March 11, 2010

First, a forgotten story from yesterday. Kaylynn and I were sitting on the floor rolling a ball to each other - or, I was rolling it to her and she was rolling it part way back to me. I told her to push hard on the ball, so she put her hand on top of it and pushed down (toward the floor) very hard. Needless to say, the ball did not roll my way.

Today was a day for thinking. Kaylynn did a lot of it. You could see her little brain working - it was kind of fun to watch.

Today we had the visit from the Early Childhood Intervention program that our doctor recommended. So Kaylynn stayed home in the morning. We followed a similar routine to other days this week - Julian would get her up and change her diaper; I would spend a couple hours with her so Julian could sleep, since he worked the later shift. She was fairly well occupied with breakfast. A new discovery - she really likes cantaloupe. I gave her pineapple, strawberry, grape, honeydew... and the last thing I had to give her, she liked. Because of her cold, I was really pushing fruit and other non-dairy foods to keep her from getting more congested. In fact, she had rice milk in her cereal and ate every bit and drank some of the milk.

So, Linda and Cheryl from the Early Childhood Intervention program arrived. Linda was the "adult" intake person and Cheryl was the one who played with and assessed Kaylynn. They brought some of their own toys, and Kaylynn was quite interested in what was in the bag. I think she took out just about everything to play with. A lot of the assessment was as we thought. She has incredible fine motor skills. In fact, she pulled out a pair of (safety) scissors and Cheryl showed her how to use them. One demonstration and Kaylynn was hooked - she was cutting paper all over the place and doing it rather well. That's actually an advanced skill. Her vocabulary continues to improve and Cheryl and Linda were not as concerned that other people can't understand her as our doctor was, but they told us to keep repeating her words correctly (e.g., "ba ba" - say "bottle" back to her) and just talk to her all the time about what we're doing, what she's doing, what's going on around her and her language will continue to improve. Her gross motor skills are also good as is her understanding of multi-step instructions (example: please pick up the book and bring it to Wendy). They did recommend a hearing test be done, so we're trying to figure out when to schedule that.

We brought her to school a little late because of the meeting. It was "western day," and the best I could come up with were some overalls and a black turtleneck. Some kids were decked out with cowboy hats, but we didn't have stuff like that. Today's report was, "Kaylynn had a really good day :) She got to enjoy the last few min. of music - she loves getting her stamp at the end of the class. Because of the rain we went downstairs and rode bikes. We also got to ride in the wagon. Kaylynn liked riding in the wagon." She ate all of her soup and her fruit leather but wasn't interested **at all** in the egg. I didn't think she would be, but it's always worth a try. They say to offer a new food at least 7 different times because it may take that long for kids to try it at all, so I'll keep trying.

After school we did an errand, returning some clothes Juilan had picked up and buying some play-doh (though I intended to buy a humidifier...) She got a little whiny about the play-doh (wanted to hold it) and I asked her to say "please." I also did the sign for please. She imitated the sign and I decided that was as good as an ask, so I gave it to her to hold. From then on, she called it a "please."

On the way home, I gave her some raisins and dry cereal to snack on, since she's usually hungry after school and dinner was going to be a bit late. When Saber (still my "muscle" while I can't lift) handed the raisins to her, he referred to them as "humiliated grapes" (a line from one of my favorite movies, Benny and Joon). I started laughing, Saber started laughing, and Kaylynn thought the whole thing was funny. I could hear her giggling behind me. When she was done with the raisins, she held out her hands to Saber and said "yucky." We didn't have anything handy to wipe her hands and tried to tell her that. She repeated the word and gesture several times. She was quiet for a moment and then said "y u ck y" - very slowly, as if Saber was just not understanding her and she had to slow it down for him. We cracked up, which made her start to laugh again.

So... dinner... I gave her the rest of her soup and some pasta. She ate the chunks out of the soup but didn't want the broth. She had a few bites of pasta (after playing with it & the fork for a while) and then she started... well, watch the video. (Long story short - pasta and soup were combined into one big gooey mess.) The entire episode lasted for at least 7 minutes. It ended when it all started dumping on the floor and the dogs were getting to it... I didn't want them to get sick. Before I started filming, she was able to get the food back and forth between bowls without spilling, which is why I commented that she was starting to get sloppy - she hadn't spilled much at all up to that point.

Tonight, bath time was brought to you by the letters Z, C and W and the number 0. We had a fun bath and she produced lots of "boogies" for me to suck out of her nose. The humidity was helpful. She played with water running out of the faucet (kind of a trickle) while I sponged down her hair with a wash cloth. Julian was right - it is easier when she's distracted and she didn't get upset about it at all. When she was playing with the squirty toys, she squirted some water on her own face and into her eye. I think it's good for her to get comfortable with water on her face when she does it herself.

I was supposed to pick up a humidifier tonight (or a mister, I'm not sure which Julian wanted...) but couldn't find one at the store we went to and I needed to get home for dinner and bath time, so maybe we'll pick one up tomorrow. I'm inclined to get a mister, like I had when I was a kid. We don't need whole-house humidity, especially at this time of year. Any ideas where I can find one?

March 10, 2010

Well, we don't have a picture of Kaylynn today, but Merlin took advantage of her chair and I couldn't resist.

This morning we had milk, banana, raisins and some crackers. We played with the usual toys and went to daycare with Julian at around 8:15. It was "preschool prom" day, so we dressed her up in her nicest outfit - the purple corduroy jumper. The report from daycare was, "Kaylynn had a great day. At Preschool Prom we danced & danced - to both fast & slow music. She danced a little, but she also liked watching all the other kids dance. We drank punch & had cookies :) The kids also got their pictures taken by the preschool prom sign."

She was all smiles and hugs when I picked her up. We came home and set to work playing with beads and coloring. I took a break to make dinner (yes, Julian was working so I had to 'cook'). I went the easy route - chicken nuggets and peas. She was really whiny and only had a few bites of chicken nuggets, though she ate all her peas. I tried giving her some Popsicle to soothe her teeth but she didn't want it. I gave her some ora-jel and Motrin - that helped. We played more, but she was really not feeling well and continued to whine, so I spent a lot of time distracting her. We put on the Sesame Street ABC video and Kaylynn jumped on the couch and pounced on my belly... a little owie for me. Julian came home just in time for bedtime. We read 3 books and sang songs and she went to sleep after a little protest. It's a tired day with a 2 year-old who is teething and has a cold.

March 9, 2010

Wow - we got an early start this morning. Kaylynn was up at 6am! Julian got her out of her crib & changed diapy - then I took over for a couple hours. A nod to Savta for bringing us those wooden beads - Kaylynn LOVES them. She dumped them into a plastic bowl and then put them away in the "box." Then she did it all over again a few more times. Then she put some on a string. Then dumped them on the floor, put them away... you get the picture. In toddler hours (basically 1 minute = 1 hour) she was enthralled for 6 hours at least!

Then we colored colored colored ... another favorite. She likes to sit on her new picnic table and color with the markers - also hours of toddler fun. We can't even remember what we did without having a table for her to sit at.

She had a breakfast of go-gurt and milk and, later, a banana for a snack. It was "beach day" at school today, so I put a beach cover-up jacket on top of her clothes for the occasion. She had a choice of 2 pairs of shoes and picked the ones she wanted to wear. We bundled up and went to school.

At school they feed her cereal for breakfast. We didn't get the report for the day, yet, but she always eats well there. They had Popsicles for a snack, set up a tent and pretended to grill, and played with a beach ball. We sent enchiladas with a few splashes of Tabasco and she ate almost an entire thermos-full. I'm starting to think about putting Tabasco on everything, but Julian stopped me from putting it on her sweet & sour chicken tonight.

The director of the school was there when Julian picked Kaylynn up and said that she had had a very fun day and she is such a joy to have in the class.

I had taken a nap this afternoon and woke to squeals of delight as Julian was giving her pudding for a snack. Of course, who doesn't love pudding?! Then we - you guessed it - colored for a while. I put on a Sesame Street ABC video in the background and she ended up snuggling with Julian for a while and watching it. Suddenly, it was dinner time. We had leftover Chinese food (without Tabasco) and she was getting a little fussy. I put some ora-jel on her teeth and noticed that she was a little stuffy. When Julian gave her a bath, a big green booger came out of her nose, so I ran to Walgreens to find some decongestant. Turns out there's nothing approved for kids under 4 years old, so I brought home a suctioning thingy and a saline mist instead. The warm bath helped clear her sinuses and Julian sucked a whole lot of booger out of her nose. She seemed appreciative and was very cooperative.

Getting undressed for bath time, Kaylynn took her own socks off, Julian took her pants & shirt off, and had just removed her diaper when she started to pee while she was standing up. He was quick and was able to hold the diaper in place and catch every drop. That was a close one! A typical bath time gift from Kaylynn to Julian. How lucky can one guy be? He's 4 for 4.

We picked up some colorful interlocking rubber mats today at Home Depot and put them on the floor of her room to make it more comfortable to play on. She pulled out all sorts of blocks and - yes - the wooden beads and her coloring book & crayons and just played all over the place before bedtime. She was really snuggly with Julian while they were coloring together. I got to play photographer. So cute!

At bedtime, we read - again - the Elmo "happy and you know it" book. She knows it so well now that she'll do the actions as soon as you turn the page and she sees the pictures. She'll actively ask for "feet" (stomp your feet) - seems that's her favorite. It's so incredibly cute when she does "boo hoo" (sad) and the "clown around" (silly). She's a goofball.

It seems she's not feeling her best tonight and has the start of a cold. According to her mom, she likes to share everything with her little brother, who had an ear infection this weekend. Here's to building a good immune system and loving your brother!

March 8, 2010

Kaylynn was up and ready to go nice and early this morning. First thing after she got up and had a go-gurt - a big poo-bomb in her diaper. It was just in time to get dressed for school, so we did that and off we went.

The report from daycare today was, "Kaylynn had a good day. She loved giving her friends hugs - she would walk around the room, following the kids w/ her arms out and say 'hug, hug, hug...' For wacky day we finger painted & ate a wacky breakfast - pink & green sprinkles on applesauce and toast and drank pink milk. We played outside."

When she & Julian got home, she was very excited to color. Then she had bananas and raisins for a snack - good balance :) She and I colored for quite a while and were very busy dropping marker caps on the floor and picking them up. Meanwhile, Julian made dinner (enchiladas for them, quinoa for me, broccoli for all of us). He put a touch of Tabasco on the enchiladas and she scarfed them down. She wasn't so fond of the broccoli, but it was a good try.

After dinner, she started to play with some big wooden beads that Savta gave her. Julian showed her how to string them on the lace, which is the point of the toy. Unfortunately, she really liked dumping them all over the floor, and unfortunately, Murphy liked to chew on them. Good news - Murphy didn't swallow anything, and only 1 bead was sacrificed. She sat on the floor for 9 minutes non-stop stringing those beads before Julian sat down with her to play. She also took all her groceries off the "shelf" and put them in her shopping cart. She loves doing that.

We were having trouble with Julian's laptop and called our friend, Tyler, to come for a visit and a little bit of help. The good news is that the laptop shaped up when Tyler walked in so we got to visit without having to work. Kaylynn was getting to know Tyler from a distance, but eventually she came and sat on my lap while I was sitting next to him. She also started jumping on a dog bed and "falling" down, making all of us laugh. She watched Tyler carefully to make sure he was paying attention.

For bedtime, we had a "happy and you know it" story (big surprise) and sang songs before she settled down. She had a few rounds of "up... down... up... down..." before she fell asleep.

March 7, 2010

We picked Kaylynn up at her grandma's house at 4pm this afternoon. She gave everyone kisses goodbye and off we went. In the car we were singing and she was laughing and goofing with her new sun glasses. When we got home, we had an early dinner waiting. She wasn't big on the beef kabobs but she loved the chicken enchilada. It was mildly spicy. We had a special dessert made by our friend, Saren - it was cheesecake that I could have topped with fruit. Kaylynn didn't try the cheesecake, but she loved her blueberries.

After dinner she played with her crayons and generally had a good time with our friends while we cleaned up the kitchen. She got a bath, colored with markers and we read a few books. Coloring with markers left the paper briefly and made its way onto her hands and face. Blue everywhere! Thank goodness for the inventor of washable markers.

We tried something a little different with the books tonight. We read one with her sitting on my lap, and then we put her in her crib to read another so she could look at pictures and I could get through an entire story without her flipping pages everywhere. We'll see if it takes off. We sang Twinkle Twinkle and ABCs and off to sleep she went.

March 4-5, 2010

Thursday morning, Kaylynn got up after all of us! She was excited to have some go-gurt and milk and get ready for school. She wore a pretty new outfit we got from one of Julian's co-workers and had her hair in pigtails. She looked so darn cute! Julian took her to school and my mom & I were to pick her up in the afternoon. She was drawn in by coloring and didn't notice when Julian said "good-bye" and left.

I took the dogs for a short and very low-key walk and got a call from the daycare place that Kaylynn had a fever, though she seemed to be acting/feeling OK. Savta and I hopped in the car to pick her up before nap time so she could nap at home. She was just finishing lunch and saw us across the room. She gave us a big big smile and I got lots of hugs and requests for "uppie" (which were provided by Savta). We gathered her things and brought her home for a nap.

She slept for almost 2 hours and I gave her more Motrin when she woke up. Julian's folks, Nana and Papi (though she doesn't call them that, it's easiest for the blog to give them their own names...) came over for dinner. She was happy to see them and delighted to see Dusty & Shadow (the dogs). They brought a bunch of presents for her, and it's not even her birthday! They brought her a tot-sized picnic table where she can sit and color, some markers and crayons, some giant coloring sheets, some good Sesame Street learning books and some Elmo story books. We love Elmo!

Dinner was a hit all around - Chinese take-out. She had sweet & sour chicken, but the lo mein was definitely her favorite. She wasn't too interested in the egg roll. Considering she didn't feel so great, she ate well. After dinner, she crawled onto Nana's lap and was super snuggly. She was playing with her "super nurse" figurine and Nana put it on the table and ordered it to "stand up." Kaylynn found that hilarious. I don't know if it was the standing up or falling down, but she was belly-laughing pretty big. (My back was turned, so I just heard it - didn't see it.) A few times she almost fell asleep. I had to leave at 7 for a meeting at the synagogue (surprise!) and Julian wasn't scheduled to get home until 7:30, so I left the machatunum (since there's no English word for what my parents & Julian's parents are to each other, I'll use the Hebrew).

They kept Kaylynn awake until Julian came home and she got another dose of Motrin before going to sleep. I guess they hung out and talked for quite some time. I was surprised to see both my mom & Julian awake when I got home around 10.

Thursday night was a little rough for Kaylynn and Julian. She went to sleep right away when Julian put her to bed, but we think the fever woke her up, so Julian decided to try bringing her into our bed to keep an eye on her. Julian wrapped her in a snuggly blanket and laid down with her laying on top of him. She was chatty for a little while - we have a lot going on in our room, with puppies and "kee" lounging about - and then she settled down a little. I was still tired from surgery so I fell asleep despite the activity going on in our room. He said that he would touch her face to check her fever and she would reach up to touch his face. Then he rubbed her arm a little bit and she reached out to rub his arm. It sounds so sweet, I wish I had been awake for it! She was very stoic about her fever and the Motrin controlled it really well, but she really seemed to enjoy the snuggling. I guess he brought her back to her bed around 2 after giving her more Motrin and feeling her fever subside. I didn't hear a peep out of her for the rest of the night (baby monitor was on my side).

Friday morning we were all up hours before Kaylynn. We checked on her a couple times and she wasn't warm, but she was sleeping pretty soundly, so we let her. Julian left for work just after she woke up, so Savta and I got her up and decided she was OK to go to school. No fever! She did have a very heavy diaper, though. Savta said something about 2 lbs of diaper... she drank 3 bottles of cool water through the course of the night before, so it made sense! She had a pretty big breakfast and Savta taught her how to sit down on her picnic bench and color. Then we packed lunch and took her to school. My mom & I went shopping (more diapers, apple juice and V8-fusion) before I took her to the airport.

I needed to get Kaylynn by around 3:30 because her mom, Melissa, was picking her up at 4. Our friend, Saber, came over to lift her into & out of her car seat, which was acceptable to her. Melissa had trouble with her GPS, so she called for directions and was running a little late. That gave me an opportunity to cut Kaylynn's bangs a little bit. Her hair does seem to grow fast! I didn't want Melissa to have to mess with that stuff. Kaylynn was very patient with the cutting and evening process and stayed still.

When mom (Melissa) and grandma (Tracey) walked in, Kaylynn was clearly very excited to see them. Kaylynn's baby brother, Devon, was also with them, and she tried to give him his bottle. He had an ear infection and wasn't too interested, but she was so sweet about it. She climbed all over grandma and mom, and then they all packed up and went over to grandma & grandpa's house for the night. It was suddenly very, very quiet.

March 3, 2010

We were going to bring Kaylynn to school in the morning and pick her up for her doctor appointment, but we decided to keep her at home instead. The timing of lunch and appointment just weren't going to work out, and we thought it would be fun to hang out with her. It was!

She had breakfast and wanted to color. Since we don't have a little table/chair set for her yet - somewhere comfortable for her to sit & color - the best place for her to do it is in her booster seat, so she stayed there after breakfast and colored to her heart's delight. She colored kitties, Julian traced her hand & she colored that, she colored on her actual hand and made pretty finger nails... She helped Julian put laundry in the washer and made sure to feed her baby and give her lots of hugs.

Lunch was relatively early and, as usual, she ate really well. We headed out to her doctor appointment around 12:15 and were early. It was at Children's clinic so they had lots of stuff for her to play with. She had a great time in the little plastic house. We were sure to bring Llama with us, because Llama sets such a good example for behavior. We had to wait a long time in the room for various parts of the appointment, so she spent a lot of time with Julian looking out the window, showing Llama the birdies and sky, scooting around on the wheeled chair, and hopping around on the different colors on the floor. When Dr. Goepferd came in, she was very cooperative, letting the doc listen to her heart and lungs, look in her ears, mouth and eyes, palpate her tummy - all the doctor things.

Here are Kaylynn's stats. She is 33 inches tall, which is the 16th percentile. The doctor said that's genetics - she's just a small kid. She weighs 25.2 lbs, which is the 26th percentile. Anything over 16% is good. Her head circumference is in the 32nd percentile. Her next checkup is at 3 years unless she gets sick. She was behind on 2 shots: DTaP and Hep A and she got a flu shot. She needs one more Hep A booster and she's up to date.

When it was time for her shots, which went in her legs, the nurse had her on the table with her legs dangling over, and Julian held her hands and leaned over & talked to her. The nurse was very quick about it all. By the time Kaylynn started to cry, it was over and she stopped crying pretty quickly and checked out her "stickers" (band aids). Then it was time for the blood draw. I went to do administrative work, so I wasn't there, but here's how Julian reported it. They rolled up Kaylynn's sleeve, cleaned her with an alcohol wipe (and Kaylynn was fine). Then the nurse put the little needle (Kaylynn watched) and Kaylynn looked at Julian with a look that said, "can you believe she just did that to me?!" She started to cry and then the needle was out, it was done, and she stopped crying.

In terms of her development, her vision and hearing seem to be OK for her age, but her speech is delayed. The doctor put her at about 15 months in terms of speech development, which is almost a full year behind. They contacted the Robbinsdale school district for us. The schools will come to your house, evaluate the child and create a program to help catch them up. We'll be working with Melissa and Kaylynn to do all the things she needs to do to catch up - she'll be just fine.

We've instituted a 'no whining' policy. She's got enough words to be able to tell us what she needs, so she doesn't need to whine. When she does, we simply say "use your words, tell us what you need" or "please don't whine" and then when she does use her words, we respond to her. So, basically, we're not letting her get what she wants by just whining. The doctor suggested this should help her talk more, too.

After the doctor appointment she took a nap for about 1 1/2 hours while Julian and I hooked up with her mom to get the paperwork squared away so we can keep her in daycare. We also made arrangements for Melissa, who lives close now, to have Kaylynn on weekends.

Savta took good care of her. When we walked in she gave us a big smile and "HI" and big hugs all around. She had some dinner and my mom & I had to leave for a meeting I had at - yes - the synagogue.

After dinner, Julian was checking Murphy's skin out with a flashlight (she's been scratching a lot lately - no fleas, tho) and Kaylynn loved the flashlight. Julian turned off the living room lights, Kaylynn sat in her Shrek chair and shined the light all over the place, entertaining herself. He said she did that for about 5 minutes - the longest she's done any one thing other than color.

The doctor gave us a couple books, and Kaylynn crawled on Julian's lap to have them read to her. One is a simple book with pictures and words to build her vocabulary. The other is "ring around the rosie."

Then it was bath time. Julian played "head-shoulders-knees-and-toes" with her as she washed herself. He played games with the wash cloth to get her hair wet and to rinse off the soap. It worked really well and she had a great bath experience. She has letters that stick to the side of the tub, so they went through those and played with the water squirty toys. Then it was time to get out. Julian reached for the towel & when he turned around, there were 4 very well-formed poos floating in the water. He couldn't believe his good fortune! He's trying to figure out why he gets the pees & poos at bath time - must be luck! He fished them out (thank goodness for disposable gloves being handy) and rinsed her again and dried her off. They put on PJs, had milk in the sippy cup, read a little more, sang. She was snuggly and chatty with him and then went to bed around 8:20.