2.3. Months - November 21

I out off writing this all day yesterday. Not forgot. Put.it.off. We had an appointment first thing in the morning and I dated something 11/19 and they corrected me...so I was well aware. But that meant that I only have 30 days left of NOT having a two year old.

This month we have had our ups and downs; you have made progress in some areas and regressed in others; we've good appointments and just ok appointments.

Here are some things we learned / relearned about you this month:

You. Are. Stubborn. Ok, so we knew this. And we relearn it on a daily basis. But this month, others got to start learning it. We've been trying to convince your PT for a while now that there are days when we don't get any exercises done with you, not because we don't try but because you don't want to. Period. And if you don't want to, it's not happening. We've been trying to get you to use your gait trainer on the carpet (which you do better at now, but at first...) and your PT told us to just put you in it and let you face the wall. Eventually you would get tired of looking at the wall and push backward. Ten minutes later....you were still staring at the wall and she gave up. Lexi -1; PT -0.

We also learned that you are stronger that super glue. And Gorilla Glue. You have to have a strap across the toe of your AFOs (ankle-foot orthotics...aka your boots) because your toes don't lay flat. But the way they make them leaves room for fitting when we pick them up so they can't bracket that strap down until they know where your toes lay so they use an adhesive velcro. Last set of AFOs you totally destroyed the toe strap. Pulled them completely off AND the part of the velcro stuck to the boot. This round, they used their strongest adhesive. Those lasted about 5 weeks. So I super glued it back on. It was off 2 weeks later. So I tried Gorilla Glue. That lasted a little longer...but 3 weeks later it's gone. Sigh.

You LOVE race cars! We had a chance to go to a slot car racing shop with one of my cousins earlier this month and you absolutely loved watching the cars go! They also had a derby car track and some matchbox cars and you had more fun getting the cars and letting them go down the track than anything I've seen in a long time!

You will not give up once you want something. Maybe that fits in with stubborn, but I'd call it more determined. When you are on your scooter in the kitchen and someone is in your way, you've started pulling at legs or pushing them out of the way so you can get where you want to go. If you want the pantry door shut, it doesn't matter if someone is in there or not...it's getting shut. If you want to go down the stairs you will sit at the gate and bang on it and yell until someone comes to help you. If a door is closed and you want it open, you sit there and knock. And knock. And knock. And then start with the Mamamamamamamamamama until it gets opened. We're working on that one.

New words for you this month: up! Da-ddy (much more clear -dy sound at the end); I di (which means either I do, I did, or I am depending on the context); da (yes); and you've been working really hard on saying "Donna" (speech therapist - who is just thrilled) and Nanny. You do really well at imitating and will at least get the right number of syllables in the word your copying.

You absolutely love being on your scooter in the kitchen. It gives you complete freedom to be a mischievous almost two year old. I have found bowls in cabinets they don't belong; I've found your new truck on the bottom shelf of the pantry where you traded it for the bag of chips. And you love helping with the dishwasher, but are not too happy with me when I don't let you play with the dirty dishes. You are so fast on the scooter it scares me sometimes! Your latest trick is to sit and spin in circles...

Lastly, you are making such good progress with your PT! You don't yell and scream (mostly) anymore and are so thrilled when you figure something out. You are soon close to being able to walk without anyone helping you when you're holding on to the couch. You've got the standing part down - and actually ask to be put in your stander now. You spend about 30-45 minutes in your gait trainer and 3ish minutes in your stander every day.

And here's a video just for fun: we were playing fetch with your puppy!

Keep growing Baby Girl - but not too fast :)