Simple Pleasures

Well, where has another month gone?!  It's my favorite time of year, and like always, it's going by so fast.  We've been keeping busy with our many appointments, and life in general.  We have had the sleep study, glad to say that is over and done with; but I'm going to wait and post more detail and pictures once we have results back (should be this coming week).  So, I just wanted to get a few recent pics up for all of you to enjoy!

A bit on milestones.  I think, for the most part, the average person thinks of milestones for children to mean things like crawling, pulling to stand, standing, walking, etc.  Don't get me wrong, those are certainly milestones, but there are many, many more small ones in between that don't get celebrated or recognized...unless you have a child that struggles to achieve them.  In the world of physical therapy for a child with low muscle tone, there are so many steps in between all of those milestones I listed above.   Ella had missed physical therapy for a month, so when her PT saw her again after a month, she was so impressed at what she was doing.  She still army crawls like a pro, I swear faster than we walk, sometimes.  She's very curious, wants to know what's going on, and certainly doesn't want to miss anything.  She is getting really good at "pulling up", and this is a great strengthening exercise for her.  I don't mean that she is pulling to stand, but the little step before that, in which little ones pull their upper bodies up and over things, like pillows and even someones legs (like mom and dad's).  For Ella, it's ALL about motivation.  If you put the right motivator (ie: food or favorite toy or something she's not supposed to have, like the TV remote) on the other side of your legs, she'll generally pull herself over you to get to it.  That leads me to post these next few pictures.  I think to the average parent, once your kiddo is tearing apart your kitchen cupboards, your thinking of child proofing and doing what you can to keep them out of there - because all they are doing is making another mess for you to clean up.  Well, I'm ecstatic to say, "Ella is in the tupperware cabinet!", and I'll clean up her mess a thousand times, I don't care.  To us, it's just such an accomplishment, a "milestone", if you will.  Firstly, to have the gross motor ability to get there, then sit up, then open the cabinet and take out all it's contents; and secondly, to cognitively have the interest and curiosity.  So, even though I don't own a single piece of tupperware (doesn't everyone still call it tupperware, even though it's not?!), I'm more than happy to keep this cabinet well stocked, without a safety lock, for her to rip apart as many times a day as she pleases.  Not to worry, we will be adding safety locks to the other cabinets that we don't want her to get in to; but thankfully we have an old clintonville home with sticky cabinets that are really hard to get open!

The red bowls seem to be a favorite!

Ella has taken to sitting at the front door, watching the world go by.  Grahm says she's longing for her own puppy...do you think that's Ella's wish or daddys?!



We got out and enjoyed one of those nice weekend days we had a few weeks back.  Ella has been going to Highbanks since she was in utero, but we've never tried her in one of the baby swings.  Quite honestly, I had always been afraid she wouldn't have the upper body strength to keep herself upright with the momentum, but she's gotten pretty strong in the last few months; and she did just fine.  She absolutely loved it, laughing out loud and telling us "more" with just the octave of her laugh!

That is all for now, more posts to come soon, promise!