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.
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