Mooosic

So the girls rarely watch TV and it is really not for lack of trying on my part. They just don't seem to be interested. The only thing Shelbi will watch is Signing Time.

So this morning, I turned on Sesame Street...Shelbi said nooooooooo...moooosssic. Who's that sound like? My husband.

I change the channel to 902. We love digital music around here, but I can't remember what type of music is on 902. I just figure that's a good place to start. The 900's are the music channels. Both girls are sitting on the sofa, one on either side of me. The second the music comes on, I see it is the Hip Hop R&B channel, both girls hop up and start dancing. Daddy will be so proud!

DaDa

Wow, what a great day. Sadie has been signing "more" for the past 2 days!!! She also ran up to daddy when he got home from work yesterday and said "dada." Mama comes more naturally to her and we rarely hear her say "dada." We were so excited to hear it!!! She also started jumping with both feet coming off the ground. Great accomplishments Sadie!!! I love you.

Summer Plans

There's only a few more days of school left before summer break. We aren't sending Sadie to ESY (extended school year) with the public school because her teacher doesn't believe it will be a good transition for Sadie. We also decided that sending her to the private summer program would take away financially from our family and we can all do a lot with the money rather than go directly to Sadie. Sometimes everyone has to have a equal vote. With that said and as much as I love her dearly, we had to find something for her to do to have a break from our house.

She will be attending a animal/farm camp for 2 weeks from 9am to 12pm. They were wonderful enough to allow our attendant to go with her. She will also be attending MyGym summer program, which is the same hours. They are also allowing Sadie's attendant to join her.

In addition to that, we plan to go to the water park a few days a week, the zoo, and also the aquarium!

So far we have been spending a lot of time swinging on the swing set in our back yard and playing on the deck.

We did have our environmental modifications done to the house and they turned out good. First we had a child height rail put on the front and back deck stairs and also on the stairs inside. We also had gates put up at the stair entrances on the back deck. They installed "pool" locks on the gates. This has been great because I can open the kitchen door and the girls can play on the deck while I make breakfast. Sadie has also been able to go up and down the stairs all by herself because she has a rail to hold. Of course, I still have to be near and I've caught her a few times before she has fallen. I think with time and practice, she will be able to maneuver the stairs on her own. They also built crib style doors for her bunk bed so we can get her out of her crib and into a "big girl bed." I'll post pictures soon!!!

Drooling

Sorry, I realized I didn't follow up after our appointment with the Plastic Surgeon about the Drooling.

Turns out the surgery to “tie off” the salvation glands is not as simple as the geneticist made it sound plus it is permanent. He also gave us an alternative to inject Botox in the gland to paralyze it for 3-8 months, but he couldn't guaranty the Botox wouldn’t get in her facial muscles and therefore affect her appearance.

I did some research and the conclusion is that you shouldn’t take such dramatic steps until you give the child enough time to get control of swallowing (after the age of 6). The dentist who saw her a few weeks ago agrees that it’s a little dramatic right now. We should give her time to develop mentally. Considering her feeding/swallowing age is around 12-18 months, we should give her till her developmental age to see if she can get control of it on her own. I read that lots of kids still drool up to 2-4 years of age.

Teeth and Eyes

Well, its been an exciting week around here. On Sunday night, while I was visiting our next door neighbor, Sadie lost her balance and fell out of a chair. (She was trying to sit with Shebli and Shelbi wasn't so happy about the idea =) Bill called me frantic and of course I came running home to find Sadie's right front tooth half way out. The left front tooth wasn't as bad. We called every dentist we knew and the pediatrician's office. As a result...the emergency situation was under control and we would see her regular dentist in the morning.

On Monday morning we saw the dentist. He told us to watch for discoloration in the next week to 10 days. We are on day 3 and they really look pretty good considering. I'm crossing my fingers they will stay white and be ok.

Today, we went to Sadie's annual eye appointment. It has been 3 years since she had her strabismus corrective surgery. The doctor said her eyes are very healthy and the surgery has held up well. (Sometimes it has to be redone). Her eyes will probably be dilated for the rest of the day. Those blue eyes react strongly to the drops.

Strawberry Picking

Today Sadie's class went strawberry picking! We decided to drive separately so Shelbi could come too. We got to the farm around 9:15. Both girls loved walking and running down the rows of strawberries. We all had a good time eating and picking. Shelbi was a much better eater, but she really enjoyed putting them in the basket too.

Sadie loved carrying the basket around. She did a really good job walking over the rows and picking too! We had a great time. Oh, daddy went too. Unfortunately, we didn't hang out with her class to much because their bus was an hour later getting to the farm. Both girls are napping now, so exhausting picking fruit!

Plastic Surgeon

This week we see a Plastic Surgeon. The geneticist has recommended we explore having Sadie's salivation glands tied because her drooling continues to be excessive. Many days she will wear approximately 4-5 shirts. She will no longer wear a bib and truly it's not age appropriate since she's 4 years old. The main concern used to be the socially acceptable factor, but there are questions about if she might be losing too much fluid to stay hydrated. Plus family and friends accept it about her, but I'm sure other people might find drooling a little gross. I understand that! It doesn't bother me, but I don't want her to lose fluids either. We go on Thursday...I'll keep ya'll posted!