Updates

It's been awhile since I did a post of updates, so here goes....

Sleep:

• Getting better. Still waking up 2-3 times per night, but she goes back to sleep much easier. Often times she'll put herself back to sleep....others it just takes a few pats on the back. She still likes to jump in bed with mama & dada around 4 a.m. though! Going to sleep is a whole heckofalot better though! She'll lay down in her crib on her own, with me just sitting beside the bed. She's usually out in 10-15 minutes. YES!!!

Eating:

• She's a good eater....always has been. I didn't think a lot about it early on, but now looking back I notice she was a very fast eater & tended to stuff her mouth full. She didn't hoarde it, just stuffed so much in that it was hard to chew. She still does this, but not near as bad. She also would rather swallow foods whole than chew too long on them. This is also getting much better. And she's getting a little pickier....which is good & bad. Veggies, which she used to love, are getting harder & harder to get in her little tummy. Even when mixed in with other foods, the little twit can (& will) pick them out!


• She has recently (within the past month) learned to suck from a straw...which her speech therapist is happy about! (Straw sucking is good for developing oral muscles)


• OH....and unfortunately she's decided that throwing food off her tray when she's done is pure FUN! Of course, she's not too happy when I make her pick it up off the floor & throw it away. Mean mom!

Therapies:

• Kalia started speech therapy on Oct. 15 & physical therapy on Nov. 3.


• She hasn't really shown any progress in speech....well, I'm sure there's been progress, just nothing my untrained self can really tell. She still just babbles...no actual words. She grunts & points, and responds well, so we've been told there is absolutely no need to worry. The worry would be if she didn't grunt & point or didn't seem to understand. She's learned the signs for "more", "eat", "milk"...and uses these every day. We're working on "thank you", "please", "juice", "help" & "water". She uses these occasionally, but not all the time.


• She was minimally delayed in physical therapy, but since the program provides it, we took them up on it (and she does have problems maintaining balance, so it's good to make us of the services). Her therapist is looking to strengthen her core muscles, which will help with her lack of balance. She does a lot of fun exercises, which seem more like play to Kalia, so she's usually pretty cooperative. We walk up stairs, do sit & stands (where she sits on a low stool, then stands without moving her feet to grab a puzzle piece from the therapist, then sits again to place the piece on the puzzle), walk on balance beams, lots of climbing (up stairs to slide, out of ball pit, etc...), lots of walking on uneven surfaces (squishy cups, bouncy ball pit, trampoline), etc... Like I said, she thinks it's all a game, so she usually does pretty good.

I think we'll stop at that for now. She's come such a long way in 6 months!