Milestones Update

I'm about a month or two overdue for a milestones post. With everything that has been going on, I'm having a hard time jogging my memory for what's newsworthy, even though I often find myself thinking 'I need to remember to post about this' throughout my day-to-day. But alas, here I am.

I'll see if I can make this any less daunting by putting it in a list instead of narrative form:

Isabella:

• Starting to potty train (as of my last day of summer school). She's asking to go potty frequently. She has gone poo four times and pee five times in the potty since Friday. She's wearing a pull-up. Yay Bells!




• She's talking a ton and using short sentences. She has a pretty expansive vocabulary thanks to her brother, Gabe. She also loves to talk back and sass me, thanks again to Gabe. Her favorite phrases right now are "No! I no want to!" and "I do it!". Miracle of miracles, she can also be a little sweetheart and say the most suprising things without any prompting. The other day she told me, "Kiss please Mommy. I love you soooo much!




• She can put on and take off her own shoes (correct feet and all). She's very coordinated -- much more so than my Gabe ever was at this age (he has just learned how to put on his shoes). Bella can even take her bracelets off with her feet! She's quite the monkey :).




• She's still a little apprehensive about water but, in shallow water, she loves to crawl around on her hands and blow bubbles. She starts swimming lessons today!




• She can jump and climb and stand on one foot. She's has a pretty good throwing arm too. This girl is tough as nails. She falls down often when she's attempting great feats (climbing over someone on a patio chair, attempting to run in slip-on Crocs, and the like), but she doesn't miss a beat and she gets right back up and hits the ground running again.




• She still has a love affair with purses and shoes, but honestly, can we ever expect that to change?




• Bella has learned how to open her Myolelectric hand on her own! She's still not really picking anything up with it yet, but I think it's only a matter of time.




• She has grown attached to two lovies: bear & blankie (just like Gabe). Hers are both pink and satin. :)




• She's singing the alphabet, identifying letters, and counting to ten (sometimes higher).




• Bella is still little miss popular. Bella makes everyone feel special and like they are part of the family with her warm, friendly attitude and her comfort with new faces. People seem to always comment on her independent, free spirit and her wise-beyond-her-years confidence. She's been getting this comment since she was a newborn, so I think this is a quality that just may stick around.
  
  

Ariana:

• After excelling in potty training for several weeks (days with no accidents at all!), Ari has hit a minor bump in the road after her latest hospital stay. After two days of being bed-ridden and out of her routine, she has fallen back into old habits with toileting, and she's needing some extra encouragement to get back up on the horse. So, I figured, that's what M&M's are for! We're working our way back on track.




• Ari's gross motor skills seem to be a more or less the same place that they were a couple months ago. We saw some definite improvements resulting from Stem Cell Therapy in this area, but they have not continued to augment at the same trajectory that they were within the first two months after treatment. In other words, we saw the most drastic results shortly after treatment, and it's somewhat tapered off since then. Right now, Ari sits very well for short periods (or until she wants to move), she still commando crawls to move, she can kneel for very short periods, and stand with substantial support.




• Ari's fine motor skills have seen some gains, in my view. She can reach farther, pick up smaller objects in a shorter period of time, manipulate objects with her left hand pretty well, and she's even started incorporating her right hand as a helper hand when she wants to adjust her grip of an object or to support herself.



• Ari is getting pretty vocal about her wants lately. I guess this is pretty standard 3-year-old stuff, but she's kind of whiney right now. She's understandably frustrated with the fact that she can't move around on her own. Unfortunately, she is still just using her talker to play right now. She says things on it -- we respond. She says more things. Occasionally, she'll press some button that really registers with her, and she gets an "aha" moment. For instance, we'll be eating dinner, and she'll press "all done". Then she'll look at us, wide-eyed, and nodd, as if to say "yeah, what she said!".




• Ari has been making slow but real progress on her power chair. Lately, it's been too bloody hot to practice very often, but she's getting the hang of it. She can approximate distance better, meaning that she'll creep up closer and closer to me until she's right to me. She's understanding directionality better, although she does get frustrated and tire out easily (I think this has a lot to do with the heat right now). I'm confident that Ari will get the hang of her power, and that it will just take a few more hours of practice than we initially planned on.
  
  


• Ari my water lover! Just like last year, she is so confident in the pool! I love it. She will put her whole face under the water and blow bubbles! I'm talking total immersion, not just her lips.




• Ari's two favorite things are puppies and babies! They light up her world.
  

Gabriel:

• This is a wonderful age on Gabe. He is turning into an awesome big brother (most of the time) and just great company overall. He is such a helper to me these days, and he'll often say to me "How can I help you Mommy?" and be willing to lend a hand in whatever ways he can. He is an extra set of eyes and ears for me, looking out for his sisters, and he's recently been especially compassionate with the girls. Whenever we take Gabe anywhere, he always thanks us without any prompting, "Thank you for the fireworks and the train ride Mommy & Daddy. It was really fun" or "Thanks for the dinner at the restaurant Mom". The changes Gabe has made in his attitude and behavior this month have really made me think that things are starting to look up and this kid just might turn out okay afterall :).




• Right now, Gabe is really into playing games on Daddy's phone. He has cracked the lock code on the phone (I don't even know how to work the Droid!) and knows how to operate the phone to get right to his favorite apps, which right now are the 'basketball game', the 'Star Wars' light sabre app, and his stories.




• Gabe has turned into my picky eater. It takes him For.ever. to finish his dinner, and he insists on picking everything apart. As in, totally deconstrubted. He doesn't want to eat anything that has a spec of green or red on it either.




• Gabe is getting swimming lessons, starting yesterday! I'm really excited, because so far, he's enjoyed his first day. He has also been jumping off the high wall into the pool and venturing deeper into the water (up to his shoulders). He LOVES the water playground at Mesquite Groves, and he begs me to take him everyday. Major progress from last year... the year of the fear when Gabe wouldn't go near that playground or consider jumping off the side wall.




• Gabe can pull up his own pants and put on his own shoes! Yippee! Next, fine/gross motor milestone to tackle is wiping! Not really looking foward to that at all. Oh, and it would be great if Gabe learned to pedal his trike sometime before kindergarten...




• He's still very interested in reading and putting letter sounds together, but I haven't been working with him so much (bad mommy!) because of my summer school. He's been making progress without me, mostly with his sight word recognition.




• Gabe no longer wants to be the bad guy in his movies! Right now, he's into pretending he's Mowgli from 'The Jungle Book'.
  

Chewy:

• It appears that Chewy is very much enjoying his new home. He longs after Bonnie Dai (the female Wheaten) but she is still not too sure if it's love yet. They take walks side by side every day and they hunt mice together. He has made a true friend in the husky Kayo, who he gets to play rough with. His new owners have said that he is "a perfect fit for their family", which makes me really happy. We miss him though.

{Chewy with a little Westie friend visiting for the weekend}