20 months

New favorite toy. 

The "spill-proof" cup.  (Notice all the spills it "prevented.")   :)

Peep!

  Everybody comments on how cuddly G is.  She loves to give hugs which she initiates by turning her head to the side and leaning toward you.  Once in proper hug position, she'll give a little pat on the back.

Mama and G took a bike ride this week.  It was my first time pulling the baby bike trailer, and I was a little nervous.  Gwenny loved getting all buckled up to ride, patting her windows as if to say, "Yeah, this is my sweet ride!"

G is slowly getting better at holding herself up on her hands.  We'll keep working on it to build her upper body strength!

   We've been working hard on using both hands to hold toys and bottle.  G is having fun with the power she has to take her bottle out of her mouth, and put it back in (which still requires a little help most times.)  She also developed a taste for water this week.  It seems out of nowhere, she doesn't want juice or milk, but she will down 5+ ounces of water in one sitting!

Still loving peek a boo!

We are working on eating more protein, such as hard boiled eggs and using eating utensils.  If I help her stab something on her fork, she can bring it to her mouth.  Spoons are still tricky.

 

She may be a little young, but Gwenny had a great time prom dress shopping this week.

G has fun doing anything with Gramsy.  Gardening and making bread were the tasks today.

19.75 months

G's VT (vision therapist) brought some chocolate pudding this week as a sensory exercise for G.  She had a blast mushing the pudding through her fingers and playing with the spoon.  I even think a little made it in her mouth.

G had a fun time with her first twinkie, another great sensory experience.  She mashed it between her fingers and then tried to make it into her mouth.

G has some very affectionate cousins that love to hug and kiss her.  She hasn't made up her mind if she likes it yet, but she tolerates it well with a look of, "Hey, what the heck are you doing to me?"

The girls getting ready for the day.

G loves to go for rides in the stroller, lean forward in her seat and look at everything around her.  This was during a walk downtown to the new Harmon's.  She is showing off her butterfly sticker that she got from the lady at checkout.

We went to see the neurologist and the eye doctor this week.  The neuro was quite uneventful (a major plus for us.)  "Meds are working, keep it up and call me if anything changes!"  The neuro said we don't need to make a visit for refills or to change anything, just give her a ring on the phone.

At the eye doctor, G got a little antsy, so we played on the carpet.  She had fun scooting around and chasing my cell phone.  When it was our turn, the dr told us (as we already knew) that G is still using both eyes, just not together and not switching consistently (she uses the left far more.)  Because of this, patching would have no benefit for her (we patched her left eye last summer to force her to strengthen her right) and her vision is not bad enough that glasses would help straighten her eyes.  (We also tried that last fall.)  At this point, the only thing left is eye surgery.  We scheduled for May 9, 2012.  They will operate on the small muscles around her right eye, tightening one and loosening another to help it be "straighter," more in line with her left eye.  The dr said they do not need to cut any skin on her eyelid and recover time should be a few days.  She will, of course, need to be under anesthesia.  I'm a little nervous because its a surgery.  However, I'm trying to be hopeful and positive that this will help G developmentally and socially in the long run. Hopefully her smart little brain can figure out how to use her eyes together after this surgery. I've met a few people in the last 6 months that had this surgery as children with wonderful outcomes.  If the surgery isn't a complete success, the most likely thing to happen would be a repeat surgery.  Fingers crossed!!!

19.5 months

Gwenny is close enough to sitting unassisted that she's riding in the shopping cart now.  She loves every minute of it, and turns around to try to reach whatever is in the basket.

Last Sunday, Pa-pop A took G and her cousin around in the bike trailer.  G was very observant and looked around at everything.  Cousin cried anytime the bike stopped and G would just stare at her.

Cousin and Toby dog seem to be afraid of the vacuum, but not G.  She wanted to chase the vacuum around the room while Gramsy vacuumed!

G saw the pediatrician on Monday.  She weighs 21 lbs, 32+ inches long and head circ is 43 cm.  I talked with the dr about my concern about vaccinations, but that I wanted to try starting them again.  We decided to just do one Monday, PCV.  By Wednesday her leg had a large pink mark around the injection site.  I called the dr, went back in and it turned out G had a skin infection from the vaccine. (cellulitis?)  She's on antibiotics now. 

G has started pushing with the tops of her feet when she scoots around on her belly.  I'm pretty excited that she is trying to use her legs.  However, she's got a little sore on her foot from rubbing against the carpet.  (That's the pic of the princess band-aid on her foot.)

19 months

I took G to the park this week and she had her first ride in a park baby swing.  She loved it!  She was smiling and squealing and giggling.  There are a few pics, some of her wrinkled-nose smiled reminded me of her half-brother.

We also went to an indoor pool this week. She had a blast splashing in the water.  She didn't seem to mind that the water was cold, she just wanted to play.

She now flops herself back and forth in her little pink bath.  She loves to play in the running water, as I remember her half-brother used to love.

She is still scooting around well, and loves to empty things.  She tries to get into the bottom drawers in my bedroom while I get ready in the morning.  She loves to empty her toy basket, diaper basket and anything else she can.  She is getting good at bending her knees to raise her little butty while she scoots, and looks very much like an inch worm.  We're working on trying to get her to alternate arms, rather than using them together.

Gramsy A bought some Easter eggs that G has been playing with.  The other day she had one open, holding one half of it while she sat in the high chair.  I put mac & cheese in her mouth and she would take the noodles out of her mouth, put them in the Easter egg half, then take them back out of the Easter egg and put them back in her mouth.  She liked that a lot.

The speech therapist seems to think she is doing well.  She is getting the idea of "asking" for something, although she's not quite doing it yet.  I do believe G clearly understands the word "no."  She scooted over to the DVD tower the other day, and I told her "No, no," and she slowly took her hand away.  She tried one more time before giving up and moving to play with something else.

  One of these photos is of Gwenny birthday shopping with me and Auntie A.  G likes to sort through and pick out clothes.  :)

 I noticed how bulky cloth diapers are on other babies, and how it pushes their little hips apart. I ran it by our PT, and she thought it would be fine to give it a shot. So I've been double diapering G in hopes that it will help her little hips stretch. Our developmental doctor told me if her hips don't loosen by our next visit, he wants to put her on a med to help relax the muscles.  I'm trying to avoid that.

Gwenny is blowing kisses like crazy and loves the iPad. She is almost at 21lbs and eating good. She really likes cheese and clementines. Still trying to get her to drink more apple juice so we can stop the miralax.  Seizure meds are still working and she's very smiley.