Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Still goin'

It has been a week since we have had a measurable fit. Sure we've had small fits, but those were more like tropical depressions or thunderstorms--no tornadoes! :) I took Lilli to a basketball game tonight at my school and she did really well. I was nervous because she had three mini-fits before we went. She played with another little girl that was there and climbed all over the bleachers. I didn't watch much of the game but it was nice to be out of the house.

Lilli's latest thing is screaming while bathing. Unfortunately for her I'm kind of a bath-Nazi. Lilli gets a bath almost every night. I can't stand stinky kids and I'll be darned if my kid is going to smell bad. I also know how dirty she gets during a day's play. She was loving the bath until just recently. She doesn't even want her toys in with her anymore. It's crazy. Once you think you've got one thing licked, something else takes its place.

I think I'm ready to start leaving Lilli with a real babysitter. I have several reliable older girls who would be willing to watch Lilli for pay. It would be nice not to have to rely on my mom all of the time to babysit.

We are signing up for a Parent/Toddler gymnastics class. It sounds like so much fun and looks like a great time for the kids. I can't wait to get back to cartwheels and somersaults! Ha!

Nothing much else going on. Todd took some great pix tonight so I will post some soon.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Gettin' in the groove

Twenty days have passed since my last post. Being a working mom is tough and by the end of the day blogging is the last thing on my mind. I really don't have that much to report. School is going fine and Lilli seems to like daycare. I can't really complain about anything right now.

Lilli is receiving speech therapy and developmental therapy once a week. These seem to be going well. She doesn't say many words with consistency, but she can sign complete sentences. Her signing vocabulary is fairly large and the signs make communicating easier. I know she still gets very frustrated at times and I do as well. Sometimes when she gets frustrated she throws a humdinger of a fit. She throws them often enough that we rate them like a tornado. An F5 is the strongest and an F1 would be mild. We haven't had many F1's. Last Wednesday she had an F5. It lasted for three hours. She screamed for so long and so loudly that I put some tissue in my ears to save my hearing. Nothing soothes her during these times and we don't usually know what, exactly, set her off. The F5 last Wednesday bothered us so much that we thought she might be hurt and need to go to the ER. It just wasn't normal.

My mom thinks Lilli may have mild attachment disorder. There are times when I think that may be a possibility. We are in the process of securing an Occupational Therapist to help us with sensory issues so Lilli can calm herself during a fit. You would have to see a fit to believe the severity of it. Lilli was in the midst of one of her fits (an F4) when the speech therapist came this week. The therapist was in complete shock and said she would have never thought that a fit could be so bad. I was glad that someone on the "outside" was able to witness one. I needed someone to take me seriously.

We are making plans for Chinese New Year and for Lilli's second birthday which is March 17 -- a St. Patrick's Day baby! I've got grand plans for that celebration and of course it involves green. By the time Lilli is 10 or 11 she will be begging me to not use green decorations at her birthday party.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

I can't believe it!

It has been such a long time since I posted anything. There have been so many changes since my last post that I don't even know where to begin. Obviously, Christmas happened as well as New Year's Eve. We got through those two events pretty much unscathed. Christmas was quite overwhelming for Lilli. It didn't take her long to figure out what to do with a brightly wrapped box! She was completely overstimulated by the end of the evening which cut our evening short and made for an early bed time. She got a lot of nice things and I think she enjoyed all of the "cousin" time.

Lilli stayed with my parents New Year's Eve and got some undivided attention from her Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura. I think they really enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with her. Laura hadn't seen Lilli since the first week we were home from China! That is almost six months! It will be six months on the 17th of this month.

I went back to work last Thursday. Lilli started going to daycare on December 27. So far, so good. The greatest thing about daycare is that our nights have gotten SO much better. I had to fight to keep Lilli awake until 7:00 tonight. After her bath, I put her down in her crib and she fell asleep almost immediately. We have been so grateful for the calm bedtime. It has made such a difference in so many things. Getting her to sleep in her own bed has been such a difficult thing for us. I am just so thankful that our (Todd's) hard work (and daycare) are paying off.

Another great thing since daycare is that Lilli has a few words that she uses consistently. One of them is HILARIOUS. It is more of a phrase, really, and we probably shouldn't encourage her to say it, but we think it is too cute. When somebody is doing something they shouldn't be doing or she doesn't like it, Lilli will point her finger at them and say, "top it!" (Stop it!)She also has a stern look that goes along with it. My sil said I shouldn't worry about her saying this and that it is no worse than a child saying "no, no." I guess. Her other words are puppy, mommy, daddy, bye-bye and sometimes baby. She is still very stubborn when it comes to talking. She does things on her own time and NO one is going to force her otherwise. I kind of like that about her.

I am finally starting to feel like we are a family. It has taken us six months to settle in and feel like we are parents and for Lilli to become used to us. What a wild ride!