Swinging.

Gracie likes to swing. Today, we found out Gracie REALLY likes to swing. Before I took her up to the swing, though, I showed her a picture of her when she was on the swing yesterday, and she took my finger and took me to the door.!!! But after about 20 minutes, she also told me she was not ready to be done and we had to go get Joy Lin from a playdate. I got off easy that time because I was able to distract her but Chris wasn't so lucky. He took her up before dinner and it was HOT today so her didn't stay too long. Well, she threw a full out three-year-old toddler tantrum. Tried to feed her. Nothing. We ended up just letting her cry it out on the floor. She ended up falling asleep but Chris woke her up and took her back up to the swing. All was fine until he decided to take her in for a bath. She is persistent and stubborn. After her bath, she came and got me by the hand and took me to the door. I told her we were all done for the night. This time there was no tantrum but she took me to the door three or four more times! She is going to be a handful outside this summer!

Interesting dinner

Gracie hasn't been feeling well all week. But we sat her down with us at dinner and I gave her colored marshmallows, oreo crumbs and teddy grahams to play with. She plunged into the oreo crumbs right away and she liked the sponginess of the marshmallows once I introduced them to her. She wasn't arfraid to get the crumbs on her. She ignored the teddy grahams. However...Chris cant stand the messiness of it all. It makes him nuts. To me all it is is some crumbs. To him, it's a tsunami. He feels it's time for her to move along. (Carey Anne, if you are reading this, my husband is like you) He smeared some crumbs across her mouth, not just a couple, pretty much, for Gracie. She did not like this. She looked like she got sand in her mouth and she looked to me to wipe her off. I am in line with Trisch's school of thought which is more like little little bits at a time. Then he did it again and she really wanted to get away from him. It is so interested to watch her progress.

Spring? Cold.

We didn't get to therapy twice this week because Gracie had another cold. Poor thing has a runny nose and cough and mucus.....We call her Goo for a reason. Well, this week they decided to move ahead and try to put the spoon to her lips. It wasn't too successful. When she gets really mad the volume increases and the tears just POP out of her eyes! But we tried. And usually the second time something happens she is more accepting of it. So we will see.

Joy but First Gracie.

Took Gracie for an evaluation for continuing therapy with the intermediate unit since she turns three in may. They put her with a class ( I had to wait in the lobby) and she did really well. She didn't cry. She sat with the kids when they told her to. She played with the kids when they had playtime. Well, she played close to them with same things they were playing with. She took to the teachers too! So that went really well. I wasn't sure how she would be with other kids.

Now for my Joy. Last week Joy Lin said she didn't have anyone to play with at recess. Anyone who knows Joy LIn knows that she is a social animal. So it is hard to imagine her not having anyone to play with. But we had this problem on and off since she had difficulties with a classmate who did serious damage to her self confidence. I must admit that during that time, I did drive around the school during recess to see if she was actually having troubles, and it broke my heart to see her wandering around by herself. I remember doing that and it was the last thing I expected to have to deal with with her. So I emailed her teacher, who was surprised at first. But she did notice that she was a little disconnected. But I think it just goes in spurts. I have told her a dozen times to play with the boys because they don't form cliques and don't decide that they don't want to play with you anymore because it's Tuesday or the sky is blue.

I see Gracie sometimes as a chance to appreciate all that we were too stressed out to appreciate with Joy. Because things are changing so much with Joy. She's growing up so fast.

Busy day.

Today was a busy day for Gracie. Actually, It's been a busy week but today especially. We had a good long session at Advent. We seem to be in a holding pattern with the food right now but that's ok. We are working up to getting her to open her mouth when we ask her to. I am thinking this might be relatively easy but... .She likes to look at everyones' mouth it seems. And also she is getting less sensitive about things being around her mouth. She is even letting daddy kiss her when he comes home from work. ( I steal my kisses.) After feeding, we tried paints again. This time she dipped right into the paints. She had blue and purple all over her arms and hands so much she almost looked like on of the blue people in avatar. (Yesterday we did not do as well with shaving creme!) And then, she tried to put the paint on her thumb in her mouth! Oh well! After paints we tried food again with the listening program and that didn't go so well. She is possessive of her headphones and music and she didn't like it being intruded upon with food. If her father saw how she looks right after a session he would have a cow. She has food and whatever else she doesn't like smeared all over! Mr. Neat would have a fit! I am going to make him take her one day!!! ;)
We did the second part of the listening program tonite like we usually do at home with her sitting on my lap quietly. She actually took my hand to hold! And we are not to be distracted during the session. She pushed Joy away from us because she was sitting next to us taking advantage of mom's being occupied and playing on my iphone.
I guess that's all for today. Tomorrow I will try and right a little about Joy because she is having some little difficulties at school.

Play with your food, again.

Yesterday, we sat down with a plate of cereal crumbs and peach yogurt. This was a little different texture than what we have been playing with, whereas it was whipped instead of....liquid-y(?). Before I could even strap her into her chair, her hand was in the crumbs.! Then she dipped both arms in the yogurt as usual. But she did something new. SHe wiped off her arm with her hand and immediately put her hand IN HER MOUTH! . Then she just went straight to putting her fingers in the yogurt and putting them right in her mouth. it seems to me she's really moving along. I thought there would be way more resistance to it.
Today , they tried to show me a way of setting boundaries with her. We sat down for a "storytime" with Carey Ann and Gracie totally resisted like she did with the Listening Program the first time. I am not to restrain her but convey to her that she has to just sit quietly with me at this time. ( I WISH I could do that with Joy LIn!) So we had tears and flailing arms and feet but she stayed put. Then we put her in her hghchair for feeding and she totally changed her demeanor. She was happy to play with the food. She played in yogurt and cookie crumbs and tolerated strawberries on her tray which she wouldn't sit by two weeks ago.
This blog is evolving into a journal of Gracie's developments for myself and as a way to record her reactions to her therapies. I hope it doesn't get too dry but I can do two things at once by putting it down here.
They say you learn something new everyday and I have been since we started down this road. I enjoy it!

Strange things are happening.

There are alot of different changes in Gracie just over the past few days. Yesterday she was a little moody but there was more than just that. She actually sat on my lap with me and listened to Harp music for at least an hour!!!!!! Then she wanted to be picked up by both Chris and I most of the rest of the day! ( Who are you and what have you done with Gracie?) Trust me, I am not complaining! This is just what we want! But we didn't expect to see so much so fast.
As for food, last night she played in her pudding, chocolate of course, and made sure at least a little bit of it got in her mouth. All of this unprompted by us, except for a little bit on her cheek. Today I learned to only put something on her face if she let's me ,in order to keep building up the trust between us. I am not supposed to sneak it on. Today at Advent, she put both arms in cherry yogurt PLUS her hands!!!! Trisch upped the ante and put ground up rice krispies (which Joy Lin helped to grind up) in a plate next to the yogurt. Well, after looking at her hands a while, the whole hand ended up in the rice krispies!!!!! Then since the hands always end in the mouth, a tiny piece of krispie went in the mouth. She didn't spit it out but you could see that she wasn't sure of the texture. But she didn't spit it out!!! These are really big steps along the way and all her caregivers say she is doing really well.

I also noticed that she is playing more with her puzzles in the past few days. She seems to be seeking more stimulation. Along with being able to climb in and out of her crib, she can climb onto of both the dining room AND the kitchen tables and looks like a content kitten when she is up there. I really think alot of this progress is related to the listening program as well as the other therapy. She actually seeks out the headset and music when she sees them.
It is really amazing to be able to see all the little changes and how her little personality is developing! I am very blessed to be able to watch it first hand and appreciate it.