End of Party Hugs

Mena giving Grandma and Grandpa hugs before the party ended.

Blowing out Candles

Mommy helped Mena blow out the candle for her birthday. The cake was also for Tyler who turned one at the end of August, but Tyler got sick the day of the party so his brother Peyton blew out his candle. I made a spice cake and bought the candy decorations to put on top.

Party with Mommy's Side of the Family

Saturday, September 18th, Grandma and Grandpa Frye, Aunt Beth and Peyton, and Aunt Peggy, Uncle Jon, and Jake all came to our house to celebrate the fall birthdays. Mena got books and clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Frye. The funny part is that the card was musical and she ripped it trying to figure out where the music was coming from! She got a playdough kitchen from Aunt Beth, Uncle Tim, Peyton, and Tyler. She got a baby and stroller from Aunt Peg, Uncle Jon, and Jake. Mena's played with all of the new toys a lot since the party!

Reading with Mommy

I went into the bedroom thinking I could read my novel while Mena hung out in the living room with Daddy. Mena decided to come read with me.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

On Saturday, September 11th, Mena came out to find a pink tricycle with a red package on the back for her birthday. Her legs aren't quite long enough to reach the pedals or floor even with the seat in it's lowest position so she's going to have to grow a bit more before she can ride it. She loves the tassles and the bell. The red package had a new children's Bible that she won't have to share with the daycare kids and a new Veggie Tales dvd. She doesn't watch much tv but she has started to realize that there are some interesting things that come onto the tv. She probably thought sports was all that came on the tv until we started turning it to Nick Jr. She likes the Wonder Pets and the Backyardigans and will pay attention to them for about 10-15 minutes before she goes back to her toys. I don't turn the tv on at all during the daycare day so tv is a special evening activity.

Mena now has a total of 8 teeth on the bottom and 6 teeth on top. We can see 2 teeth about to break through on the top between her front teeth and her 1 year molars. 2 year molars do not appear to be coming in yet. I had put away all the size 2 clothes but when it was time to start wearing pants, I discovered that size 3 pants are way too long for her (like 4-5 inches too long!). So Mena's capri's and pants are size 2 while her tops and shorts are size 3. Mena got a new pair of tennis shoes in size 7 now.

Mena's latest new word is "no." Most parents do not get excited when their child learns this word, but Gene and I are excited with this new skill of hers. Mena's been biting when she gets mad and we're hoping the biting will decrease as she learns to use the word "no" more frequently.

Mena continues to receive services from LPS. Mommy had to have a meeting with her teacher, the teacher's supervisor, and a speech pathologist to get a few things going in the direction that would be best for Mena and things seem to be progressing nicely now. LPS was of the opinion that we should teach Mena more sign language since she still isn't speaking very many words verbally, but Gene and I noticed that the words she is saying verbally are all words that she doesn't know sign language for. She seems more motivated to speak a word when there is no other alternative way to communicate what she wants to say. Another words, we've created a need for her to speak and she now has about 12 verbal words that we recognize when she speaks to us. LPS did a screening right before her birthday which showed language (18 months), Gross Motor (20 months), Fine Motor (24 months), Problem Solving (22 months), and Personal-Social (24 months). Gene and I are very pleased with her progress. It's hard to believe a year ago Mena was first being diagnosed with a developmental delay and I was quiting my job to stay home with her. That was the best decision Gene and I ever made and it shows in her progress.

Last year we applied to get Mena into Early Head Start and was told we were on the waiting list. This year Mena got a spot. Ruth comes to our house weekly. So far I can't really say what Ruth will be able to do for Mena because all we've done is fill out paperwork and have a screening done on Mena. EHS determined that Mena is delayed in language and gross motor which matches with the results from LPS' screening so that came as no surprise to us.

Mena had her 2 year check up with Dr. Bernhardson. She is 35 3/4 inches tall (90%), 29 pounds 12.8 ounces (nearly 90%), and her head is 19 inches (about 75%). Gene and I were concerned with how the prune juice and apple juice were doing to keep Mena regular and specifically that we were still finding blood on her bottom when we wiped her. The doctor thought we should try putting Mena on Miralax to keep her regular and then we should be able to get Mena to drink other fluids, like milk and water which she is currently not getting enough of since I was pushing the juice so much to prevent constipation. We have also switched her to skim milk which is supposed to not contribute to constipation like fatty milks do. Once the Miralax has her going regularly then I will begin decreasing the amount of juice she gets and increasing her milk and water intake.

The next big change in Mena's life will be moving to a new house. We are under contract with Tabitha to sell our current house on October 6th. We are also under contract to close on our new house October 8th. We're currently in the process of getting all that's involved with those 2 contracts taken care of. My goodness selling and buying is a complicated process, but everything should work out so that we have about 6 weeks to get settled into our new house before baby Maggie makes her appearance into our family.

Science Time

At this point in her life, Mena seems very interested in nature. We frequently find locust skins stuck to the slide in the backyard. Mena will gently pull it off the slide and then study it closely. She always breaks it apart piece by piece as she studies it. We have a walnut tree in our backyard. A storm knocked a bunch of unrip walnuts into the yard. The kids were using them as balls. One afternoon I decided it would be interesting to see what it looked like on the inside. I broke it open and let Mena pull the pieces apart. She was undaunted by the worms crawling inside; she pulled the worms off and laid them to the side as she continued pulling piece by piece off or out of the walnut. Little did I realize that walnuts stain your hands a dark brown. So far 48 hours later we both still have stains on our hands and I've heard that people use walnuts to make a permanent dark brown ink so it looks like it may take awhile for this to wear off. Don't think we'll be doing that science experiment again!

Day Time Activities

Here's a few of the regular activities we've been doing during the daycare day. Playdough, glittering, painting with regular paint and watercolors, cooking together, and drawing. The kids are really enjoying all the art supplies I stocked up on with back to school sales!

Mena and Traven

Mena enjoys having Traven to play with everyday. There are moments where they seem a bit more like siblings with their arguing, but for the most part the kids get along really well! Here they are dancing on the mattress (good activity for improving Mena's balance according to LPS), sharing the car in the backyard, and reading books.

Labor Day Weekend

 

 

I took Mena to Fremont to visit with my mom and grandparents. We saw Grandpa at Edgewood for about an hour. Then Mena and I went to the park while Mom and Grandma helped to feed Grandpa and another resident. Grandma, Mom, Mena, and I ate our supper at Wendy's and then went back to Grandma's house to play. In these pictures Mena is putting stickers on their hands. It was the day of the first Husker game so Mena is dressed in her Husker gear!

Dance With Me

Mena and I went to see No Better Cause at SouthPointe Mall on Friday, August 27th. I bought their cd and here Mena and Traven are dancing to "Dance with Me" the next week.

Offutt Air Show

We drove up to Omaha on August 28th. The website said parking on Offutt Air Force Base would be crowded so they recommended we park at one of 5 locations and use their shuttle buses to come to the base. I parked at Bellevue West High School, we put Mena in her stroller to get across the parking lot to the school bus, and then to our surprise she started crying when we got her out of the stroller and tried to get her on the bus. The bus driver took the stuff that was in my hands so I could pick her up and carry her onto the bus since Gene was carrying the stroller. She shook and cried as I held her on the seat. She did stop crying but clung to me the entire ride. She got a little braver on the ride back to our car when we left. She sat up and waved at a baby sitting across from us on the ride back.

While at the Air Show, Gene took her on a pedal plane. Her feet couldn't reach the pedals so I think Gene did most of the work! We got to go inside lots of different air planes. She never once acted scared of the planes like she did the bus! It was a fun morning but when it was time for lunch I, being the pregnant mommy, decided the three of us should leave the show and go eat at an air conditioned restaurant! We ate at Burger King and then Mena took a nap in the car on the way home.

Riding a Froggie

If you look back at May's posting "Riding a Froggie" and compare it to this one, it is amazing how much she's changed!

Ready to be a Big Sister

Mena looks like she's ready to help out with her little sister :)

Lincoln Children's Zoo

Mena and I took our last trip to the zoo on August 20th. Her favorite exhibit was the fish tank. I sat her on the turtle statue and the little animal to her right moved and scared her. She was not thrilled with me for putting her up there. In the bug house she got a close up look at the meal worms and also got to pet a cockroach (I made myself be brave and touch it first to show her it was ok). Mena thought it fun to climb inside the egg shell at the end of our trip around the zoo. Mena still had energy and I let her lead the way back to her favorite building. She picked up the phone and watched the animal behind the glass but the funny thing was that I couldn't get the phone to work so she's listening to nothing! We were the only people in the building at this point so when she got off the phone she found a step stool and carried it around looking in all the exhibits. She was so proud of herself!