Aerobics Anyone?

I think Sheena looks ready to go for to the gym in this outfit. She has been very playful and fun now that she is back 100% healthy. It was bad ear infection, so we're glad its finally over. We're also glad not to be woken up every hour or two over night while she was unwell.

She had speech pathology on Friday, and she has a love-hate relationship with her Speechy. She loves the attention for 70% of the session but when the oral-motor stuff comes in she gets quite upset with the Speechy getting her hands on Sheena's mouth to show her the movement for various sounds. It is very hands-on, but the Speechy is smart enough to leave that bit to the end of the session, so it is mostly fun for Sheena. She thinks Sheena is very sweet and cute, and of course I have to agree :)

Some of the activities including trying to get Sheena to blow out a candle, putting Nutella on a spoon, and getting Sheena to raise her tongue so that it licks her upper lip without lifting her chin in the process, general vibrations in and around the mouth to develop her overall tone and awareness of the area. Putting pressure on her tongue so that it uses muscles to build up resistance. There is a lot more activities too, but you get the idea.

We're teaching Sheena to sign "I want more sultanas", or "I want more .....". She concentrates hard, but hasn't got the "want" worked out yet, so we usually let her get away with just signing "more", but assist her with the "I want more ....." before we give her more. She's still go a few words developing, which is nice to see.

Not so nice is Sheena's apparent claustrophobia. She freaked out massively in the lifts at the hospital like I mentioned, got distressed when we took her into a maze, and then yesterday cried for 10 minutes after I took her into a public toilet with me at the library. Hubby read that it can be just a phase like some kids have separation anxiety when they're around 1 yr old. Hopefully this is the case.

Runaway

e

After a restful Easter, Sheena has improved from her infection.

She's back to her usual self now, and is all go, go, go. I've promised myself I'll never complain about a healthy amount of energy given we were asking the Dr at one stage if she'd ever walk.

Here she is on one of her many runaway as fast as you can adventures.

Easter Time

We've had a quiet Easter. Sheena is recovering from a very bad ear infection. She picked up on Good Friday, after the Dr changed her antibiotics Thursday afternoon. You wouldn't think from her tummy in this photo that she's been off food for a week.

We did check out a fantastic new playground today, where there is lots of very modern swings, flying foxes, sandpits and slides. The swings and flying foxes had a variety of seats, some that cater to children with special needs. Sheena is still too floppy to hold herself in a swing without back support, but this playground had a few that let her swing independently. I think we'll leave the flying foxes for another year yet though.

A new look.

Just wanted to share the pigtails.

Our Horrible Wednesday

We had a horrid day. 2 hospital appointments. Sheena had a febrile convulsion 3 wks ago, so she needed an EEG to see if it was epileptic, or 'just one of those things' that baby's can have to stress out their parents. With Sheena's history the stress levels were +++++.

Her EEG was at 10.30. She hates them with a passion, and gets very stressed out and cries. Fortuntately Hubby came with me to the EEG, as I knew it would be a horrible experience. It was...

Anyway, Sheena also has developed a fear of lifts. Impossible at RCH to manage a chubby bubby, a pram and 8 flights of stairs without using a lift. Of course the lifts are crowded, so its a case of stopping at each floor, and her trembling and screaming all the way. I don't know why she is so fearful - whether its the noise, or confined space or the pressure.

As hubby was there after the 1st appointment, I walked her down the 8 flights of stairs rather than her getting more upset in the lift again after having just had the EEG.

Then, we had and early lunch, and Hubby had to go back to work. She wasn't very hungry after her EEG, but afterwards she was a ball of energy, and wanted to run up and down the corridors. I have to shadow her, because you never know where the stairs are, or if a door is going to be opened. Sheena doesn't manage stairs at all yet, so even a step could be a disaster. Of course at 7 months pregnant, the frequent pick-ups to stop her causing a raucus got rather wearing. The Starlight indoor play area was closed over the lunch hour, so I took her outside to the playground. With the temperature in the high 20s and in the the midday sun, fair Sheena (without a hat - because why would you take a hat to hospital), and her pregnant mum could only manage the sandpit for 15 minutes before we got too hot. Back inside, and more running up and down the corridors (with me now rather hot as well as bothered). The Starlight room was 20 minutes late to open, so we only had 10 minutes of relatively easy playtime with cool toys before we had to go up the dreaded lifts again to our Neurologist Appt. Another 8 floors of screaming and genuine fear. Very stressful. Now at 1.30 Sheena was tired, and happy to give me cuddles in the waiting room rather than running the corridors.

The Neurology Appointment was all good news. Sheena's EEG was perfectly clear. While she had her EEG which lasted about an hour, she fell asleep from exhaustion from crying so much, and this optimal for the test. While she lay in my lap, she did several 'jumps' in her sleep that Hubby had been worried about. Fortunately from her being monitored and videotaped, the Neurologist could rule them out as being anything sinister, and they were just normal myoclonic jerks that everyone has in their sleep.

So, an eventful day. When Sheena and I got home from hospital, we both managed to have a much needed nap.

Ap-ple

Here we are eating a big chunk of Apple, or Ap-ple in Sheena-talk. A dietition came to speak to the mum's at Sheena's EI Playgroup. After talking about eating issues with the other parents of kids that are developmentally delayed, I realised that Sheena is actually doing very, very well. She doesn't mind variety, textures don't stress her out too much, and she'd prefer bread over a muffin, actually I think she'd prefer bread over anything at the moment. This is not to say that we don't have issues on the eating front. Sheena's system is not 100% and she'll still spit-up about 3 times a day. We could opt to go down the medical line of having drugs to stop the reflux, but its not bothering her, so we're going down the regular washing line instead. Also, as I have mentioned before, we're having a long haul with the spoon feeding, but that is a fine motor/co-ordinatation issue. She can finger feed OK, and she's recently learnt to eat toast in mouthfuls herself, rather than me cutting it up for her.

Sheena has spoken

We're getting a few words from Sheena these days. She can say book, apple, paper, more, ta and once she said Wiggles as clear as day when I put it on for her. Her signing is expanding - she can now do biscuit, saltanas. Biscuit is rather flash for those that know Auslan, as it takes a bit of fine motor to perfect it. We're currently working on 3 sign sequence: "I want food", or "I want book". I was baby-sitting a baby boy recently, and its a habbit for me now to do sign language with little ones. I was reading Sheena and him a book and asking him if he wanted more, doing all the signs for the animals in the books and the sign language naturally just goes with it these days.

Sheena is going to have a little bro or sis in the house to keep her amused in 3 months time. Should keep her mum and dad amused too I am sure. Sheena has been wondering why her mum is soooooo tired these days. The tiredness did not seem to go away after the first trimestor like it is supposed to.