Much better.....great speech session

Megan had her first speech session in 3 weeks.  The therapist was ill two weeks ago and last week they were closed for the holiday.  Her therapist is new to the business and her mom runs it.  She had her mom sit it on the session today to give her some tips for working with Megan.

Jean's mom was much more animated with Megan and it went over really well.  By the last 15 minutes of the session Megan was imitating the "M" sound for her on command.  Megan hasn't made any sound for Jean so this was HUGE progress.

Jean will be taking a different approach to Megan's sessions and I plan on letting her know, that in addition to the change in direction she needs to be more animated with Megan.

Megan was still so excited that after the session she was chatting like crazy while I was checking out.

Friendly girl

Megan had her best day yet at school today.  They said she did awesome with her therapies and she was super friendly.  She played with Hallie at the table and then played with Holly on the tumble mat.

When we got home I told her how proud I was of her for being a good friend and she smiled and started clapping her hands.  She loves it when mommy is proud of her and she was super proud of herself.

Session with Star today

Megan had an awesome session on Star today.  Every time it was time to tell Star to GO Megan did the sign by herself, without prompting - meaning Margie would say "tell Star to go" and Megan would do it.  Previously Margie would have to put Megan's hands together at least half of the time.

Megan had such a great time during her session too.  She was smiling and clapping and dancing.

Christmas Ornaments

One of our family traditions (carried over from when I grew up) is to get our kids a new ornament each year.    For Megan's first Christmas we decided to get her 2 ornaments; one for us to keep and one to go with the rest of hers when she moves out.  The one for us to keep is a baby sleeping in a pea pod because Will's nickname for Megan is sweet pea.  The one for her to keep is a snowman that says baby's first Christmas.

For her second Christmas we got Megan a pink purse that says "let's go shopping" because every time we asked Megan if she wanted to go shopping she would get all excited and clap her hands; and then when I would put my purse beside her in the cart she would always put her arm through the strap of my purse.

For her third Christmas we got her the "I love you" book because Megan had started LOVING books.

This year, for her fourth Christmas we got her a picture frame with each side made of a pencil.  Each pencil has writing on it.  It says: Megan Goodwin, 2012, Preschool, Pathways Elem.  I put a picture from her first day of school in it.

Trigger finger follow-up

Megan saw the doctor this morning to check on her finger.  He said if the trigger finger was simply a result of an injury that it would be fine by now, but since it is still getting stuck that her low muscle tone is causing a delay.  He told us to leave the brace off of her finger unless she is sleeping to give her an opportunity to strengthen the finger.  So she is at school now and happy to be without her brace.

Her spunkiness is back

Megan is feeling a lot better today.  She went out Christmas shopping with daddy this morning and had a great time.

Contrary to the way it normally goes, she finished her lunch before Sam.  Will got her down and we were having her walk back and forth between us.  On one of her trips from me to Will she turned and went to Sam's booster seat tray and grabbed his sandwich.  She took a bite and then held it up for him to get a bite and then she ate the rest.  I was sitting behind her on the floor covering my mouth so she couldn't hear me laughing.

Thankfully it was the last 3 bites of his lunch so he was full and it didn't upset Sam for her to do that.  It was so cute and funny.

Not feeling well

Megan started getting sick a few days ago and the last two nights have been rough.  She has woken up every 45 minutes or so; either because she sneezed, or coughed or just because she doesn't feel well.  She has taken a morning nap the past two days because she is just so tired.  She seemed to be doing a little better today and so far tonight she hasn't woken up and since she was asleep by 7 this is the longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep she has gotten in days.

It is never a good time to be sick but at least she had the time off, meaning no school or appointments, since she has been sick; and daddy has been here which has helped with all of the needed snuggling.

Preschool Thanksgiving lunch

Megan's class had a Thanksgiving lunch this morning at 11.  I made broccoli corn casserole and a pumpkin layer cake.  Unfortunately due to illness there was only one other family there, and one other classmate.  But we all had a good time.

Sam loved getting to check out all of the new toys and having the freedom to go all over the classroom.  Megan hard a difficult time initially because she just wanted to get in the stroller and leave; and because daddy was there.  She didn't eat too much because it was so early but Sam definitely didn't mind getting to eat.  In fact, when Will finished feeding him Sam started walking up to everyone who still had food trying to get  a bite.

It was a lot of fun getting to be at a school function with her and of course having daddy and Sam there was great.

Walking status

Megan continues to do great with walking.  She wants to walk most of the time.  If I am carrying her she will try to get down so she can walk.  She has started leaning back a lot when we are trying to get her to walk between us and that is causing her issues because he ends up doing a nestea plunge.  Once we get her balanced she is off.  She is doing great with balance checks along the way when she needs them.

This morning I was speaking over her again on the way to school that she is compelled to walk and that her desire is so strong she can't fight it.  When we got to school they were doing art and she didn't want to sit in the chair, but rather she wanted to stand at the table to do her artwork.  

She did great during her PT session this afternoon too.  She stood at the exercise ball and played with me, hitting it as hard as she could.  She stood for more than half of her session while the therapist moved her hips around to get her to counteract it to help with balance.  Several times she stood without touching anything for 5-10 seconds at a time.

"Sent" home from school early

I got a call from Megan's teacher this morning around 9:45 saying that Megan had been happily playing all morning and then just fell over and started crying.  She said she was difficult to calm down and that Megan just wanted to be held.  Megan was grabbing at her left ear.

Megan's top molar has still not come through more than in just 2 little areas and it has been waking her up at night.  The past couple of days have been hard on her.  :-(  I was out when I got the call so I swung by home, grabbed some advil and went to get my little miss.

By the time time I got there she was happily doing art at the table.  They said she was better within a couple of minutes of them hanging up the phone with me.  They felt bad about calling me since she seemed fine - I told them I would rather she be better until I got there than be crying the whole time.

I gave her some meds and we came home to snuggle until lunch.

Seriously need that tooth to come in and then one more.

Standing up by herself in the middle of the room

Tonight before dinner I was playing in the living room with the kids.  Megan had been a little warm so she was barefoot.  She was sitting in the floor with her back to me and out of the blue she got on her hands and knees and stood up and took 1 step before falling.  SHE STOOD UP!  I was so proud of her.  She fell because she took her 1 step before she got completely upright.

For the rest of the night, off and on, I had her stand up.  She did it by herself again one more time but did it with minimal assistance repeatedly.  She would stand up and then take 2-3 steps to get to the chair in front of her.  She was so proud of herself, she was just beaming.  I would cheer for her and Sam would clap and she would just smile and dance.

She was getting so excited that she would either launch herself forward when she brought her second foot up or she would try to take steps before she was completely upright -but she was so close, a lot.

The school princess

One of Megan's preschool teachers lives down the street from us.  When she comes home she drives by our house and stops and talks if we are playing in the driveway.   A few weeks ago she saw Megan in her cozy coupe and thought it was great so she got one for school.  

Yesterday Megan got to ride in the car at school.  Megan loves to rest her arm on the car window which is adorable; and she loves it when we or Sam push her.  So, at school, one of the other kids pushed the car a little while she was in it and she did what she does at home, which is pick up her feet and enjoy the ride.  

Her teachers said that as soon as that happened all of the kids wanted to push her so they actually had to wait in line to take turns pushing Megan in the car.  

Orthopaedist visit results

Megan's visit with the orthopaedist this morning was rough.  He did say that her trigger finger wasn't very bad and that it will be fine in a couple of weeks.  Evidently some people don't notice that their kid has an issue until their finger is so bad it can't be straightened out again.

Anyway, I talked to him about the fact that Megan won't leave the tape on her fingers and he said to really get this better her finger needs to be immobilized as much as possible.  So, he went in search of something that would work and there wasn't anything.  They just don't have splints or braces in her size.  Here is where it got a little rough for us.  They casted her arm and then removed it and cut out part of it and then created their own brace.  She didn't like the cast and really really didn't like its removal.  They pinched her wrist in the process so not good.

The brace they made is like an open face cast that has a metal bar under it and it goes up past her wrist so that she isn't able to just pull it off.  It is ridiculously huge and cumbersome and she can barely use her thumb and index finger.

Another amazing school & PT session

Megan had a great day at school today.  They said she did well and took several steps for them too.

I am cleaning out the kids toys and asked if they were in need of anything and her teacher said "Cause & Effect" toys which is exactly what I am getting rid of.  So this morning after I dropped Megan off I took a container of toys in for them to look through.

When I picked Megan up some of the toys were around and being played with by a couple of kids.  They told me that when someone played with one of them that Megan flipped out so badly they had to take her for a walk in the hall to calm her down and that after she was fine another kid touched it and she started crying again.  She hasn't played with that toy in more than 4 months.  I thought she might have "mine" issues with a couple of the toys but would never have imagined a reaction to that one.

Megan's at home PT sessions have been moved to Mondays now so she had a session this afternoon.  She started out a little rough - she didn't want to be away from me.  I think having this on a day when she is away from me in the morning might make it a little rough on her.  Once I started helping with the therapy she did great and was doing all kinds of difficult things.

Eventually I had to get Sam up from nap and while I was upstairs Megan left the therapist and walked 9 steps across the floor and then put her hands down in front of her to catch herself.  Evidently she blamed the therapist for letting her fall because she was ticked off.  She was yelling at her.  It took her a few minutes to get over being upset at her.

She was struggling again toward the end of the session so I got out the new Thanksgiving window clings I found this weekend.  I thought that they would encourage Megan to stand up and they absolutely did their job.  Not only did she stand up at the back door for almost 15 minutes she did amazing things.  She stood there with her hands flat against the door and would take off a sticker and hand it to herself.  Every so often she would grab onto the door handle to stabilize herself but for the most part she was balancing perfectly.

Move over Sam...I'm walking here

Megan did great again tonight walking back and forth between me and Will.  Sam was playing in the living room with us while she was doing this and I was constantly sending him on "errands" to keep him clear of the walk way.

He came back from an errand a little early and Megan was walking to Will.  She was about 1 1/2 feet from me and still had 2- 2 1/2 feet until she reached Will when Sam started to step in front of her.  Megan put her arm out in front of her, which put her hand slightly in front of Sam, and she put her hand on Sam's shoulder and swept him out of her way.  She didn't even knock herself off balance doing that - just pushed him aside so she could get to Will.

Trigger finger

Yesterday after nap I noticed that the ring finger on Megan's left hand was stuck in a bent position.  I touched it and she didn't flinch so I straightened it and when I did it popped.  I felt the pop but didn't hear anything.  It didn't hurt her, but it also didn't stay straight either.  As soon as she bent her finger again it got stuck.

I was very freaked out by this and called her doctor.  They said since it wasn't swollen, crooked, bruised or painful that it could wait until tomorrow (today) since by the time I got them on the phone it was 8:00 pm.

This morning we went to the hospital urgent care and they x-rayed it and confirmed that it is trigger finger.  The doctor was stumped because this is not something they see in little kids.  He taped her finger to her middle finger and told us to make an appointment with her orthopedist in the next two weeks.

Of course she had the tape off before we were out of the parking lot, but once we got home and could distract her with play/toys she left it alone.  With the tape she can bend and straighten the finger correctly because of the other finger.  The hope is that this will correct the situation.

Walking despite exhaustion

Megan is still working on that top left molar and she has been up multiple times at night for several nights in a row.  Needless to say she was very tired today.  She took about a 2 hour nap and it still wasn't enough.  But despite that she had an incredible afternoon and evening.

Before Will got home from work I was working with her and she would stand up with minimal assistance and then take off walking.  I was following her by sliding across the floor.  She was taking 5+ steps every time, up to 9-10 steps.  Before dinner Will and I worked with her together, getting her to walk back and forth between us and she was consistently taking 5+ steps.  After dinner she went right back to work and was just walking everywhere.  During a break she was sitting in Will's lap in the living room and I had Sam in mine across the room.  She got down from Will's lap and walked across the room to get to me.  

Better speech session and PT progress

Megan had a much better speech session today.  She still wasn't quite back to where she was week 1 with me in the room but she was much better than last week.  This week she was actually looking at the therapist and using her eyes, and sometimes her motions, to communicate what she wanted.  She kept her glasses on much better this week too.

This morning Megan had a PT session.  Betsy worked her so hard her little legs were shaky.  She was bending down and picking up toys over and over again working out her little thighs.

I am happy that she has two different PTs right now as they are each working on something different.  Beth, her at school PT, is working on Megan standing up in the middle of the room by herself and walking; Betsy, her at home PT, is working on her balance, picking things up while standing and keeping her weight forward.

5 Steps and Standing up

Megan took 5 solid steps today at school.  Beth started working with her on standing up in the middle of the floor.  She said that she barely had to give Megan any support that she was basically doing it by herself.  She showed me how to do it and Megan got up and then walked to me taking 3-4 steps to get to me and when everyone cheered for her she got so excited.

When we got home I practiced with Megan to get her to stand up and when she was up I praised her and she just beamed with pride.  I love that she is so proud of herself when she accomplishes something.

On the way to school this morning I was talking to her about how proud I am of her and how hard she has worked to learn how to walk and she smiled at me.