Fun Therapy and Random Joy Pictures

Joy had both communication and OT this week.  Her communication therapy is going to increase to twice a month starting in January – yeah Joy!

First, parachute – so fun!  She was leaving to make a sound or a movement and we would respond.  We were working on shake and up. 

We continue to read.  Joy thinks you have to point to look at a book.  It’s so cute!

Working on in and out. (and no, she’s not really standing there)

 

Working on up and down.

Now onto OT:  You want me to walk behind that thing?  Are you kidding me?  :)

 

Also working on “on” and “off”

Now onto the random pictures of Joy:

Joy, the angel

Joy discovered the cabinet

Joy in the leaves – we call them Texas Snow!  :)

  

18 Month Check-Up

Joy looks great according to her doctor.
She is weighing in at 20 pound 10 ounces.
She is 30 inches tall.
That puts her at the 75% for both weight and height on the DS charts.
She also got two shots...and a lollipop!

And............a referral to the ENT. Her right ear did not pass the hearing test.
Sigh! I was talking to someone just yesterday about Joy and the fact that we haven't had any ear infections or fluid on her ears. I spoke too soon.
I'll let you know what the ENT says.

A picture of Joy today BS (before shots) :)

18 Months Old!

For Joy’s 18 month birthday, we composed this list:

Reasons We Love Joy

1. She’s happy!

2. Her laugh is so cute!

3. She crawls like Mowgli.

4. She says, “Hi!”

5. She is so sweet.

6.When other people are sad, she tries to comfort them.

7. She loves to play.

8. She loves ice cream.

9. She kisses me.

10. She blows raspberries.

11. She’ll eat whatever you eat.

12. Her first word was '”Dada.”

13. She has a cute tongue.

14. She’ll gladly play with you.

15. She plays peek-a-boo with her blankets.

16. She loves music!

17. She’s cuddly.

18. She loves everyone!

Thanksgiving and Crawling

This is Joy and her cousin Victoria.

Joy enjoying her pre-dinner turkey. This year she actually ate turkey. Last year it was the jarred stuff. She didn't like it last year. She loved it this year!



And finally, I have been trying to capture how Joy crawls. Finally - I got it! Enjoy!

Self Feeding

The time has come for Joy to start feeding herself.

She is doing well, but she is making a HUGE mess!  Don’t you just love the morning hair?  :)  Her therapist jokingly said at least oatmeal is good for the skin!  :)

Self feeding means LOTS of baths.  :)

Communication Therapy

Today Miss Kari came for Communication Therapy. Joy is at such a fun stage - she is beginning to learn to imitate - which is how we learn language. Yeah!

Washing our hands in the parachute

We practice sounds in the hollow container - it makes a fun echo!

You want me to move behind this thing? You are kidding, right?

Stacking??

We have a tooth!

Fun and exciting news!  We have felt (!) and seen our first shiny and sharp little tooth!  Wahoo!

Not being a dentist, I can’t tell you which tooth it is, but I am going to make an educated guess.  I think it’s the First molar – it’s pretty far back there on her right side, upper jaw.

Here is a chart for normal tooth eruption (www.drgreene.com):

Eruption of Primary or Deciduous Teeth
	Upper	Lower
Central incisors	6-8 months	5-7 months
Lateral incisors	8-11 months	7-10 months
Cuspids (canines)	16-20 months	16-20 months
First molars	10-16 months	10-16 months
Second molars	20-30 months	20-30 months

 

And then from a DS website (http://altonweb.com/cs/downsyndrome/index.htm?page=desai.html):

“Tooth eruption is delayed in timing and sequence.”

So very true!!  :)

A couple pictures for the fun of it

Joy was NOT going to look at me!

Playing with a car

Santa Joy

Another bath post – I can’t help myself!

We thought her bubbles looked like a fun Santa beard!  :)

Joy had therapy yesterday.  She did so well.  She was able to cruise for two steps – more than one.  She put toys “in” for the therapist.  She has never done that for me!  :)  And we worked on the stairs – she has one stair she'll do for Miss Carolyn.

When Daddy came home, he got her to go all the way up the stairs – way to go Joy!

Daddy is also working on helping Joy walk.  Joy isn’t too thrilled, but it’s the next step.  When Miss Carolyn tried the same exercise, Joy knew what to do.  She wasn’t pleased, but she recognized that she had to move her feet.

She is doing so well!

These pictures are for last week’s therapy:

Swinging

Have I mentioned how much Joy loves to swing?

and swing?

and swing?

Joy and Her Daddy

Joy loves her Daddy! She is trying to move beyond 'dada' to "Dad - E". Really cute!

Kissing

Joy loves to kiss! She is getting better. At first it was the total open mouth face plant. She is moving toward closing her mouth. She is very intent on giving kisses!


Joy and Linda (our family friend) kissing

Joy determined to plant one on Lizzy!

Dentist

Joy saw the dentist today! Joy has both our private insurance and medicaid - which is such a blessing, but such a pain. Medicaid has all of these rules. For example, they want Joy to see a dentist every six months. She has no teeth - not one. Too bad, the great state of Texas feels that she needs to see a dentist. They keep telling me so in letters. Sigh. If you don't use your private dental insurance, no one yells at you. :)

Sammi went to our wonderful pediatric dentist today. I was explaining everything and hoping they would accept our insurance and maybe, just maybe, use medicaid as a secondary insurance. Normally, they don't see children until they are three, unless there is a problem - like poor Jessi. Wonder of wonders, Dr. Lewis accepts medicaid, and not just medicaid, our particular kind of medicaid, Texas Health Steps. As Dr. Lewis says, God is watching out for us! Yeah!

So what were her findings? She stuck her fingers in Joy's mouth and told me she doesn't have any teeth! :) We'll go back in six months. Crazy, crazy.

Therapy x 2!

Joy had both communication and OT this week!

First just an adorable picture of Joy and Becca!

We are working on on/off and in/out.

 

She also anticipated a reaction and was doing some mimicking – essential to speech!  Yeah Joy!

I just threw this in because I think it’s cute!

In OT Joy is working on shifting her weight so she can start to cruise.  And we worked on the stairs – ugh.  I’m going to need some gates soon!

Oil Ranch and Pumpkins!

We went to Oil Ranch and had a wonderful time!
Miss Joy in her seat of comfort

Grandma helping Joy touch the goat

On the hay ride

This is the pumpkin I choose!

Joy today

I was right - Joy wanted nothing to do with her bottle today. :)

I had to post this video of the girls - it's on our school blog http://kleintexasacademy.blogspot.com/ but some of you won't be interested in that blog. So I wanted to include it here.
We are currently studying Switzerland and yodeling came up. The girls had so much fun! Look at Joy's face!

Joy held her bottle

We have wanted her to do this forever! She may never do it again. But we found a good motivator! Apple Juice!

Crawling

Houston, we have acheived crawling! At least Joy's version. :) She is really fast.
She uses her two hands, one knee, and one foot. It's really cute.

Therapy

We are working on moving our feet! A pre-requisite to cruising.

Getting some love and motivation from Lizzy! Her poor hair! :)


I didn't take this video, and it's only about 2 seconds long, but........
Joy is working on stairs. It all goes together. It's all about moving those legs.
But you can see her cheering squad! :)
I keep wondering WHY are we doing this? If we teach her to climb the stairs, then I'm going to have to put a gate on them because I don't want her on the stairs!
Crazy things we do!

We had to lower Joy's crib tonight

We put Joy into her crib tonight and she decided she wasn't ready to go to sleep. She then pulled herself up to standing! Her therapist would be so proud! We loved it. We took pictures and immediately lower her crib mattress. Silly, sweet baby!

Turkish Festival

On Saturday we went to the Turkish Festival. I had several reasons to go:
1. The food!
2. Cultural experience for the kids
3. Joy's birthfather was born in Turkey

I have never met Joy's birthfather. I have a brief bio written about him. I know how tall he is. I know where he was born. But what does he look like? As I walked around the festival and looked at all of these men that have the same color skin and hair as my baby, I wondered, "Is this what my baby's father looked like?" I don't know. I do know that he and her mother made a beautiful, beautiful baby girl. I am grateful to them that we have her.

Here is Joy trying Turkish food: As with ALL food, she loved it!


I like to call this picture: "Enough with pictures already, let's eat!"

And a fun video of Bec and her playing ball at the festival. Her therapists would be so pleased. We have been working on taking turns and rolling balls.

16 months!

Joy is now 16 months old. She is working on getting some teeth. She has all four of the front ones working their way down and she's working on some molars - ouch! What a birthday present!

She is a funny duck. She has all of these bright, noisy toys to play with

but this morning all she wanted was the sock ball that Becca had made. Go figure! :)