It's Official!!!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011 we got the phone call that Danielle had been accepted for Open Enrollment into the Linn-Mar District. Since then we have had Registration and have been waiting for the letter stating she was good to go, officially! That letter finally came last week and we couldn't be more happy!!!! We are still waiting to hear which school she will be at, we did her it will either be Bowman Woods or Echo Hill, that notification will come the beginning of May! Until then we are making preparations for her to attend school and honestly, I'm getting a little sappy about it! It is very hard to believe that she is going to be 4, I just got rid of my double stroller today, and the thought of more than likely not having any more infants in the house really makes this mama sad :( But we know that Danielle is more than ready for school and the academic progress she has shown this year has been incredible! We are excited for this next big step for her!

This was a pretty exciting week for us! Not only did we get the long awaited letter from Linn-Mar, but we also got another long awaited piece of equipment for Danielle, another new chair! This chair is a little different than the one we have at home. It is more compact, lower to the ground welcoming play with her peers and it also does not have a tray. But this is perfect for Michelle's and we have been waiting and waiting since December for this to come, yesterday I picked it up and tomorrow we will deliver it to Michelle's for Danielle to use there! Hooray, we are so excited for her!

  Leg exercises with Daddy!

  And a little patty cake too!

She has been making enormous strides in therapy. She has shown that she knows her basic colors, she knows circle, square and triangle and she can also make a circle with a marker when we assist her at the elbow. She knows farm and zoo animals and has learned how to cut shapes too! It is so amazing to see, when given appropriate tools and therapists, all that Danielle knows! She is very cognitive for her age and is showing the level of a 2 1/2 yr old - beginning 3 year old for her Cognitive skills. This is SO exciting to see!
We continue PT, OT and Speech therapy every week and really look forward to our weekly visits to watch Danielle shine!

  Every PT Session starts with a good stretch! A must for Danielle's body!

  She continues to have lots of walking time at therapy! She even gives her baby rides....this day she was trying to give the baby kisses, or suck on her hand :)

  Danielle LOVES to swing! In fact at her OT sessions, when given choices she often chooses swinging as the first thing she wants to do!

  Standing is a new favorite. She fights and fights until you let her stand up, she needs support around the trunk but she has the rest of it! This girl LOVES to stand!

Each week we are amazed by her will to learn and fight for what she wants. We love this about her and her will to continue to amaze us teaches us so much about life and just goes to show that with hard work and perseverance you do pretty amazing things! We love watching her and continue each week to be excited for what she will show us next!~

New Year for New Things!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
What a beautiful little girl you are
Growing up before our eyes
With Spirit and Courage that never sighs.

You have the will to do anything you can

Try this, try that, YES I WILL &
YES I CAN!!!

We love your little giggles & eyes so wide
Sweetie you give Mom & Dad a big sense of pride!
You hear your family & you're cranking your head to see
after a hello kiss your happy as a little bee who just found honey.

This year's going to be very exciting for you
We've started getting you ready because
just like your brother, soon, you're going to be in school too!

Where oh where does the time go,
this Mommy can't figure it out
but it doesn't matter
because we're reaching goals,
trying new things & you are so happy....
a big, warm, reassuring smile, is all I'm after.

Your courage is amazing, your body so strong
each week brings something new because
your flying thru everything we ask of you!

Keep being you, little girl so sweet
play time, bath time, therapy time, bonding time
no matter with what we fill the days,
we thank the lord, for you sweetie,
are our blessing in many ways.

Favorite Things...

These are a few of Danielle's favorite things!



Swinging....

Each new week at therapy brings something new for Danielle to play. A new choice to make, a new activity to play and each week she stuns us with her ability to fully comprehend what task/choice her therapists are giving her. It is truly amazing!

She loves to paint pictures...we start by choosing a color...

 And then we dip the brush...

 And then we paint a masterpiece!

And display it on the fridge!

 She loves to color pretty pictures...We help hold her hand up and she moves it wherever she wants it to go!

She LOVES to play dress up with pretty jewelery! Last week they gave her the choice of 4 different colors of jewelery to choose from. They wanted to see if she would color coordinate, she picked purple all 4 times! Today she picked pink all 4 times. She is very smart & quite the princess, complete with the crown!

 Danielle loves to go down the slide and even stays sitting upright like a big girl. At the bottom she pushes the button that says, 'more slide please'!

 Danielle loves to crawl up and down the wedge to her musical caterpillar...

 And what could be more fun than a bubble machine!!! She sits and pushes the yellow button to make it go and releases her hand to make them stop!

 All done bubbles! But I love sitting on my own like a big girl!!!

 She loves to touch and feel objects...here she is playing with shaving cream to make some art!

 It is messy but sure is a TON of fun and it feels really funny too!

 She is beginning to self feed. She loves to put the special spoon in her mouth and taste yummy flavors of food. It's kinda messy but fun to self feed like a big girl!

 And there is NO doubt that Danielle's most favorite activity is playing with her baby. She loves to wash the baby and give the baby a bath...

 And crawl to the baby....

 and to get the baby all dressed and feed her when she is done. Danielle LOVES her baby!

Over the past 2 ish months we have learned so much more about Danielle's learning ability and her most favorite things to do and pretend play. She fully and I mean fully understands what you ask of her, shaking her head yes and no to agree or disagree and pointing to what she wants to do. Yesterday she was walking the halls at Witwer in her walker and delivering cookies to the other therapists, it was the cutest thing ever!!! She more or less stopped walking after a bit and was more concerned about picking up cookies and handing them out than she was walking. She is very much a little girly girl and we love this more than ever! We are so blessed with 3 of the most fantastic therapists who help us and challenge our little girl. She gets a little bit sassy with them when they ask her if she wants to do things they know she doesn't like....for example playing with cars, every week they purposly ask Danielle if she wants to play with cars, and every week she shakes her head, no no NO!  Every single week we learn something new about our daughter and her will to fight and learn and show us that she knows what she is doing, even tho she may not communicate much with her mouth, she shows us with her eyes, hands and head movements. We are having so much fun with her and could not be more proud! We love you punkin!~

Growing Stronger!

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 ;)