Sunday, May 13, 2018

2 Months Home Update

We are just past 2 months home and are hopefully past the steepest adjustment! This month showed lots of progress and Samira is clearly getting more comfortable at home. I’m privileged to be a stay at home mom who can keep a routine M-F quite consistent. Harlyn being at school keeps us pretty on schedule with drop off and pick up to work around. Samira’s pediatrician referred us to some early childhood development specialists and she scored low enough to qualify for their services. Most of her development was falling around the 12 month mark. It will be nice to have therapists help us work with her and it’s super nice that they come to our house too! Their evaluation is very helpful for us in identifying areas she is behind on. We've had to not look at all the progress to go yet but look back and how much progress she's already made. When we do look at where we were at a month or two ago, we see how much we've already worked past.
 
Language
We haven’t changed much in this in the last month but we know she understands a lot of what we say –especially “no”  (and doesn’t like it!) She says some words but they are more universal—like “nana” (not just for bananas but all snacks she wants) “dada” (many different people) She can mimic sounds so a lot of things she might repeat that sound like “all done” “thank you” and we are working on “up”. She is very good at signing please, all done, more and we continue to work on thank you. She can also say “baby” it sounds like. English is her second language, but her speech is about at a 7-8 month old level.
 
Physical Development
This month she started walking!! It was certainly fun and exciting to get to witness this milestone and be a part of it. Just as we suspected she seemed like she knew how to do it, just was refusing to. Once she had a bigger audience (grandma and grandpa) she liked the response when she took some steps and then proceeded to do it over and over! Just like that, it was almost overnight that she went from crawling to walking. She likes to climb up on things now if she can like a bed or small table. This is one big developmental thing a physical therapist is coming for—to work on her weak muscle tone in her abs and legs. Visibly her hair is growing in her bare spots and she sprouted teeth so fast. When we took custody she had 4 teeth, two of which were hardly through the skin and now she has 8. We are still working with her pediatrician to get some things figured out and possibly diagnosed. I waited until this month to take her in when she was more comfortable with us but it just takes time to get all the appointments and tests done.
 
Sleep
She continues to mostly sleep through the night about 11 hours in a crib in our room. Sometimes she clunks right out and sometimes she takes an hour to go to sleep—we aren’t sure what affects that. More and more we are able to sneak out of the room while she is falling asleep so we don’t have to be in there until she is asleep. She now naps 1x during the day going down between 11-12 and then up before 3 when we have to get Harlyn. Doing only one nap has really helped me have a chunk of time in the day with both her and Lawson sleeping at the same time.
 
Food
Toddler pickiness is setting in and we have some typical issues with rejecting lots of foods (typically the healthier ones!) She likes a lot of fruits (bananas still every day) and this month seems to really like protein more—she’ll eat meat pretty well. She still loves her eggs and bananas for breakfast most mornings but now likes cereal a lot too. She still is like a magnet to any open cupboards or baggies with food and you can’t rustle a wrapper without her demanding some too. I think she would eat all day long if we let her. Food is one of the things she is very possessive and emotional about too—don’t you dare take a bag of snack or food from her—or risk the wrath.
 
smoothies require eating outside and no clothes
 
Attachment
This is something we kind of shrug at when people ask us because we are not experts and haven’t done this before. She definitely is attached to me and prefers me if I’m an option. (with the exception of grandma probably) We still haven’t tried real separation from both of us but we are hoping to working toward that sometime in the month of May. I think she’ll be find especially with a grandma and siblings around so we will start very gradual. I was recently reading an attachment book and was encouraged by the checklists they gave for how she responds to us—I think she is doing very well. I think a lot of this is still getting to know eachother through and through. She’s made slow but steady progress with Troy—one big moment happened this week that was pretty exciting—she hates grass and refuses to go on it willingly (even if you’re right by the edge.) She will stand at the edge and will wail for you to come get her or will freak out if she falls in it. One evening Troy was going down the hill and she clearly wanted to go with him and he stopped and said “Okay, come to me” She pranced around a little bit, we thought she’d never do it but surprise surprise she took these hilarious high stepping steps to get to him. We were pretty proud of her and I think Troy’s heart was warmed that she overcame her grass aversions to get to him! We are finding she never likes to be passed from me to Troy or to have Troy take her from me (unless that’s to ride on the tractor with him) but she will be fine with him picking her up if she’s down. It's easier for her to be okay with him if I am not an option too (either gone or outside the house)--so that at least gives me a break to go for a run or walk after Troy gets home.
 
Sibling Relationships
Harlyn and Asher continue to be good older siblings to Samira and Lawson is coming along. His and Samira’s relationship is getting a little less rocky. They still need a lot of supervision I think more due to age and need than because of Lawson being knocked out of his place as baby. He seems to be trying his antics less frequently that push her buttons. She does know how to sound the alarm when he does something she doesn’t like--- like hanging around her food or highchair. We’ve noticed lately she seems to have chosen a favorite sibling who she goes to willingly—he is home with her all day, always compassionate and sympathetic, always kissing her and never takes her food or hurts her.  You can guess which brother that may be. đŸ˜‰ This past week Lawson and Samira had a fun moment that gives us hope they'll continue to adjust to eachother--she learned how to splash in the bath and he would do it with her and they were both giggling side by side.


Sandy bringing competitive siblings together for fun

 
Going Out
She is definitely most comfortable and independent at home from what I’ve noticed. When we go out we notice increased clinginess and neediness which shows home is her safe space (a good thing) and we have to continue to restrain some of our activities and outings. It is more intimate settings that she seems to be more needy yet in larger settings with lots of people, noise and chaos she toddles around freely enjoying herself. (Harlyn’s school activity just this week as an example) We've been able to do some fun stuff and activities this month though and they've all went pretty well even with travelling. She isn't fond of being in the carseat for long trips and will verbally let us know that :)
 
first visit to Uncle Shaun's CFA
 
 
Playing
She still doesn’t get wrapped up in toys but is starting to show interest in stacking bowls and picking up things and putting them in a container (my only one who does that for fun!) There is one toy she will stop to play with and that’s a little hammer that hits balls through a maze. She likes going outside and going on the trampoline. She loves to be in the bathtub now and play in cupboards. Dance parties with music cranked is a favorite activity with her big siblings.
 
Likes: baths, food and snacks, tickling, copying the big sibs, tractor rides, elderly women, smoothies
 
Dislikes: grass, not getting her way, having a bag of snacks taken away/not allowed to hold it herself
grandma and grandpa visit!
 
 
 
 

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