Four Steps, Not enticed

Tonight we dressed the kids in their costumes (they were each indians) and sat them on Megan's therapy bench for pictures.   I was kneeling in the floor with the camera and Megan decided she wanted me, or the camera, not sure which.  She stood up and took 4 steps across the floor and then she kind of sat down/fell down.  She didn't really fall, it was more like a controlled fall.  She was so balanced - she walked perfectly.

We cheered and she was so proud of herself.  She did it again but was more into diving onto her hands and knees.  

It was very exciting that she did it on her own, without us trying to get her to do it.  

Bite your own finger

Sam bit Megan's finger last week, really, really hard.  Yesterday they were playing together and giggling and giggling and giggling.  I was walking in and out of the room so I stuck my head around the corner to see what was so funny.  

Sam was trying to bite Megan's hand.  He would pull it toward his mouth and Megan would yank it away from him which would make them both laugh.  I watched for a couple of minutes and after repeating this a few times Megan finally started grabbing Sam's hand and pushing it into his mouth anytime he tried to bite her.

I told Sam that we don't bite.  I thought it was pretty smart of Megan to know what he was up to and to put his own hand in his mouth.

8/29 3 Year checkup

I failed to blog about Megan's 3 year checkup.  She weighed 23 pounds and was 32.5 inches tall.   At 3 years old they switch height/weight charts, and they no longer measure the head circumference.  On the new chart Megan is even further below the 0% line.  I don't think she is ever going to make the chart.  :-)

She is growing along her own path and doing great.  Dr Fennell was thrilled to see the difference in her from a year ago - she walked to him and climbed into his lap.

Upper left molar troubles

Megan has been working on cutting her left upper molar for a few days now.  She is really struggling with this one, even more than when she cut her bottom ones.  She has been up at night a lot which is making it hard on her during the day.   It feels like it is ready to come through at any moment.

She hasn't been wanting to walk as much the last couple of days and I am trying to figure out if it is because of her new orthotics and shoes or because of her tooth or because she is tired.

New orthotics

Yesterday afternoon at 4p we finally got Megan's new orthotics.  They were delayed by a week due to an error made by the ordering company.  So, the new ones are flexible and much smaller.  Megan is so much more stable with these on because she can use her toes.

When we got home from the appointment one of Megan's preschool teachers was standing on our porch.  She lives down the street and was returning a container that I had given her some pumpkin dip in.  I told her we finally had the new ones and when I got Megan out of the car she went to Debi.  Debi put her down and held her hands and had Megan walk and she was in awe at how much better and easier it was for Megan.

After Debi left we came inside and I worked with Megan for a few minutes using her bench and the couch.  Megan stood right up and took 2-3 steps to get to the couch like she had been walking forever.  It was so easy for her.

Will and I have a date this morning, we are going to try to make it through a giant 12-acre corn maze, but I am so looking forward to this afternoon and the next couple of days as Megan gets used to these.

What a difference mommy's presence makes

Megan had her second speech therapy appointment today.  Since I had Sam with me today I stayed outside of the room and observed through the window.  There were headphones available for me to listen, but for the most part I could tell what was going on by watching.

Megan behaved so different without me in the room.  First, she was constantly taking off her glasses.  Last week she pulled them down 2, maybe 3 times.  Today she flung them across the room at least 15 times and probably more than that.  She wouldn't do what the therapist directed 90% of the time.  She wouldn't even look at her to get instructions or to see what she was doing.

After the session we talked about how different it was and that Megan was just testing her; but oh man.  I am  so happy that I was in the room last week so that I could see what she is capable of doing.  Megan has been doing really well for me with the gross motor direction.

Pretend Play

One of the things that Megan hasn't done much of is pretend play.  Pretend play is a big milestone for kids - it shows all kinds of things.  It is an early indicator of Autism, as well as other things, which is what all of the people who see and/or evaluate her are checking on.  She does not have Autism, she doesn't fit any of the symptoms.  Pretend play was the last item on the list of things that couldn't be checked off.

Megan started hugging and kissing on stuffed animals and her baby doll a few weeks ago.  This counts as pretend play.  Her baby doll laughs when you push its tummy so she mostly just pushed its tummy but if we hugged the baby she would copy us.  She would only pretend to feed the animals or baby if we did it first.  I let a friend of mine know that I was in the market for a baby doll and accessories and she mailed me a doll and items to go with it.

The package arrived yesterday and Megan helped me open it.  As soon as she saw the baby she hugged it and kissed it and cradled it.  I pulled out the bottle and she fed the baby the bottle for several seconds before throwing it, of course.  I was so happy to see her do this on her own.  This was a big step for her - she is progressing with her imagination.

Today she used the baby monitor as a phone and drank from the bowls and cups in her kitchen.

Speech therapy - first session with new therapist

Wow!  I took Megan to her first session with her new speech therapist this morning.  Will took off work to keep Sam so that I could give my full attention, which was absolutely necessary since I was in the room with them.

Megan's therapist, Jean, is great.  After Megan realized I wasn't leaving her (thinking preschool has its downside) she warmed right up to her and had a great time.  The initial session(s) are used to determine what  toys/tools/activities are the most motivating to Megan so they know what to use to get her to respond the way they want.  Megan loved this music thing that had pictures and lit up and she also LOVED the iPad.

The first step in the process is to get Megan to understand that she has some power/control over things.  That if she does something she will get something.  For example, today when she wanted Jean to turn on the iPad Megan would have to clap her hands, or raise her hand, etc (just an action, no meaning to the action) whatever Jean directed her to do.  There is a process that is used to get her to do it if she doesn't do it spontaneously so that she is always successful.  Anyway once the action is performed Megan gets what she wants - the iPad to be turned on.  Once Megan fully grasps this concept with motions/actions that are easy for her to perform they will switch to sounds; and because she knows that if she does what she is being told to do she will get what she wants she is more likely to make the sound.

By the end of the session Megan was spontaneously clapping for things because that was what she was directed to do most often, and probably because it is something that she is told to do, and does, all the time. When we got home I went to demonstrate the process to Will and she did it spontaneously anytime I used "clap hands" as the directive, so I switched to "raise arm" and after a few times she was doing great with it.

I am so excited about this.  It makes perfect sense and it is doable and Megan is figuring it out quickly.  Jean even said in her session that Megan was going to progress rapidly through this part based on what she observed.  I am hoping that by her next session, in a week, that Megan will be ready to move to the next phase.

Moving right along

Megan is flying through the phases of getting from where she was to walking on her own.  She can now, as of yesterday, walk just holding onto one of our hands.  She does great at it and is almost perfectly stable - she is still a tiny bit wobbly after the 10th+ step but she can keep going.

Yesterday at school she took independent steps for them several times.  They hadn't seen it previously because she was out sick so they were all very, very excited.

Her at home PT gave me some tips for working with her by myself and they work great.  I raised her therapy bench to a level where when she sits on it she is about at a 110 degree angle.  I face her toward the couch and put something on the couch that she wants.  She will stand up by herself and take a couple of steps to get to the couch.  She is always so very proud of herself when she does this.  Yesterday the school PT gave me some tips for getting her to walk toward me as well by having Megan go to the side a little bit instead of straight on which she said should avoid the diving - we will try this later today.

When I picked her up from preschool yesterday I asked whether or not she is playing with the other kids.  The immediate response was "she goes up to the other kids more than anyone else".  I love to hear that.  I love that she is playing with them.  I told them that she loves to play with Sam but that she can get aggressive with him so I was worried about that.  They said when she plays with a particular little boy in class who is almost her size (he is slightly bigger, but  not much) that they can really get into; but that when she plays with the other kids who are her age but "average" size (so huge compared to her) she does great.  I couldn't help but think "smart girl, knows not to take on the big kids".

Big love for daddy's friend Alex

Megan loves Alex.  Will works with him and she has been around him a few times.  She has seen him for a few minutes when she visits daddy at work; she saw him when he ate lunch here once and when he came to help Will with a project; and then spent some time with him when we went to his beach house for the weekend.  She has always loved him.

This afternoon I took the kids to see Will at work.  They didn't get to see him at lunchtime today so I expected them to be very clingy with Will; Sam was, Megan....left his arms to go to Alex.  She immediately gave him snuggles and smiled at him.  It is so cute.

After she was back with me she wanted to go see him again so I stood her up and had her walk to Alex and I let go of her.  She took 2 steps to get to him before she could hold onto him.

Repeating sounds

I have been working with Megan for 2-3 weeks to get her to mimic sounds as this seems to be the biggest obstacle to her talking (in my unprofessional opinion).  Historically we have been introducing new sounds and  trying to get her to make them but I switched to making sounds I know she can do hoping to get her to copy me.

Two days ago she started copying me - she has done it several times throughout the last 2 days.  Each time she does it we go bonkers with excitement, since she loves to be praised, hoping this will encourage her to continue the behavior.

Getting ready for new therapist

Since Megan started taking steps she has been babbling more and more.  She has also started making more sounds than she ever has before.  She is making b, r, v, l and more sounds; and using tons of inflection and range.  It is like she knows she will be working with someone new and she wants to impress them.  :-)

Speech Therapy

I just received the call from the Speech Therapy place that we will be sending Megan to.  She starts next Friday, assuming she is well by then.  It is unfortunate that she has to have another therapy session during the week, especially since Friday was her only day off (except for the numerous appointments she has had to have lately); but as I said before we don't have any confidence in the school therapist.

When I spoke to the therapist and explained the situation she said that they have a lot of clients in our situation.  Clients who are currently receiving the free therapy provided by the school (paid for with our taxes) but who are paying out of pocket for their services.  At this point we are not going to tell the school what we are up to but I am sure it will come out eventually.  We don't see a need to remove Megan from their speech sessions as I don't think they can do any harm.

Rough night, runny nose and babbling on Star

Megan had a really rough night last night.  She woke up every hour to hour and a half.  She would cry for 1-2  minutes and then eventually go back to sleep.  When she got up this morning I checked her tooth and it was definitely the cause of her struggles.  When she went to bed her bottom left molar was only broken through on the outside edge of her gum, the rest of her gum was just very swollen (it has been that way for about 2 weeks).  This morning her entire tooth was through her gum.

The other thing that was going on when she got up this morning was a runny nose.  :-(  Throughout the day her nose just got worse and worse and by this evening she had a little cough off and on.  She spent most of the afternoon in my lap.  She would get down but it would last about 1-2 minutes and then she would just start crying and lay her head down on the floor so I would pick her up again.

She had her session on Star this morning before she started feeling really poorly.  She had a great time on Star and babbled the entire time.  Margie was excited to hear all of her noises and even some new sounds.

Megan will not be going to school tomorrow and depending on how she is feeling she may also miss her PT session on Friday.

Diving, hugs and using her "words"

Megan took some steps again today but she did move diving instead of stepping which is the same progression that Sam had when he started.  She also stood up off of my leg without holding onto anything without having to be tricked into it.  She is progressing rapidly and is loving every minute of it.

Last night I told Megan to go give daddy a hug and she did.  She crawled over to him, stood up, climbed into his lap and hugged him.

Earlier today Megan was sitting in the floor pointing up at the kitchen table and grunting for something.  What she wanted was her leappad, she could see the case for it.  I said "use your words" trying to get her to make a word sound and instead when I said that she immediately said please in sign language.  That was a first and I think attributable to school.

Steps, Steps, Steps and Please let me walk

After nap today Will and I were both sitting in the living room floor with the kids.  Megan wanted to stand up leaning against me.  All of a sudden she decided she wanted Will and she took 3 steps from me to get to him.          
She wasn't holding onto anything - she took her first 3 real steps.  We were both in shock and she was so happy with herself.  She then proceeded to walk to me taking 2-3 steps to get to me - we did this back and forth 3 or 4 times and then Will said we should be recording this.

I setup the video camera and she went back to work.  She took 2-3 steps between us multiple times and she was beaming.

We decided to go out for dinner and we went to the Mexican place in downtown.  I was carrying Megan down the sidewalk and then we had to wait for the walk sign at the corner.  When the sign changed I said "we can walk now" and Megan started saying "please, please, please" all the way across the street.  I told her I would let her walk once we got across the street.  Her asking to walk just made my heart beam.

When we got home Megan played in her cozy coupe while Sam ran around the yard.  I came inside with Sam, gave him a bath and put him to bed and then Will came in with Megan. We decided to see if she would take more steps and turned on the camera.  Megan was taking up to 5 steps at a time between us and she was so very proud of herself.

What an exciting afternoon for her.  She has been sad when Sam walks past her and she wants to do it so badly so I am thrilled that she is getting there.

Hardest easy appointment ever and PT session

This morning after breakfast Megan had her appointment to get fitted for her new orthotics.  Megan has always been great at appointments, even when we had to sit around for a while or when she had casts put on her legs for her current orthotic fitting.  Well, today she didn't do so great.  She was fine until the guy needed to start measuring her feet.  She even walked to him and climbed into his lap while we were talking.

I didn't realize she wouldn't have to be casted today so I was happy when I found out they were just gong to take measurements.  Megan, on the other hand, acted like she was having her ears cleaned again.  She freaked out and kept yanking her feet away from him, she was trying to turnaround and crawl up me to get away from him.  No amount of comforting her was working so we just had to go with it.  He wasn't hurting her.  At one point she went from trying to get away to trying to kick him in the head.  On the outside I said "Megan don't kick him" on the inside I was thinking "good job little miss, if you think you are in danger use what resources you have".

Her new orthotics are a step back in support level.  These have more flexibility to them and allow her to use her toes to help with stability because they stop before her toes.  I am happy that we are moving in this direction, closer to nothing at all.  Also, since they are made from measurements they are computerized and therefore ready in 2 weeks instead of 6.  Yay!

This afternoon Megan had her in home PT session and she worked so hard again today.  She works so hard that her little legs start shaking by the end of the session.  She recovers quickly and wants to walk/cruise everywhere within minutes of her PT leaving.  When I told Betsy which inserts Megan was getting this time she was excited because they will help Megan get ready to start walking.

My version of doing good and theirs don't match

Megan's teachers have been telling me that she had a good day or a great day at school.  I found out this week that their version of what a good day is doesn't equal my version.  On Monday when I picked Megan up I was informed by one of the co-teachers that Megan had a great day, that she was absolutely delightful and that she didn't cry at all, except for when she got hurt (she pinched her cheek in a block).  At the time I said to Megan "are you not delightful all the time" and the lady then said, she was more delightful today. 

On the way home I kept thinking about the "didn't cry at all" comment and it really bothered me.  So on Tuesday when I dropped her off I asked about the comment and was informed that yes Megan does fuss/cry  pretty much every day but that they consider that normal for a first time childcare child.  She fusses/cries when it is not her turn, or when they want her to do something she doesn't want to do, etc.  When I left the room that morning I cried, I cried off/on all day and night. It is still difficult for me to leave Megan at school.  I don't want her there, I want her home with me; but I was dealing with it because I thought she was having a good time and doing so well and then I found out that she has been unhappy every day.  Megan fussing because she doesn't like what is happening (i.e. taking turns), etc doesn't bother me because it shows that she is becoming more independent and wanting things her way which is a typical toddler attitude.  Megan crying, actually crying tears over something is another story.  Megan is and has always been a very easy-going, happy and content child.  It is not unusual for her to go a month without crying tears and they are telling me she is now doing it every day.  She is clearly unhappy.  

This morning when I dropped her off I asked Leah if she thought Megan was progressing.  She doesn't get an official progress report until the end of October but I explained that I was still having a hard time leaving her but that I was okay with dealing with it until I learned that she was having a hard time too and that the only thing that would make me leave her in school at this point was if she was making progress.  Leah mentioned a couple of things that Megan is now doing but that she wasn't before and the PT, who happened to be standing there, mentioned a few things as well.  Unfortunately, which was a concern I mentioned to Will last night, the "progress" she has made is that they are now seeing everything she is capable of.  She is not doing new things, with the exception of playing while leaning back.  

Needless to say I was unhappy when I left.  It doesn't help that we have zero confidence in the speech therapist who cannot even give us any specific tips for working with Megan.  I was struggling with how to make the right decision for Megan.  I really want to take her out of school because I miss her and I don't want her to be unhappy either.  I decided to take the kids for a little drive through the country while I thought and prayed about what to do.  

So, here is the plan.  The decision has been made to leave Megan in school until the end of 2012.  We will evaluate the situation at that time and decide what to do.  Obviously if something drastic or serious happens between now and then we will pull her out if needed.  Just making the decision brought me peace and I feel much better about things.  Knowing that she will be going for the next 3 months has given me freedom.  I am sure that there will still be rough days but they shouldn't be anything like what I have been going through.  

Kicking balls

Today after finishing her ride on Star, Margie had Megan walk around in the arena.  During her session Megan put balls through a basketball hoop so they were on the ground.  Margie walked Megan up to a ball and told her to kick it and she pulled her little leg back and really kicked the ball.  She proceeded to go all around kicking various balls.  Sometimes she would put her foot on top of the ball instead of kicking it but would then kick it.

When it was time to go Margie walked her over to me and said "she must do this at home", she was quite surprised when I told her Megan had never done it before.  We have never even tried to get her to do it; actually while she was doing it I was thinking that this would be a good thing to do at home.