My Friend the Potty Seat

As Olivia approaches her Second Birthday, we have been thinking about potty training one day.  Of course, Olivia is not yet walking, so that puts a wrench in the plans, but we feel that it is not too soon to explore the idea of potty seats with Olivia.  So we have brought this small seat out of the closet and let Olivia start sitting on it.  She enjoys sitting on it fully clothed and looking at her books.  Next step will be to see what she thinks of sitting on it with nothing on her tush.   But we certainly have time.  We are also getting ready to have her in cloth diapers (at least sometimes) so that she really gets a chance to feel wet.  I think the Tushies disposables give her that WET feel. But I believe that cloth would give even more WET feel.  Olivia already tells me when she has poop in her diaper.  I see that is a good sign.  She signs diaper and then looks at me and says POO.   (At first I thought she meant Winnie the Pooh, but I learned differently.)  She also looks at the bear on her potty seat and make her bear sound (her sort of growling sound that she imitates us doing).

Olivia is not in Speech Therapy, but when we are at therapy she always seeks out the speech therapist who once did a swallow study on Olivia. We decided that Olivia is the stray cat. Once you feed her she will always follow you.  The nice thing is that Olivia keeps interacting with the ST and we keep hearing from the ST how well Olivia is doing.

The other thing that is neat at therapy these days is that Olivia has taken to a little 8 year old non-verbal girl confined to a wheel chair.  Olivia will always crawl into the room where this girl is having ST.  Olivia greets the little girl, and the two girls smile lovingly at each other. It is so heartwarming to see Olivia always put a big smile on this girl's face.  There have been times when this little girl is doing really demanding physical therapy and Olivia goes up to her and gets her to smile and take her mind off of her therapy and do better.  These are the moments that strengthen us through the tough times!

Therapy Ball /24"

Olivia checked out the big 24" therapy ball at PT today.  She loved it and it provided her  a more dynamic standing experience as it moves with her as opposed to the bar which is stationary.  

Daddy was thrilled with what he saw, and in a matter of days a package will arrive with Olivia's own ball for home.
 We will get her walking yet!  And it is fun to work with her towards this major milestone.
Her therapist is the other person in the photo. Olivia still loves her therapists very much.  They are gentle and soft spoken and patient with her. Just the way she likes it.  When Olivia was doing OT she saw her PT go through the room and she took off after her.  This has thus far been a so much better experience for all of us than the way that Olivia did not take well to her early on therapists, even though they were indeed quite qualified and experienced.  Olivia simply did not click with them.

Shout out to Uncle Doug's family

Here is a video of Olivia jamming to music on her hoppity therapy horse.

Evaluation updates

Over the course of the past 6 days, Olivia has had numerous evaluations: Pediatrician, Physical Therapist (PT), Occupational Therapist (OT), Speech Therapist (ST), Infant Toddler Teacher, and then finally today the Child Psychologist doing the Bayley Developmental Assessment. Yes! We have been busy!

Olivia is on track in all areas for a typical 3 to 5 month old, except for her head and neck control. The head and neck control is being delayed by weak muscles in the front of her neck and chest. We keep working on the exercises and continue to have patience. It will come, it just comes more slowly than with typical children. But we are thrilled that in all other areas she is on track! The Cognitive Evaluation was also very positive! She has such good use of her hands, and eye hand coordination, in addition to concentration that it was easy for the Psychologist to assess her cognitive development. (at least that is what she told us) Although we have been told that at some point kids with Ds fall behind their peers, we are not seeing it yet. As someone with a background in Montessori Education, I will just keep believing in her potential and trying to provide her the best environment in which to develop to her fullest potential. Olivia is exciting to work with and watch. The toy she is playing with in the photo is her current favorite toy. She plays with both hands, brings it to her mouth, studies it, drops it and picks it back up again and throws it :-) .

Today we watched as she purposefully rolled from her back to her stomach. She had been having difficulty with this move, as her head simply did not want to go the rest of the way over. When she has been laying on the floor and practicing, Daddy and Mommy have sat by quietly in the background with silent cheers so as not to disturb her concentration. It was so awesome when today as we watched she actually did it! We quietly high fived it! And watched her as she enjoyed her tummy lying position that she had achieved all by herself! Reminds me of my niece who is famous for saying, "I do it myself!" We think Olivia will be an "I do it myself child" also!

The blood test to check her hypothyroidism is next week. We will be surprised if it is in the therapeutic range. Some days I feel that it is and other days I question it.

New video

O can now hold her head in midline, when she wants to! This has been a long time coming. Before her head would just flop to the side. This is so wonderful to see! She is also grasping objects. She probably doesn't realize what she is doing, but it is encouraging to see that she has the strength to grasp objects. She is in the very beginnings of social smiling and is making more eye contact. She especially likes to make eye contact when it is night time and she is supposed to be falling asleep. She had been trying to make eye contact with me this evening. Now she is trying it with Dad who is fresh home from Chicago. Time for a welcome shower for Mommy. Enjoy the video!

Finally an update

I have to apologize for the delay in posting. O has been keeping us very busy.

She is definitely thriving and getting really strong (sometimes I wonder if she is going to be stronger than me pretty soon! In fact, we were told by the child psychologist that she is right on track for a typical baby her chronological age. Therefore she is doing GREAT for a 4 week early premature baby with Down Syndrome. Daddy O was just at a new families party at Logan Center. (O could not go since she is still grounded from crowds :-( ) He said that the kids with DS who have heart defects are the ones who show the greatest delays. The kids without heart defects do pretty well. O is so blessed as to have a really healthy heart! We know that our little J has had so many health issues and developmental issues due to his heart defects. He is to have surgery. We have indicated a desire to adopt him. Now they just need to see if we are still a match for J since we now have O. (confusing huh!)

O now weighs 7 lbs 1.5 oz. She is about 20 1/2 inches long. She really looks lean and has baby muscle tone. Due to the DS, she has a short neck and so appears heavy in the face and neck. She also has extra skin at the back of the neck. She doesn't wear collars very well. Something to consider when clothes shopping. I have to buy more clothes in the next size up. She will be in them soon. Her torso is really long!!! Her arms and legs are normal, but she has to roll up her sleeves and her pants.

Sleeping. We are still trying to balance out activity and sleep so as to give her enough play therapy time, yet not over tire her. It is tricky. We discovered that sleeping in her infant chair doesn't count for sleep time. It results in a fussy over tired baby. No more of that!!!!! Luckily she likes her crib. But today she did not like the thunderstorm and day time darkness. Who does!

We are blessed! And we are tired! Typical new parents I hear! And we are over protective and over zealous and over conscientious! For those of you who have known us forever you are not too surprised!!

I hear my little angel now! Time for a snack then back to sleep... I think!!! :-)

Rollover Day

Today during tummy time, O rolled over from tummy to back!!!

When she rolled from back to tummy a few weeks ago, she had no clothes on as it was dressing time. This time she was fully clothed, big diaper and all!

I guess the Early On interview yesterday motivated her! From their brief look at her developmentally, O is doing really well, and is accomplishing some 2 month old milestones.

O seems to understand "day time" a bit better, and has been awake much more during the day. She still needs a lot of sleep, and sometimes has a time getting herself to pull away from socializing and go take a nap. Mommy and Daddy have resolve though, and she is staying well rested. It is nice to have her awake more and be able to spend more time with her.
See how strong she is in the neck, arms and chest. She is doing better at getting her arms under herself by herself, and is taking far fewer "nose dives" and is better at rescuing herself when she does. She is also getting better at getting her feet and legs tucked under herself during tummy time. Yesterday, she was very alert and had 3 long tummy times. Today two. She is now taking a bath immediately before bedtime bottle (about 7 or 8 p.m.) Then it is off to dream land and then the night begins. She still feeds about every 3 to 4 hours during the night. But it is strictly business in the nursery and then back to bed. Mommy is a real party pooper at night!

Both sets of Grandparents have been so wonderful to us! Without the various ways that both sets of Grandparents have helped us, we would not be able to be helping O get off to as great of a start as she has now.

Thanks Grandparents!!!!!!
Today my Mom was here helping out: feeding, holding, changing, dusting, mopping!!!!!

Thanks Mom!!!!

Side note: The evaluator from Early On, was very good friends with a prior resident of our house. You may have heard our stories about Lady Isabella from England "Old Money" whose mother paid to have the sunporch added to the house. Lady Isabella is in England now. Olivia's new nickname is Lady Olivia. No more calling her Miss Olivia. She is now taking over as royalty in the house! We needed some class around here!

A BUNCH OF PHOTOS :-)

SUNDAY AT THE LAKE

...WITH FRED AND CAROL

...WITH GRANDMA KATE

...WITH CAROL

SOME PLAYTIME THERAPY PHOTOS

VICTORY!

Movie and Soy Formula

O was having some digestive issues so this week she was switched to a soy based formula. This is not too surprising as her birth siblings also had dairy issues.  With the switch she seems to feel much better.

We learned that we may be finalizing the adoption of O by November or December! 

 Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas!

The little boy, J,  we were to adopt last year is once again available for adoption.  They admitted that they should have placed him with us.  We feel so sad for J.  We pray that the perfect forever family is found for him soon. And if we are to be that family, that God would give us wisdom to know that we can be parents to both O and J.

I hope you like the movie of O having side lying therapy play time!  She loves this!