Symmetry and Patterns

The other day I let Lila skip her nap and stay up with Savannah. Poor Adeline was sick and begging for her much needed nap. Savannah and Lila had the Play-Doh out and began demonstrating some interesting concepts. Savannah started out with patterns galore and finished off with a pattern cake stacked high. She eventually put together a presentation with symmetry as well. The girl really loves patterns!

 

I decided to see if Lila could recognize and complete a simple pattern. I didn't think she would be successful and don't know at what age simple patterns emerge. I was pleased to see her extend my simple Play-Doh ball pattern of red-purple-red-purple. She did it all on her own.

She wasn't too interested in repeating different patterns and moved on to cutting out a gingerbread man which she declared was Baby Jesus. Soon Baby Jesus had a binki and a Bunny.


Guess who was cutting Baby Jesus in half with a knife when I walked into the room a few minutes later?

Coloring

One of Adeline's many challenges is coloring.  It is also something that goes unnoticed by the untrained eye but will most likely lead to significant hurdles on down the road.  My last conference with her IU teachers concluded that it was too early to "work" on coloring.  I was encouraged to develop strength in her hands while also making her use two hands together.  Most children automatically hold their paper with one hand while the other is coloring but Adeline has to be reminded.  Things that help strengthen her grasp are activities that include tong-like tools and small objects.  We also rip paper, crinkle, paper and string various objects.  Working on coloring has not been on my radar since I have been focused on laying the foundation of a pencil grasp.

I am sure you can imagine my surprise when a couple of coloring pages ended up in her back pack (from her mainstream preschool).  They had scribbles with more than one color.  In the past, Adeline has HATED coloring.  It has been hard and unsuccessful.  Recently, I have seen some coloring come from her IU classroom too.  I am working on scheduling a conference to talk about this transition. 

The other night I had some one on one time with girls and I decided to try coloring with Miss Belle.  I didn't use hand over hand but talked about what colors we should use and where in on the coloring page they should go.  I also continually pointed to white space and asked Adeline to color it.   I had her color fast and slow, both of which she could do.  Her crayon worked its way out of her grasp numerous times but she kept going.  She clearly has more hand and finger strength because she can apply enough pressure to make solid marks.  It is a far cry from what seemed like a "greased-up, falling from her fingers, no pressure, crayon grasp" from a few months back.

Here is her picture of Big Bird.  It is her first complete coloring and I am more than thrilled.   The yellow is pretty hard to see but it is there!!

I also included a picture that Lila Grace did that same evening so that I can look back and track her progress as well.  She is coloring quite well when she is reminded to go slow and is working on drawing people and writing her name.

 

Her First Party

Adeline and Lila have both received their first birthday party invitation from someone outside of the family friend circle. I am floored that they are old enough to receive such invitations. It is very strange taking one and not the other, although in this case the other was invited which I graciously turned down.

Off Adeline went to her first birthday party this weekend. I need not list all of the things that could have made this event disastrous such as crowds and an unfamiliar house etc., but I must mention that I was well aware that it could be a pretty miserable experience.

Upon arriving Adeline stayed on my lap and hung pretty close which was the case for all of the girls??? Every now and then she was sucked into the cars and tractors. Eventually, she was full force into Batman helicopters and Star Wars helmets. She even took after the boys in their game of whacking the monkey puppet with a helicopter. Why do boys HIT everything??

Adeline sang Happy Birthday, ate her cake, gave Ms. Joan (the mother of the birthday boys, yes twins) a kiss goodbye. I ate up every comment such as this one, "Is she always this endearing." I pretty much said yes because if the stars align in her sensory world and she without sibling rivalry, Adeline is still my peace and calm with a dose of cuteness thrown in.

Here she is with one of the birthday boys.  She could tell you if it was Josh or Justin but I still haven't figured it out.

Taking part in some BOY fun! 

A Little Surprise

When coming home from work Friday night, I found this. . .

My bed turned down

A book about Heaven

A story written and illustrated by you know who

And a little keepsake box (unearthed from the infamous Goodwill pile) housing a secret message.


Sometimes I can't get over how thoughtful my oldest girl is.

Pulse Ox. . . What Pulse Ox?

We spent the better part of this week in North Carolina enjoying the company of our good friends and warm weather. It was meant to be a business trip for daddy and a mini vacation for the rest of us. Prior to leaving, Lila Grace had been sick with a significant cough, congestion, and fever. Of course it was only a matter of time before she gifted to her sister.

Knowing this, we continued on with our plans and packed the kids up for the seven hour drive which goes to show we are moving past the fear of illnesses. The first day was rather uneventful but beyond that, Adeline was battling a fever and cough that were eventually joined puking. I was very surprised that it hit her so hard. She was a tough patient to read because she perked up nicely at least once a day and was in pretty good spirits even if laying on her daddy's shoulder. The fever always spiked with sleep and did a number on her heart and respiratory rates. Yes, this is a typical reaction but was accentuated by her prematurity. Just when I was ready to tell Alex to hook her up (to the pulse ox), I realized that we forgot it. I was very surprised. So I laid by my girl while she slept and watched her chest rise and fall, her chin tuck into her chest, and nostrils flare with each breath. She was contracting at the top of her sternum but between the ribs seemed fine. Her heart was beating out of her chest too. It would have been much easier to hook her up and KNOW that she was fine and not headed down the road of hospital admission but I finally have the confidence in myself to know. Dr. Chidekel has used the, "you will know," phrase time and time again and a few years ago, I really doubted him. He was right. I knew. I knew she was fighting to breath and her heart was working double time but I also knew that she wasn't in a dire situation. Just for the record, I would have been much happier with the pulse ox and, subsequently, strapped it on her the moment we got home. In between the coughs and dry heaves the little girl said, "on my toe," in a very faint voice when I pulled it out.

I guess we aren't footloose and pulse ox free yet. . .

Here is a picture of Adeline after driving through the night to home, puking and dry heaving in our bed all morning, and fighting a fever to boot.  She was pretty confident that she could take her temperature without any help from me.

From the Mouths of Babes. . .

While driving Savannah home from school this week, I have enjoyed some no movie in the car time.  Instead, I listen to NPR which has a heavy focus on Haiti. A few segments have caught Savannah's attention which has given me the opportunity to broaden her horizons. The initial questions where simple like how does a building just fall down or what makes the earth shake. As time went on, her little mind dug deeper into the matter.

Here is today's conversation. Please note that I haven't turned on the TV since the quake and don't know much about the details. I have only caught bits and pieces on NPR.  I tried to respond to her questions the best I could.

S: Are the people, there helping, starting to build new house for the Haitians?

M: Right now they are focused on what the people need most, for example water?

S: Well, what are they going to do with all the stuff from the broken buildings? Don't they have to move it so they can build new ones?

M: That is one of the numerous problems that is not easily solved. It is going to take a long time.

After hearing a report of a child who lost his parents in the quake. . .

S: So that baby doesn't have any parents?

M: Yes, and there are many children that are in the same situation or separated from their parents.

S: I can't imagine being separated from you Mommy.

M: I don't want to think about it either.

S: I want to help the kids that don't have any parents. What can I do?

M: That is another one of the problems that the people, who are flying to Haiti to help, are trying to figure out. They are trying to decide the best way to help heal the children and their broken hearts.

S: We can do that. We can be their new family and maybe after a really long time, the children (meaning one child) will love us more than their first parents. Well, probably not, but maybe they will love us the same. But that is going to take a really long time.

M: How are we going to become a child's family? We are here and the child is in Haiti.

S: There are planes mommy. They children can fly here. We have a lot of extra love and we have a really good family because we are all so sweet. I think we can fix their broken hearts. Should we do that mommy?

M: It isn't that easy. The helpers in Haiti have to know for sure the child doesn't parents and then someone would have find a way to get the child onto the plane. It would also take a lot of effort from our family. Mommy and Daddy would have to spend a lot of time trying to make the child feel loved and safe.

S: Well, I know we can do that mommy.

M: Right now I am just giving money so that the doctors have the medicine they need to give to the sick people and that every person is able to drink clean water.

S: You mean a lot of the kids have to get shots (showing her age here)?

M: Yes, but they don't even care because things are so miserable for them right now.

S: Could you show me pictures of the earthquake because I am imagining something really bad in my head but I bet it is even worse? Are the news people still there taking pictures? I mean, I know they aren't happy pictures like we take. They are taking them so we know how bad it is right Mommy?

M: Yes, they are.

S: Mommy, I am going to give all my money to the WaWa (where I donate each day to the Red Cross). I mean, I don't really care about toys. They aren't important right now. I have $19.00. Don't you think that will really help the people. Of course I can't send my $9.00 Toys R Us coupons because those won't really help them. Even if there was a toy I really, really, wanted, I am still going to send all my money. Don't you think that is a nice thing for me to do?

M: I kiss and hug her and am humbled by her compassion.

Upon arriving home. . .

S: What envelope should put this money in so I can donate it tomorrow?

First Dentist Exam

Lila went to the dentist for the first time today.  She was a super star.  Miss Sara (a mom of Lila's classmate) made sure to make her feel extra safe and comfortable.  She explained everything and asked before she did anything.  Lila Grace was thrilled to get up into the chair and felt super important when Miss Sara let her wear a rubber glove.  Soon, she was laying back with sunglasses on to block the bright light.  She opened wide and proved to be a pretty good brusher.  Her teeth look great which is nice to hear since I let Miss Grace to most the brushing these days.

On the flip side, she has a super high palate which will likely need expansion and a fairly large open bite accompanied by a tongue thrust.  No surprise there.  We noticed her forward, lower jaw and tongue immediately after bringing her home from the NICU.  Although she still uses a binki, it is likely that the ventilator tubes and all the various equipment she had in mouth during her NICU stay were the culprits.  Since Adeline suffers from the same problem, we might want to start socking some money away for our more than likely long relationship with orthodontia.