and takes them off but unless she gets them completely off her of head she can fix them on her own now.  She goes through phases where she leaves them alone for an hour or more and then times when she is constantly touching them.

Every afternoon I put a patch on Megan's left eye to help strengthen her right eye.  She wears the patch for 1-2 hours.  She is doing so great with it.  After the first day she isn't even messing with it - she just ignores it.  I think it is different than before because she can actually see out of her right eye - it isn't turned in and having to work extra hard to see. 

1 tooth down, 7 to go

Megan has been working on cutting her canine teeth for a couple of weeks.  The one on her bottom left has been pushing up and going back down for several days.  A few days ago the top two started doing the same thing.  One day you can see them under the surface and the next they are gone.  This morning the tooth on the bottom right broke through - there had not been any activity with it, it just appeared. 

Hopefully the other three will come in and they will all get going soon. 

Repeat behavior

Megan got herself into standing 4 times today.  Twice she did the whole process by herself, once she got onto her knees but she was too close so I had to pull her back a little bit and once I put her on her knees. 

Finally showing off for her therapist

Megan finally got into standing all by herself twice today during her session with Mandy.  This is the first time Mandy has seen her do it by herself and she was very excited. 

Pictures and hands

We have had a baby picture (6 weeks old) of Megan up on the wall in the living room for several months.  Recently Megan started noticing it and would point at it a lot.  Last week I took it down because I am finally decorating my living room.  In its place I put up some photos of Megan and Samuel from June.  She noticed them immediately and started pointing at herself in the pictures. 

A few weeks ago Megan started doing something that is adorable right now, but will have to be addressed in the future.  It is something that she learned by herself.  If she has something on her face, water, milk, food, etc she will use the back of her hand to wipe it off. 

Post-surgery follow-up

Today was Megan's follow-up with the eye doctor.  He said he was very pleased with the alignment of her eyes and that they looked good.  Our instructions are to put a patch on her left eye for 1-2 hours a day and keep her glasses on her as much as possible and he will see her again in 6 months. 

Eye Surgery - UPDATED

I woke Megan up at 4:30 am this morning.  We were in the car and on our way at 4:45 am.  We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am and waited for our turn to check-in.  After check-in and hanging out in the waiting room we were finally taken back to a room to get Megan ready.  It was 7:15 before they took her from us to get her into the OR and Megan was exceptional.  She played and sang and hung out the entire time even though she was very tired and VERY hungry - she kept making the sign for eat. 

They asked us if we wanted them to give Megan some medicine to keep her calm - basically it would knock her out/make her loopy.  We said no thanks - we didn't want to give her more meds than absolutely necessary.  When it was time the nurse picked her up and they walked out of the room and she was as happy as could be. 

Around 7:40 Dr. Board came into the waiting room and told us that Megan did amazing.  He said that the surgery was easy and without any complications.  He corrected the muscle on the inside of each eye and said that she hardly bled at all.  He gave us instructions for the next few days and then gave us his cell phone number in case we needed something before Monday. 

About 30 minutes later we were called back to the recovery room - Megan was awake when I walked in and she was bundled up in blankets leaning on her new pink pillow.   She was unhappy off/on in recovery because every time we would calm her down they would do something else to her like remove her IV.  

Once in the car she was a happy girl and ready to go home.  Unfortunately on the way home she coughed and threw-up.  She did this 3 times although she held it in the first time.  She has never thrown up before so she was a little freaked out by it, but just telling her she was okay made her fine.   We have been home about 20+ minutes and she has been hanging out in daddy's lap (after we cleaned her up and changed her of course).

UPDATE:
Megan took a nap this morning for about 1.5 hours.  She woke up happy, just like normal and played for 40 minutes before we got her up.  She just ate quite a few cheerios and drank some water - she would have eaten a cup of cheerios if I let her but I want to make sure she handles what she has eaten before we load up that tummy.  If you didn't look at her eyes you would never know what she went through this morning.

Megan was fine with her cheerios so after 20 minutes we went for it.  She ate a PB&J and some pears - she was so very happy.  She did great the rest of the day and ate so much for dinner that I cut her off to keep her from being too full.  Before bed we had to pull down her bottom eye lid and line with an ointment - Megan just laid still and let us do it like it was no big deal.  She is an amazing little girl.

What a morning!

By 9:00 am this morning Megan had gotten into standing by herself more times that she had combined before today.  She was getting right up and then going back and forth and back and forth between the two tables.  She would go over, turn on a toy and then go back to the other table.  I didn't even have to do anything to get her moving - it was so exciting. 

When it was time for Will to leave Megan was standing at the ottoman.  I reached out and she grabbed my hands and took 2-3 steps to get to me and then took 5-6 to get from me to where Will was standing.  She has taken 2-3 steps with me holding her hands to get to me a couple of times but has NEVER taken a step away from me to get to something else. 

After a little while Megan was tired of standing up so I put her on her bench to sing with her.  When she is there we work on her leaning down to pick up toys off of the floor.  She has always bent down with her head up trying to stay as upright as possible while she is doing it.  This morning she bent so far down she touched her head to the floor.  The next time she put her hand on the floor, along with her head and then picked her rear up off of the bench so she was standing with her head on the floor.  She repeated this 2 or 3 times.  A couple of minutes later she decided she wanted to play with something on the other side of the bench so she turned, picking her legs up and making her way to the other side.  She has never event attempted this before today - she just reaches in the direction she wants and grunts until she gets help.   She moved back and forth from side to side several times. 

I put an eye patch on her this morning for the first time in several days and this time she left it alone.  It didn't come off until I took it off. 

What an amazing start to our day today. 

Tuna salad

A few months ago a good friend of mine (mother of 4) asked if I had ever given Megan tuna fish. I hadn't and wasn't really sure she would go for it. My friend said that her kids wouldn't eat it.

Well tonight Will suggested it for dinner. I told him we could try but that she might not go for it.   I really have no reason to doubt that she would eat it - she eats everything we give her except goldfish crackers. 

Megan not only ate it, she devoured it with joy!  She loved it. 

Lots of new skills

Over the past couple of weeks Megan has started doing several new things. She is doing the motions to "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" - it is so cute because she will point with one finger.

She has a few songs on her music table that I do the "signs" for when she plays them. She has started trying to do the signs with me. She is mostly just waving her arms around, but she gets so excited and does it right along with me.

Yesterday she started doing peek-a-boo herself which I find amazing since we don't play that game with her. She covers up her eyes with her hands and then waits for you to say "peek-a-boo" and then she reveals.

She is going amazing with her standing, getting into standing and moving. Today for the first time since we put her in the new, bigger shoes and her inserts she got into standing completely by herself. I have to keep her from going too fast - she just wants to jump right up and falls over in the process. She is also changing her mind halfway up and deciding to stand up at the table instead of the ottoman which is at a 90 degree angle so I have to catch her.

What a girl wouldn't do for some of mommy's pizza

Will had plans after work so I fed Megan her dinner and got her in her pjs. Her dinner goes much faster and cleaner when mommy does it so we had quite a long time to play while we waited for Will to get home. I ordered a pizza for our dinner to arrive when Will did.

Will was playing with Megan in the floor and I sat on the couch with my pizza. Megan always wants whatever we are eating, even if she get finished her dinner - I don't blame her. She pulled up into high knees in front of me and I grabbed her hand and provided some resistance and upward motion and she stood up. She stood there and took bites of my pizza for a couple of minutes. She even repeated this behavior a few times.

Pizza = motivation

Cruising-ish and standing in new places

Today Megan went from her footstool to the coffee table. She had to turn 90 degrees and step with each foot in order to accomplish this. She did it several times by herself and needed help a couple of times.

She is standing in a couple of new places now which is great. She has been only standing at tables/chairs or on us but today she pulled up onto a toy several times as well.

Backing up

When Megan is playing with Sam and he reaches out to get her she will back up until she is out of his reach. Once he puts his arms down she will get closer again so she can touch him. She is going to have a rude awakening when he discovers how to go forward.

Loving the seafood

Megan enjoyed/inhaled her dinner tonight of flounder, crab cakes, green beans, sweet potatoes, bread and peaches. She is such a good eater.

Swings and swimming

We found a playground a short walk through the trees from our resort. Megan loves to swing and she is loving getting to go every day with daddy.

We took her to the pool for the first time yesterday. She didn't like the cold water in the outdoor pool so we went to the indoor pool and after spending some time with mommy (daddy put her in the cold water) getting used to the water, she had fun. She was cautious, but still had a good time.

She is LOVING having daddy around all the time - she just wants to be with him and play with him. It is so sweet.

Being on vacation agrees with Megan

We arrived in SC late yesterday afternoon. We didn't do much other than unload and eat dinner and Megan went down in her pack-n-play, in a strange room without incident. It even seriously stormed before she fell asleep and she didn't mind at all.

This morning she worked on her standing stamina at a chair in the living room. She did really well and had a blast because she could push the toys around and they didn't fall off like they do at home when she stands at the table.

We decided to have an easy, relaxing day today and just did some grocery shopping before lunch. Megan was all over the place playing with her toys. All of the floors are wood so her toys make great noises and when she pushes/hits them they fly across the room - which she loves. She chased them everywhere and just had a great time.

After nap we went to get ice cream for snack - because, after all, we are on vacation. Megan liked the ice cream but would only take a bite if it was alternated with her cereal bar. She likes the taste of ice cream, but is not a fan of the coldness.

Before dinner she worked on standing stamina some more and did great again. She is getting stronger and stronger. After dinner I gave her a bath and I used a headband while I was giving her the bath.

*back story* A few days ago I started playing with her with the headband. She likes to have it on her head and take it off and put it on my head and vice versa.

So, after the bath I was rubbing on her lotion and sat her up to get her back. At this point she noticed the headband and, using my t-shirt, pulled herself up onto her knees and then into standing on my legs so that she could reach it. She stood there, all by herself (I wasn't supporting her or even touching her) for 5-6 minutes just playing with the headband. This is HUGE. She hasn't wanted to stand anywhere but the table. And something else that was really great when she was done she got down onto one knee and then brought the other leg around. Yay little miss!

Sneaky Sneaky

Yesterday after I gave Megan the rest of her yogurt from the previous day, but it wasn't enough to satisfy her. So I offered her some apple sauce - I haven't given her any in a long time because she has never liked it but I thought it was worth a shot. It is still a no go - she took 2 bites and then would just shake her head no if I offered another bite.

So....I purchased a few convenience items for our vacation and they were sitting on the table. One of them was banana nut bread slices. So, I grabbed a part of a slice and put several pieces on her tray. After the first bite/taste she went bonkers and started shoving every piece she could into her mouth. Her mouth was so full she couldn't shut her lips and food was falling out with every chew. I kep telling her to wait and was trying to stop her but she is fast with those little hands. Eventually she had cleaned the tray and emptied her mouth and we were ready to start again. I put 5 pieces on her tray and she went nuts again - trying to grab them all. After the 2nd piece was in her mouth I put my hand over the remaining pieces and told her to eat what was in her mouth first. AND then the sneakiness began....

The first time she reached up and knocked over her cup which I reached up and sat up with my opposite hand. However, my attention was diverted and she reached under my other hand and grabbed another piece and shoved it in her already full mouth. She proceeded to divert my attention again and reached with her other hand and grabbed another piece. By this time I was laughing because, really, it was hysterical.

Megan sure does love her banana bread.

Our little pirate

Yesterday Megan had her follow-up eye appointment yesterday morning. The glasses have not done the job of correcting her eye alignment. The doctor had us schedule Megan for surgery but is also having us try an eye patch until then to see if that will do the job.

So, we have a pirate on our hands. She will wear the patch all day long for 2 days and then 4 hours a day from then on.

Feeling good and loving her new brush

Megan felt good yesterday - no more fever, no more runny nose, no more laying down everywhere because she was tired.

Yesterday Megan was playing with a mirror and she saw me in the reflection and it freaked her out - she jumped back and looked up at me. I reassured her that it was okay and eventually she went back to the mirror. She saw me again and this time was just a little concerned about it; but by the third time she was loving it. We played in the mirror for quite a while.

I have found a "miracle" brush for Megan's hair. Her hair is fine and curly when means it tangles and matts easily. If I am on top of it and comb it every day then with a ton of tangle spray and a comb I can get it done in 5-7 minutes. She does really well with the process but I wanted something easier for her. I did some research and went to Sally's and asked and bought a brush. Her hair was really, really bad - because she had been sick I hadn't brushed/combed it in a week. I started working on it 2 days ago and it took me 5 minutes to get through a 1/4 inch section. It was crazy.

So, with the new brush in hand I sprayed some de-tangle spray on her hair and in about 1 minute I had brushed all of her hair. It was amazing. Then last night after her bath, for the first time ever, I brushed her hair without any de-tangle spray. It took about 30 seconds and her hair was done. Now for the ultimate test....daddy brushed Megan's hair this morning by himself. He did it in about a minute - he has never been able to comb through her hair like I did.

Runs in the family

Anytime I have been sick for a few days I always overdo it the first day that I feel better. I always feel like I could conquer the world and then I wear myself out and end up feeling bad for a couple of more days.

It looks like Megan did the same thing. She was everywhere yesterday, playing with everything and acting like she was on top of the world. This morning, after a rough night, she woke up with a fever and feeling poorly again. She will be taking it easy today and maybe tomorrow if needed.

Feeling better

Finally...this morning Megan woke up without a fever. This is the first time in 6 days. She also made it through the night; she did wake up at 4:00 am but she went back to sleep by herself.

We have been getting up with her every night when her medication wore off - she would wake up crying 30 minutes before she could have another dose; depending on what time she got her dose it was between 9p and 1a.

She did develop a fever again later in the day, but she was feeling so much better today. She had a PB&J for lunch and ate 3/4 of it. She ate most of her yogurt for snack. She had a regular dinner - beef ravioli, peas, green beans, carrots and some pears. Prior to today she has been eating butternut squash and peaches and lunch and dinner. She would only eat 5-8 cheerios for snack so today was a big improvement.

Along the lines of feeling better Megan was playing with me today and getting excited. She ended up hitting my upper lip with her forehead. She busted my lip and somehow made 2 of my teeth bleed. I have a nice little souvenier from our adventure. Thankfully she was okay, though she had a red mark for quite awhile.

Ninjas

We put Megan in the church nursery on Sunday and last night she woke up screaming at 9:30ish and when we got her up she had a cold. It was a very rough night for her. She may have gotten a total of 2 hours sleep. She would try to go to sleep and then probably tried to breathe through her nose and then would cry and the cycle would start over.

She had a mediocre day - she wouldn't eat very much and wouldn't let us near her with the bulb thing until late this afternoon. It is always a sad point in her cold when she wants me to clean out her nose. She handed me the "sucker" at one point to basically ask me to help her. She didn't eat much for breakfast, lunch or either snack. BUT after a little nap this evening, her letting me get her nose cleaned out and seeing daddy she ate like a champion at dinner. It was good to see her feeling well enough to put it away.

So, about the ninjas.....before dinner I had Megan in my lap and was playing with her and told her that her immune system was working hard to fight the cold and that it was like little ninjas fighting hard. I would say "fight, fight, fight" and punch the air with my hands and she would laugh. It was cute. So, Megan has little ninjas fighting on her behalf to make her well.

Working hard, Mastering the spoon & Saying goodbye to 12-month clothing

Megan has been working really hard with standing the past few days. She will stand and play for several minutes at a time, take a 20-30 second break and get right back up. She is doing really well.

She is mastering using a spoon. Tonight she fed herself every bite of her butternut squash and did great - I would hand her the spoon, she would eat and hand it back to me. I am so proud of her.

It's official...Megan is starting to outgrow her 12-month sized clothing. Her shirts fit, but are now getting to be too short. Some of her pants are high-waters and her shorts are a little too short. So tomorrow I will be purging her closet and dresser of all 12 month clothing. Yay for little miss.

Laying down on the job...but doing better

For the past two weeks Megan hasn't wanted to sit up hardly at all. She just lays down constantly. Her therapist thinks it is because of her new orthotics, though she doesn't mind them being put on; but they are the only new thing in her life.

The past couple of days Megan has been doing so much better. She is working on standing again and is sitting up a lot more during free play. I think we are headed in the right direction.

Oops...Posted in wrong blog

Saturday, August 20, 2011
Sharing and "shooting hoops"

Megan has been sharing her toys with us for several days now. She will be playing with something and then hand it to us to hold or play with; and then she wants her turn again.

Will said that this afternoon Megan was laying on the floor and she had her feet up in the air by her head and formed a "hoop" with her legs. She took a toy and dropped through her legs onto her chest and then reach under, grabbed the toy and did it again. He said it was adorable. I am sure it was fun to watch.

Sippy cup and orthotics

Megan is doing better with her sippy cup. She has made it through two meals without throwing her cup - she is still working on it though.

Megan's therapist fit her orthotics today and told us how to work with them. She will be working up to wearing them full time. She has to wear shoes 1.5 sizes bigger than she needs. They look huge to me but are definitely within a normal size for her size.

Daddy/Daughter Date

Will took Megan to get ice cream this afternoon for their first date. The ice cream place wasn't there anymore (sad) but they found a great frozen yogurt place nearby. Megan sat in a regular chair and ate her snack (cereal bar) alternating with some yogurt. She is still not fond of how cold it is so she doesn't eat much, but she does like it.

Webcam with granny

Every once in a while we will do a web cam with my mom so that she can see the kids. Megan recognized her this time, because of the recent 2 week visit. She kept trying to get away from me to get to my laptop so I let her go to see what she would do. She crawled up to the screen and gave granny kisses. It was so very sweet.

She laughed and talked to granny and did very well. She is usually not interested so these will be more fun in the future.

2 Year Checkup

Weight: 19 lbs 14.8 ounces
Height: 31 inches

Megan received another glowing checkup today. Her doctor is so pleased with her progress and health. He said that she is doing great. She had to get 1 shot today and she did pretty well with it, the nurse didn't do a great job with the shot so it hurt her a little more than it had to.

Good Big Sister Moment

This afternoon I put Sam in his bouncy seat on the opposite side of the room and on the other side of several toys from Megan. After about 5 minutes Megan crawled and pushed her favorite toy across the room and then moved the other toys out of the way. She sat up and played with her toys right beside his chair. At one point she gave him a toy and then later when he started to fuss she bounced his chair.

She wanted to be near him, she gave him a toy and she bounced him so he wouldn't be upset. Good job little miss.

Gotta love her sense of humor

Megan is playing with her Little People Barn. There are various places in the barn that when you push them they make the appropriate noises - i.e. the chicken's nest makes chicken noises, the bed makes a snoring sound, etc.

There is a work area that when you push the work bench it rotates between two different sounds. One sound is a saw and the other is a hammer. The hammer sound ends with the man saying "ow". Megan laughs every single time he says "ow". It is so cute.

Lots of things to update

Megan is continuing to have a stellar time as a 2-year old. She is feeding herself and using her sippy cup by herself. We have been working with her to just put it down when she is done and not throw it and so far today, after 3 feeding sessions, she hasn't thrown it once. She is even taking occasional drinks from her water cup during playtime. I am so proud of her and the progress she has made in such a short amount of time.

Putting things in.....Megan is finally putting toys into things. She is putting her coins into the slot on the piggy bank (only successfully twice but she keeps trying), she is putting toys into the basket in her bath, on the shelf in her bath, in the ball toy and yesterday she started trying to put the puzzle pieces back into the puzzle.

About a week ago Megan started a new thing. When we are playing with her she will grab our hand/finger and have us do the task again. She is doing this with all kinds of different things - pretend eating, pushing buttons on toys, etc.

On Sunday we transitioned Megan to her booster seat. She has been in the highchair because she is still much smaller than it is. But, Sam will be starting cereal soon and will need the highchair so we decided to go ahead and move her. She is loving being in her booster seat. She is bigger/taller than the tray and so she can see and reach everything. It is easy cleanup for me so that is an additional plus.

Megan will be getting orthotics to correct her pronation. She was measured last week and will be receiving them in a couple of weeks. In preparation for the orthotics her therapist has us putting shoes on her now. We weren't before so that her toes could grip the floor, but now it is time. She has been wearing them since Saturday and has been doing a great job. It took her a little while to get used to them and she is still working on getting back into standing by herself with them on.

Ambidextrous

Megan likes to use both hands when she is eating. We are working with her, teaching her to use a spoon and she takes turns with which hand she uses to hold it. She will use her left hand a couple of times and then switch to using her right hand.

Loving her new kitchen

Megan loves playing with her new kitchen. We played with it for half an hour this morning. She was taking things out of the oven for us to eat. She got a kick out of me pretending to eat the food.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Megan is 2 years old today. She had a great day. She got a cupcake after lunch, which she enjoyed, though she only ate 3 bites.

She pulled up on her own twice again this afternoon and she held her sippy cup by herself.

She "opened" presents before and after dinner. We don't like to make her do everything at the same time so that she has time to play with her new toys. Before dinner she got her new keyboard and seat. Her tippy toes touch barely touch the floor, but she didn't care. She had a blast playing the keyboard. She also got her kitchen. She played with it and had a good time. After dinner she got all of the accessories for the kitchen (food, plates, etc) and her grocery cart. She also got a new bath toy and bubbles that you can hold in your hand. Sam was in bed when we did the gifts so she will get his gift tomorrow.

She had so much fun playing with everything. I think we did good.

Another breakthrough day

The day didn't start out as a breakthough kind of day - it started out as WWIII. We decided that this weekend would be all about the sippy cup and getting her to hold it. Man oh man. Yesterday during snack while I was working with her she burst into tears - I thought maybe I had hurt her hand while trying to help. It turns out that probably wasn't the case.

So...the rules for the weekend are that she doesn't get a drink unless at least one hand is helping to hold the cup; only exception is if she is choking or something and really needs a drink. Will took the first shift during breakfast. It did not go well. By afternoon snack anytime you tried to get her to help it was a BIG fit and tears and no drinking. Of course we had to deal with the fit, in addition to the cup.

I worked with her some after snack while she was playing in the living room. I just held the cup and let her grab it, etc. Not a lot of progress, but she wasn't flipping out about it.

We took a quick trip to Target before dinner to try and find some spoons for her. The spoons we have either have handles that are too big for her hands or the part that goes in her mouth is too big or the handles are too long. We have been looking for days for a better option. I bought some disposable ones that are better than what we have, but aren't the best. A friend said she saw some that should work at Target. I have been to two Targets and have come up empty. Babies R Us is on the agenda for tomorrow.

When we returned from Target it was time for dinner. Once again it was a battle with the sippy cup, until Will changed his approach. Instead of putting the cup up to her mouth and "forcing" her hand onto it he held the cup about 8-12 inches from her mouth and just waited. Eventually she would reach out and grab the handle and pull it to her mouth. At the end of dinner she was grabbing it repeatedly, sometimes with both hands, and putting it in her mouth to take a drink. YIPPEE!

Now, if that wasn't enough of a breakthrough Megan decided to show off after dinner. She climbed up onto the landing to play with her toy all by herself. The only times she has climbed up there is when I am sitting up there enticing her to come play with the toy. This is the first time she has done it on her own.

More pulling up

Megan is doing great with pulling up. We are still having to entice her, meaning she is not just pulling up when she is playing by herself. This is the same thing she did with getting onto her knees - we had to constantly entice her at first and now she just does it all the time.

Pure Joy and.....pulling up

This afternoon when I got Megan up from her nap I took her in the play room for a little bit. I sat her at her "Crawl and Go" toy that she got for her 1st birthday. She has played with it a few times but she has never "fully gotten" the toy. She has played with pieces of it, but not really played with it until today. I sat on the futon and watched her play with every aspect of the very large/expansive toy. She touched every little decoration and found the three ways to turn on the lights and music. Each and every time she managed to turn on the lights and music she would do a little happy dance that included wiggling her hiney, moving her arms up and down and bopping her head. She was sitting with her back to me but I imagine that there was also a big grin involved. It very much looked to me like pure joy.

Pulling Up
This morning during her therapy session Megan pulled herself into standing by herself for the first time. She repeated the behavior for me after her nap and then again for Will when he got home. She pulled up 4 times. I am so proud of her. She is doing it the more difficult way, very much her style.

Eating and play skills

Megan did awesome today with feeding herself. When Will started out getting her to feed herself he would put 1 piece of food on her tray at a time. I knew that we needed to work on putting more food on her tray because this one piece at a time is no different than if we were still feeding her except that now she is a lot messier; so today at her first snack I put several cheerios on her chair and she did great. I did have to verbally stop her from cramming them all in at the same time, but everytime I would tell her to wait she would wait.

She kept up these skills through lunch, her 2nd snack and even dinner. Dinner was really awesome - we loaded her tray with sweet potatoes, green beans, meat and bread and she had a blast. Will kept having to remind her to wait/slow down/finish what she had in her mouth because she was so excited and just wanted to eat everything she saw. She is so happy to be in control of getting her food, and she is doing so great at it.

On Thursday I am going to start working on the sippy cup. I am not sure how to go about it since it is not like she is picking it up and throwing it like she was the food. With the sippy cup she pretty much ignores it and she barely drinks anything as it is so I will have to make sure she gets enough liquid during this process.

I was feeling tired late this morning so instead of me having to chase Megan out of the hallway I created a blockade using 2 hardsided Samsonite suitcases. When I am in the living room I can hear the difference of when she is in the entry or when she has gone down the hallway. I was hanging with Sam in the floor when I heard her at the end of the hallway. I checked on her and she had moved both suitcases up against the wall and was sitting in the floor on the other side of them just playing. About 20 minutes later it got very quiet - people have always said that when kids get quiet that is when you have to worry about them and that is so true with Megan. So I went to investigate and she had opened the door to Will's office and was sitting around the corner playing with some items that were in the floor. She did chase a ball into the office but she was nowhere near it when I found her.

Day 2 with her new skills

Megan kept it up today.

She did great feeding herself all day long. She did better with dinner tonight than she did lastnight because I took her finger-feeding into consideration tonight. Last night she struggled with her peas - she loves them but they are too small at this moment; I am sure in a few days she will handle them just fine.

She did great getting up onto the landing again today. She even got up into high knees at her Pooh chair and at the coffee table - she was trying to get onto her feet at the table so I helped her and she stood right up. The great thing is she was trying to get there herself, so maybe in another couple of days we will be there.

Climbing onto the landing

Megan crawled up onto the landing this morning. She did it several times and got herself down twice. We were just taking her down and getting her to do it again and after she climbed up 4 or 5 times we enticed her to get down and she did great.

What a day Megan is having - feeding herself, climbing up onto the landing and it is only 9:42 am - I wonder what else this day has in store for us.

Feeding herself

This morning, for the first time in a year, Megan began feeding herself. She ate several cheerios and her entire prune all by herself. She even managed to get a couple bites of cereal by herself too.

UPDATE
Megan has fed herself all of her food all day long. She ate both of her snacks and her lunch by herself. It seems that this issue was a discipline/defiance issue and we should've/could've been at this point some time ago had we been on top of it.

Finding mommy

When I am home alone with the kids I leave the bathroom door open and Megan has never followed me to the bathroom. When someone else is in the house and I close the door she follows me. She will knock on the door and then put her little hand under the door. It is so sweet; but then I have to yell for someone else to come move her so I can get out without hitting her with the door.

Figuring things out

Megan has always been very curious and yesterday she was trying to figure out where the sound was coming from on a new toy. She eventually discovered the speaker on the bottom of the toy and she would lay her head on it and hit the toy to make it come on. After that she started looking for the speakers on all of her toys.

I love watching her try to figure out why something is not working the way it is supposed to when a toy has been turned off. She will try and try and try to get it to work - what's great is that she doesn't get upset about it, but instead will move on to something else.

A few days ago she started scooting across the floor while sitting "indian style" on the floor. She bounces up and down and moves forward - it is pretty cute.

Please

Megan did the sign for please today for the first time. Whenever I ask Megan if she is hungry I hold her hand and do the sign for eat and then please so that she says "food please". Today after I finished doing it she smiled (typical) and then did the sign for please 2 times.

Our little Trixie

Will grew up reading a comic strip with a little girl in it named Trixie. Trixie would chase or play with a sunbeam.

Megan LOVES the sunshine. She will crawl all the way across the room and down the hall to get to a strip of sunshine on the floor. She will hit it and just play in it. If you make shadows she will attack them. If the shadows "get" her feet she moves them away to "keep them safe". It is very adorable.

Doing really well

Megan is doing so well with getting into standing from both sitting and from her knees. Her legs are getting stronger and stronger.

She had been standing up at the table from sitting in a little chair, but the therapist gave us a foam square that is a little bit shorter than the chair and more difficult to stand up from because it gives. She is doing so well with it, and it is helping to strenghen her little legs.

We are also working with her to go from her knees into standing by slightly tilting her to the side she brings one knee up and then stands. She wants to stand up so badly that she is trying to get her leg up by herself, which of course is the point.

Lots of love for Sam

The past few days Megan has been kissing on Sam. It is very sweet. Then she gets all excited and head-butts him too.

Picture Day and Loving Daddy

Yesterday was family picture day, our first since Sam joined us. The photographer laid Megan on a bean bag and then laid Sam on her arm and put her arm around him. She did amazingly well with this - she did bonk him on the head once and then when he turned to look at her she tried to push his face away. She did great with the pictures, except she wouldn't smile.

A few weeks ago I taught Megan how to say love in sign language. I was working with her to say "love daddy". Yesterday when Will was giving her some medicine he somehow hurt her and she was very upset - she wouldn't calm down until I comforted her. After I gave her the meds she was laying in the floor looking at Will and she signed "love daddy". It was so sweet. If someone upsets her she will generally forgive pretty quickly and let you know by giving you a kiss or snuggle, but since she couldn't reach him (he was standing up) she told him she loved him. Then several times for the rest of the day she would sign "love daddy". A whole new way to melt his heart.

Catching up...again

Megan has done the motions to The Itsy-Bitsy Spider for some time, all except the part where the spider "walks" up. A few days ago she started doing this part too - it is really cute.

Head butting everything! I am sure I have blogged about this before but Megan is a little head-butter. She will head-butt just about anything, the floor, the chair, your shoe, Sam's tummy, her toys...you name it. She is one tough cookie. Well, today Megan was in her highchair playing with granny. She was slapping her and we were telling her to be easy and not hit so hard. So I told Megan, using sign language, that what she was doing was hurting granny. Well...evidentially she took it as "hurt granny" because she shook her head yes, turned around and head-butted granny in the chin as hard as she could. Seriously funny.

Carol, Megan's 16 year old cousin, arrived yesterday to take over for granny while I heal. Megan is enthralled with her - she loves playing with her and even left daddy's arms for her. She is so happy to have a new friend.

Granny, mommy being gone and more pool time

Granny has been visiting for the past week. She came in town to help with the kids while I recover from surgery.

I was away from Megan from 7:30 am on Tuesday until 3:00 pm on Wednesday and she did okay. I am not able to pick her up and wasn't able to even hold her until yesterday and she is doing pretty good with it. She is definitely enjoying granny's attention and having daddy around all the time.

Today she played in the pool again and got on her tummy several times. She didn't put her face in, but she was exploring around.

Swimming Pool

We setup Megan's little pool today and she played in it twice. The first time the water was a little too cool for her - she was doing the "gasping" thing you do when he sit in cold water. It took her awhile to get going this morning but she was much more adventurous the second time.

Big Bathtub

Megan has been taking baths in an inflatable tub that sits inside a regular bathtub. We used it in the beginning because she wasn't stable enough to sit up in the tub by herself. Then, she wasn't secure enough - she would just lean back against the side.

Lately she has been playing really well so last night I decided to give the big bathtub a go. It was a hit! She had a blast. She was all over the tub, splashing and chasing her toys.

Bubbles and sweetness with bubba

Megan and I played with bubbles this morning for the first time. She has seen 1 bubble at a time in the house once or twice (therapist), but today I took her outside and blew lots and lots of bubbles. She had a blast popping them and watching them float away.

This afternoon after playing with her little brother for several minutes I put him in her lap. She gave him kisses, rubbed her face on his and gave him "face hugs" - she presses her cheek to yours - it is very sweet. Every time his hand touched her face she would smile. I think she is loving her little brother.

PTL for sleeping through the night

Our little miss is sleeping through the night again. Praise God for His wisdom on how to help her get back to this.

She was having issues with being secure in our relationship and her position in the family. Once we started being VERY showy in front of her about mom & dad time; as well as, making sure we spent time together with her, she stopped waking up.

Difficult nights and playing with Sam

Megan has only slept through the night one time in the past 2.5 weeks. It started out as really bad teething pain, she was waking up about 30 minutes before her pain meds wore off; but the last 3 nights she has been waking up very early. We suspect that she has gotten used to getting up and spending time with us so she is keeping it up. We are hoping to break the cycle tonight.

On a good note she is approaching Sam on her own now. We have been propping him up on a bobby in the floor or putting him in a bouncy seat or swing. The past few days she has been going over to where he is at and playing with him. Will said that today she was bouncy his seat for him and playing with the toy bar. He said that Sam was enjoying the ride.

Everywhere!

Megan has always been content to play in the same general area. Lately she has been more adventurous; but nothing like today. I was feeding Sam and she decided to be little miss wanderer. I had to put Sam down 5 times to get her - she was literally in every corner of the living room.

Busted...but in a good way

I just *caught* Megan trying to pull up on her crib. She was up in "high knees" with her hand on the top of her crib rail, and she was trying to pull up. She didn't quite have enough leverage or support to get the job done, but she was trying.

At least one new tooth

The 4th tooth on the bottom front has broken through, finally! This one has taken foreverd too. She has been working on her bottom molars - I think I can feel the tip of one on the right side of her mouth. It is difficult to tell for sure because she doesn't like my finger in there and she bites down with the VERY sharp upper molar when I do manage to get it back there.

As you can imagine, it is difficult to concentrate on what I am feeling with the tip of my finger when the top of it is in pain from her bite. I might be able to get a look tonight when she is laughing if I have a flashlight. I think if Will makes her laugh and I am standing there ready it might work.

Funny little one

Megan loves to lick our shoes. I don't know why, other than that she loves shoes. She constantly crawls over to where we are sitting and will try to lick our shoes. Of course we don't let her lick them, if we can help it - sometimes she is just way too fast.

Earlier today she came over to get my shoes and I told her "no licking the shoes". She just looked at me. She is VERY good at distraction. She should be, we use it on her all the time. Anyway, she will act like she is not interested in whatever you don't want her to have and then incredibly fast will get it. So she was laying on her tummy looking at my shoe. I had told her not to lick it so she was just looking up at me. Then she did the funniest thing. She licked her hand and then touched her hand to my shoe.

Seriously funny.

Teeth brushing

I have been trying to brush Megan's teeth for months. She usually doesn't let me put the toothbrush in her mouth. I can't blame her, her mouth is usually hurting from teething. I was just using a wet toothbrush. Two days ago when I was at the store I saw some toothpaste for toddlers and I got some for her.

I have now successfully brushed Megan's teeth for the past two days. Yay!

Rough night

Megan had a rough time last night. She finally went to sleep a little after 3:00 am. She is cutting her bottom molars, at least we think that is what is going on.

She got about 5 hours of sleep, woke up for breakfast and then about 15 minutes later asked to go back to bed.

So proud of our little girl

Megan is getting more comfortable with Sam. She is touching him and playing with him. She is doing a great job with being "easy" with him. Sometimes she gets excited and is a little rough but is quick to correct it.

She is standing so much more now. The therapist said that she will need ortho inserts for her shoes once she starts walking because she is putting all of her weight on the inside of her feet. After this week I am going to talk to her about going ahead and getting them because Megan can't take sideways steps, like to cruise around furniture, because her weight is so much on the inside. She wants to take off and get things and can't get going so she either dives for it or reaches for it and looks at us and fusses for us to help her.

Lots of friends and hanging with Sam

Yesterday my good friend Piper came by to meet Sam and 3 of her 4 kiddos were with her. These kids are used to playing with each other so they were all over Megan, sitting on her leg, stepping on her feet, taking toys from her, giving toys to her, in her face and basically all over the place. Megan did awesome. She sat and watched everything for a few minutes and then started playing with her toys. Eventually she made her way to an out of the way place to play so that she wasn't in the thick of things so much. She was okay with them playing with all of her toys, even her favorite toy. I was so very proud of her.

Last night I was holding Sam in my left arm and Will sat Megan on my right leg so she was laying back on me. After watching Sam for a couple of minutes she decided to give him a "high five". She did this a few times. It was very sweet, and Sam just laid there for it.

Super sweet big sister or just annoyed?

Sam was fussing in his bassinet off and on for a few minutes. Eventually he started getting louder and Megan looked at me did the sign for "eat" and then covered her ears. So, she was telling me to feed Sam so he would stop making noise.

Super sweet? She wanted me to feed her brother because he was upset

OR

Just annoyed? She just wanted me to do something to make him stop crying

Learning new things

Megan has one of the farm toys where you push/pull/twist buttons that cause doors to pop up with animals in them; and then you close them and do that again. She has been closing the doors for some time now, but hadn't quite figured out how to open them. She was trying to open them the same way she opens the door on her piggy bank and the door on her shape sorter; which is by pulling the door back up. Well, two days ago she managed to open one of the doors once or twice and then yesterday she did it repeatedly. So proud of her for figuring this out. Now she can play with the toy all by herself.

She has a bead puzzle board - the kind that has a wooden base and then 3 different wires that snake around and you push beads back and forth on them. She started taking an interest in the toy a couple of weeks ago and would just spin the beads, but a few days ago she started moving the beads through the maze. She will stick her arm through different areas to get them all the way. She is very methodical about it and concentrates to get what she wants accomplished.

Megan's pony that she got for Christmas talks and sings when you pinch the ears. This morning she was able to pinch the ear in the right spot to get it to sing for her.

She stood up at the coffee table again yesterday multiple times and played with various toys. She is getting so much stronger.

Various skills

A couple of days ago Megan learned a new skill - how to clap "up high", "in the middle", "down low" and "behind the head". She can do this on command and loves it.

Talking like crazy - she is talking all the time now; we can't understand her but she clearly knows what she is saying.

Tonight she stood up out of a chair by holding onto the coffee table. She stood there and played for a few minutes before she sat back down. She stood back up several times to get to things on the table.

Military Crawl

Megan started using the military crawl a couple of weeks ago - she is very good at it. She is no longer launching herself, this option is more efficient, takes less energy and doesn't include the thud at the end.

Kisses for Sam

Megan was fascinated with Sam tonight. I was feeding him and Will was sitting on the other end of the couch with her. She watched everything I did.

Eventually Will took Sam and I was holding Megan. Will lowered Sam down to her level and I gave him a kiss on the forehead and then I moved her to do the same. She did it, she didn't make the kissing noise or give him a big wet kiss, but she did kiss him.

Amazing little girl

Megan did such an amazing job this past week. She was a trooper. She is so happy to be home and back in her bed.

Italian Wedding Soup and Chicken Parmesan

For dinner tonight Megan had Italian Wedding Soup, Chicken Parmesan and Green Beans. She will eat anything you give her and she likes it.

Love that she is a great eater.

Sam may just be alright

After lunch today Will played with Megan in the floor while I was feeding Sam on the couch. She would look up at me, especially when I was burping him. At one point Will asked her if she wanted to sit beside us on the couch and she said no.

Eventually Will took Sam so he could snuggle him (he was still sitting in the floor) and I sat on the floor beside him and was holding Megan. I played with her in my lap for quite a few minutes and then sat her on my leg facing Will & Sam. She was fine with it. Eventually I moved her to Will's leg and she "patted" Sam on the leg a few times.

I moved her onto something else so that if he got fussy she wouldn't associate it with her touching him (he didn't).

Not so sure about Sam

Will was sitting on the couch feeding Sam and I was playing in the floor with Megan. She was really watching daddy - she would look over every few minutes to see what he was doing. She was fine, until I stood up to check my phone. Then she started to cry. She was fine again once I sat back down, until he started crying because Will was burping him and he wanted to eat more. She didn't like the crying.

We tried later to introduce them but as soon as he touched her she was unhappy. I tried to sit her on the arm of the couch and he was laying on the couch and that didn't go well.

This is going to take some getting used to - she is not the only little person getting our attention anymore.

Such a big girl

The last 2 days have been very rough for Megan. The first day she had the 3 hour car ride (which she is not used to), ate lunch after 1p and didn't lay down for a nap until 3p, and then she only slept for 5 minutes. She had a bit of a rough night. The crib she is in is smaller than hers so she keeps banging things on the rails and waking up.

Yesterday she ate lunch on time but didn't lay down for a nap until 4p. She had a better night, but was still up quite a few times. She is currently fussing at the moment too.

BUT through it all, both days, Megan was delightful. There were a few times when we had to take her for a short walk outside or around the hospital to give her a break, but she did amazing. She has been such a trooper through all of the changes to her environment and routine and we are so proud of her.

Today will likely be another day for her that she will go a long time before she gets her nap. Sam is being discharged today and the hospital told us to be there around 10 but that it would likely be lunch time before he was released. We are hoping it goes quickly because we would all like to get out of there, but know that hospitals have a weird time warp system where everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Not impressed

Megan was not impressed with Sam; she just wanted to steal his blanket. It wasn't a very good situation - Will has holding Sam in a chair and I put Megan on his leg too and she couldn't really see him, etc.

We will do better introductions tomorrow when we bring him home from the hospital.

Time to meet Sam

Megan wasn't allowed into Nichole's room yesterday. You have to be 12 years old to get in the maternity rooms. So Will and I took turns sitting out in the lobby area with her.

Well, last night Nichole called me to let me know that she received special permission from the doctor for Megan to go back into the room today. She wanted to see the kids together and her 4 year old was allowed back yesterday so she set it up for us.

We are planning on being back at the hospital around 9am this morning to spend time with Sam and Nichole.

Being a big sister comes with....

1. A 3 hour car ride (longest she has been in car seat in months is about 45 minutes)

2. No morning nap because of 3 hour car ride

3. Eating lunch 1 hour later than usual

4. Having to stay awake for 9 hours when she is usually only up about 3 at a time

5. Crying and crying when she finally got to a bed because she is soooo over-tired; and somehow only sleeping for 5 minutes.

AND she didn't even get to meet him.

BUT she was amazing. She wasn't upset about eating lunch so late, she wasn't difficult to manage due to no naps - she was a little fussy but for what she went through it was nothing. Such a big girl.

Falling over asleep

Megan is currently asleep. She was sitting up in her bed and fell asleep leaning forward. This is the second or third time she has falled asleep in that position, but this time she managed to grab onto the covers on her way down. She loves to cover up and snuggle with the blanket.

Singing, dresses and other things

Yesterday Megan pulled herself onto her knees in her crib using the fish tank, and then she pulled herself into high knees and reached up to the top of the crib to try to stand, but she was just barely too short; which aggrivated her. So great that she is trying.

She is singing all the time now - she is in her crib right now singing away and dancing to her music. So very sweet.

I put her in a dress today. This is the first time, other than for pictures, that she has worn a dress. I didn't put her in any when it was cold so now that it is warm enough for shorts I thought I would start letting her wear her dresses. She loves her dress - she keeps picking it up and dropping it so that it covers her legs. She looks adoreable in it.

Pulling up on....everything

A few days ago I blogged about Megan pulling up to standing using her fingertips on the walk-around toy piano.

Yesterday I was sitting in the floor and Megan was sitting on one of my legs facing Will. Will was laying on the floor propping his chin on his hands so his face was at face level for Megan and the top of his head was around her eye level. She loves to play with Will's head - it is nuts how much she loves it. Anyway, she reached out, grabbed onto his very short hair and used it to pull herself into standing. It was so cute - she would stand there, leaning against Will's head and "banging on it like a drum" and then she would sit back down and a few moments later she would do it all again.

Today she was sitting in her chair with her musical table at her lap and I was sitting on the couch working on adoption documents for Sam. I looked down and she had reached across the table to two very secure handholds and she pulled herself to standing. I quickly stuck my leg out so my foot was under the table so I could hold it still for her. Once she was standing she looked at me and I clapped for her. Because of the way she was holding on she couldn't really play with much so she sat back down.

She has the concept and technique for standing up if she is in a sitting position at a 90-degree angle, give or take.

Such a sweet girl

Megan is getting a little brother very soon. We are so excited. We talked to her about it yesterday and when we would tell her Sam was going to be born soon she would get a big smile and clap. She is going to be an awesome big sister and she will definitely ensure that Sam is tough. :-)

Standing all by herself

Today Mandy brought a chair for Megan to use to learn how to go from her knees to sitting - unfortunately the chair is a little too high for Megan so she will have to learn to stand up to then sit. Megan was too tired at the end of her session for Mandy to show me what she is supposed to do, so I doubt we will make much progress on that front before next week.

The chair is slightly higher than her music chair - maybe an inch higher, if that. Megan was sitting in her musical chair and kept trying to reach the piano on another toy so I turned the chair around. She immediately tried to stand up, but the music chair plays a song when you leave the seat and it was very distracting. So, I changed chairs so there would be no distractions.

Megan reached up and using her fingertips held onto the piano keys and pulled herself to standing. She then stood there by herself and played with various toys. She did this several times, for several minutes at a time. On two different occasions she was a little "reckless" when standing up (she practically jumped up)and she started to fall over sideways - both times she reached out and grabbed onto a toy and righted herself.

We were so proud of her - she did such a great job and not only did it by herself she instigated it herself.

Growling

Megan started making a new noise a few weeks ago that we weren't sure what it was. She sounded like she was straining her voice and "screaming". Today we discovered what she is actually doing is growling. We rawr & growl at her all the time when we are playing and today she was doing her noise back at us.

By herself and without her supergirl shorts

Yesterday Megan tried to get up on her knees by herself but she didn't stop and ended up sitting on the other side of her legs (she had her shorts on).

This morning, before we put her shorts on her, she grabbed the bench and pulled herself up. Her legs were spread out at the hips, but she was up on her knees. After putting her supergirl shorts on her she pulled herself up a couple of times.

Such a confident, big girl.

UPDATE
She has been trying to get on her knees in her crib by pulling up on her "bumper". This bumper is designed to specifically prevent that, it just gives when pulled on. This afternoon she pulled up onto her knees by using her fishtank.

Trying

I just caught Megan on the monitor trying to stand up in her crib. She was sitting, facing the side of the crib with one knee bent and the other leg out straight in front of her. She had her hands on the top of the crib and tried to pull herself up. She fell backward when her straightened leg slipped.

This is the first time she has ever tried to stand up in her bed. Things are getting interesting.

Knee time

This morning, while I was sleeping in (thank you hubby) Will played with Megan. He said that she did great. He didn't put the shorts on her and sees how important they are for her right now. He said she had issues stabilizing, but she still wanted to do it.

Then after I came down she was sitting in the floor playing and she tried to get on her knees to play with the music table. She did everything right, she just didn't quite make it there on her own - I helped her and held her hips so she could stay there for as long as she wanted. I will put the shorts on her when she gets up from her nap.

Amazing shorts!

Today was Megan's physical therapy session. Mandy brought a pair of spandex type shorts for Megan to try. They are called Hip Helpers and they are amazing. The legs of the shorts are sewn together so that Megan's hips have the support they need for her to be up on her knees.

Mandy said that some kids hate them because they can't move in them but some kids take to them. I am so glad that Megan likes them. She did great with them when Mandy was here, after she got used to them; and then we put them on Megan when she got up from her nap and she did so great. She is getting up on her knees and staying there and able to get out of it easily.

Megan is even trying to get onto her knees by herself - the first time she has even shown any interest in doing it herself.

Gotta love tools that work.

New friend

One of my dearest friends came for a short visit last week. She was here for 3 days and stayed with us while in town. Megan loved her. The second day she was here Megan was sitting on the couch and Lisa was sitting in the floor in front of her and Megan just laughed and chatted with her for quite some time.

It was so adoreable to watch because Megan doesn't talk to a lot of people other than me and Will.

I am looking forward to better weather - I really need to get her exposed to other children so that she can make real friends.

Practicing

One of the things we are working on with Megan is her getting on her knees and staying there to play. She hasn't ever enjoyed getting on her knees so the PT showed me some tips on how to "trap" her in the position so she can get used to it.

Last night while we were playing with Megan before bed I decided to try putting her on her knees at one of her play tables. I had to "trap" her for the first 1-2 minutes and then I backed off and she continued to stay in that position and play for 10+ minutes. I was so proud of her. I have been able to get her to play on her knees for 8-10 minutes at a time, but I have had her "trapped" the entire time before.

Yesterday afternoon Will said that Megan tried to get into her musical chair by herself. She was sitting in the floor and started backing up into the chair, trying to somehow push herself into the chair. When he asked her if she wanted to sit in the chair she gave him the affirmative smile and clapping. So cute.

Chicken Pot Pie & standing up

I realized a little over a week ago that we hadn't really given Megan any casserole type food. With the exception of meatloaf (which doesn't count) she hasn't had anything "combined". She gets meat, veggies, grains, fruits, etc. I don't want to raise a child that can't have her food touch or won't eat casseroles so we started talking about what we can make to feed her.

Tonight I made a chicken pot pie and Megan loved it. Yippee. We will be making lasagna, Mexican casserole and other items for her to try later this week.

Earlier today Megan was sitting in her chair playing with her music table. She reached up, grabbed onto the "computer mouse" and pulled herself up. Unfortunately the mouse moves and came toward her which made her sit back down and no matter what we did we couldn't get her to try again on any other part of the table.

First PT Session

Megan had her first physical therapy session today with Mandy. She did so great. I was concerned because the session was at 8:30 and Megan didn't sleep well last night. On a normal day Megan is tired by 9:15ish so I wasn't sure how she was going to make it for an hour today; but she did great. She was fine with Mandy "manipulating" her into positions and doing new things.

She played on her knees for an extended amount of time on 2 different occasions - normally she is off of her knees as soon as you put her on them. Mandy showed me several techniques to use with Megan to get her to the next level. I am very excited about how she did today and about the tools I now have to help her during the week.

Trying something new

Megan has had a "fish tank" musical toy in her crib since she was old enough not to be scared of it. She likes to turn it on when she wakes up and listen to the music. She also turns it on when she is trying to go to sleep but is having a difficult time. She turns it on, grabs her blanket and snuggles down and is usually asleep within a couple of minutes.

Since lowering the crib yesterday she can no longer reach the fish tank unless she is sitting up. So last night when she woke up and couldn't reach it she cried, and cried. And then decided to just keep sitting up in various parts of the crib and fussing because she was so tired. This took place from 2-4 am.

So today I decided to try something new. I removed the fish tank and put a CD on for her. I turned it on when I left the room. I am not sure how she will do with non-stop music; but only one way to find out. She stayed laying down for about 15 minutes and then sat up and starting dancing to the music.

Formula for a missed nap (updated)

Step 1: learn a new "trick"
Step 2: master that trick for 1 day
Step 3: execute trick 15+ times during morning nap time

Megan is in bed, she has been there for about 75 minutes. She is normally waking up about this time from her nap and she hasn't been to sleep yet. Why is she not sleeping? Well that is because every few minutes she sits up in her bed. She is so tired that she has actually fallen over sideways a couple of times. She even leans forward onto her head and lays there for a few minutes but no matter what, eventually she is back up into sitting. It is VERY cute, but I feel bad for her that she is so tired.

She is enjoying her new skill and I am proud of her - I just hope that at some point today her tiredness overtakes her new thrill and she actually gets a nap.

She did finally take a nap this morning - she just wore herself out.

UPDATE
It took her almost an hour after I put her down for her afternoon nap before Megan started sitting up again. Now, every time I look at the monitor she is sitting in a different spot/position. She is moving all over the crib and then sitting up. Very cute!

Repeat behavior (updated)

Will took a late lunch today to be with Megan so I could go to a doctor's appointment. While I was gone and Will was playing with her Megan got herself into sitting again, all by herself.

Yippee! So proud of her.

UPDATE
Megan was already in bed when I got home but she wasn't sleeping. About 30 minutes after I got back I checked the monitor to see if she was on her way to being asleep or if I should get her up. She wasn't on her way to sleep because she was sitting up in her bed. So fun to see that.

UPDATE AGAIN
Megan was very tired tonight when Will put her to bed so I expected her to be asleep within a few minutes; and after a few minutes she quit talking/making noise so I assumed she was asleep or well on her way. About 30 minutes later I heard her laughing and when I looked at the monitor she was sitting up against the side of the crib rocking back and forth and laughing when she bonked her head on the side. She was looking backwards over the edge at her nightlight as well. When seated she is a few inches taller than the side of her crib - time to lower it tomorrow. I went up and layed her down because she hit her head pretty hard and I wasn't sure she would want to give up her new found position.

Getting into sitting

Megan just sat up all by herself. She has been close so many times, but never because she was trying to sit, this time she intentionally went from laying down to sitting.

Follow-up with Dr. Board

Megan had her 8 week follow-up visit with the opthamologist today. He agrees the glasses are working, but that there are still 2 "obstacles" she needs to overcome.

The first has to do with her not developing a dominant eye. She is fine now, just have to watch it.

The second has to do with the alignment of her eyes when she looks upward. This has to do with her tendons and needs to correct itself or it will require intervention.

The visit was relatively painless, though Megan remembers the doctor, the chair and the toy he uses to get her attention. As soon as he broke out that toy she came unglued. At one point, after she was no longer in the chair, he turned out the lights so he could shine a light in her eyes. That part she loved; especially when I asked him a question and he did it again but shined the light on his hand instead of her face.

Don't mess with my breakfast and Finally

Yesterday, thanks to the time change, Will wanted to go out for breakfast. He picked Cracker Barrel and we were on our way.

Megan has had a bowl of cereal (rice, oatmeal) everyday for breakfast for about 10 months. She also gets fruit and cheerios. We have a few jars of baby food leftover in the pantry so I grabbed a jar of rice & pears just in case.

She was doing so great waiting for food, and I didn't want her to lose it so I had Will offer her some of the baby food, which she happily ate. She had 3-5 bites when the food arrived. I cut up some of my scrambled eggs and tore up a few pieces of biscuit for her and Will gave her a bite of biscuit. At this point had you been watching our table you would have thought that Will gave her the most horrible thing ever. She ate it, but she scrunched up her face and just started balling. She wouldn't take her milk, a puff or even more cereal. She was so upset. Daddy had hurt her feelings because he took away her "cereal". Finally after about a minute Will managed to get her to take a bite of the baby food and all was well. She stopped crying and was happy again, though she kept giving him this look like "how dare you and don't do that again".

She did eat some apples and puffs and a bite of grits once the baby food was all gone. Looking forward to 2 years of age when we transition off of the current cereal - fun times ahead.

FINALLY...she woke up this morning and the top tooth in the front has finally broken through. That one took 3 months.

Turkey Wrap and standing up

Last night Will made Megan a turkey wrap for dinner. We have high fiber tortillas that we like so he put a couple of slices of turkey with some mustard in one for Megan. He cut it up and she ate 1/2 of the wrap. Her eating is only limited by our imagination at this point. She is still cutting the teeth she needs for some things but we need to get better about what we offer her.

This morning Megan was sitting in her little blue chair that she got for her birthday last year. Will was standing up in front of her while she played in it. She decided she was going to stand up to get to him. She almost made it all the way up when she started falling over sideways. What a brave little one - we really need to find something she can hold onto to stand up.

Goldfish

We have given Megan cheese whales at snack time before, but today was the first time she has had goldfish. The whales were so large that I always broke them for her.

Today with the goldfish I put a whole one in her mouth - she made a face like she didn't like it and shook her head no; but she didn't spit it out. She was reacting to the texture, but she got over it quickly. She took the next bite without issue.

All by herself

What you are about to read was accomplished without any assistance from mommy.

A few minutes ago Megan was laying in my lap and made her way into the floor (something that is new too, but not the purpose of this post). She was laying face-down across my Indian-style legs with her legs stretched out in the floor. She pulled her legs up underneath her and then pushed off of my legs so that she was "sitting" up on her knees. She then moved her legs around and pushed herself into a sitting position. Yippee! I cheered and clapped for her, which of course she loved.

In order to reinforce this new skill, and to ensure it wasn't a fluke, after a couple of minutes of letting her play I picked her up and then put her back into the position she had been in. After a few seconds she was sitting again. Such a big girl!

I have been working with Megan from laying in the floor, showing her that she can push with her arms and sit up once she is on her knees; but I have to help her get into position and then I was helping her a little bit with the transition. I won't be doing that now. I think she is able to do it by herself. I am going to work with her after her nap and see how it goes.

Our little "Marine"

This morning after breakfast we gave Megan a bath. After her baths we lay her on the changing table and I give her a lotion rubdown before getting her dressed. This morning when I was getting her dressed Will was standing at the foot of her changing table waiting to take her downstairs. Evidently she decided she didn't want to wait until she was fully dressed to go to Will and when I stood her up to pull on her pants and Will didn't take her she threw herself backward and whacked her head on the wooden changing table.

It was awful. This is the first time she has really bumped her head. I picked her up and she started screaming and whimpering/sobbing; she was laying her head down on my shoulder while she was doing this. I was comforting her and after about 15-20 seconds she decided to "suck it up" and started getting herself together and sniffling to stop crying. It was amazing. One tough little "marine" peanut.

Step, Jambalaya & Yelling

Two nights ago Will and I were working with Megan to get her to stand up and reach for toys. I was sitting about 12 inches from Will and he had Megan sitting on his leg. I put my leg up and put a toy on my knee and she would stand up and grab it. Will was steadying her by holding her torso. At one point I turned toward her while she was standing and she reached out and grabbed my hands. THEN she picked up her right leg and took a step toward me and then dove at me with the rest of herself. This is the first time she has even attempted to take an actual step.

On Tuesday, Will made jambalaya and on Wednesday we ate it for lunch and I offered Megan a bite, after she had finished her own lunch, and she really liked it. She took a couple of bites and made "mmmmmm" noises while eating it. Very cute.

Yesterday during Megan's nap time she was fussing a little bit off and on. I knew she would go to sleep in a couple of minutes if I left her alone. After a few minutes she put her hands up to her ears and then yelled "ahhhhhhh" really, really loudly for as long as her breath lasted, which was several seconds. When she was done she looked toward the door for a few seconds to see if I was coming and then when I didn't she went back to playing. I was watching her on the monitor and laughing.

Bananas, tooth & getting started

Megan has had bananas before but always in bite size pieces. Yesterday was a gorgeous day and we were out on the deck when Megan woke up from her nap. I put her in Will's lap and offered her a banana. She bit down on it, left teeth impressions in it but didn't bite off anything. After she tasted what was on her teeth and realized what it was she sat up and took a big bite. She continued to eat about 1/2 of the banana - we had so much fun watching her and seeing her enjoy it. When she would get a really big bite she made her "hahaha, I did it" face and noises.

I have no idea how her 2 molars are doing because I can't see them and she doesn't let me in her mouth; however yesterday her bottom front tooth finally broke through. The top one in the front is extremely close but hadn't quite broken through yet yesterday.

Megan has always tried things out in her crib before she does anywhere else. Will said that yesterday morning one time when she was up on her hands and knees that she put one hand up on the top of the crib railing. This is the first time we have seen her do this - she puts her hands up high on toys, but haven't seen her even try to touch the crib. I think this is her getting started with pulling up.

New developments

Something that we have figured out about Megan is that when she is teething, really teething, she can't seem to accomplish or learn new things. She will work on them for several days, even weeks sometimes, and not make any progress; but the day after her tooth breaks through she can do whatever it is she has been struggling to accomplish.

I think that some kids development is like they are climbing a set of stairs - they take a step up, relatively easily, and learn a new skill. They learn a little at a time and just keep climbing one step at a time; at least this is what I have observed in the kids I have been around. Megan, on the other hand, seems to have very large platforms, instead of steps. They are tall so she has to work to climb up on them and then once she is there she learns several things at one time. She stays on these platforms for quite some time and then starts working on climbing up onto the next one.

So, Megan cut a couple of teeth on Monday and a couple of more on Thursday. Friday was "show-off" day. I blogged previously about her bath time - well that was just the beginning. Megan hasn't been able to get herself into a sitting position - she would try to do a sit-up to get there which didn't work. Well, since Friday she has been getting herself 90-95% of the way with me helping her for the last little bit.

She is also putting her hands down to support herself so she can reach for toys off to the side. Prior to Friday she had just started "yelling" in protest when she couldn't reach it. This was a good sign because before last week if she couldn't reach something she would just play with what she could, even if that was just her own foot. In addition to the "yelling" she is now being more vocal all the time. Before she would really only talk when she wasn't being spoken to, or when she was playing by herself. For the past 3 days it has been not stop chatter.

So to recap, since Friday she is now moving a lot more, has way better control, can almost sit up and is talking non-stop. I think she made it up onto her next platform.

Bathtime Fun

Megan gets her baths at various times depending on when she is in need and rested. Giving her a bath when she is tired is no fun for her or us.

Today she got her bath immediately following lunch. She had the best time she has ever had. She loves baths but she generally just sits there and watches us play with her toys - she will grab them and drop them but not much else; and she just sits there with her legs straight out. Today she bent her knees several times and was all over the place playing with her toys. We usually do the playing, today she did it. She also talked and squealed and talked - normally very quiet in the bath.

It was so much fun to watch her having such a good time.

Welcome back peanut

I am so thankful to have our sweet, happy girl back. Megan felt so much better yesterday.

Weight Gain

They weighed Megan during her doctor's visit today. I wasn't expecting it, but it was fun to see where she was at compared to 21 days ago at her 18 month check-up.

She now weighs 17 lbs 9+ ounces - Dr. Fennel called it 10 ounces but I saw the scale and it was 9 something, so it must be very close. So she gained 2.5 ounces. Go peanut Go!

TEETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have had a rough 7-8 days. The first 5 were the worst with Megan waking up every 1-2 hours screaming in the night. She has been consistently running a fever that whole time and was clingy and tired.

We assumed she was teething because she has 2 teeth in the front, right on top of each other, trying to come in. They both get just to the point of breaking through and then go back down.

Yesterday I called the doctor's office because I was concerned about the amount of Tylenol she has been getting, since this is dragging out so long. They said her fevers were a little high and asked that we come in today.

This morning, for the first time in more than a week, she woke up without a fever. I thought we might be in the clear, but she was wiped and running a fever after her therapy play session.

The doctor said her ears look good - GREAT!; her lungs are clear - GREAT; her nose looks good - GREAT! and then....Whoa baby she has 2 molars that have started cutting through (you can feel them) and 2 more about to cut through - that is in addition to the 2 in the front. He still thinks that she has been fighting a virus, but agrees that most of the issues are probably due to the 6 teeth coming in.

Puzzles

We bought Megan some age appropriate puzzles - the ones with the really big knobs on them. We played with them with her for the first time on Saturday. She was great at grabbing the pieces and pulling them out.

Yesterday we played with the puzzles again a couple of times. Last night we were both playing with her and I asked her to grab the orange (one puzzle has an orange, an apple, a pear and a banana), and she grabbed the orange. I asked her to get the apple, etc and she grabbed the correct fruit each time. We did this with her several times and she executed correctly almost every time. Sometimes, no matter what we asked her to get, she would grab the banana - it is a fun one to get.

She used both hands to get the pieces out depending on which side of her they were located. I started helping her put the pieces back in - as long as my hand was on hers she did great with this - but as with putting things back in containers this was not nearly as much fun as taking them out.

Megan's medical records

The adoption agency sent us Tanya's medical records several months ago, but we never received Megan's records. A couple of weeks ago I emailed the agency and asked for them and they arrived this week.

Last night I was looking through the records - not really reading them, but just skimming them. We knew that Megan almost didn't make it - we knew that she was not expected to live; but reading that over and over again on the paperwork, as well as everything she went through - it was emotional.

She may be small but she is a champion fighter already. God has big plans for our little peanut.

18 Month Checkup

Megan had another glowing report during her checkup yesterday. She now weighs 17lbs 7.3 ounces and is 29.5 inches long. She is following her own curve on the growth charts and he is happy with her progress.

As usual, Dr Fennel was impressed with her and said she is a happy, healthy little girl.

At the end of his exam he stuck his hand out and she "gave him 5" and he loved it - it was cute. Megan loves to give people 5.

Rocking Horse & Holly

Megan got a pink rocking horse for Christmas. If she stretches her legs she can reach the foot rests. Usually we sit her on the horse and hold her to rock her back and forth.

Yesterday during her developmental therapist visit, after doing that for a while we were just letting her sit there to see her balance, etc. Eventually, holding on by herself, she started slowly rocking back and forth. I was so proud of her - such a big girl. She was also making her horsey sound by "spitting" - it sounds very similar to the sound the horse makes.

Earlier in the session the therapist, Holly, pointed to herself and said "Holly" and Megan said "Hol" - it was awesome - she wouldn't repeat it but it was apparent she was trying to say Holly's name.

Eskimo Kisses

I rub noses with Megan all the time and say "noses, noses,noses" while doing it. She usually lets me do it back and forth a couple of times and then gets all excited and turns her head back and forth rapidly - I pull back at this point.

Yesterday she moved her head back and forth slowly on 3 different occasions. It was so cute. Of course she eventually got so excited that she sped up and started squealing.

Reading books and BIG kisses

This morning while we were reading Megan turned every page in her book one at a time. She usually just shuts the book, but today she turned the pages one at a time. Now there was no time to finish reading what was on the page before she turned it so I had to get creative - but I was so proud of her.

When I took Megan upstairs for her afternoon nap and she realized she was going to bed she got so excited that she grabbed my head with both hands and pulled my cheek to her mouth and gave me a big kiss. Gotta love a kid who gets that excited about nap time.

She discovered "Drive"

Last night I put Megan in the walker again and then sat on the floor about 10 feet in front of her and held up one of her favorite toys and she came right to me. I did this repeatedly and it worked every time.

Once in a while she would get off course going sideways but she managed to correct herself and get to me. One time she ran into her jumper and backed up to get around it but then was very sideways and wasn't sure what to do and just looked at me for help - very cute.

So now she can go in reverse and drive.

Reverse

I put Megan in her walker today - it has been several weeks since she has been in it. The last time she was in it she moved herself a couple of times, but never on purpose. Today she was moving around quite a bit - 99% of it in reverse.

She even backed herself into the hallway at one point. I was sitting in the floor by the kitchen and Will was standing by the front door encouraging her to come to us. So when she was going into the hallway she leaned forward and looked around the corner at me as she disappeared. It was very cute.

She has a toy in the kitchen that she sits in and she can walk around the outside of it- when she first figured out she could make it move she would walk around and around and around it- backwards.

Tylenol

A couple of nights ago Megan woke up crying after only having been asleep for about an hour and a half. When she didn't calm down after a couple of minutes I got her up and brought her downstairs to snuggle with her. She continued to cry so I figured her teeth were hurting.

As soon as she saw me pick up the bottle of tylenol she stopped crying and shook her head yes. I filled the dropper and she sucked the medicine out before I had a chance to "squirt" it.

So this story is adoreable and sad all at the same time. Adoreable that she knew the tylenol would help her and she calmed down and took the medicine; sad for the same reason.

Megan's glasses

I picked up her glasses this afternoon and we put them on her. She was immediately taking them off unless we distracted her. We worked with her for 3-4 minutes and then gave her a break - it was snack time.

After her nap I put the glasses on her and played with her as usual. She did awesome - she kept her glasses on for 45 minutes and only messed with them 3 or 4 times. She was looking at everything - so hopefully they are working and making it easier for her to focus and not making them fuzzy like when I looked through them.

Tooth #5 makes its appearance

This morning while brushing her teeth I discovered that one of the two top teeth that Megan has been trying to cut has finally started breaking through. When I brush her teeth I try to rub the back of the brush on her gums where she is teething (if she lets me) and this morning when I did it I felt her tooth. So I got my finger in and could feel the tip of her tooth. The rest of the surface area is swollen so hopefully she will cut through all of it today.

A mango a day

Yesterday I cutup a mango at breakfast for Megan. She ate it at breakfast, lunch and then finished it during dinner. Yes, she ate an entire mango in one day.

3 hour tour

Yesterday was Megan's follow up visit with the eye doctor. Her eye is still turning in (it didn't correct itself in the past 4 months) so the doctor prescribed glasses for her.

Her eye is turning in when she focuses on something so the glasses will take away her need to strain to focus and therefore should keep her eye from turning in. Her condition is caused by having a short eye, which is very common in little children. He said that as she grows her eye can lengthen and therefore alleviate the issue.

We got her fitted after the appointment and it will be fun getting her to leave them on.

The timing of the appointment was very bad since we now live 45 minutes from the office so we ended up having to wake Megan up from her nap to get her there on time. Her normal snack time window was during the trip to the office, so we gave her cheerios while we were waiting to see the doctor and then while we were waiting for her glasses fitting. Megan did amazing. She sat in Will's lap the entire 1.5 hours and played and ate her cheerios.

The only time we had any "issues" was when the doctor came into the room and had Will move from the "guest" chair in the room into the exam chair.

At her last visit (when I was by myself) he dilated her eyes - she wasn't fond of getting the drops and THEN 2 of us (myself and a nurse) held her (I held her down, the nurse held her head) and the doctor held her eye open and repeatedly looked into it with different lenses, etc. She screamed and screamed and screamed. It was truly horrible - thus why I told Will that I would NOT be returning to his office by myself.

So when Will moved to the exam chair with her she immediately started crying. This child remembers the visit from 4 months ago. The doctor held up a toy to get her to look at it so he could look in her eye (same one he used last time) and as soon as she saw it she dropped her head down so he couldn't see her face. She wouldn't stop crying and looking away from him. He was only able to look at her eyes for a few seconds. I finally took her from Will, once he had given up, and with me standing and holding her she was fine. I gave him her bag of cheerios and she looked at the bag while he moved it around so he could see what was happening.

Will eventually took Megan back and was standing next to the doctor and every time he would even look at her she would fuss. He had to go sit in the "guest" chair again and give her cheerios. Even then when the doctor leaned in her direction she fussed. Sad that she was upset, but hysterical that she remembers him and didn't want him near her.