Tuesday & Wednesday

I'll make up for no post last night and give you two days worth here. On Tuesday, Jeff picked Gracie up for OT and when I met them at the lobby waiting for the appointment, I thought Gracie seemed tired. When Kathy, the OT, came out to get Gracie she perked up, smiled and marched right over, took Kathy's hand and we marched back to one of the private exercise rooms. Less distractions work much better with Gracie for OT. OT seems harder for Gracie than PT. She tends to get frustrated easily when she can't get something or totally tunes out when something seems difficult for her. That said, she is making much progress. I talked with our OT about how we are dealing with mealtime tantrums and it was nice to have our technique for dealing with them be validated. The fact that Gracie's sensory integration testing showed she was hypo sensitive explains why she is cooperative through the day, but has a harder time with behavior in the evening. We are anxious to learn techniques to give her the input she needs throughout the day to even out the mood issues in the evening.

On the way home, Gracie rode with me, and I was just sure she would fall asleep. Ha! Instead she stuck her fingers down her throat the whole way home and continually vomited. She thought this was hilarious. Gracie and her car seat were covered in vomit. It was so gross. I took Gracie in the house to get her cleaned up and Jeff took pity on me and scrubbed the car seat. She was so tired that I let her take a nap from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. That helped her mood immensely, but it also made her not tired when bedtime came around. She finally fell asleep for the night at a little after 10:00 p.m. She slept great! Probably the least restless I've seen her in weeks.

Today Gracie awoke in a good mood and had a good day at daycare. She got to go camping. Daycare set up a tent in the house and let the kids play. How fun is that???!!!! Gracie also got some zucchini bread for the first time and loved it. She's also been drinking out of a glass without the sippy cup on occasion. She does pretty good. When I arrived to pick her up, she was in a great mood.

It was just Gracie and I hanging out tonight as Jeff was performing magic at Hope Lodge. Gracie was a very good girl. We read lots of books, played with the telephone, and just hung out. Every night right before bedtime we read the same two books to her and she knows these are part of the nighttime ritual. We read "Night Night Prayers" and "Llama, Llama Red Pajamas". On the second and last page of the llama book reads "Llama llama red pajama gets two kisses from his mama, snuggles pillow soft and deep, Baby Llama goes to sleep." I always give Gracie's head a kiss when I read that. Well our smart little girl decided it is great fun to get away from mommy really quick so I can't kiss her. She thinks this is absolutely hilarious, as do I. Tonight she was really tired and she is snuggled in, leaning against me as I'm reading the book. I'm thinking she will fall asleep before the book is finished, but no, as soon as I start to read the end about the kisses, she does this huge flop away from me like a big fish jumping out of the water and then just giggles and giggles and giggles. These are the moments that make being a mommy so much fun.

Gracie is now fast asleep.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie