It's been uncharacteristically long since posting and I apologize. I think my brain needed a break from the computer. Also, several weeks' absence between the Hungary trip and personal vacation have added up to lots of backlog in work around the center and our home. I think we're getting to a good place before students start returning, though!
Since coming back to Kentucky from Illinois, we've installed a new magnetic lock system at the center with the help of Nathan's long-time friend, Matt Cooperrider. Matt and his wife, April (a college friend of mine -- they started dating after Nathan's and my wedding) came down last weekend from central Ohio with their two children. Matt and Nathan tore this place apart drilling holes and running wires. We appreciated the sacrifice of the Cooperriders' time so much! The new lock system will make our life here a lot easier!
On the Ellie front, we're approaching her 6-month review of therapy services. Yesterday her PT (Beth) was here to perform her assessment and reported huge gains for Ellie. When Beth initially assessed her, Ellie couldn't crawl four feet, couldn't pull to stand, couldn't crawl over an obstacle (like a leg), couldn't cruise around furniture, etc. Now Ellie can crawl across a room faster than I can, she pulls herself up and onto the couch, she has managed to climb out of her crib, and she zips around furniture and even bare walls. She can also stand on her knees to play, stand up in the middle of the floor without assistance, crawls up a flight of stairs in no time, and walks as many as 8-10 steps in a row! It's been exciting to say the least!
Ellie's other current interest is a book of animal sounds and she occasionally imitates them as she chooses (not usually when we ask her to perform in front of someone else, though)! Her most consistant sounds are cack, cack (quack, quack!), cock doodle doo, and moo. Wednesday night she added "uh-oh" to her repetoire. All in all, she's doing very well and is especially happy to be home for a while.
This weekend my mom's family is coming to Kentucky for a reunion and I think it will be the first time in 9 years that all of my Whiteford-side cousins will be together! We've also added 4 babies to the family since last summer so it will be a really special and fun time. We'll have guests from LA, FL, CA, CO, VT, OH, IL, IN, and KY! I'll try to get caught up on my photos!
Ellie decided that she would give feeding herself a "go" tonight. We got this shot on our little 'point and shoot' that happened to be sitting on the kitchen table. The battery died immediately after this pict so we pulled out the 'good' camera for the ones below. They're a little more posed.
she's really just enthralled with the infra red sensor on the flash
now, her dad is just making funny noises over my head
this feels a little awkward. maybe I'm a lefty?
More funny noises from dad. By this expression you'd never know that she got jabbed again at the dr's office this morning! the cool red tomato man band-aids actually helped the fussing cease! Her vital stats from today's visit: head circumference and height seem to be staying on their normal trend lines, but her weight jumped like 50 percentile points. Dr. Taylor says we can take her off of whole milk now since the need for fat in brain development has passed and she obviously doesn't need the calories! Maybe if we let her feed herself from now on... just kidding! Nathan said that while feeding oneself from a spoon doesn't qualify one for MENSA, Ellie surely has this fellow Kentuckian beat in the brains department. Click here to watch a video about 'The Duct Tape Bandit.'
