Happy Spring and almost Summer! We have been enjoying these warmer days, seeing fresh green grass and leaves everywhere and beautiful flowers blooming! Just as nature grows stronger this time of the year, Danielle is growing stronger as well!
We continue therapy anywhere from 2-4 days a week depending on the week and Danielle is doing great. They have some new 'switch' toys that Danielle just loves and this is one of them. It is so much fun watching her control the switch fully knowing when to start and when to stop.
Her most favorite OT Lisa is holding her and Andrea is her Speech Therapist!
I love getting surprise visits at work from the kiddo's!
Our swing set use is in full force now! It is wonderful to come home and have some swing time after a long hard day. Some fresh air we all enjoy!
We constantly giggle whether it may be nice or not, sometimes it breaks my heart, at how so very ultra sensitive Danielle. is. She is getting a lot better about not startling at so many noises, but her feelings get hurt rather easily. She still knows how to maneuver herself over to Dylan's toys and every now and then that causes a little bit of a sibling battle. He will take something away from her and the lip will pucker until she gets the toy back. If we feed into her pucker lip then it turns into a full fledged cry, if we sit back and let it casually go away, then she turns that frown upside down in a matter of minutes! That little 2 1/2 year old attitude is in there and I know it's hard to believe but we do see it come out occasionally of this super sweet girl!
Danielle's therapy sessions are full of 100% fun play time. While Danielle is really pushed to work very hard it is all in good, fun activity time. We have been working more on vision strengthening recently during co-treats. It had been a long time since vision therapy was regular in our weekly therapy. With her not being as strong looking to the left recently, they have been working it back in. Within a matter of days already her vision has strengthened right back up.
This is a co-treat with Lisa our OT, Barb our PT and then a student in training who is following with Lisa and a couple other therapists for 12 weeks. Danielle is a great learning tool for him.
Crawling towards the lights is so much fun!
Big girl crawling all on her own! So much fun to see!
While we still use the walker and continue to love watching her in it, we have recently been trying her on the treadmill. It is more of a workout for her, forcing her to stay upright and to have her legs continuously moving. She does get tired of holding her head up easily after a few steps because she is not able to support herself like she does in the walker, on the treadmill she is holding up her body weight all on her own, which is very exciting! She is continuing to do very, very well. Stationed in front of the treadmill is a mirror that she loves to look in while walking. Big girl loving to see herself in motion, we love it too!
Nutrition is still high on the list of important daily items for Danielle. We have found this wonderful food that she LOVES! It comes in so many varieties and is the perfect 'applesauce' like consistency that Danielle does very well with. The best thing is that it does not contain any water additive and every single bite is 100% Organic Nutrition! The combinations are awesome and full of not only fruit and veggies but fruit and veggie combinations! Yummy! We still puree some of our own foods that are more chunky for her to get use to chewing, but these pouches have been a wonderful addition to Danielle's diet, especially at daycare!
The Ella's Kitchen brand is her very favorite. And her most favorite that is not pictured here is Carrots, Pumpkin and Parsnips! It actually smells a little like cinnamon, yummy!
Neither Brad nor I can never deny our munchkins some snuggle time and Danielle is ALWAYS up for it! Recently I have not been able to have only one kiddo on my lap but they both must be there. If I am sitting with Dylan on the couch and I am within an eye sight of Danielle, the lip comes out and she wants to be included. And if I am snuggling up with her, in a matter of minutes Dylan finds himself coming up to join in. One of the best parts of being a mommy, being able to cuddle, soothe and comfort any time of day!
And in just under a month this little bright eyed beauty will Celebrate her 3rd Birthday! Where in the world has time gone?! A pause button would be very nice every now and then ;)
