Physical Therapy and Speech Update

I took Addison to a PT appointment for evaluation. They just want to keep an eye on her to make sure that she continues in the right direction. They were very happy with her walking. She also said it looks like her arches are going up on there own. She is still rolling her feet in a little, but they think it will correct itself. They told me to make a conscious effort to work on going up and down stairs with her. They are going to see her again in August.

I also mentioned my speech concerns to her, because she owns the center and they have speech therapists on staff. She has the evaluation sheet used by early steps and evaluated her on speech, too. She said that she is not going to qualify for early steps speech therapy, because you have to be below average. Addison scored above average on cognitive and average on speech. A baby is supposed to have six words by the age of one and Addison has five. She said that we could put her in speech through insurance. She also said that I have a valid concern since she was a cleft pallet baby. She said that we could put her in speech through our insurance and they could evaluate her once a month or so to make sure that she is staying on track and to give us pointers to help her move along. And also to have someone to have to call if something comes up that I am concerned about.

Addison's Doctor Visit

Well, Addison does have a slight ear infection. Her left ear is red, but no fluid. He said that he is not convinced that it was caused by going under water, because she would have to have been under for a prolonged period of time. So, I guess I should stop secretly cursing that kid. She is on ear drops for a week. It should be fun trying to get her to lay still while we put them in.

I also mentioned to him about how Addison is not making any sounds or saying any words where her tongue has to hit her pallet. And I asked about speech therapy. He said that normally he would wait until 2, but since she has the cleft pallet history he is willing to start her sooner. He is going to start her in early steps, which is a louisiana program for early intervention. I'm not that excited about it, because I haven't heard good things about it. But I figure we are starting early and if it doesn't work out then we will go through insurance.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very nice weekend and I didn't take pictures of any of it. I took the girls to the zoo on Friday with our friend's from playgroup. Matt had a half day, so he met us for lunch. I then took the girls to a birthday party on Saturday by myself. We were having people over for a barbeque on Monday and Matt wanted to clean the patio. I immediately regretted agreeing to take them by myself. They had ponies, and they had them on the side of the house in the sun. Well, I didn't want Addison to be in the sun the whole time. And I forgot sunscreen. So, I ended up standing in the driveway trying to watch both of them. It was not fun. On Sunday we went to church and then took the girls to the pool in the afternoon. Some brat kid shot us with his water gun and Matt and I were so shocked that we weren't paying attention as Addison walked off the little bench and was submerged under water. As a result, I think Addison has an ear infection now. She has been cranky all day and woke up from her nap with a fever. I guess I will be making a trip to the pediatrician tomorrow. Thanks kid. Today we had a couple of friends over and we grilled while the kids played. Well, Addison slept for most of it. But by the looks of the playroom and Regan's room, the other kids had fun.

More Pictures from the Party

Graduation Party

My cousin graduated with his MBA this weekend, and his graduation party was on Sunday. We had a really nice time. We got to see family that we don't see very often, and the kids got to swim which always makes them happy. At one point we thought Addison was going to go swimming with her clothes on. I forgot to put the memory card in my camera, so these are the only pictures that I got.

School Pictures

Regan's teacher sent home a cd of pictures that they had taken of the kids throughout the year. I pulled the ones that Regan was in and put them in a Kodak Album.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?UV=217741974685_495842427306&mode=fromsite&collid=47228333206.976843427306.1210816057536&conn_speed=1

Regan Painting at May Day

My friend just e-mailed me this picture. Is it just me, or does Regan look big in this picture? My baby is getting so big! They grow up way to fast!

Washing Car's

Regan helped Matt wash our car's this weekend. Of course, she wanted to make sure she was dressed appropriately.

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day. I think Addison has a sinus infection and slept until 1pm on Sunday. We thought she was never getting up. She was up a little later than normal the night before as our friends had us over for a crawfish boil, but it wasn't that much later. Matt cooked a very yummy breakfast, Matt and Regan washed the car's, and we took the girls to the pool. Pretty low key.

The above pictured items are some things that Regan did for me at school. I find the written one funny, because it is all lies. I do not cook steak, Matt does. She does not eat steak. She tells us she will eat it when she is 13 years old. I'm not sure what the significance of the age 13 is, but okay. And I am assuming she is talking about her allergy medicine, and again Matt gives it to her. I cannot be trusted to remember medicine. I am 31, though.

Regan's Last Pre-k 3 Parent - Teacher Conference

Her last parent -teacher conference for this year went well. Nothing has really changed since the last one. Her teacher said that she is ready for pre-k4 both academically and socially. I am especially happy about the social part, because I worry since most of the kids turned 4 a while ago and Regan won't turn 4 until August. She said that some kids need certain teacher's for pre-k4, but she thinks that Regan will be fine with whomever she is placed with. I think Regan thinks she is going to have the same teacher's forever, so it might be a little hard for her to understand when she is going to a new class. But we have talked about it a little and I think the teacher's right. She seems to be a pretty adaptable kid and I think she will be fine with whomever she has.

Addison Walking

My Aunt Bonnie recently sent Addison a beautiful scrapbook chronicling her first year. What I learned from that scrapbook is that I need to put clothes on Addison more often. : ) Here is a video of her walking and she is in, you guessed it, her diaper. What can I say, that is how she spends most of her time when we are just hanging around the house.

She is walking all over the place now. Even when she loses her balance she will stand back up and start walking again. The only problem is, now she thinks she can go wherever she wants. I had a time with her at chapel on Wednesday, because she was determined to sit on my friend's lap. Which would normally be fine, except that it was her son's birthday chapel and she was trying to film him getting his book dedications. Then we took the girls to the pool yesterday, and I swear if there hadn't been two of us Addison would have jumped in the pool without thinking twice. As it was she was trying to push me away in the pool. Apparently, she thinks she can swim too. As soon as the tubes fall out of her ears I will be signing her up for swim lessons. Regan is doing so well with swimming that I thought I could maybe take them both to the pool by myself. After yesterday, I realized that I am delusional.

Regan Performing

We put a speaker set that our ipod's plug into in the kitchen so that we can listen to music. It helps me to clean if I am listening to music and sometimes it's just nice to sit in the living room and listen to music. Today I turned it on while I was cleaning and Regan started dancing in the kitchen. She often dances when I turn on music, but I have never caught it on video. Today I tried to catch her without her knowing, but she saw me. The dancing one in her night gown is a little long, but there was no way to edit it. Then she changed into a costume and started singing. The first song she doesn't know that I am videoing. The second one I restarted and asked her to sing, because I was impressed that she knew the part of "and I'm going to miss you like a child misses her blanket." Of course, she didn't sing that part when I was videoing... but I think you get the gist. I'm thinking that I have a little performer on my hands.

Dance Review

Regan had her dance review today, and except when she started looking for something under her skirt in her tap number, she did pretty well. It is very funny to watch the three year olds. They all look at each other and don't stay in a line. Regan not only has a love of the mirror (which you can see above), but she has also found a love for the stage. She really loved being on stage, and was very excited about performing. Which is funny, because I don't really remember ever liking it that much. We were required to put the silver on their eyes. And she picked the poses for her pictures. In her tap costume she is shuffling the whole time, which you can't really tell in the picture.

Off the Bottle

If you would have asked me when Addison was a baby, I would have sworn to you that Addison would be off the bottle at a year. I nursed Regan for a year and started to wean her at 11months. A week after she turned a year she was taking the sippy cup exclusively. I apparently have yet to learn the lesson that children love to prove you wrong, because Addison was not drinking from a sippy cup at a year. She thought that it was something to chew on not drink from. Then she was drinking from the sippy cup, but I didn't want to give up the snuggle time. She was only taking one right before bed, and I was also afraid that she wouldn't sleep as well if she didn't have it to "top her off." Matt gave her her bottle on Tuesday night and she did not want to sit in his lap. She wanted to walk around with it and didn't take very much of it. So, we decided that that was the end of her bottle. We didn't give her a bottle last night and she was fine. I think, as long as she doesn't see it, she probably won't mind that she isn't getting it anymore.

May Day

Today was May Day at Regan's school. She doesn't normally have school on Thursday's, but they let the MWF kids enjoy in the fun today. I volunteered at the lemonade stand while Matt stayed home with Addison. We all met up afterwards for the family picnic. Next year I think we will all go for the whole day.

p.s. Regan thinks it is funny to pose with food hanging out of her mouth.

Online Shopping

I have thought in the past that maybe I shop online a little to much. Mainly when I realized that I knew my credit card number by heart. In my defense I have had the same credit card for years. However, Regan today made it clear to me that I do in fact shop online to much. I was fixing her hair for school and she told me that if we have another baby (which we are not) that she would have to go back in the crib. So, I said no Addison would have to get out of the crib if we had another baby. Just for conversation sake I asked her if she would want a boy or a girl. She said that she wanted another girl and that I could go online and look for one. She said that I could buy it online and they would put it in my belly. She also said that she could then paint my belly. The Meche kid's must have told her that they painted my belly when I was pregnant with her, because she brings up painting my belly any time she talks about me getting pregnant again. She then asked me what color hair the baby would have, and I said I don't know what color hair would you want her to have. She said that she would want the baby to have dark red, like Ariel's. I hope she doesn't mean like her doll Ariel, because I don't think that color is found in nature.

You're a superstar, that is what you are.

We went to a gymnastics birthday party this weekend and Regan got the above pictured sunglasses in her goody bag. She was very excited, because Quinn had a white pair that I think she was coveting. Regan seemed to really enjoy the birthday party. She was particularly excited that she won a race that they ran. I have signed her up for gymnastics this summer and I hope that she likes it, because I am way over the whole dance review thing. If she likes it, then we will continue in the fall and spring. I think she is going to have her father's competitive nature. Every night when we play a game with her she is always very concerned about winning. If she doesn't win the last game she will try to make us play again. We have several games that we play and one of them is Elmo UNO and she doesn't ever want to play it because it's not easy for her to win.

For those of you who haven't already heard, Matt has accepted a position with a new company. His last day at Marlin Energy (his current company) is tomorrow and he will start at the new company, Stone Energy, on Monday. He is very excited to be moving forward in his career. I don't think it will mean much to the girls and I other than that we know we will be here another few years, if not permanently.

Physical Therapy - Good News

Addison is now walking enough to only go to PT once a month. We find that she is walking more and more. If she is already standing (i.e. holding on to furniture) she will walk to where she wants to go. If she is sitting, she will typically crawl to where she wants to go. But if we say stand up and walk she will sometimes listen and do it. She always looks very proud of herself when she does it. They want her to continue to go to PT for a little while so that they can moniter her feet and make sure she doesn't pick up any bad habits. When she first started walking she was rolling her feet in and they want to make sure that that corrects itself. Otherwise we will have to put her in braces. The PT said that she is not rolling her feet in as much and asked if I had noticed to which I replied no, because I am to busy making sure she isn't going to fall over. Hopefully, it will fully correct itself.

Dentist

I took the girls to the dentist on Thursday. They both got a clean bill of health. She said that Regan has a perfect bite and that Addison's teeth are coming in perfectly. Regan let them scrape and clean her teeth. They told her they were putting sparkles on her teeth when they cleaned them, so she wasn't to happy that I was "washing off" the sparkles when I brushed her teeth that night. I told her I was putting more sparkles on, and she was somewhat satisfied with that. I wasn't to happy that they had to scrape her teeth so much, because we brush and floss every night. I asked the dentist about it and she told me to lay her down when we brush at night to get a better brushing. I thought Regan might be resistant to it, but she layed down on the couch and was waiting for me the first night.

Even after an excellent example set by her big sister, Addison still wanted no part of them being in her mouth. I truly do not know how they were able to count her teeth and see that there weren't any cavities.