Moon & Stars

One of Megan's favorite books has a spread that she really doesn't like.  It is mostly black and has the moon on one page and starts on the other.  When she gets to these pages she starts freaking out and we tell her to turn the page and she will.  A couple of days ago she was at that spread and started freaking out.  She was sitting right in front of the couch and she looked up and saw her jacket on the couch, she grabbed it and covered up the pages and then she was good to go. 

A few minutes later I got Sam up and he was playing near her when she came back to that spread and started freaking out again.  Evidently Sam understands what she is saying because he immediately stopped what he was doing, crawled over to the book and slapped/hit the page; which calmed Megan down and she turned the page.  Sam went back to playing with his toy. 

We are looking forward to the day when she can tell us what the deal is with those pages. 

Update

Megan's therapy session on Monday went great.  Mandy was so excited that Megan was up on her feet and cruising in both directions.  She challenged Megan to go from the table to the ottoman which was directly behind her.  Megan did great with this, she barely hesitated.  Mandy wants me to work with Megan to get her transitioning 180 degrees and going around the corner. 

She is continuing to want to play standing up - this morning she sat down in my lap and I hugged her while turning us both away from the table and she started crying.  It took me a few seconds to realize that she was upset because she wanted back up at the table.  LOVE that!  She is not wanting to walk while holding my hands at the moment - not sure what is going on there but I will keep trying. 

Yesterday morning while playing at the table with her I laid my head down on the table and Megan smiled, gave me lots of kisses and cheek smooshes and then she put her arm around my neck and gave me a HUGE hug.  She has never hugged like that before - she usually just lays her head on your shoulder and pats your back.  It was so sweet. 

Today after nap I decided to put Megan on the scale because she seems so much bigger to me.  Her last weigh-in at the doctors office was in the 19 pound range - naked.  Today, clothed and with a wet diaper.....22 pounds.  She is bigger. 

Church

Last week I decided to visit a local church to get a feel for the nursery to see if I would be comfortable with it.  I was, so this morning we all went to church as a family.  Megan did great.  I checked on her about 15 minutes after we dropped her off and she was just smiling and playing.  I am so glad that she had a good time.  She was a very happy camper when we picked her up. 

You can't see me mommy

Yesterday Megan was having a blast playing with a piece of the Sears catalog that came in the mail.  Will was sitting in the floor with her and I was sitting on the couch behind her - so her back was to me.  She was laughing and laughing and laughing and Will kept saying that she was making the best faces so I grabbed the camera. 

We moved the catalog page so that she would have to turn around and face me.  As soon as she saw the camera she grabbed the page and pivoted around so her back was to me again.  So, I got up and walked to the other side and managed to get a couple of shots before she did it again - she pivoted so that her back was facing me.  She was being a little turkey. 

Spice

We had take out tonight from Chili's.  I didn't like the options on the kids menu so we got Megan a chicken club quesadilla, it had chicken, tomatoes, onions, peppers, cheese, bacon and spicy guacamole.  She loved it.  Will tasted it and said it definitely had a quick to it.  Megan was going bonkers taking bites. 

Will said "she is definitely our girl". 

Using a spoon, standing and being a big girl

Megan has gotten very good at playing with cars.  She is pushing them around, back and forth. 

For the past 2 days Will has been working with Megan for her to feed herself breakfast with a spoon.  She is getting cereal everywhere, and needed a bath yesterday after breakfast because I couldn't get it out of her hair.  So I thought that it would be great if a shower cap would fit her and then I remembered that we have a ton of the Saran Wrap things that look like shower caps.  I tried one on her and it fit great so this morning there was much less cereal in her hair. 

She is continuing to want to stand and play at the table today.  I found out that her horse therapy will start on April 11th so I am very excited to see the difference it will make for her.

This morning, during one of her breaks from standing, Megan was sitting in the floor playing.   I looked at her and told her to find her glasses and put them on and she did just that.  She looked around, picked them up and put them on.  Wow! 

More standing, some cruising and assisted walking

This morning Megan stood at the table and played with me for 17 minutes.  She wasn't interested in doing much more than that, but that is still an improvement over just a couple of days ago. 

Anytime I pick her up I have her stand up first by holding onto my hands and I have been walking backwards to get her to take a few steps as well.  This morning she walked across the floor, turned the corner and then went down the hall. She was so happy and excited just stomping away.  She kept that up every time I picked her up and had her walk with me. 

After nap Megan played at the table for 30 minutes straight and didn't want to stop for a snack.  She even cruised back and forth the length of the table 9-10 times both directions and before she couldn't ever go to her left.  She was seriously rocking it today.  She even went back over to the table to get back up and play for the next hour.  We played at the table for about 2 hours off/on every few minutes. 

Megan has started playing with her phone.  She will "dial a number" and then pick up the handle and hold it to her face.  She will then share, because someone obviously wants to talk to me too.  While it is my turn she smooshes her cheek against mine.  It is so sweet.  I was pushing the phone and pulling it back toward her to keep her interested and it crashed into her hand and she laughed and laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall over.  She did lean over the table and put her head down while she was laughing. 
 
I am so happy for her that she is wanting to be standing and playing - here we go....

UPDATE:
After changing her into her pjs she was playing in the floor and I had been telling Will about everything and I said "I bet she would get up there if I tried"; so I got down and put a coin in her bank and she was up - just like that.  She had a more difficult time because she wasn't wearing her inserts and shoes but she stood there and played and even cruised back and forth.  She went from the table and took several steps to get to Will. 

Various and the pony

The past few days Megan has been spending a lot of time on high knees in her crib.  She has attempted to stand up a couple of times but she couldn't quite manage it.  She has also been laughing and laughing and laughing while she is on her knees; sometimes going up and down and just giggling about it. 

Yesterday Megan was playing in the floor and I was cleaning up, again.  I put her shapes into her shape sorter and then I put her coins that go to her piggy bank in the shape sorter as well because the pig was across the room.  I put the shape sorter on the coffee table and left the piggy bank in the floor where it was hanging out.  This all took place around 4ish in the afternoon.  Around 7p Will was playing with Megan in the floor and she pulled the pig over to him and he said where are the coins?  Megan immediately turned around, crawled over to the table, grabbed the shape sorter and brought it back to Will and pulled out the coins.  I was so impressed that she remembered where they were - I didn't even know she saw me put them in there. 

Megan had her evaluation today to see if she could get into the horse therapy program. She could not have done better with the evaluation.  She was comfortable in the evaluation room with the therapist and just played with the toys.  She was happy to get the helmet put on her - she loves hats.  When it was time I put her on the horse and she was fine with it.  There was a volunteer leading the pony, a volunteer standing on one side of her and the therapist on the other side, each of them holding her leg and ankle to keep her on the horse and in the proper position.  Then, as they were walking, they would make sure that Megan didn't hold onto the horse so that she would get the full benefit of the ride.  For most of the ride she was busy tapping on her helmet, or high-fiving them or patting the horse.  She was having a good time.  At one point they stopped to talk to someone and after a couple of minutes Megan started grunting and "bouncing" on the horse saying "let's get going people".  At the end of the session the therapist tried to introduce Megan to Daisy (the horse) and it scared Megan to have the horse's head so close to her and she cried.  She calmed down once I was holding her, but she still didn't want to talk to the horse. 

The farm didn't have a helmet small enough for Megan, even with the additional padding they added to it.  I purchased an infant helmet from Wal-Mart yesterday just in case and had the therapist look at it after the session.  It came with some additional padding that almost made it fit Megan's head.  I need to buy some more padding to add to it before her first session so that it completely fits her head.  They are working to line up the volunteers needed to get Megan started with weekly sessions the second week of April.  I am very excited about this. 

This afternoon Megan stood and played at the table for almost 20 minutes straight which is much, much longer than the 2-3 minutes tops we have been able to get her to do for a few months.  Coincidence that it happened after she had been on the horse for the first time?  She was only on the horse for 10-15 minutes and her therapy sessions will be 45 minutes long so I expect big things. 

Such a sweet big sister

Megan is very sweet with Sam, at least initially.  Anytime that he is crying (which is anytime he doesn't get his way), she will try to comfort him by patting him on the back or rubbing his leg or cheek.  Today I was holding Sam and Megan was playing in the floor in front of me, when I put Sam down he started crying.  Megan scooted up to him and rubbed on his calf to try to comfort him for several seconds.  It didn't work so then she shoved him in the chest to knock him down, but he caught himself.   Then she took off to get away from the noise. 

Date with daddy

Will took Megan out for a daddy/daughter dinner on Thursday; they had Chinese food.  Will said she did amazing.  She was a very good eater, eating all of the "strange" veggies he gave her and just gobbling up everything he offered.  She was extremely well behaved and enjoyed being out alone with daddy. 

Mommy's little helper

Yesterday I was getting something out of the pantry and spilled some rice on the floor.  The kids were both in the living room so I went and got the Dustbuster to clean up.   I turned it on and within a few seconds I felt a tug on my shirt..it was Megan; so I sat down and put her hand on the handle with mine.  She was okay with that for 2-3 seconds and then pulled back, so I just kept working away.  About 30-45 seconds later she put her hand back on the handle and left it there while I finished the job.  It was so sweet. 

Blowing her nose

For a few weeks now Megan has been "blowing her nose".  She started it back when Will was having a lot of allergy issues and was blowing his  nose all the time.  She would grab a kleenex and put it up to her nose and blow; she would also put it up to Will's nose for him to blow as well.  Now when I give her a wet wipe to wash her hands she blows her nose on it when she is done.  It is really cute, hopefully she will remember how to do it the next time she actually needs to blow her nose. 

A whole list of stuff

Megan is transitioning into 24 month/2T clothing.  Yesterday I was looking through what she already had in that size and I tried a pair of jeans on her and they fit perfectly.  Her 18 month clothes are getting too short so time to move up.  I picked up all of the spring/summer items she will need at a sale this morning. 

For the longest time Megan would only drink milk/water if she was eating.  We tried all kinds of things to get her to drink during play time but she just wasn't interested.  The past few days though she has been taking little drinks of water throughout the day while she is playing. 

Megan has never been a holder of things.  She doesn't hold onto an item or carry one around.  Recently she has started picking up items if you hold her upside down or let her lean off of your lap to get something.

She has started playing with her doll.  She will hug it, give it kisses and play with it.  She is also playing with her stuffed animals and stuffed dolls too. 

Megan has gotten really good at putting coins into her bank, twisting dials and keys, putting shapes into the sorter and in general figuring out how toys work.  Since we have been playing in the playroom at lot more lately she is exposed to a new set of toys and she is figuring out everything about them.  She will completely check a toy over, pushing/pulling/twisting anything she can find until she knows everything about how it operates; and then she plays with it. 

Megan's kitchen has a big light switch that turns on a light and music.  There are a lot of items in her kitchen that play music but she likes it when the light is blinking to the music so she will turn on the switch and then play with the rest of the kitchen.  When the music stops she will turn the switch off and then on again for more music.  With the exception of one song if you turn the switch off and then on again it will change the song.  For some reason there is one song that just keeps going if you do this and it happens to be a very long song that Megan isn't that thrilled with so when it comes on she will reach up and turn the switch off and then on again to try to change the song.  The other day when she did this and it didn't change she reached up and grabbed the switch and as fast as her little hand could do it she did off/on, off/on, off/on, off/on, off/on about 8-10 times trying to get the song to change.  When the song still hadn't changed after all of that she sighed and left the switch on and waited for it to finish. 

Puzzles and game room

For the past two days Megan has been all about the puzzles.  She has sat and played with her various puzzles for several minutes at a time. 

She played with her "sound" puzzle (has a siren for ambulance, etc)  for 15 minutes straight yesterday and she has gotten very good at putting the pieces back in correctly.  If it gets twisted in her hand by more than a 90 degree angle she has a hard time with it, but she doesn't give up.  She will push on that piece as hard as she can trying to make it fit. 

I finally cleaned up our game room again yesterday - it had been taken over by stuff the kids had outgrown and by toys I got a great deal on for the kids' birthdays, etc.  I organized everything and let Megan play in there yesterday and she had a blast.  She asks to go in every time we pass the room and she just plays and plays and plays in there - I have to tell her it is time for snack or lunch.