progress

Emily at age 3 is now showing a much higher sensitivity to things she eats, she touches or that touch her. Sensory processing disorder is the technical term. She goes through periods of not wanting to get into the bath water or wanting her hands washed. She has a look of desperation on her face when her body touches the water.

*note* Emily's sensitivity to the bath changes from time to time.

Her menu is still pretty small, but still includes rotini noodles, french fries, Cheez It's, Vanilla Wafers & Teddy Grahams. She will now only drink milk & occasionally water. She has been know to request the Cheez It's for every meal with her PECS cards. I guess I am not getting the mother of the year award with that one.

Her tolerance for the outdoors has gotten lower. She would much rather stay inside and watch her DVD's. That doesn't stop us from trying to get her outside more often. We have noticed that she is more likely to come outside when the sun isn't shining & it's a little cooler.

Emily loves to sit with a basket of Little People and plays with them for hours. She can identify them all by name. {She does not like Play Dough}

Emily is also starting to using signing more & more. She is consistently using the sign for cracker, elephant, train, eat, more, bath & milk.

Emily started her speech therapy this past March 2009 & was responding to it quite well. So far she said these words: ball, bath, duck, bear, dog, mama, dada & NO. (a couple of times we've heard her say JOE while watching Blues Clues) They are not all super clear & not always consistent but we know what she is trying to say. Sometimes she will say her words as clear as day, and then never say them again. It's almost like she never learned them. That also goes for some of the actions she learns, like waving goodbye. She does it for awhile & then never again.

We were so proud to watch her pointing to things in a book and trying to sound the word out. She was also starting to use some signs on her own like bed, choo choo train, doll, baby, hat, monkey, eat & more.

We take each day one at a time, each thing that Emily learns One Step At a Time.

Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward, one step back . Life with a chromosome deletion. There are new things we learn every day and there are things that are still a mystery to us.

One Step Forward for a little girl - who, at one time liked going outside & now doesn't.

One Step Forward for a little girl who once loved the bath & now has a look of desperation in her eye when her body touches the water because of her now oversensitivity to things she touches.

One Step Forward for a little girl who once ate anything she was given & now has a menu of about 5 items because of a sensory integration disorder.

One Step Forward in her learning, in her milestones and in her communication with us.

This is our journey.......our road of uncertainties & unknowns...........but it's God's plan for us and we will travel it together.

Emily at age 2 is a sweet natured little girl who loves to look at books, watch DVDs & now that she can walk ~ also loves to go outside. She is now picking out the DVD's she wants to watch and handing it to me to start for her. (She will watch the same movie several times a day). Right now, The Heffalump Movie is at the top of her pile. She does occasionally change favorites, watching the same DVD for a week or more. Emily knows each & every DVD she has. She will only eat certain foods ~ french fries, plain rotini noodles, vanilla wafers & graham crackers. (drinks include milk & apple juice only) Emily also likes to stuff alot of food in her mouth at once. She definately can understand alot more than she can convey to us. I think that one day she is going to just burst out and tell us all sorts of things that she couldn't before. (he he) Emily has mild sensory issues...... she is very cautious about new things she touches, sometimes sits in the bath tub with her feet in the air, getting her into the sandbox took all summer & she doesn't really like people or the sun touching her. She will usually look to another person for approval & clap for herself after a job well done.

Emily has sleep issues...... some nights it takes a very long

time for her to fall asleep & then she will wake up several times

during the night (sometimes even staying awake for hours).

{update 5/2009} Emily is currently taking 3mg of Melatonin in

the evening to aide in a proper sleep routine.

We love to watch her progress & always get excited when she

discovers new things she can do. She's our little POOH & we are

blessed to have this special little girl in our lives!

You can also stay updated on what's new & exciting on our family

blog called Pooh's Corner.