Kelsie's Rain Gear

I found this adorable set of rain boots and umbrella at Target one day. Kelsie kept saying she didn't like them, but I think her actions spoke much louder than her words! Here she is dancing and playing with her new boots!

Naptime

Right before naptime today Kelsie decided that all her Little People and animals needed to take a nap too. She tucked them into the cushion we have around the coffee table and then told them each goodnight. It was adorable!

Kelsie's Substitute Teacher

This week Kelsie's main and favorite teacher Miss Amy is out for the week. We of course explained this to Kelsie before MDO today and she was determined not to go to school without Miss Amy being there. We finally convinced her that everything would be OK and that Miss Bri her normal assistant teacher would be there. She still fought going in more than usual, but no major tantrums or crying just a little more resistance.

This is the first time this year that Kelsie has had a substitute that she had never met before and I was a little nervous all day because of that. I guess I didn't need to be at all. As soon as Kelsie got in the car I asked her how her day went as usual. She looked at me and said "My new teacher is really nice and she showed me lots of new things". I was so happy to hear that! She definitely must have bonded with her today, because as we were going up for nap time Kelsie without prompting said "Miss Alisha (the sub) is my best friend".

Last year every time there was a sub she had bad days. I am so glad that Kelsie is learning to deal with new people so quickly now. I will feel so much better about Thursday and will actually be able to relax!

More Funnies...

One day Kelsie saw the scar from my c-section and asked where my owie came from. I told her that she was a baby in my tummy before she was born and that was how she came out of my tummy. Well ever since then she occasionally will look at me and say "I used to be a baby in your tummy, but now I am born".

Kelsie was visiting her grandma and grandpa (my parents)this weekend and they were playing with some play dough. Apparently Kelsie took some and made it into a ball then put it under her shirt. My mom asked why she was doing that she said "I am going to put this play dough in my shirt so I can put a baby in my tummy".

During this same play dough session my dad had come by and called her doll face. Well later as they were playing he said you are something else kid. Kelsie looked at him and said "I'm not a kid I'm a doll face!".

Kelsie loves to pretend to be animals of all kinds, but particularly ducks. She will be playing and all of a sudden she will squat down and start waddling and quacking. Well she has also taken to saying randomly "Oh Quack". Unfortunately it sounds more like "Oh Crap" if you are not really listening. I really hope that people don't think we go around saying the latter.

Little Gym Update

Monday Kelsie went to her first non-mommy and me session at Little Gym. Based on her recent experiences with Little Gym I was pretty sure it would not go well. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. She went in by herself without fighting us and she stayed the entire hour!

There were some issues I would like to work on (not following directions is the main one), but for the most part she participated and even seemed to enjoy it. She even got knocked over by another little girl and didn't cry or anything. If I had been in there she definitely would have had a much stronger reaction!! She did come to the door a couple of times, but Mike and I were able to convince her to go back in and stick it out.

I am really excited that she did so well and that she seemed to actually enjoy the class again. I think I may have had something to do with her acting out in Little Gym before. She is definitely testing her boundaries/limits with me and Mike, so I think she was really fighting us not the class itself. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Kelsie will continue to enjoy her new class.

Getting Some Me Time!

Last night I had a mother's night in (MNI) with my mom's group and it was exactly what I needed. We haven't had as many as we used to lately and it was really nice to sit back and relax with my mommy friends! We watched Hairspray at a friends house and then we chit chatted until 12 am!

This morning I got to have even more me time. I got a call from my friend and neighbor Heather next door to go shopping with her. We had a really nice time! We went to a few stores then had lunch. I am so thankful that Mike is so understanding and willing to take care of Kelsie when things like this come up!

Although I regret having stayed up so late I am happy that I stayed at the MNI! As stay at home moms it is hard for us to get through a conversation without being interrupted by either the kids needing something or getting in to trouble. I got to have that twice in two days and it was wonderful! I will definitley make it a point to do this more often. I feel so refreshed and ready to tackle my responsibilites as a mom again.

Sleep Update

We have had some wonderful successes with Kelsie's sleep since seeing the ENT in December. The ENT prescribed an allergy medicine that she has to take every day and it has made a HUGE difference. As soon as she started taking it she went from waking up 4-6 times a night to only geting up once a night (sometimes 2-3 but that is rare) and instead of staying up she goes right back to bed. We have even had some nights that she slept through the night!!

She had been in our room at first in our bed, then in a twin bed of her own for a month maybe two which helped her to go back to sleep better. During this entire time even before we moved her to our room someone would have to lay down with her either beside her or at the end of her bed for her to fall asleep which got old fast. We finally started staying in the room with her, but not laying down with her. We would go lay down in our bed until she fell asleep.

We decided that since she was sleeping so much better we would mover her back to her room on the 5th of January. We were cautiously optomistic that this would help all of us to sleep better. We were so excited that it seems to have helped the sleep situation. In her room we would just sit in the rocking chair until she fell asleep until this week. Mike one day just told her he would come back and check on her, but he wasn't going to stay in the room. She has been going to sleep on her own ever since!!! We are so happy and relieved, because it would sometimes take 45 min-hour for her to go to sleep and we just had to sit there and wait. She has even slept through the night 9-7 a couple of times this week. We still haven't had two consecuative nights of sleeping through the night yet, but I am loving all of this improvement!!

We go back to the ENT Monday and I am wondering what he is going to say. I don't know if it is safe to continue to give allergy medicine to her indefinitely. If not what is the alternative? I hate the fact that she is having to take medicine daily, but it is helping all of us so much. She can stay awake all day like she is supposed to now and although we are still have behavioral stuggles we have seen some improvement in some areas like MDO, one-on-one playdates, and everyday errands. I am just hopeful that this wasn't just a short term solution. I think we would all be pretty upset if things have to go back to the way they were!!

3 yr Dr Appointment

Kelsie had her 3 year well child exam today. She weighs 29lbs and is 36 inches tall. She is still petite being in the 30% for weight and only the 20% for her height. No surprise there as she has always been on the petite side since shortly after she was born. She was a whopping 8lbs 8oz at birth which initially put her in the 90%, but that didn't last long.

This was the first appointment that they took her weight and height standing up and she liked that so much better than when she had to lay down on the scale. However this is also the first time she had to have her blood pressure taken. She did not like that at all! She was OK with it at first, but they apparently weren't getting good readings and tried to do it another 3 times. By the second time she had enough and decided she was scared of the blood pressure machine!

Unfortunately that made the rest of the appointment not go as well as I had hoped. She cooperated for her heartbeat, ears, eyes, and throat check, but when it came to them having to lay her down to check her belly and diaper area we had major drama! She started fussing and hollering "No don't do that". Luckily the Dr was quick, but depite that Kelsie kept repeating "I want to go home" the entire rest of the appointment. This of course made the question portion of the appointment very difficult for me.

I am so thankful Mike was there to handle it, because Dr Perona and I would have never been able to talk to each other with Kelsie agitated like that! We were disappointed that we didn't get very much help in regards to potty training with a just don't push it answer. I was really hoping for some insight on how to calm Kelsie's current fear of the potty. We were also disappointed in how rushed we felt. The Drs are currently in a temporary building and I guess that makes them rush through the appointments. I was not happy with that at all, because we need answers about where to go for therapy that would be covered by our insurance. Dr Perona did say she was going to call around for us though, so hopefully we will get some insight after the fact.

Even when Dr Perona questioned us she didn't really wait for our full answer. For example she asked about Kelsie's eating habits and all I got through was PB&J and fruit before we were onto the next question. I guess I just expect more at a well child exam. I expect them to allot more time to those appointments than they would sick child appointments. I was also so surprised, because I have never felt rushed before with Dr Perona. I am hoping this was an isolated incident and that things will get back to normal soon!

Camera's Birthday Party at Jump N Jungle

Tonight we went to our friend Camera's 3rd birthday party at Jump N Jungle and Kelsie loved it! For the first 30 minutes Mike and I had to go down the slide with her, but she climbed up each time without help. Finally she decided to try going down the slide alone and after that she would do it all by herself. Each time she would jump up and say "I did it all by myself" she was so proud of herself. We were so proud of her too! She even went through the little obstacle course they had behind the slide by herself. She still wanted us in the actual bouncing areas, but I can handle that and I understand why. Kelsie is not yet able to jump and get both feet off the ground yet, so with our help we could get her bouncing but alone she just barley jumped at all. We had to leave the room a couple of times when she asked for a break from the other kids, but that is wonderful in and of itself. She was able to let us know she needed a break instead of just breaking down and not expressing what was wrong.

She lasted for almost the entire hour of playtime, but then she was ready for the pizza and cake! She ate her pizza really well even though she initially wanted us to cut it up. I just explained to her that we didn't have a knife and she was OK with that. Before that would have been a major issue and she wouldn't have eaten it, but she just dealt with it today. She ate her cupcake and then wanted to go play again. By this time she lost all patience and got extremely agitated when we told her playtime was over, so we left.

Unfortunately all of the excitement on top of this being a MDO day was too much for her. When we got to the car we had a 20 minute meltdown. Kelsie was literally screaming and crying the whole time and refused to be consoled. Finally she got her fit out of her system and climbed into her seat. She didn't want to go straight home, so we took her to the "lobster store" aka Kroger.

Overall tonight is a perfect example of how far she has come in coping with situations that used to be completely too much for her. She still has a long way to go, but her progress just continues to amaze me! I am so excited that she has figured out how to express her feelings which saves many of the tantrums that would have occurred in the past!






Kelsie going down the little slide alone


Kelsie headed into the obstacle course


Kelsie coming down the big slide alone


Kelsie's first time drinking from a water fountain (this is during one of our breaks)


Group Photo was supposed to be all the kids, but Kelsie insisted I sit with her


Here we are getting ready to leave luckily we had party favors for a distraction!

The things kids say....

We had several caprisun juices left over from Kelsie's party. Well she was drinking one the other day and I asked if I could try some. She looked at me with a very serious look on her face and said "No mommy this juice isn't for mommies and daddies it is only for little girls". Mike and I just cracked up! I guess she got that from when we tell her she can't have tea or soda. She just sounded so grown up and she was not going to let me have any of her juice!

Terrible start to the day again!

We had Little Gym today which used to be a great time. Kelsie used to love it especially the times like now when we have Ms. Melissa as our teacher. Well that sadly doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I am not sure what is going on, but suddenly Little Gym is a cause of stress instead of being a source of fun. I know most people would probably say no big deal just take her out, but I have issues with that decision for several reasons. First Little Gym has really helped Kelsie's gross motor skills tremendously and has helped her to become less clumsy and more coordinated. Second it is something she used to really look forward to and she has bonded with Ms. Melissa so well that I hate to take another person that she is attached to out of her life right now. Also she is in general going through a bad phase right now, so if I take her out now I won't know if her actions are due to not liking Little Gym anymore or to the bad phase.

It just is hard right now because Little Gym is basically the first thing we do on Mondays, and struggling with her not doing well is not how I want to start our week. To top it all of she is supposed to move up to the non-mommy and me class starting next Monday. I just don't know if that is a good idea right now. I want to let her try because she sometimes does better if I am not there, but would hate to do that to whatever poor teacher she may have next! I am going to talk to Mike about it and see what he thinks, but I think I am leaning more toward taking her out even though that makes me a little sad.

Kelsie's Birthday Take 2!

Today we celebrated Kelsie's birthday with several of her friends at Acrosports Gymnastics. It was really neat to see all the kids having such a good time! They had so much to do I think it was hard for them to figure out what to try next. They had an obstacle course set up, several trampolines, balance beams, a jump house with slide, a foam pit with a rope and set of bars you could jump off of, pleny of room to run around, and they even brought out some toys for the little ones. Kelsie's favorite activity was a toss up between the long trampoline and the parachute they did at the end. They had her get in the middle of the parachute, which she loves to do!

After playing in the gym it was cake and presents time. Of course that is probably every kid's favorite part! Kelsie really enjoyed her cake and loved opening all her presents. She came home and crashed for nap time. She is still sleeping and it is almost 4:30!

I am so glad we decided to have her party there instead of at home, because by the end I was exhausted! I was so thankful to have the clean up taken care of by the Acrosports staff.

Playdate with Taylor

We were invited to come play with Taylor Kelsie's longtime boyfriend and my friend Kirsten. It was really fun and relaxing. Kirsten and I got a chance to catch up and chit chat while the kids played chase, danced, and colored some bears that Kirsten drew. I call Taylor Kelsie's boyfriend, because they often hug each other and even kiss each other on the cheek particularly when they hang out on Kelsie's princess couch together. We have several cute pics of catching them in the act! Ah young love!







It was a wonderful start to what was a very beautiful and lazy day. We have had so much going on lately it was really nice to just have a little fun without any major running around in between!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kelsie!!

Today was Kelsie's 3rd birthday and it was a pretty full day! First thing this morning we wished her a happy birthday and asked how old she was today mainly because we were curious if she knew what it meant. Well she does she immediately said I'm 3 and got a huge smile on her face! She had MDO today and they did a little celebration for her and another little girl during their lunch. They made a hat for her that had the number 3 on it and I was very surprised that she wore it out to the car and let me take a couple of pictures with it on when we got home. Granted I told her she would get a special treat if she let me take some pictures, but that is still an accomplishment considering how much she hates things being on her head!

After school we took a long nap which is such a blessing since we had so much to do afterward. My parents came over and we took Kelsie back to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate (her actual party is on Sunday, but we wanted to do a family celebration today). She loved showing grandma and grandpa everything! She danced and sang when Chuck E. Cheese performed. Of course she played some games and was so excited to win tickets. She didn't understand what they were for last time, but this time she new tickets equals prizes so she was very happy when she got some! :)

We brought some cupcakes to celebrate. She got very excited when we started singing happy birthday to her. She even was able to blow out the candles without help this year!! That is such a huge accomplishment for her considering not even 6 months ago she couldn't blow anything not even a small piece of paper on a table. We have worked very hard on that skill, because it apparently is very important for speech development. After that she opened her presents which she loved of course.

Tonight we also went to celebrate Mike's award he received for his exceptional leadership during the last mission. We were all so proud of him! Kelsie didn't clap for anyone else but her daddy and there were a lot of awards. I was so happy that she behaved during the entire award portion of the ceremony, so we all (My mom and dad, Mike's mom, Kelsie, and I) got to see him receive his award. Again this too is a big deal, because Kelsie does not like to sit still long!






We came home and finished opening the presents we didn't finish at Chuck E. Cheese and the ones from friends and Grammy. She loved everything she got! By this time it was almost bedtime and you could tell. As soon as the grandparents all left and we started getting ready for bed the breakdown from the overstimulating day started! I wasn't surprised in the least, because we did way too much for one day!

Overall today was a wonderful day and I couldn't be prouder of Kelsie! It was such a beautiful and fun day spent with family. Kelsie was so thrilled to spend her birthday with all the grandparents!

ECI Graduation/Birthday Celebration

Today was our last appointment with Ms Janet our speech therapist and Ms Joyce our occupational therapist and thus was our official graduation from ECI. While it was sad to think that they won't be coming around anymore it was fun to reminisce about how far Kelsie has come since we first started working with them 21 months ago. When we first started Kelsie was non-verbal and had extreme difficulty adjusting to everyday life and activities. Thanks to these two wonderful ladies' help and encouragement we have come so far. Kelsie talks all the time and expresses some very complex thoughts for almost 3 year old (yes I realize that tomorrow she will be 3, but I am not rushing things so almost if fine for today!!). She also is able to express the things that are bothering her much better now, so we are able to help her cope with her sensory issues much better than before. I can't even express how much having Ms Joyce and Ms Janet has changed our lives. I will be forever grateful to both of them and will miss them dearly!

Instead of having a normal appointment today we celebrated Kelsie's birthday together. They brought cookies to decorate with icing and sprinkles. Kelsie had a blast! This has become one of her favorite activities lately. I think mainly because she gets to eat them when she is done!! She is very precise about how things should be done and didn't hesitate to dictate her "orders" to Ms Janet. It was fun!



They also brought Kelsie some presents. They brought her some dolls for the bathtub, a princess crown, some necklaces, and some stickers. Of course the first thing she went for were the necklaces that has been a favorite of hers since she was old enough to play with them. After they left I opened the dolls and Kelsie played with them for the rest of the day. She even came up ingenious plan to keep the clothing on the dolls. She would take the separate pieces and stick them together with the stickers she got! I was amazed that she came up with that all on her own. I never would have thought to do that!!

I am so glad that Ms Janet and Ms Joyce came up with the idea of having a party instead of a normal appointment, because it turned what was a kind of sad day into a great one! I am thankful to have those memories!!

Our First Visit to Chuck E. Cheese

Monday was Kelsie's good friend Sophia's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. I was really worried about how it would go for us, because Kelsie has never been there before and I always assumed it would be really loud and cramped. I was presently surprised that it was well lit, the games were spaced well so that it wasn't too cramped, and the noise level was not too bad. Granted it was not busy that day, so that I am sure helped a lot. It turns out that Kelsie loved it there. She learned how to put the tokens in the machine after only watching me once or twice and insisted that she do it from after that. She wasn't fond of any of the riding games due to their volume, but she played many of the others. One of her favorites was air hockey. She would get the puck in and start cheering for herself "I did it" with a big grin on her face! It was great to watch her really have some fun in a new setting!



She also LOVED Chuck E. Cheese (the animated mouse)! They have it setup that when he is performing the curtain around him is open and when he is done the curtain closes until the next performance. Well Kelsie thought that was the greatest. She got a huge kick out of checking to see if he was "hiding" between games. When he was out she would immediately run toward the stage saying "Mr. Cheese, Mr. Cheese come on Momma it's Mr. Cheese"! It was too funny to watch!

It is rare that we are the last ones to leave a party, but this time we were. Even when it was time to go she wasn't ready to leave. Unlike most kids that NEVER happens with Kelsie, so we will definitely take her back there. When we were on the way home in the car Kelsie even said "Mommy, Mr. Cheese is my best friend"!

New Year's Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, because I then beat myself up when I don't keep them. However I have decided to try them again this year. I thought if I write them down this time I will be more likely to work towards keeping them. So here goes...

1. Eat Healthier and hopefully get Mike and Kelsie to do the same
2. Exercise more
3. To have more patience especially when it comes to Mike and Kelsie
4. Take a little more time to myself (hopefully this will help with #3)
5. To cherish everyday and not take anything for granted - life is just too short

These are things I have already been working on I just hope that I can continue to do them throughout the year!