Nesting

Hi friends!
My first bits of nesting instinct have kicked in. Paige has new goals with her therapists and it inspired me to reorganize her playroom to suit them. I love the changes!
She had a book nook in the corner of the room that we moved out of there and into our family room. She is always so busy playing in the room that she never takes as much interest in the books there. And it took up a lot of space. Now that the book sling and cushion are in the family room, Paige can be found over there reading through all her books aloud and participating in quiet play with her animals and dollhouse. It's much more harmonious and peaceful.




Her play kitchen had been in our family room (we tried to encourage her to use it there to no real avail), so we moved it into the playroom where the book nook was. We moved her table and chairs to the center of the floor in front of the play kitchen to encourage her to "cook" and create tea parties.

The blue bookcase used to hold all of Paige's musical instruments. She just tossed them onto shelves and it didn't make much sense organizationally. So, I put them into a basket on the toy shelf unit and am now using the shelves for all the play kitchen food, utensils, baking materials, etc. All of the kitchen-related items are together in the corner and she's already played with it a bunch of times in one day! Now, she is ready to learn about sequencing and extending her pretend-play story lines to include "filling the teapot" and "setting the table" and "pouring the tea into the cups" and "giving cookies to her guests." You know the drill. For language, she is working on prepositions (in, next to, under, on, below, etc.) and number concepts (a few, many, most of, some of, all of) and we can work on this with the tea party theme too. I will even put napkins in the area for her to work on her folding skills. These are all skills that will transfer over well in social situations with other children when the time comes; AND they are skills that can transfer over to "real life" in the home at dinner time. We're excited!

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It's a....BOY!

Yes, we have a little guy on the way! Here is his first photo.

The ultrasound was done at about 17 weeks. I'm 21 weeks now; I'm sorry it took so long to share! There's been a lot of madness going on and the blog has been a victim for sure. I hope to share more about it soon.
Isn't it exciting? My mind is still wrapping around the idea of a whole other gender! hee hee. Boy clothes, boy issues, etc. etc. It's obviously a whole new thing! I'm excitedly nervous.

Of course, you know me...my mind is on his nursery planning. Obviously, the most important things first, right? Ha! Chris and I have been making brainstorming lists now that we've decided on colors and a sort of "theme." It will be a while before it is done, but I'm excited about it! I've just decided on the fabric for the roman shades, so I guess that will be the starting point. We're also using Paige's original nursery room and are keeping the wall color the Robin's Egg blue. We are full of new ideas and just have to execute them.

For anyone who's asked: We are still putting finishing touches on Paige's new room. I'm still figuring out the last elements of wall decor in there and then we plan to give you a tour! It looks a lot like her old room since we brought over most of the accessories, but there's new twists to it.
So, there you have it!

Wow. A little man on the way; we are blessed.

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18 weeks and Aruba 2011

Hi friends!
We just got back from a trip to Aruba. Not a bad place to spend my 18th week of pregnancy. Now, as I write this I am now 19 weeks along.
I spent the time laying in the shade, playing with Paige, swimming, and napping. Chris did the lion's share of the work with caring for Paige and me. I'm a lucky gal.
Paige did great on the trip and was thrilled with all the wildlife she saw there: Mostly sand crabs, hermit crabs, iguanas, lizards, fish, and the flamingos. Seventh heaven for her. She talks about all the critters like they are her best buddies. The trip did wonders for her as she is now talking up a storm about what she saw and has started singing songs in their entirety...not just lines of songs here and there. Such cool developments!
Here are some photos from the trip to give a taste of our experience; see you soon friends!

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Swings

So, we made some cool therapy swings for Paige in the basement. Weeeee!

ALERT
Let me be the first to say we are not swing experts; but used the suggestions of a very well respected Occupational Therapist/Dr. after observing her own swings in her own clinic in her basement. If you use our following suggestions, we are not responsible for injuries or damages! Try this stuff at your own risk. These are HOME MADE therapy swings.
ALERT OVER

First, we secured the swings to a floor joist in the basement. This is the only kind of place that can support this kind of weight; you know? We used one of those huge 6 inch anchoring screws. Here's a photo of one:


We made an inner tube swing. I went to tire shop that specializes in tires for commercial trucks, tractors, etc. They sell lots of sizes of inner tubes and I told them what sort of size I needed (big, and about 4 feet-ish for the tire) and we guessed. The tube is a touch smaller than I'd planned, but it still works great. They blew the tire up for me. Also, I didn't get it used because it would have black residue all over it. eeeek.
There was a HUGE nozzle thingie coming off the tube so I had to wrap it in duct tape around and around the tire to secure it against the tire so it wasn't sticking out. Aesthetics are not important with this stuff.
Chris secured some rope (the kind that supports 250 pounds of weight or something) to the tire and to a carabiner (from Home Depot) which is all connected to the giant screw in the ceiling. You can sort of study the photo to see the setup. Chris made a sort of "chain" out of the rope, so if the tire needs to raise up or down in height, it can simply link into one of those little holes. You can sort of see them in the photo tailing off to the left.



We have a huge old mattress underneath the swing for safety. Paige likes to drape her body through the middle hole and lay on her belly. She then sort of runs around and swings in circles and left to right, super-hero style.
The trick to this is to raise the tire high enough to keep Paige from wanting to lean all the way through to try and touch the mattress with her hands. She was constantly falling out of the tire on her head. So, we got the height up enough so that she didn't dare try to lean forward to touch. She just knows it's too far down to reach.
This kind of swinging is something I remember from my elementary school days on the regular strap swings at the playground. I would lie on my belly and swing. But, Paige can't reach those yet and this allows her more circling movement since it's hanging from one point. If the tire were bigger, and when Paige gets older, she could SIT in the middle hole (like sitting on a horse) and hug it. She could hold a stretchy piece of therapy band or fabric with me holding the other end to pull her all different directions on the swing. It's relaxing and fun. Just ideas.


So, that's the inner tube swing. The point of it is to give Paige deep pressure sensory input through her belly while she satisfies her need for spinning and swinging. After time on this swing, Paige is more alert, focused, and "organized." Her language usage spikes and she is able to express herself so much better. I'm told this is because the swing gives her body the sensory input it needs so she can focus on the tasks at hand. It sort of "tunes out" all the things that distract her so she can concentrate and focus. It's like it clears out the cobwebs and suddenly she's able to be in the moment. Her motor skills also become more refined and exact. I'm told this is because she has a better feel for where her body is in space, thus moving more carefully.
No matter what, I LOVE this swing and what it does for her.

The other swing; with the same sorts of benefits and uses is the hammock/blanket swing.

This swing is made of stretchy fleece and acts like a hammock. It works like a blankie taco with Paige as the filling. LOL. It is hanging from the same kind of screw and rope set up that the inner tube has.



I got 3 yards of the stretch fleece (fabric stores or Walmart carries it) and I sewed a sort of pocket into each end. The pocket is about a foot wide (I folded the pocket over to the 24 inch mark in). I sewed across, but using several little vertical lines to keep it from ripping apart from the weight of the person inside. Here's a photo of the tons of little vertical lines. You can see if you look closely.


Once all sewed, I threaded each pocket onto a U-Bolt piece of hardware I found at Ace hardware that looks like this: (it's a big one; maybe 5 inches or 6 inches across).
http://www.nutty.com/ubolts.shtml
If you look at the diagram in that link, you can see a sort of plate with nuts on the other side that keep the plate on. I also got 2 more nuts to go on the other side of the plate and tightened both together to keep them from just unscrewing over time. In all, I got 2 u-bolts and 4 additional nuts.

Anyway, I threaded this through each pocket and secured all the nuts. I was left with what looks like a gigantic blue handbag. LOL. I simply put the two handles onto a carabiner and clipped it to the rope. The rope was tied with many loops, again, for easy height adjusting.


We have ours hanging mere inches off the floor because we use it for Paige to lay on her belly with her arms out. Her arms touch the floor so she can move herself in different directions and in circles. We often spread puzzle pieces out all over the place and she has to "fly around" to gather them and put them into the puzzle. She gets a lot of input in her stomach and has fun all the while. It also satisfies her need to swing and spin. She also loves to "be an airplane" with her arms out to the sides while I push her back and forth and all around.
Also, she can lay on her back inside the hammock with her knees bent gently. She gets lost in there! I gently sway her from side to side while she rests. It's very calming and relaxing for her when she's in the mood for it.

I intend to provide photos of these swings in action once I get Chris down there to help her swing while I take the photos.
I hope this post made some sort of sense. I'm no engineer nor am I an expert at explaining things! I hope the photos can do all the talking; let me know if you need any clarification.

And please know that Paige doesn't always want to do the swings even when she needs them. I encourage her by saying some beloved toy wants to swing. "C'mon Paige! Big dinosaur wants to swing! Let's go!" or "Dollie really wants to swing, lets help her!" We give the toy a turn and inevitably Paige wants a turn after that. But I NEVER force her to do it. It's totally up to her in terms of when she starts and when she stops. She has full control. We like to try and do it first thing in the morning when she's most alert and up for things. Also, supposedly, this sort of intense sensory activity has up to 5 hours of lasting "organizing" input. That's a lot of bang for the activity! Ideally, we would do this activity twice per day (morning and mid-day) but I haven't gotten her to do it that frequently yet. We're working on it!
So, there you have it.
Phew!

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Tired

Several days ago Paige went down for a nap after a particularly moody day up to that point. She made up for it, though, by being quite snuggly and huggable just before nap. I tucked her in, gave her a kiss and shut her door with a sigh of relief. I went to my own room feeling so depleted and defeated. I got under the covers; laying on my left side, and pulled those sheets up over my right ear. I just sort of stayed right there in the silence and stared at the window and my mirror on the wall; not thinking. This sort of melancholy washed over me and my mind began to consider how Paige would one day be too big to be interested in cuddling with me or sitting in my lap to read a book. My very favorite things. It's rare she wants to cuddle, but in a few years it will likely be a thing of the past. The thought made my throat close up. A big tear welled up in my right eye and slipped out and down across the bridge of my nose and plopped down onto the pillow. It fell the exact same way my brother's tears did the day my grandmother died. He was nine (almost ten) and I was four (almost five). I was too little to understand the gravity of what was happening. I sat on the floor solemnly studying my brother's face as he lay on his side on the couch. He was clutching the pillow beneath his head and had such a calm face. I had never seen him cry (that I'd noticed to that point in my young life) and I was fascinated by the chubby tears that silently rolled out and down across the bridge of his nose and plopped onto the cushion. Perhaps it was the first time I'd noticed that someone else could have sad feelings too. Someone that seemed so big and strong. It's an emotion that ties us all together for whatever the reason. Anyway, a few of my own tears fell as I recalled that day in July so many years ago. Now, I was certainly hormonal. Certainly melancholy. I took a deep breath in and realized just how worn out I feel from all we have been working through lately. From trying to be strong every second. It was necessary to lay still and give in, just for a little bit. Soon, I fell asleep and woke up with the tiniest bit of extra energy; enough to press on through the rest of the day anyway. Not every day feels like a triumph. It's important to note the days that are hard, cumbersome and tiresome. There's a lot of those lately. But they always remind me to appreciate and treasure the good ones. The sweet ones that lives are built around. I know more and more are on their way.

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Weekending

Even princesses like to keep busy. Enjoy your weekends!!!

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A moment

Dear Little P,

The other day you were having a hard time taking a nap. Eventually, I climbed into your bed and said "Let's snuggle." You came right over and put your little body against me. You fit right into the curve of my body with your head tucked neatly under my chin. I could feel your soft hair brushing against my cheek and I could smell your shampoo from the night before. It was so nice to hold you like that, even just for a little while. Later, you sort of shimmied up the bed while I tried to nap. Your face was now right against mine; I could feel your warm cheek against mine. You kept moving around. But I felt like I was being watched; so I opened my eyes. I saw your round shining liquid blue eyes peering at me from only a few inches away. You had been studying my face as I'd tried to sleep. You looked right into my eyes from sooooo close. I noticed you had such an amused grin at being able to see me from such a vantage point. I closed my eyes again to let you observe some more and felt your warm breath against my nose and cheeks. Being studied so closely made me feel like laughing. I opened my eyes again to see you with the biggest grin ever. Your cheeks were drawn up into perfect little apples and I could see all of your teeth. I laughed out loud and you responded with the sweetest little belly laugh. We went on to laugh and giggle together just looking at each other in the eyes. And you said "Silly Billy!!" So I gave you a kiss on the cheek. You never did nap that day, but instead, we had one of my favorite moments as a mother so far. Thank you for it. I love you always and forever, my little sweetie.
Love,
Mama

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Big Girl Bed!

Hi friends!

A week and a half ago Paige left her babyhood behind and began sleeping in a big-girl bed in her new big girl room. I was given the advice to start her in a big bed sooner than later so she doesn't feel competition with the baby. This made sense to me, so we went ahead and did it.
We excitedly ordered the furniture when she was with us at the store; she seemed to like climbing up onto the bed and looking around from up "high."
We got to work back home and replaced the ugly carpet in the room with oak wood flooring to match her old room. After much deliberation, we decided to paint the room the same color as her old one. I was gonna do a melon/orangey pink color but it just didn't feel right.
Anyhoo, the day the bed was delivered was quite exciting and she took ownership right away. She kept saying "big girl room!" and "my bed!". We'd talked about getting her new room for quite a while so I know she was ready for it. A few days later, when it was time for her to sleep in her bed for the first time, Chris took her crib apart. Before he did, we had Paige go in the room and say "thank you" for being such a good crib and to say "bye bye." She patted the crib and said "bye bye" and "thank you." She also gave it a kiss, which made my throat tighten. We explained that it's a baby's bed and she's not a baby anymore so it had to go to a baby who needed it (of course, we are keeping it and storing it for the next baby).


After her goodbyes, I took her downstairs and Chris hid the crib in our closet. When she came back up to get ready for bed, she went in the old room and noticed the crib was gone and looked puzzled. I said "remember? crib had to go to baby's house!" and she said "oh" and sort of shrugged and went about her evening like nothing happened. This was a nice trick for her to visually see that the crib was no longer an option for sleeping. We went about our normal routine; just in her new room instead. She was thrilled to sleep in her new room and she slept great! I was terrified she'd keep getting up or would cry, etc. but she just fell asleep like normal. Phew! Another milestone under her belt (and mine). I'll admit, I cried a little bit. But I'm so proud of our girl. She's taking all these changes in stride and that's a huge deal. Hooray!


"Owl is in the tree!!!!"


"Tree!!!!"

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15 weeks 4 days

Hi friends!
Well, I've been away for a bit, eh? So much has been happening here and it's been so hard to keep up with it all!
deep breath...
Firstly, thank you so much for your kind words on our last post! We are pretty pumped about the wee one on the way. To answer the many questions I've gotten: I'm currently 15 weeks and 4 days as I write this (and feeling good!). Our due date is February 3rd (so I'm pretty much assuming an end of January birth). I'm finally not feeling sick anymore and my tiredness has lifted enough so that I can function. It was baaaaaaad. I was pretty much on the couch full time. Poor Little P had a lot to cope with, since she needs a LOT of structured play to flourish. Those harder times are finally behind us though, so onward and upward!
The whole pregnancy was a pleasant and welcome surprise. It's funny; we had just decided to wait a few more months to try but lo and behold I found out I was pregnant a mere few days later after that discussion. ha! A true blessing after going through everything we did to bring Little P to us. Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful or shocked by the miracle happening. I'll admit, the first few weeks had me terrified. I was worried about how I would handle the sleepless nights with a new baby AND still be alert for Paige. How would I handle Paige's special needs AND care for a newborn? How would it all happen???!!! I felt pretty panicked. But, as time has gone by I've relaxed and realized that everything always falls into place as it needs to. And we can always try to hire a mother's helper or something here and there in those first few months if I need a bit of extra sleep in the morning or something. Time to save up!! Anyway, now I'm feeling much more calm.

In other news, which I'll share more in upcoming posts, is Paige is now sleeping in a big-girl bed in her new big girl room. *tear* It's been going wonderfully and has been much easier than I thought it would be. I'm still working on finishing up the decorating in there; but it's mostly done. I plan to do a post about the bed, and a separate post sharing her new room with you! The baby will go in Paige's old room. We have plans to freshen it up and make it new for the next wee one.

AND (on another note) we've made some great strides in meeting Paige's sensory seeking needs and have created some therapy swings from scratch for our own house. I plan to do a post with photos of the swings and how we made them in case anyone else is interested. I'll also write about what Paige was needing and how the swings satisfy that need...and thus help her focus, learn, improve her speech and her motor skills. It's been fascinating to watch.

We've been busy! But it's a good kind of busy, so I can't complain. It's just a lot going on at once and sometimes I feel like I'm buried and flailing around. But Little P starts her intensive ABA/Floortime therapy today with her new facilitators so I'm going to start having more free time on my hands to get things done around the house and maybe start creating art again. Silver lining!!!

Thank you again for your well-wishes and we are doing well! Thanks for those who have asked or who were concerned. Looks like I will finally have some more time to do some proper posting around here! Yay! Be well!!!

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Big News!

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What we've been up to

Life's a beach. I had to catch her movements for posterity. I need to remember each little step.

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Poopaggedon

Ok, so anyone with a baby or toddler knows the fear of taking their kiddo to the pool or pond in terms of them wearing a swimmie diaper. What if there's a poop? And what if it, GASP, leaks?
Well, it happened to us over the weekend. And it was all the nightmare I thought it would be and more.
*sigh*
We were visiting my in-laws in Connecticut and we decided to take the kids to the pool and kiddie pool at their fancy country club. Paige loves it there. The kiddie pool is all fenced in, clean, large, and had lots of lounge chairs under a covered area for the moms to relax under while keeping watch. It's only 12 inches in the deepest part so kids love to frolic. It's also has the kind of posh clientele I'm just not used to. At all. I always feel so sketchy there, like a frumpy dork. So, that sets the tone for the story.
After an hour of splashing and mock swimming, I noticed Paige was getting extra vigorous in the water....standing up and then throwing herself backwards onto her butt (wrestling style) so there would be huge splashes around her. She did it a bunch. And then she came out of the pool and did it on the concrete pool deck. That's when I saw them...2 "bunny balls" came flying out the top of her diaper and landed on the deck. I saw it in slow motion like in the movies. I ran over and said, "awww shit shit shit!!!" And began scrambling to pick it up with baby wipes. My heart was RACING. A woman in a fancy straw hat and caftan nearby said "It's in the pool too! I have to tell the lifeguards!" (she said it with such disdain and disgust it reminded of me of first grade when some little douchebag said "I'm gonna tell on you!") Anyway, I look in the pool and there were a few floating bunny balls so I dove right in and scooped out what I could see.
Cue the lifguard who told us all we had to leave the kiddie pool so that they could add more chlorine and such...it would have to be closed for the next hour. (Up until this year, it would have been closed for the DAY, but the health codes have changed).
The other moms seemed annoyed by the inconvenience and gave me the hairy eyeball. I did go around and apologize to each of them. Luckily most said "hey, it happens." But none were happy or tried to make me feel any better.
Sweating and heart-racing, I brought P to the changing room to take care of business and it was THE BIGGEST FRIGGIN POOP SHE HAS EVER DONE. AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!!! *cue the horror movie music.*
I ripped off the damned diaper and shit landed everywhere. Then I noticed it was up her swim shirt, all over the swim bottoms, up the front, etc. Let's just say I was freaking the hell out and began to shake. I mean, I'm in the Taj Mahal of changing rooms. What if someone came in and saw the poo-scene from hell? I worked quickly but it took about 20 minutes to clean Paige, clean the area, and restore peace. In a dose of luck, nobody came over where we were to witness the scene. Thank you, Lord.
Paige was in great spirits during all of this and I could barely keep her still. She was wriggling, dancing, moving around. She made the poo mess so much worse.
*sigh again*
When it was all said and done, I wanted to pass out. But the pool re-opened at noon and we sheepishly re-entered the kiddie pool. Sure, I wanted to melt into the pool deck and die after I heard people talking about it later on. "Did you hear the pool was closed? Gross!" Or the little kids "I heard a kid pooped in the pool, eeeeeeeew!" etc. etc.

Note to self: Try to wait for your kid to poop BEFORE you go to the pool. If possible.

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Thank you

Here is Paige playing pretend all by herself (a big deal for her!) She set up the figures in the chair all on her own and got out her little spoon and began "feeding" the figures from the picnic on the little table. I couldn't resist taking a photo of it. Up until now, I've had to assist, encourage, and facilitate this kind of playing.

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments of support on my last post; it felt good to feel the strength coming from you guys! I appreciate your kind words and advice; it is so heart-warming and uplifting. Thank you!!!

We are in a holding pattern on our end as we wait to hear from the place about giving Paige the hours of intervention she needs; I'm hoping to start as soon as possible so we don't keep losing time. There's a lot of hurry up and wait that goes on. It can get frustrating! In the meantime, we are enjoying the summer. We've been enjoying swimming the most I would say. Paige is going to be a little fish one day. I'm a horrible swimmer, so hopefully she got Chris' swimming genes.

I turned 33 the other day, and to celebrate we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie; which I loved. I liked all the books AND the movies. I sure did love that last movie though...very exciting! Don't you love a good movie? I want to go and see it in 3d now too. I guess that makes me a dork; so be it. At least I didn't dress up in costume for it. Although I don't blame those that do. To each their own!

Among my birthday gifts, Chris gave me a night at a fancy resort in Ogunquit, Maine (a Sunday to Monday) to go by myself and luxuriate at the spa, sleep when I want, eat when and where I want, and read. I plan to lay by the pool and read when I'm not sleeping or eating. LOL. He's such a good egg; he knew I needed a little space and time to myself and he delivered. What a nice surprise it was, and I can't wait to go! Now I just hope for good weather! Although, they have beautiful indoor spaces to enjoy if it's raining and it would be just as relaxing.

I can't stop daydreaming about it.

So, there's the update for now! I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about a recent experience I have dubbed "Poopaggedon." How's that for a cliff-hanger?

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The Road Bends

Hi friends!

Last week we brought Paige to see a developmental pediatrician (after months of waiting for the appointment). She was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (an autism spectrum disorder). Even though we were prepared, it still felt like a shock when the doctor said those words. You can only prepare so much until something becomes real. You know?
The doctor told us more about it. Pervasive Developmental Disorder is the overarching umbrella (soon to simply be called Autism Spectrum Disorder). Underneath it are a few different disorders including Autistic Disorder, Asperger syndrome, and Pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (what Paige has). It's a developmental disorder, but she doesn't fit in the autism category nor does she fit in the asperger category. So, she's in a short of "catch-all" category. Her delays were found to be in communication and social skills. Her academics/cognitive skills seem to be ahead, so that is helpful for her. The doctor recommended between 10 and 15 hours per week of floortime treatment with a behavioral specialist (who comes to our house) in addition to her 3 hours of Early Intervention treatments. sigh. It's a lot. I have to figure out how to fit it all in. It could be worse, but still isn't something you plan on, you know?
It's not what we pictured.
The social worker who coordinates Paige's "case" told me a story a mother of an autistic child shared with her. She said that finding out your child is autistic is a little like you were planning on a trip to Paris. You pack, you plot, you plan and you get your tickets. You fly across the globe in excitement. The plane lands and you find yourself in Amsterdam. It wasn't what you planned. It is a cool place, and ends up being a blast. But it just wasn't what you'd imagined your trip would be. But it ends up working out and you have a great time.
I'm so happy that Paige is going to be getting the extra help she needs to make the connections she needs to make. The doctor is confident that she will flourish with this additional therapy and that perhaps her disorder will be undetectable by the time she begins school. Here's hoping!
I'm just sad that our precious Little P has this challenge placed on her little shoulders. But she's so happy-go-lucky and loves having everyone come to play with her all the time. She certainly doesn't see it as a hassle; she doesn't know any different.
We've had family members asking for clarification on what Paige's main challenges are. She seems so typical to most. Among some other things, she has trouble "generalizing her skills." She HAS the skills she needs but has trouble using them in a quality and effective way in terms of communicating her needs and wishes. Her learning, her play skills, etc. are affected. I came up with a metaphor to further clarify. Imagine you have a piece of wood with a nail in it and someone shows you how to drive in the nail with a hammer. Now, imagine you ALSO have a rock and a mallet, but someone takes away the hammer. NOW how do you drive in the nail? Most people would automatically make the connection that you can use the rock or mallet to drive in the nail. But Little P would likely sit there and stare at the tools and not understand that she can ALSO use those to do her work. The house doesn't get built without the hammer. Until someone comes and SHOWS her that she can use the rock or mallet. Then she's all set. Would she make the connection eventually? Probably. But it would take a long time (thus causing delays). So, people will be coming to help teach her about making these connections through play. The hope is that soon she will be able to make these connections all by herself without extra help. They will also be helping her with her communication skills and general play skills (that pave the way for future learning).
In the meantime, I'm still wrapping my head around this whole thing and wondering what the future will bring. We will make lemonade out of lemons; that I can be certain of. The other thing I can be certain of? How much I love Little P to the moon and back. That she is the best thing to ever happen to us. And that none of this changes how wonderful, special and perfect she is. She's our little star and we're so lucky she's ours.

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Writing Style

Hi friends!
I've totally abandoned this space, it seems. sigh. Well, we've been enjoying the summer in these parts! We got a membership at a local pool so that Paige can go and splash around to her heart's content; and the rest of the time has been spent in her therapies or going to playdates (or running errands and playing) The time just seems to fly and get away from me!
In case you missed it, I added an update to my last post about my toy reduction experiment. You'll see it went well and is something I plan to continue. For children with sensory processing issues, it seems to help the "overwhelm factor" to a minimum. Love it!
Onto what's on my mind:
When I noticed I hadn't written in a while, I took some time to think about why that is. Aside from being generally busy and too tired to make it a priority, I think it also has to do with the fact that I've been struggling to figure out what my writing voice should be here. I want to sound like myself here, but also don't want to offend people. I want to inspire and uplift and not turn anyone off. But, at the same time, I like to joke around, swear, and complain in a funny way about things. I have found that I censor myself all the time and I end up feeling like this blog doesn't always feel like MINE. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I want to come to this space and say things the way I think them and stop trying to make it sound like someone else wrote it. Do you know what I mean? I can't keep trying to please everyone. I'd like to start making it markedly MY OWN and add the candid silliness that I crave. It's my creative outlet, after all. So, that's what I'm gonna do. Sound like a plan? OK, that said, I will be back here soon. Hopefully the posts will be more frequent and more ME.

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Dinosaurs!

Hi friends!
It's been pretty quiet in these parts. I'm having trouble thinking of things to blog about, so I tend to not blog. I can't force it, ya know? Some people have such clever posts every single day and I gotta hand it to 'em! I'm just not that introspective (or maybe I am but it's nothing I think anyone would find interesting). I think there are things brewing that I can write about later down the line, but for now things are percolating.
This evening, I was thinking about how the living room has become a menagerie of Paige's toys. I'm sure many people can relate or understand how that happens. She hasn't been engaging with any one toy for any real length of time and I have to theorize it's because there are too many in one place for her to focus on one? We cleaned out the living room because the carpet needed to get a thorough once-over due to sippy cup juice dots everywhere (thanks Stanley Steamer!). Paige ran around the empty-besides-furniture room with such glee. She pretended to fly like a bird in all that empty space. She looked so much more free. I decided to only bring a spare few back in and rotate them on a regular basis. How regular? Beats the hell out of me. Daily? Sometimes weekly? I guess it depends how ambitious I'm feeling in the evening to set up new toys. I'm sort of already giggling at myself.
After I put Paige in bed tonight (Chris is playing softball through work tonight) I brought out her dinosaurs and the toys that have to do with them. (She has a little obsession right now with dinos.) I figured I might as well make it a theme. I put them on the tiles in front of our fireplace and tried to make them look inviting.



I included the figures, some books, a puzzle, a coloring/sticker book and her safari hat for "dinosaur hunting." She was recently gifted a remote-control dinosaur as a belated birthday gift and she loves it. I also put out her Little People airplane (maybe they can fly to Jurassic Park? or Dino Island?) and her little Ostheimer snail and grass just for fun and to add variety.










This way, when she comes into the room, she will see everything in one place and focus on just those toys thus giving us a jumping point for joint play since everything is together in a theme. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. It could all be a bust, so be it.
I want to see if her quality of play improves and if she is able to engage with us for longer stretches of time. Longer and better engagement equals more quality learning and absorbing our social cues and language. Fun for us while fun & educational for her! My plan is to rotate those toys out daily (if they are on a specific theme like this) or every 3 or 4 days if they are more varied in theme. I'm also hoping this makes her more excited about her toys since they'll seem new to her each time. Secretly, it will make it more fun for me too because it's easier to come up with clever play ideas with fewer toys and they'll seem new to ME.
My next theme involves putting her Little People Farm out with all her books about farm animals and stuffed animals that belong on a farm. We can color animal pictures and sing farm songs. She also has a little tractor and hitch to give the animals rides. If it's nice, we can go to a nearby farm or petting zoo.
Another idea involves marine animals with all of the same types of toys listed in the farm idea, but obviously in the marine/sea life theme. We can even look at You Tube videos of animals and sea creatures that match her stuffed animals/toys she has. For example, she has a little stuffed dolphin her Nana and Grampa had given her. Well, I can then have her hold it while we read a book that has dolphins in the story. And then we can look at some videos that involve dolphins in their natural environments so she can understand them more. Perhaps there is a dolphin song we can sing. See what I mean? The same goes for her little stuffed turtle or her little rubber snake, etc.
In the end, her therapists and we her parents have a goal that involves helping Paige engage in open-ended pretend play on her own. Many children come to pretend and symbolic play very naturally without intervention; but that hasn't been the case for us. We hope that exposing her to lots of different ideas and learning a lot about her own toys will help her accomplish this.
I'll let you know how the experiment goes. Is this sort of thing something you've ever considered? Is this something everyone does and I have just missed the boat?

***UPDATE***6/20/11
The dinosaur set up went over pretty well! She liked it and engaged much more deeply with the few toys that were there for her. She most loved the "Safari" we set up. She would have us wear the safari hat and hide all the dinosaurs around the room. Then, she'd have to hunt for them. She would say "Asari!" (safari) over and over until we hid them. I took down that play scene after 2 days and replaced them with a Playmobil zoo set of animals/props and a few other gizmos. She's been playing with that for more than a week now and she's been doing great. I think the secret to better interest and deeper play has been to put out just a few choices of toys. She spends way more time engrossed in play compared to how she used to. This is a change we will stick with! Now, I just need to hold up my end of the bargain and rotate everything out soon!

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Here we are

Hi friends!
Just wanted to check in and say hello; not too much new going on around here. I found this cool mobile here (the large version...and it says it's paper but the patterns look to be fabric glued onto paper?) and Chris installed it in P's playroom. The whole thing swings in circles and it creates a cool effect of fluttering butterflies around the sky.

Paige is busy reading about important topics.


And she's been "brushing" up on her hygiene basics.


Otherwise, we've been busy with her Occupational Therapy and Developmental Therapy appointments. It's been raining almost every day which is causing us great cabin fever! I'm looking forward to June and its "stable" weather. All is well here and we are so grateful.

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Nutty Nutterton

Here's a snippet from a fun day. She want on to laugh in her crib for about a half hour during her "nap." I could hear her saying "nutty nutty" to herself through chuckles. It's a different day as I write this and she's chattering away in her crib...not napping as she should be. She sang the bye-bye song to her belongings (bye-bye curtain, it's time to go home now, etc.) and is making declarations about things. I can't make out what she's saying; but she definitely sounds sure about it.

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Spring gardening

Hi friends!
A little while ago we were cleaning up the yard. I'm no gardener, but decided to get a few little cheapy buckets at Target to fill with soil and plant generic flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I punched a hole or few in the bottom of each bucket with an awl and away we went. The project was really for Paige...an activity that we could do together and she can watch her plants grow; and so far she enjoys checking out their progress each day.




Also, check out the cool gardening stuff my friend Sue (and Paige's Godmother) got/made for her as her birthday gift: pink rubber boots, pink gardening gloves in her size (!!!), pink metal gardening tools including watering can, a board book about "planting a rainbow", and she made a really cute canvas tool belt to hold all the tools. Isn't it neat?


We decided to give Paige her own "bit of earth" (sorry, I had to steal the lingo from The Secret Garden) so she could freely dig, and plant things without worrying about the layout or how it looked. It's her patch to do what she wants and muck around in. She's still not very interested in digging around or getting dirty in it yet but I'm sure it will change as she gets older. We put the area next to her playhouse to give it that cottage garden feel. hee hee! I'm thinking I'll let her pick out her own flower seeds to throw in there and see what happens. In another year or two we'll try carrots or something like that.





Paige enjoys her tools and likes watering her own plants. She seems to burst with pride when she gets to do things on her own, so lately I've been really trying to allow her to do as much as possible by herself. I intervene to show her how if she gets stuck; but I'm trying to let her figure things out on her own. She's even now obsessed with the book "All By Myself" by Mercer Mayer. She's definitely hitting the "I do it" time, so I want to be as encouraging as possible. My baby is growing!

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Mother's Day 2011

Hi there friends!
I thought I'd share some photos from my Mother's Day with you. Chris asked what I wanted to do; so I told him I'd like to go to the Old North Bridge in nearby Concord, MA to walk around and have a picnic. It's located in the Minuteman National Park. It is also the locale of the "Shot Heard 'Round the World and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It's a beautiful area filled with walking paths, lush gardens and beautiful scenery at every turn. It's one of my very favorite places to go. We lucked out and had lovely weather...yay! Paige got to run anywhere she wanted and we had a blast taking pictures and just walking all around. Thanks to Chris and Paige for making it so special. I had fun.
I love you both so much! Happy Mother's Day to my own Mama. She puts up with my constant phone calls where I'm worried about some such thing or another. She always makes me see the light and knows how to make me feel so much better. Thanks again Mom! You are the best!!

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