But speaking of kiddos, I'll start with the tiniest, my beautiful, almost 10 month old Esme. Affectionately called Esme'-me' by her big Sis. Six teeth have taken over her gummy grin and she makes the cutest fishy faces on command. She waves bye-bye, initiates the best games of peek-a-boo, and is babbling beautifully. The sounds that leave her mouth are simply fascinating. She loves to feed herself and still only laughs for Oia. I love her to pieces but I won't lie, she is a handful, a real Fussy McFusserson most days. Seperation anxiety is a new experience for me as a mother and it's happening in full force right now. She's a fabulous sitter but she has no desire to ambulate in any way which has me a little stressed. Luckily for her, I remember a thing or two from the days of teaching Oia to crawl so I'm feeling the need to play therapist. And yes, you can remind me of how anxious I was for her to crawl once she finally learns and is tearing through those said piles of laundry, amoung other things.
Big Sister is doing well, who by the way, now calls herself Oia Wee (Lee). She just finished her second year of preschool and is currently full of pee and vinegar. Lucky me. She is challenging my parenting skills and discipline strategies on a daily basis but I must remind myself this challenge is all a blessing in disguise and that one day this strong will of hers will serve her well (I hope!). Somedays, knowing this is the only thing that restores my patience. Being a mother is hard. And I'll bravely go out on a limb to say that rightfully raising my 4 year old globally delayed child is even harder. Still, I must raise her as no different and often times that is the true challenge. It's an emotional one for sure. But God, I love her.
Oia Wee was seen by her ortho doctor and ophthalmologist last week, both appointments were delightfully uneventful. Ortho doc was overall quite pleased with all he saw. She impressed with her "run" and jump, and ankle movements. We discussed the recent bracing adjustments (sans KiddieGAIT) and doc was totally on board with that. Right leg still looks well post surgery and left leg is maintaining its optimal function. Our only orders from ortho doc were to continue active and passive dorsiflexion exercises and swim, swim, swim all summer long. Easy enough.
The ophthalmology appointment went smoothly, although the office was running waaaay behind schedule that day. Our drive to the eye doctor is about 2 hours so the office visit of 3+ hours makes for a very long day, especially with both girls. Oia's script in both eyes has changed so new lenses are in order. Right eye has slightly improved, and I do mean slightly, but vision is changing simply due to eye growth. The cataracts of the right eye seem more "cloudy" this time around but there is nothing to be done about them at this time, just continue to monitor and keep the girl in sunglasses. Her current pair of sunglasses have become too small so this weekend we're heading into town to find and order her a new pair of Hollywoods.
We have taken on strawberry picking as a family tradition in early May. Last weekend we went again and came home with way more strawberries than a family of 4 can eat. Plenty for sharing and freezing. Oia loves the adventure, more so the eating part than the picking. The weather was drizzly which made for muddy rows but it didn't dampen our afternoon of fun or picnicing too much.
Stick around, some things to look forward to... Oia begins private OT, a speech camp at Kaufman Children's Speech Center in Michigan, and Oia's first non-therapy related summer camp. All three warrant their own posts, but for now I must hit the sack and just dream about tackling all this laundry.
Good luck with the laundry...I'm feelin' it too. :)
ReplyDeleteThose girls are precious and I'm ALWAYS anxiously awaiting an update! This one was an awesome one. I'm so glad everyone's well!