Doing the Potty Dance!

So I decided to dust off the potty and give it another try. Our main dilemma was where in the world did the pot disappear too? We had the potty but no pot. The joys of an upside down house. I gave up and on Monday went and bought the seat that goes on the real potty along with a step stool. And I am SO glad that I did! On Tuesday we thought we'd try and get acquainted with the new seat. The first time we sat Mattie on the seat, she went tinkle!! Then after her nap she surprised us with a poo and a tinkle. She went again two more times that day. I couldn't believe how well she did! And the number one reason I love that seat? She can't get down by herself. She is so happy just sitting on the potty. On the other seat, she was more interested in playing on the seat, getting up and down. I guess there is a reason that pot disappeared.

So yesterday, she only went once. I wasn't able to catch her at the right times and I was out and about running errands. Let's face it, this takes consistent commitment and it's not easy when you have a lot going on.

Not much luck today and I have a feeling with having therapy, orthodontics appt. and softball camp it won't be much better. But we won't give up! I know we will have good days and not so good days but this is progress. We are moving in the right direction!

Learning So Much

Mattie is getting into her independent stage. She really does not care for hand over hand anymore. She gets this little pouty face and will grunt when you try and help her. She has been getting a lot of practice time in with feeding since she insist on doing it herself. My baby is growing up~ Here is a video at breakfast time.

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So Excited......

We have really been working with Mattie on her communication skills. Most of the time we have to initiate the conversation by asking questions or showing signs. She will usually repeat the sign or point to what she wants. On occasion, she will go to her highchair and shake it when she is hungry. That is about the closest we've been to initiating what she wants. I'm so excited because today she did something new! I was sitting on the couch and she comes into the living room from the dining room. She says to me "Toe Toe"(while she is signing too) and then goes into the kitchen and points to the bread sitting on the counter. She wants TOAST! She just told me what she wanted without me asking her anything. Hooray for small victories!! I can't wait to share with her speech therapist tomorrow!

All Better

Mattie is all better. It didn't happen over night but she is finally back to herself. Thanks to all those who left such kind comments.

Mattie will be two very soon. I can't believe it has almost been two years! I took her for her well child visit the other day. She was 26 pounds. She was 50th percentile on her weight and 5th percentile on her height. That means her BMI is slightly above. Her doctor said we could start skim milk now and with her activity level her weight shouldn't be an issue. She was such a trooper. She had two shots and then headed over to the hospital for her annual thyroid check. They tried drawing blood from each arm and had no luck. They ended up just pricking her finger. Even though that takes much longer, she liked that much better than getting stuck twice with the needles. Anyway, labs came back great! Now all we have left to do is set up an appointment for those beautiful eyes.

Here are a couple pictures from the snow day we had two weeks ago. Her new thing was pointing. For some reason she would not walk in the snow this time. It was deeper and fluffier than last time. The first one was a sorry attempt at making a mini snowman. I wasn't wearing gloves and my hands were cold!

Tis the Season.....

for being very busy! I guess it isn't going to slow down either. Our family went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We had a really nice visit with Matt's family. It was Mattie's first time leaving our state. We went to Bristol Motor Speedway for their Christmas lights show. Matt is very excited to say he actually got to drive on the race track...even if it was only 5 miles an hour. (Pictures to come later I hope.)

Mattie has been quite busy herself. She is getting to be such a big girl. She now walks from her daycare class to the car while holding my hand. It may take us an hour to get there but she loves it. She is climbing on anything that she can reach. She also has found the love of cabinets and drawers. Let's say there is no rest for the weary anymore! I've also found that along with all this new found freedom has come the ability to whine when things don't go her way. Mattie has always been happy go lucky so it is strange hearing her fuss. It usually only last a couple seconds before she is distracted but I'm sure we will be in for longer episodes as she gets older.

Our next hurdle: Mattie, Christmas tree, and wrapped presents. This should be interesting!

New Found Mobility

Mattie is almost an official walker! Hooray! This is good news and bad news. First, let me explain "almost an official walker". I say almost official because she spends more time trying to walk than crawling. She may lose her balance but will usually get right back up and start walking again. The girls say she really isn't a walker yet because she doesn't walk ALL the time. She still relies on crawling to get her where ever she wants to go quicker and we still have to cart her to and from the car. On average, she can walk about 8 feet or so before falling. So with her new found ability to walk has come the knowing that there are lots of cool things eye level. This child is keeping me on my toes. Gone are the days of sitting even if it was only for a moment. Why just in typing this I've had to stop and clean up my drink that she spilled. Lately, I've had toilet paper rolled off the roller, pencil drawings all over the floor, clothes unfolded, the t.v. channel changed to.....C-Span...ok...yuck. I only watch the news for weather and that would be local news. I've also had people return my phone calls that I never made. This child is into everything! Guess I better go see what she is into now. I hear the crinkling of papers!

Here's another picture just because.......

Walking Video

Here is the video of Mattie walking! Please excuse the loud noise. The girls were jammin' to the music. In the video , Mattie keeps lifting her leg. This is a new thing. I thought maybe her baby leg was bugging her. She still is doing it so it must be part of her dance. She cracks me up! Oh and that hair....well she took the bow out. That's Mattie. Hey, we can keep them in for several hours so that's a start.

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Slowly But Surely

Oh my gosh! Has it already been one week? I think this is the busiest I have been in a long time. We had to be somewhere every single day last week. Tonight I'm suppose to be at the ball field but the game was cancelled. Can I say I'm sort of glad? I need a break from all this running around. I made chili yesterday for tonight's dinner because I didn't think I'd have time with the ball game. Now I have dinner already ready and no place to go. Life is good!

Oh and how can I forget to mention.....Mattie took five steps!! She will only do it when she's dancing so I guess I need to keep the music playing!

Mattie's First Haircut!

We couldn't take it anymore! Mattie is getting ready to go to the daycare where I will be working. That in itself is exciting to me! I love the thought of my baby being at school with me. If I can't stay home with her, at least she'll be near me. Anyway, she has gotten into pulling everything out of her hair and this is what it usually looks like.

So I asked my dear friend Tracey from 4 my 3 Suns if she could just trim the hair from Mattie's eyes. This way if she pulls it out, it won't be in her face.

The first cut!

Don't move Mattie

All done! Tracey was a little worried that the bangs shrunk up a lot more than expected. That's ok. She is still very cute and the great thing about hair is that it grows!

I can see! Thank you Aunt Tracey!

A Step in the Right Direction

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O.K. it may be a small step but to us it is a HUGE step in the right direction! Mattie amazes us everyday with something new. The other day she finally started signing "more". We've been working on that one for a long time. To us, it doesn't matter that she isn't doing all the same things as her peers. She will learn at her own pace and we will be there to cheer her on each and every step of the way.

Finally More Teeth!

Mattie got her first two bottom teeth around Christmas. She hasn't gotten any since......until now! She has teeth coming in on top. She had three emerge pretty much at the same time and I think the one next to those will be in soon too.

Here is a picture. I promise she wasn't tortured to get this picture. We just had to maneuver pulling up her top lip and clicking the camera at the right time. It took two of us but we got it on the first try!

Doctor Update

Mattie went today for her 15 month check-up and we were only about 2 weeks overdue. Bad mommy has been quite busy and forgot to call early enough. Hey...she's still 15 months for another 14 more days so we're ok. She seems to being doing pretty good. She weighed 20.8 pounds and was 29 inches long. She was in the 25% on the typical chart for both. They didn't share where she fell on the ds chart. The doctor is pretty happy with her progress. She asked how much therapy she is getting and well they still haven't started any therapy yet. She didn't seemed too concerned and said she would probably start by the time she was two. I know a lot of kids are already getting therapy so it kind of worries me, but she is making progress. She is cruising the furniture. She can get into a standing position without holding on to anything and will stand for a long time. If she would just take a step, she may get the hang of walking. She eats fine and feeds herself, but not with a spoon. We are working on signing and she seems to understand them, but doesn't yet sign herself. I guess I need to touch base with EI again and see what they think. I just want to make sure we are doing the right things to help her.

Another Milestone

Mattie is trying to achieve another milestone. She has just started trying to stand. The first part of the video is the one I took and the second part is the one daddy took on his phone. Don't blink or you may miss it! Daddy is so proud of her at the end of his video.

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Climbing Monkey

Mattie has become quite the climber. She climbed about 3 stairs about a month ago. This week she has decided to climb the entire set of stairs. She has climbed them now several times. I guess it is time to put that gate up.

Mattie went to our school daycare on Thursday and she had help making me her very first card for Mother's Day. I didn't get it till Monday, but it was worth the wait.

It says:

I am like a flower that's raised with love by you. You help me grow up big and strong. Mom, thanks for all you do!

EI Visit Today

Today Mattie's Early Intervention coordinator came to review her goals and write new ones. Mattie met all her goals that we had set six months ago and we came up with some new goals for her to work on.

One goal is to have Mattie cruising/walking. Mattie has no problem pulling up on furniture and she will reach with all her might to get to an item. She just won't cruise down the couch or coffee table. If you place it just out of reach, she will plop down and crawl to the object and then pull up again.

We also set a goal to practice using her pincer grasp. She mostly scoops with the palm of her hand when eating. She also suggested letting her hold her spoon more even if she isn't really feeding herself. She has shown more interest with wanting to use her pincers so I think that will be an easy one.

The other goals were to encourage her to initiate playtime and sounds to objects. Mattie really doesn't show much interest in playtime. I'm not sure if others have experienced this, but she will just sit alone very content. If you bring her a toy she will play with it, but she really doesn't go to her toys and pull things out. She will crawl all over the place, but not to play with toys. She really likes things that make noise so if she sees paper or her wooden circles on the floor, she will get those things. They have to be out in the open though. We've also taken those little plastic containers and put rice/noodles in them. She loves to shake them. No need for expensive toys!

So far we've not had any therapist coming to the house on a regular basis. We are keeping a close eye on Mattie's development, but she really seems to be fine with just the things we are doing with her. Her coordinator said she will talk with the therapist and they may come out for a visit. Then we can decide from there what we want to do.

Wordless Wednesday

Mattie has been pulling up on everything! I was putting food away and this is what she did!

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Look who has a........

TOOTH!!

Mattie got her first tooth the first week of January. What a bad mommy I am just posting about it now. She actually has her second one getting ready to pop through any day now......right beside it. So far her first two teeth are coming in in order. I know with many ds kids they can come in all over the place. I was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to get teeth.

I tried and tried to get a picture of that tooth but never could get one. I came home and found this one on my camera. I'm guessing Ms. Kim took it. Not the best picture of Mattie......but that is one pretty tooth! I hope you can see it.

Look What I Can Do!!

This was Mommy and Daddy's Christmas present!

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Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve already......where has the time gone? We have been quite busy cooking and wrapping presents. Yesterday, we baked four more loaves of zucchini bread and made gingerbread cookies. What was I thinking? We were in the kitchen all day. The gingerbread cookies were a lot of work and decorating them was an absolute mess.....BUT we had a great time so it was well worth it. After cleaning up that mess, Caroline and Daddy went around the neighborhood delivering the rest of the bread. Today, we are going to make Daddy special cookies that he can eat.....low sugar kind. The children are getting so excited and can't wait for the big day. I really just want to savor the moments. It seems to come and go too fast.

Oh and I am so excited! Mattie sat up from the belly position this morning!! She is doing so well. She was beaming from ear to ear. She has had a lot of floor time lately........since I've been so busy cooking. I guess it has payed off!

Hoping that everyone has a blessed Christmas!