Peanut's Newest Tricks

Looking back over my last few posts, I realized I haven't told you about all the new tricks Peanut has. She has been very busy this last month, learning and surprising all of us. Not to mention she had her half birthday this week, and is now 18 months old. I can hardly beleive it! Where has the time gone, we just had har first birthday last month, wasn't it? Before I know it she'll be in school and running around driving me crazy...wait a minute, she kinda does that already....Anyway back to her new tricks where to start? Well, lets start at the top and work our way down.
In the cognitive/developmental department, she is getting it! Yesterday we had vision in to work with her, and the vision therapist calls me in the room and says watch this. We have a book with a picture of a xylaphone in it. We also have a xylaphone that Peanut loves to beat on, it looks different from the one in the book, but you can tell they are the same thing. Well, apparently Peanut could tell they were the same thing too. The therapist asked Peanut whats this? Peanut lookos at he book and turns to her toy and beats on her toy. Then the therapist asks her where her toy is in the book. She stops playing with the toy and points at the picture in the book. After turning the book upside down, backwards, and repeating it. Peanut picked her xylaphone and matched them each time. Way cool brain synapses going on here people! We also were able to cross off her IEP the finding covered pobjects and object permanance, she so gets it, in fact the developmentalist and I were joking that she is bored with the can you find it games.
In the Speech department, in the last three weeks Peanut has discovered her voice. She sits and chats up a storm, baba, dada, lala, mama, varying the tones, intonations, and orders of the consanent vowels. While she is doing great and has /m, b, d, l, g, n, p/ consanents, she basically only has /a, o/ as vowels. WE've got work, but we are so excited to hear her! She will scream from the other room to get your attention, or even from right next to you if yoiu are paying enough attention to her. Very cool!
We have also been very social this last month and it seems to have worn off on PEanut. She is very interested in babies and wants to interact with them. She tries to touch them, and talk to them. She shared her toy a couple of weeks ago...I am not exagggerating. She was playing with a toy and a little boy a few months younger then her was trying to get it from her. She stops, looks at him, hands him the toy, reaches across midline and gets another toy for herself, and goes back to banging her blocks together. I could not beleive it, until she did it again this weekend with another child. Similar circumstances, but she shared!
In the gross motor/PT department she is cruising along the surface of a couch, if you give her incentive. She will walk holding onto your hands, and has been working hard at walking holding onto only one hand. Peanut is on the move on her butt, butt scooting, and hopping along on her little bum. You can leave her in one spot, only to find her stuck behind the door clear across the room in ten minutes, sometimes less.
In the OT/food department, she is FINALLY getting the hang of drinking from a cup. We have been encouraging using a nosy cup (the cups with the cut outs so you don't have to tilt your head back to get the liquid, instead the cup and fit past your nose). It seems to be working as she is taking 1-2 oz a day by cup. Otherwise we have discovered that she really likes to eat soups. It seems to help to have a textured item in with the liquid, it cues her to swallow the liquid. So I have been busy increasing my repertior of soups. So far we have made Yellow Split pea, Cream of Sweet potato, Carrot and spinach soup, chicken soup, mushroom barley soup, and of course beef and noodle. Of all of the soups Peanut likes the Yellow split pea one the best. I think it is pretty good too. I'll try to post the recipe later, for those of oyu who might like to try it. Pooping is going much better, she goes 2-5 times a day, and is not crying at all! Yippy!
This week we are going to the hospital for our overnight stay to do another sleep study. The first one they did was not a real one, it was only a partial sleep study, this one is the real deal, full blown sleep study. So we will be having a sleepless night at the hospital. As long as everything is fine and we don't come home with any germs, we'll be ok.
This has turned into the total brag post, but she has changed and grown so much and I have been too busy going on about myself anf my son, that Peanut got left in the dust. As I am typing this, Peanut is trying to get at my sons hot chocolate, which he took a drink from and put down on the floor. Little does he realize that Peanut hops and scoots across the floor to get at things...speaking of which she has completed her journey across three feet and is trying to figure out how to drink the cocoa. Oops, James came back to rescue his drink, she's crying now. Guess I should try to give her some in her nosy cup.... have a happy day guys!