Sunday - Missing Daddy

Gracie had a good night sleep, but awoke at 4:00 a.m. and it took about 30 minutes for her to fall back to sleep. She was sleeping so soundly that it was tough to wake her up at 6:00 a.m. She looked so peaceful, Jeff and I just had to sit and watch her for a bit.

We ate some breakfast and loaded Gracie into the van to take Jeff to the airport, unfortunately the van wouldn't start. So we tried jump starting it and all of this commotion made Gracie beyond hysterical. Huge tears and uncontrollable crying. She kept referring to Jeff, I think she could sense his stress. I held her and hugged her and she wouldn't let me go. Once Jeff was freed up, he came to give her a hug and that calmed her greatly. Then we took her out of the van and loaded her in the car, because the van was not going to cooperate.

Gracie fell in love with a big statue of a goose at the airport. We got to go up to the gate to see the airplanes. Gracie is very into flying, she often puts her arms back and pretends she is flying. Then her and I headed to Target to buy frivolous things...like a Halloween flag, some Halloween slippers, and a few other fun things. Then home to play and have some lunch.

Gracie took a two hour nap and when she woke up we headed out to buy a new battery for the van. She was a very good girl. Then it was back home to play. We played outside for a while, but Gracie was just too hot and the mosquitos started to come out. They love Gracie, she is so bitten up on her cheeks and neck. We made a peach/banana/strawberry smoothie to help her meds slide down and made semi homemade pizza for supper.

Daddy called us from Chicago on skype, so Gracie got to see and talk with him and that helped her miss him a little less. She asked for him all day. When we were done talking Gracie said "love you daddy". It was so sweet. Gracie also went around the house today saying "daddy" and "Chicago".

Then to the bathtub to splash and play. Gracie was one tired little girl tonight. It didn't take her long to fall asleep at all. Tomorrow is a big day for her...her first day of preschool.

She is sleeping soundly in her Tinkerbell pj's.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Saturday - A Very Very Good Day

Gracie awoke bright and early at 6:30 a.m. and I should have known from her big smile that it was going to be a good day. We had a fairly lazy morning and then Gracie and I headed out to see if we could find a pair of boots that she could walk in (winter is coming). We ended up buying some more enclosed shoes and ordering some lighter boots online. Then we headed to the mall to return some pants and I picked up the cutest little dress for Gracie. She was being such a good girl riding in the stroller, when all of a sudden something was bothering her and she was agitated, she wanted out. Then I spied what she wanted...the escalators. She LOVES escalators. So we went up and down a couple of times and she was all smiles.

On the way out of the mall we ran into cousin Maci and her grandma. We also went to see Maci's mommy Brittany, who was getting her haircut. Gracie LOVED Maci and Maci treated us to smiles. Gracie would touch her, then take my hand and want me to touch her too.

We came home, had lunch, and Gracie took a nap. After nap we played outside the rest of the afternoon. The weather was perfect. We took a walk, wagon rides, played ball, played on our swing, drew on the driveway with sidewalk chalk, played chase, took neighbor Nancy for a walk, and visited with neighbor Diane.

Gracie was in a great mood all day and is learning so many new words. She can tell us words of songs, she can tell us who Tinkerbell is without us telling her first. Today in the car she told me she wanted a "drink". Her frustration level seems to melt away a little bit with each new word she can say.

We made strawberry smoothies this afternoon and Gracie helped. She loves to be right where the action is. She also was a human vacuum cleaner at supper time...we had pork roast, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. She couldn't shove that broccoli in fast enough. She also fell alot today. Hmmm..eating alot + falling alot = she must be growing again.

Tonight we went to the local school playground and Gracie met a 9 month old named Charli. Charlie was walking around with her mom and Charli is as social as Gracie is. They hit it off very nicely. Gracie didn't want to leave her side.

Gracie is now sound asleep in her Dora pj's. She had to point Dora out to me about 10 times before she could go to sleep.

Sweet dreams.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday

Gracie had a good night and slept through til I awoke her at 6:00 a.m. She was a happy girl for the most part, especially when she got to go downstairs. She is obsessed with the baby swing. She likes to stack as much stuff on it as she possibly can while it swings back and forth with the music playing. She stacks it so high and then stuff comes crashing down and then she starts all over again. To watch her makes you wonder if she has some obsessive compulsive disorder. Since she has never liked to stack blocks, I feel like she is getting some sort of beneficial skill from this.

Gracie took her musical fish sensory toy in the car to daycare this morning and that kept her occupied for the whole ride there. She had a good day at daycare and Jeff picked her up this evening. When I got home she came running to the gate and before I could even open it was getting hug after hug after hug. Then came kisses. I am one lucky mommy.

Gracie was not into her ice cream or much of anything tonight until Jeff reheated some soup we had made earlier in the week. She couldn't get enough of that. I thought she might have a sore throat, but she let me look in her throat and it looked good. Jeff on the other hand has a throat that doesn't look so good.

Tonight she had moments of great happiness and of great unhappiness. She had a really hard time falling asleep, but is finally in la-la land.

Since I don't have much to say today...thought you might enjoy some pictures from the summer.

Gracie with Grandma & Grandpa D.

Playing in the sand can make a girl very thirsty. Do you think mom will notice if I take a sip of her Diet Coke???

One of Gracie's most favorite things to do...take mom and dad for a walk. Do you think she is pretending we are puppies??? Hmmm.

Love,

Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday - Meet the Teacher

Gracie awoke at 4:15 a.m. and was awake for the day. She was a trooper and tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. Sadly she was quite moody as we got ready this morning. She really needed more sleep. She enjoyed the ride to daycare and was in a good mood by the time we got there.

Gracie had a good day and only took an hour nap. Jeff picked her up midafternoon and we headed to school to meet with Gracie's former Birth to Three teacher and her new teacher for preschool. Her new OT and speech therapist were there too. I love them all!!!! She will have 5 students in her class on Mondays and 10 students on Tuesdays. They are so well organized and Gracie had a great time playing with toys around the room. I just know she is going to love being there.

Gracie was so excited to see Emily, her former Birth to Three teacher. She spied her walk in the door and went running to her and gave her a big hug. They held hands and away we marched to her new classroom. Grace even has her own locker with a picture of a green frog on it. Very appropriate! When Gracie was so sick with I.S. we looked at the frog as a symbol:

Forever
Rely
On
God

So appropriate that would be the symbol as we start this new experience in her life.

Gracie was a good girl tonight. We stopped at the local Kwik Trip tonight to pick up some bananas, donuts, and a few other things. Gracie INSISTED on carrying the bag home all by herself. Actually dragging the bag home would be more appropriate. The bananas have grass ground into them and big scrape marks from being drug across the sidewalk. She was a trooper.

Gracie was so tired tonight. I think it took her two seconds to fall asleep.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday - Much to Do!

Gracie had a horrendously restless night where she never stopped tossing and turning, until 3:30 a.m. that is, when she totally woke up and try as she might, couldn't fall back to sleep. It took her an hour of walking, snuggling, getting a drink of water, etc., until she fell back asleep. Then when it was time to wake her up, she was so peaceful and didn't want to get up.

We had an appointment at the clinic bright and early this morning. This was to meet with an allergist regarding Gracie's allergy/intollerance to milk. We know that milk and milk products cause Gracie much misery if consumed, but we wanted to have her tested to see if it is a true allergy and to see how careful we need to be regarding milk products. Since she can't tell us when she is not feeling well, we rely on signs, grumpiness, etc. We just felt it would be beneficial to all of us to know. Jeff and I were both very disappointed with our appointment. First we saw the resident who didn't connect with Gracie at all, didn't even acknowledge her until it was time to do an exam. No surprise that she wanted NOTHING to do with him. Then he came back in the room and told us he forgot to look in her mouth and nose. Next we met with the staff doctor who gave us a lot of allergy jargen (good thing I've done a bit of research on this myself or I wouldn't have had a clue what she was talking about). Without any testing she informed us it wasn't an allergy that it was an intollerance specific to her. I would have felt much better had we been given scientific proof of this...such as an allergy test.

So when I asked about how careful we needed to be, she just said we can try to introduce things over time and see what her reaction is. I reiterated that she can't always tell us when she doesn't feel well and she told us we could read the signs. At this point, Gracie bumped her head on the desk and went to Jeff for some comfort. The physician indicated that we could tell much as we could tell she wanted comfort for her bumped head. It's not that simple and most of the time Gracie doesn't want comfort when she bumps her head...I think she wanted comfort because she didn't want to be there. I also asked about behavioral issues that accompany the ingestion of milk products and she said there was no scientific info to back that up, but many parents of autistic children (she quite abruptly told us she had never heard of Sotos Syndrome and made it seem like a bother to have even brought it up) indicate behavioral differences with gluten and dairy elimination from the diet. She told us to do what we felt was best.

I have so many good things to say about the medical care we've experienced and the medical professionals that give such great care to Gracie. Jeff and I were both thoroughly unimpressed with our experience today and felt it was a great waste of time.

After this appointment, we had an appointment to get Gracie's wheelchair adjusted...she's grown! Gracie's physical therapist saw her running and told us how impressed she was with how good she was doing. The wheelchair people were awesome as always too. They commented on how much Gracie's face had thinned out since they last saw her and how awesome she is doing.

Then off to wait while I got my license renewed. We dropped daddy off to go golfing and we headed to school to meet with the school nurses. They were AWESOME. I really feel so confident that they have Gracie's best interests at heart and are there to make sure she is safe and well cared for.

Then home to have some lunch and a nap. Gracie took a 2-1/2 hour nap. She awoke in a great mood and was a happy girl all night. After supper we took a walk to the school playground and played for awhile before coming back home, reading books, and heading to bed.

Jeff and I were sharing a giggle tonight. Today when Gracie and I were out and about on our own, I was asked if she was adopted. This never happens when all three of us are together, but when it is just Gracie and I, this question comes up occasionally and my first thought is why would they even think this. It takes me a while to come back to the realization that our coloring is very different. I forget that my little girl looks like her daddy and nothing like me. I'm totally fine with that as she takes after her mom in loving all things "girly"!!!! :) We love ruffles and lace.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday - Labor Day

Gracie awoke at 7:45 a.m. this morning. Ahhhh, that was awesome. She was in a great mood. We played with her "babies" (dolls) and her stuffed animals for a bit, then she informed me we needed to get up for some "juice".

We had a fairly lazy morning and went out furniture shopping (looking for a new tv/media stand) at 4 stores in town. Gracie was very good in all of them as long as we kept moving. There was a big German Shepherd in a SUV at one of the stores that Gracie fell in love with.

Then it was home for lunch, more playing, and then a nap. Gracie slept for 2 hours and woke up in the best mood. Then it was time for a walk. She wanted to go to the school playground, so we did inbetween the rain showers. It did rain on us a little, but Gracie didn't seem to mind. She just sat on the swings going back and forth for the longest time with the most content, happy smile.

Gracie's language skills have blossomed again and she is talking so much. She has a lot of independent words and still copies alot of what we say. On her walk, she lost her balance and started to fall. Jeff caught her and I said "Daddy saves the day!" Gracie then repeated that for a while. It was so cute.

Gracie wore a new shirt today that she got for her birthday with ballerina's on it. Everytime she looked at the dancers, she had to dance too. She also had fun playing with her Mickey and Minnie Mouse figures. A while ago I had put a sticker of Goofy on the ketchup bottle and forgot all about it. Tonight Gracie was eating ketchup, looked at the bottle and said "Goofy". She is getting so good at recognizing familiar characters, animals, and body parts. Gracie also is starting to have great empathy for others. She has a sign language video that talks about how to say "cry" and "sad" and it shows kids crying and sad. We have to fast forward it because it upsets Gracie terribly. The first time I thought I could just talk her through it, but each time she watches it gets worse and worse and she gets so worked up about it.

Gracie's great love, other than books, these days are her baby dolls and her stuffed animals. At night if we don't have the right baby dolls in bed with her we have to go get them. The bed is full of dolls and stuffed kitties, dogs, elephants, bears, and even a llama.

Gracie had a hard time falling asleep tonight. She got to bed later since her nap was later. Unfortunately we have to be at the clinic tomorrow bright and early for allergy testing. We may have a grumpy or tired girl.

Gracie is now all snuggled in...and wearing her Tinkerbell pj's.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Saturday/Sunday

Gracie and I both were experiencing some weird stomach bug? We weren't all out and out sick, but Gracie had many nasty diapers through the day and my stomach just hurt. We didn't venture out other than to the playground at the local school. Gracie worked on climbing up the playground equipment holding onto the rail and she had fun sliding and swinging too. We did spend a fair amount of time outdoors. Gracie had two crashes on the sidewalk yesterday. The first one was pretty minor, the second gave her a friction burned knee, a little bit of a bump on her forehead, and a big ole fat upper lip. You can tell it just hurts when she falls like that, but she doesn't want any sympathy....she gets mad and then wants to walk it off.

Gracie surprised us with a few new sentences. Jeff wanted to change her diaper and she was fussing and carrying on and all of a sudden out of her screaming little mouth came "I don't wanna". Later in the day, she was downstairs and I dropped something upstairs. All of a sudden a little voice hollered up the stairs "you okay?"

Gracie awoke at 4:00 a.m. this morning and try as she might, couldn't fall back asleep. So we walked and bounced for a while, sat on the couch and snuggled, and I let her play with her babies and stuffed animals in bed. She finally went back to sleep at about 5:30 a.m. YAWN.

Today we both felt a little better, but still not great. Gracie's diapers were still nasty, but that is slowing down. She didn't have much of an appetite today. I even made some of her favorites, so I know her tummy still wasn't perfect.

We did go to Home Depot and Target today and she was a good girl in both. Then home for a nap and we played outside most of the rest of the day into the evening.

I bought Gracie some new mittens today. She found it quite fun to walk around the house wearing them. I wonder how she will feel about them this winter. Last year she never kept them on.

Gracie continues to amaze us at her awareness to her surroundings. We take lots of walks around the block. If we take a turn at one of the sidewalks, it means we are headed toward the school and the playground. Today on our walk around the block, Gracie wanted to take that turn in the worst way. She's never shown an awareness of that turn before. She was SO mad when we didn't go that way. For a good block, she told us over and over again in a very mad voice "NO!"

Gracie's schedule is way off this weekend. Our 8:00 p.m. bedtime girl went to bed at 10:00 p.m. tonight. I'm loving it, but it will be hard to get back on the routine later in the week.

Good night all.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Friday - A Happy Girl

Gracie had a good night until 2:30 a.m. and was pretty restless for the next two hours. I'm finding that 2:30 - 3:00 a.m. is the prime restless time for Gracie. I belong to an online support group for families affected by Sotos Syndrome. I'm finding out that many people with Sotos tend to not sleep through the night and have restless times around the 3:00 a.m. hour. Hmmm.

Gracie woke up in a good mood, was a happy girl all morning and that was the theme for the day. She was very cooperative and enjoyed the day. She did get a little sad when our daycare provider had to go to an appointment and her sister watched her while she was gone. She was kind of sad and somber, but music helped to make her feel more comfortable.

I picked Gracie up from daycare and she was in a great mood. She got to see Jeff for about 20 minutes before he had to leave and the rest of the evening was Gracie and I playing. We took a nice walk outside and when she tired of walking, I put her in the wagon and pulled her. It was a cool evening and we both had to have long pants on and we wore our fleece lined coats to keep up warm. Gracie's fingers were very cold when we came in.

Gracie was a happy girl most of the night. The only thing that even remotely resembled a tantrum was when she had to wait for me to put our leftover supper away before we went outside. Waiting and patience are not Gracie's strong points.

Gracie was a tired girl. We read a couple of books and then she gathered her babies and stuffed animals together (I think we now have 4 baby dolls that we insist on sleeping with and a puppy dog. Sometimes kitty, elephant, and bear get in on the action too) and fell asleep very quickly.

She was excited to wear new pajamas tonight...we went with long sleeves and she outgrew hers from last year.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday/Thursday - Animal Sounds

Gracie had a good day at daycare and did indeed enjoy herself at the park. She was in a good mood when we got home and her first request was to go outside to the backyard and play on her playset. She sat on the swing for a while and also played in the sand box with Jeff while I made supper. That is where the good mood disappeared. I made pasta in a tomato sauce with groundbeef. Usually a favorite...that obviously was not the case this time. She had a complete meltdown that turned into an all out tantrum. After many tears, flails, and screams we discovered she wanted peanut butter. Obviously that is the next two words we have to work on. So Gracie had apples and peanut butter for supper with a few crackers added into the mix. After she finished that, the pasta looked pretty good and she had some of that too.

The next tantrum started because we had to wash the peanut butter off of her hands. I got a bite on my hand out of that one. So after I got her cleaned up, she was banished to her time out spot for two minutes.

The evening got better after that. I asked her if she wanted to go for a wagon ride outside. Of course she was agreeable to this. She would live outdoors if she could. So we are pulling her in the wagon and she is talking and singing and we hear a dog barking. She tells me it is a dog and I ask her what the dog says, she responds "arf, arf". Perfect! I decide to take this one step further. I asked her what the kitty says. The response was "meow". Excellent. I ask her what the duck says. The response was "quack quack". This is going well so I ask her what the cow says. The response was "moo". She did get a little stuck on the pig and had to be reminded that it was "oink". Once she was reminded, she said it. She was so proud of herself and was all smiles. Jeff and I were pretty proud too.

She had a pretty good night. She was restless and awoke for a while around 2:30 p.m., but went back to sleep within 15 minutes. The allure of chocolate chip muffins once again got her up and out of bed. Muffins are even more fun to eat if you sing "Do you know the muffin man?" while eating them.

We headed off to daycare and Gracie was ready to play.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday/Wednesday - A Great Night

Gracie had her last session of occupational therapy at the clinic yesterday. This is a relief to me. She hates being there, doesn't cooperate, does everything she can to not have to do what is asked of her. It's hard work for her, so she doesn't have the patience to concentrate on one thing for long. When Gracie starts school in two weeks, her OT will transition there and will only be for 10 minutes at a time vs. a full hour. I think that will be beneficial. We've definitely seen progress, we loved her therapist at the clinic, but I'm relieved to be done -- unless of course any concerns crop up. We are always welcome to come back. We did try an interesting experiment yesterday at OT. I give Gracie alot of encouragement and praise, it motivates her. However at OT she uses "mommy comfort" as a crutch. If she doesn't want to do something she will come to mom for comfort. So the OT had me disengage - not make eye contact, not look at her, not give any comfort. She did everything in her power to get me to engage and not do the task at hand. She eventually did what she was asked.

We usually see behavior problems in the evening after an OT appointment and it started out to be a rough evening, but I stripped her down to a diaper as she was quite warm and then Jeff and I took turns finding musical You Tube videos for her to watch while she sat with us. She got both the musical input and the human touch input that she needed and the rest of the evening was great. She sang and danced, bath time was a treat, we read a book or two, she just really engaged and we all had a good time.

She had an awesome night's sleep. I swear she didn't move all night. For the first time in years (three to be exact), I slept the whole night through without awaking. That was so nice. Gracie wasn't quite ready to wake up this morning and we snuggled for awhile. Then I told her that I had made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and did she want one. You've never seen a child pop up quite as quickly as she did and she was shaking her head yes big time. So she got to eat a muffin for breakfast. She also helped herself to part of mine.

Gracie was in a good mood when I dropped her off at daycare and quickly went over to check on the baby. She barely gave me a kiss to say goodbye. She was ready to play. Rumor has it she was going to the park to play today. She walks the whole way there herself and I'm told sometimes she even runs there sometimes.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday/Tuesday - Daffodil

Gracie was not at her best last night. The temps were hot and she was hot and tired and nothing really made her happy until the evening cooled off and we went for a walk, then a wagon ride to the local school playground where she went on the swings, slides, and climbed up the steps and over the arched bridge all by herself. She was so proud when Jeff and I told her what a big girl she is. We gave her a one more time warning before we left and to our amazement we had no tantrums when it was time to leave. She was ready to get into her wagon and head for home. She was not happy once we got home and had to go inside. There was a nice breeze last night and Gracie loved the wind in her face.

Gracie had a really hard time falling asleep, I think she was overtired. She had a very restful night though.

This morning she woke up a happy girl, but we had some issues at breakfast. I'm not sure why and as quickly as they arose, they vanished and she was my happy girl again. Our morning went something like this:

- One half mouthful of yogurt with seizure meds in it spit out.
- One half mouthful of yogurt with seizure meds being held in mouth along with orange juice and crackers…to be spit out at a later time.
- One plateful of pumpkin bread thrown to the floor.
- One cupful of orange juice thrown to the floor.
- One timeout.
- One attitude adjustment.

She was excited to see the heavy rain. She told me it was "rainin" - this was a repeat of what I had told her earlier. She took a book along in the car on the way to daycare and looked through that quietly. When we got to daycare, she promptly handed me the book and climbed out of her car seat. She took Mandy's hand as soon as we got her shoes off at daycare and they were off to read some books.

We have OT at the clinic this afternoon. I suspect it will be her last OT appointment at the clinic for awhile as OT will be incorporated in her curriculum at pre-school. Gracie loves going to OT, but hates the actual work. It is all the things that are very hard for her - putting pegs in slots, drawing circles, taking shoes off, and other fine work that just does not motivate her and is quite frankly difficult for her to do. She is very excited, however, that she can get her socks off mostly by herself these days.

Gracie loves a video on You Tube that has music that says "I love the flowers, I love the daffodils..." Gracie loves to sing these days and we hear words of songs come out of her mouth so often. I about fell over when I very clearly heard her sing along to the song the word "daffodil" in just the right place. There is no question that music is her motivator.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

A Good Weekend

Gracie had a good weekend with mom and dad. On Friday night I went to pick her up at daycare and she just wasn't ready to go home. She was having too much fun. I finally convinced her we needed to go. She was very happy all the way home. Daddy had a magic show that night, so Gracie and I ate a light supper and headed outdoors to play. It was a nice evening, but the mosquitos were not nice and Gracie ended up with a bite just under her eye and a couple on her forehead that have been driving her crazy all weekend. Dad got home a little later and he joined us outside too.

Gracie slept in until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday - what a treat for all of us. We stayed home most of Saturday and just played. We did run to the mall on Saturday evening for a short time and also to Toys R Us to pick up some sand for our Sunday project. Our walk on Saturday night was much later than usual, so it was starting to get dark. As we were walking there was a house with a big screen TV that you could see plain as day through the window and they were watching the Vikings game. Gracie didn't want to leave her viewing spot on the sidewalk. Gracie also loves to walk up driveways that aren't ours on our walks and wants us to chase her. On our Saturday night walk, she started to go up our neighbor Nancy's driveway, she stopped, looked at us and signed "game". I verbalized "game", she smiled and said "chase". She definitely gets her point across.

On Sunday we all went to my church and Gracie almost (the key word here is ALMOST) made it through the whole service without having to be taken out.

You may remember we put up a playset in our backyard for Gracie this summer. It had a spot for a sandpile and so we set that up while she was napping. When we showed it her she made this really cute sound like she was super excited. She loved getting in the sand and playing with some of the sand toys she recently got at our early Christmas with Jeff's family. Gracie has a sensory integration disorder, she can't feel things like you and I can and she is constantly seeking sensory input. This sandbox will be great in helping her with her sensory input needs.

Gracie slept through a short visit by Aunt Arlene and then later, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Russ stopped by for a bit. Gracie showed them her playset and took them for walks in the backyard and down the sidewalk. After they left, she played in her swimming pool to cool off. She had great fun splashing.

Gracie was in a good mood, was feeling fine, but didn't have much of an appetite yesterday. She nibbled at things here and there. The croutons in my salad at lunch were a big hit - they always are. She plops herself on my lap and proceeds to help herself to ALL of my croutons soaked in raspberry walnut vinagrette. She also ate a little chicken at supper and of course her ice cream with meds went down fine. We took an after supper walk and then came back in the house for birthday cake (I turned 29 again) with candles. Cake is one of Gracie's favorite thing in the world. She loves to say the word, she loves to eat cake, and if you happen to light candles on it, it is even more fun. So she was in her glory. She was cake from head to toe. I took her right from the table to the tub. Cake and frosting squished between fingers is another great sensory treat.

Gracie's schedule was off kilter enough, that it wasn't but minutes after she fell asleep, she reappeared in the living room. So I went to lay down with her and she got her second wind. She was full of kisses and she was hugging all of her babies and stuffed animals, and I was treated to lots of kisses and hugs too. She talked up a storm too, pointing out the "feet" on her babies and the "teeth". I think this little happy time before she fell back to sleep was her birthday present to mom (even though her and Jeff had spoiled me earlier).

Gracie had a pretty good night and was a happy girl this morning. She also had a very full bladder that size 7 diapers wasn't able to hold. She was wet, her bed was wet, so I had to change her sheets already this morning. I think she was ready to get back to her routine and daycare. Jeff took her this morning and as he walked out the door with her, there was no sad face or fussing for mom, it was a big smile, a hand wave, and a loud "bye".

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday - A Much Better Day

Gracie was a little sleepy head this morning. She was sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake her up this morning. It took awhile to finally get her to wake up and she needed lots of snuggle time. When she did finally get up she was in a very happy mood.

When I took her to daycare I picked her up to give her a kiss and a hug and she wanted down, she had other plans. She was ready to go find a book with Mandy so she could be read to. Jeff picked Gracie up and they played outside for awhile before I got home. When I got home, I gave her a hug and she immediately walked to the gate, pointed outside, and said "bye" which is her way of saying she wants to go outside. Even though it was time to make supper, I decided a walk wouldn't hurt any of us. So off we went.

We made homemade pizzas for supper and Gracie gobbled hers right up. We played downstairs for a little while tonight and she continued to be in a pretty good mood. She had a really hard time falling asleep tonight. Here's hoping for a peaceful, restful night.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday - Not Her Best Day

Today was not Gracie's best day. She was just irritable. She had a slice of American cheese last night. She opened the fridge and insisted upon one. I allowed her to have it and she wanted a second one. I did not allow a second one. Jeff and I had just been talking with the pediatrician about how we think milk products sometimes cause behavioral issues. So I'm putting the blame on either the cheese or her Hib vaccination. Not sure which or maybe both. Or perhaps neither, who really knows for sure.

She did fine at daycare, but was very tired and clingy with Jeff while I was at the grocery store. She was very upset when I walked in the door as she couldn't get to me fast enough and nothing I did could bring about a smile. I was immediately aware that she needed some sensory input. I snuggled with her for a bit, but it just didn't seem to be enough, so I put her in the bathtub. I'm finding that water does wonders for her sensory needs.

She mellowed out a bit and we saw a few smiles and she even danced a little bit to Barney, but she was very tired too...it took her a very short time to fall asleep.

Here's hoping we have a good night and a happier Gracie tomorrow.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday - Gracie's Well Child Visit

Gracie had an okay night. She awoke a couple of times, flashed me her big toothy smile, said "hi" and then would roll over and go back to sleep. I had to wake her up this morning. She looked so peaceful, I just sat and watched her sleep for a bit. There is something so sweet about a sleeping child.

Jeff wore a tie today that has Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet on it. He's worn the tie many times and the Pooh characters on it are very small. Today Gracie noticed them and got all excited, pointed to the tie and said "Pooh"!

Gracie was feeling much better today and returned to daycare. We did have tears when I dropped her off this morning. One of the older girls, who I adore, wanted to play with her a little too quickly. Gracie needs a little transition time, so I think it was just too much for her. After I gave her some reassuring hugs, Mandy took her hand and off they went to get a book to read. All was well after that. They made the cutest little aprons at daycare today - pink and purple with her name on one side in glitter and "dancing queen" on the other side. Do they know her or what???

I picked Gracie up early today and we met up with Jeff and headed to her 3 year old well child appointment with her pediatrician. Do you know how cool it was to go to a "well child visit" rather than have something be wrong???? She is a healthy girl and everything looked good. Our pediatrician will be sending us to the allergy clinic to get a reading on Gracie's intolerance to milk. We want to know if it is a true allergy and whether or not she can eat things like cheese or other products made with milk. She can't verbally tell us how she feels after eating them, yet we think behaviorally we can notice a difference with some things. It will be good to have a for sure answer on what she can and can't have.

Our biggest dilemna at her appointment today dealt with vaccinations. She is behind on three of them. I'm a big proponent of vaccinations, however, I'm pretty convinced that it was the DTaP vaccination at 15 months, along with her epilepsy, that caused her to have Infantile Spasms. Vaccinations make me nervous for Gracie. She needed her last Hib and her second Hepatitis A. They have also come out with a booster for the pneumonia vaccination. I'm totally against that one for Gracie as it has some of the same contraindications as the DTaP. So we did the Hib today, will do the Hepatitis A in a month or so, and I'm still in discussions about the pneumonia booster. Her pediatrician still thinks it would be a good thing to get, I want a second opinion from our neurologist before proceeding. They will only give it to kids up to 4 years, 11 months - maybe we can wait awhile until she is too old to get it. Hmmmm.

Gracie did not like the shot at all. She gave a huge scream and as quickly as it started, it stopped when the nurse pulled out the kitty stickers. Gracie was not in a good mood for a while. She fought getting in the car seat. She was just on edge and very tired. A walk outside did wonders for her and some snuggle time at home reading and watching a video helped immensely. Just before bed, she insisted on holding Jeff and my hand and walking us around the house.

She had a really hard time falling asleep. I think it had to do with being overtired. She is sleeping peacefully now.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday - A Tummy Bug

Gracie had a pretty restless night and woke up at 5:00 a.m. with the diarrhea. I tried to give her some breakfast so we could get her seizure meds in. She took it in her mouth and held it. It ended up being spit out on my hair and the carpet. What a lovely way to start the day. The diarrhea continued. Gracie also only wanted to be held, upright. She didn't want to be rocked, she wanted to be carried and bounced, pretty much all morning. I did finally convince her to take a couple of spoonfuls of yogurt to get the meds down.

She fell asleep at 10:20 a.m. and slept for 2 hours...then just snuggled until 1:00 p.m. She did eat a little lunch and then some crackers later in the afternoon. The diarrhea stayed away this afternoon, although she still seemed to be experience some gas and cramps. We read alot of books today, we danced, listened to music, play ring around the rosie a few hundred times, and just sat and rocked. We watched a little TV, but it was mostly a music day.

Gracie was hungry at suppertime and ate a chicken patty and that seemed to sit okay. After supper we took a walk, although Gracie ended up on my back for a piggyback ride most of the way. Then I put her in the wagon and we took a little longer walk. When we got home, she decided she wanted to pull the wagon, so I let her pull it down the sidewalk. At one point she forgot to watch where she was going, tripped over the grass edge and fell right down, thankfully into the grass. Now she has a bit of a rash on her cheek and chin. Other than that, she didn't get hurt.

She got to see daddy for about 10 minutes before she went to bed. She was a very good girl all day and I'm realizing that she understands pretty much everything we say to her. We did put up some new butterfly clings on the deck window. She made sure to show daddy when he got home. Gracie loves butterflies.

She fell asleep very quickly tonight and seems to be very restful at the moment.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

A Very Fun and Very Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend at our house. On Friday, Gracie went to a hotel swimming pool with her daycare buddies to celebrate the birthday of her daycare provider's oldest daughter. They made an afternoon of it and Gracie had a blast in the water. I remembered to provide water shoes for this swim experience. The last time I took her to the pool she got huge blisters on the back of her feet where she kicked and kicked and kicked in the water.

On Saturday, Grace awoke in a great mood and was a very good girl all day. We went to Target to pick up a few things, then back home where we ate lunch and played. About 1:00 p.m., Gracie wanted up and to snuggle into my shoulder which is a sign that she is tired. She fell asleep and slept for 4 hours. I kept checking on her to make sure she was okay. We payed for this later when she didn't go to bed until 11:15 p.m. and then woke up again at 2:00 a.m. YAWN!!!

Grandma and Grandpa D. came over in the evening to have pizza with us and say goodbye as they are headed south until next summer. Gracie was in a great mood, she jabbered up a storm and we went out for a walk later in the evening. Gracie was Grandma's buddy.

Today, Sunday, we headed to Iowa to help Grandma B celebrate her 80th birthday. There was lots of family there and Gracie was in her glory. There was also Gracie's favorite food in the whole wide world there....CAKE!!! Even better, this cake had candles...with fire. Gracie loved when the candles were lit. Gracie had a great day other than two temper fits, one where she leveled a glass of lemonade all over Grandma and the second one she bit cousin Jason. We need to continue to work on that temper of hers.

On the way home she slept for about 20 minutes in the car, but when we got home was so exhausted that all she wanted was to be held and she quickly fell asleep...at 7:30 p.m. I think she is asleep for the night. She was sooooooooo tired.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday - Tired, But Happy

Gracie had a pretty good night until 2:00 a.m. when she became extremely restless. Finally I put her in the crook of my arm and she slept peacefully like that until 5:00 a.m. when I had to extricate myself from under her. I managed okay and she slept another 40 minutes. I was in the bathroom, just out of the shower and putting make up on and drying my hair, when I hear a little knock on the door. She loves to knock on the door and when I opened it up, I was treated to the biggest, sweetest, sleepy smile. I took her back to bed for a little bit, so we could snuggle and then she informed me it was time for yogurt or "gogurt" as she says it.

I took Gracie to daycare and she was a pretty sleepy girl on the way there. She was also tired on the way home. She did ask for "crackers" and when I put them in a bowl, she said "bowl" for the first time ever. We came home and ate some supper and played downstairs for most of the evening as it was cooler down there and because Gracie is in love with the baby swing. She HATED it as a baby, but now she likes to push the button for the music, load it up with her stuffed animals, papers, you name it, and then press the swing button. I think she likes the vibration of it too. She is happy as a lark, just standing there listening and arranging her menagerie of stuffed animals on the seat.

We are really enjoying Gracie's sense of humor. She is such a tease. Tonight she was eating a tatertot and it had ketchup on it and she was told she had to stay on the blanket (we were having a floor picnic). She would inch her way off the blanket, look at me, and say "yum" and just smile. Then she would move a little further and still say "yum" in a way that amused me. She was totally playing me.

She was very tired tonight, yet seemed to hold the tantrums at bay for the most part. We read Fancy Nancy books and "Nancy" was Gracie's request. Then it was sleepy time and Gracie fell asleep instantly. Now that I think about it, I'm tired too.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday - Sweet, Sweet, Sweet

For going to bed later than usual, Gracie woke up in a great mood and that was the theme for the day. She was sweet and happy all day. Jeff took her to daycare and she needed a little extra snuggle time with him before he left.

She had a good day at daycare, playing outside, and had a good nap. On the way home Gracie and I had a good conversation - which is a first. Usually I ask her questions and she might smile, but no words. Tonight we got in the car and the first thing she asked for was "crackers". So I gave her some and as she munched away, she was talking up a storm. Then she was kicking the seat. I asked her "who is kicking mommy's seat?" and she quickly replied "Mandy"! Mandy is her daycare provider. What a little stinker.

Daddy had supper all ready for us when we got home and Gracie was a good little eater, then her and I went for a walk while daddy performed magic at Hope Lodge. Gracie tired out on me quickly and insisted on a piggyback ride the rest of the way. Then we sat on our bench outside the front door. She just leaned on me and we enjoyed the nice evening.

Then it was bath time and she was quite the splasher. From there we snuggled in bed and read some books before she fell asleep. She fell asleep very quickly. Sweet dreams.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday - Good News

Gracie had an okay night, she was a little restless toward morning, but did sleep until 7:15 a.m. She was the sweetest, happiest girl all day. We all took showers and Gracie a bath and we headed to the clinic for Gracie's echocardiogram. She did pretty good, although she didn't want to lay down. Thankfully the tech was super patient and knew what she was doing. After she was done, there was no way she was going to stay on the bed. She wanted to be up and moving.

We headed home for lunch and tried to get a nap in, but since Gracie had gotten up late she wasn't ready for a nap. So we played for a little while before we headed to the hospital to meet with the pediatric cardiologist. We got good news. Gracie's echo showed a slight improvement in the thickened lining and also the leaky valve has closed a bit more, so it's not as leaky as it was. We were thrilled as we were hoping for status quo. Gracie was a little charmer through this appointment and made friends with the resident and was very cooperative for Dr. E. Dr. E. is another great member of the Gracie care team. Gracie was such a good girl other than the three times she pulled the emergency nurse cord in the exam room. She was way too quick and the room was way too small.

We came home and Gracie took a little over an hour nap to rejuvenate. When she woke up, Grandma & Grandpa came over and brought us supper. We had a nice visit and Gracie was in a very good mood. She did have a little bout of diarhea - not sure what was up with that.

Gracie asked to have her new Tinkerbell backpack put on her back. Then she walked around the house saying "backpack" over and over again. She showed daddy and beamed, then she had to go show grandma too.

I put Gracie to bed before Grandma and Grandpa left. She would hear Grandpa's voice from the other room and would say "Grandpa". Then I told her Grandpa should be quieter. Then she started to say "Grandpa, Shhhhhhhhh!"

She is now sound asleep. Sweet dreams sweet girl, sweet dreams. Dora jammies tonight for those who are interested...we started out with others...but had a diaper blow out. Ugh.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday - Good Girl

Gracie had an okay night. She cried out quite a bit through the night. As long as I was right there assuring her, she would calm down. She awoke at 6:00 a.m. and was a happy girl. She read her book "David Smells" while burping her baby all the way to daycare. She was a bit tentative once we arrived, but sat down to play without any fuss.

Gracie had a good day at daycare. There was alot of outdoor time and they even walked to the park and played. Gracie was in such a good mood this evening and was extremely talkative. She was either talking or signing almost constantly. She ate a good supper and then we headed outside for a walk. At one point during our walk, she stopped, pointed to my stomach and said "mommy", as if telling me who I was. After our walk, it was time to swing. Then daddy came home and we had to take another walk per Gracie's orders. Gracie stopped at one point during this walk, pointed to herself and said "Gracie".

She had a really hard time relaxing to go to sleep, but once she finally fell asleep, all is well.

Tomorrow Gracie has an echocardiogram in the morning and then we meet with her cardiologist in the afternoon. This is our annual check of her leaky valves. If you have any extra prayers, please send one Gracie's way for good news tomorrow.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

The Weekend

We had a very busy weekend! Gracie had her very first sleepover without mom and dad. Jeff and I attended the wedding of some good friends (Congratulations Mitch & Jeryl) and Gracie stayed with Aunt Sheila, Uncle Chris, and cousins Kayla and Jason. She had a great time. She enjoyed seeing their dog, she listened to music and danced, she watched a little TV, she played piano, she ate as if she was a human vacuum cleaner (Aunt Sheila is a really good cook), and was curious about a storm that went through, including hail and lots of thunder, lightning, and rain. She fell asleep as Aunt Sheila rocked her. Then it was slumber party time. She awoke a number of times through the night, just to make sure Aunt Sheila was close by.

She awoke this morning and was a snuggly girl. Then Aunt Sheila treated her to muffins for breakfast. YUMMY. I arrived at about 10:00 a.m. to pick her up. She was happy to see me and I got a priceless smile, but no hugs. She still had playing to do. She was a funny girl, she didn't want me to be out of her sight, but she wanted to continue playing. When we did leave, Gracie was so sad to leave that she had huge crocodile tears as she cried.

We headed right to Grandma & Grandpa D's for Christmas -- since they travel in the winter, we celebrate Christmas with Jeff's family in the summer. There was lots of yummy food. Gracie had fun playing the piano and chasing her cousins. She was so tired as we didn't get a nap in, so she was a bit more moody and we saw a number of tantrums. Gracie got alot of fun gifts that she'll have fun playing with. At 4:00 p.m. we headed home and took a two hour nap. I awoke her after that and it took her quite a while to wake up. She also wanted very little to do with Jeff today. He finally won her over after supper.

Tonight we took a walk in the nice cool evening air. Gracie did not want to come in, she was having a great time. She went to bed later than usual. I have a feeling morning may come a little too soon.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday - A Great PT Appointment

Gracie had an okay night, but I awoke at 3:00 a.m. to gurgling sounds. Gracie was having one of her bloody noses. Not the worse ever and I caught it before it got everywhere, we did have to change the sheets and pillow cases though. It took her about 30 - 45 minutes to fall back asleep and then when it was time to get up for the day, she was a major sleepyhead.

Baby had to ride along to daycare with us this morning. Gracie fed baby or burped baby the whole way there. Then we were greeted at the door by her 7 year old buddy. It was so sweet how she got a big hug.

Gracie had a good day at daycare and Jeff picked her up early to head to her physical therapy appointment at the clinic. It was a good appointment and Gracie did everything she was asked. She was very cooperative and extremely talkative. Her physical therapist was very impressed and she is doing so good that we don't have to go back until we have concerns or three months, whichever comes first. We do have some stretches to work on with her as she had some tightness in the muscles that she uses to sit criss cross applesauce. After her appointment we were talking with the desk staff, her PT, the PT student that worked with her today and Gracie was talking up a storm and everyone was having fun, when a physician whom I've seen on the floor before, but have never talked to, came up to Gracie and I and said "Hey, this is Gracie, right?" She then proceeded to talk to me and was just enjoying Gracie and her antics. Then one of the desk staff, who she loves, asked if it was okay if she gave her a cupcake. I said sure and oh my gosh did we have a happy girl. She had everyone in stitches with her majorly chocolate face and hands as she did the "cupcake dance". She was so excited as cake is one of her favorite things in the whole wide world. She danced and said "cupcake" and "mmmmm" as she ate this ooey gooey sweet treat. She had chocolate everywhere. After she was done, we marched her to the sink and got her washed up.

After this she made friends with a couple and their baby in the elevator. The dad of which tracked us down in the ramp and gave Gracie a brand new ball. I don't know what it is, but Gracie just has this charisma about her that charms everyone. I wish I could take credit for this, but this is a trait all her own.

We took a short walk tonight - it was just too hot to be outside. So we played downstairs most of the night and let her splash and swim in the tub.

She is restless tonight. I'm hoping she has a good night in her Spongebob jammies.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday - Another Good Day

Gracie had a bit of a restless night, but not the worst. She awoke at 4:45 a.m. and was bright-eyed and bushytailed and was up for the morning. She was a very happy girl and insisted on taking "kitty" along on the ride to daycare.

She had a good day at daycare, although it was just too hot to go outside today. So there was dancing and playing to be done indoors. She also took a really long nap and just didn't want to get up. I like these long nap days. It means an extra good evening for us.

Gracie ate a good supper - we made her homemade pizza with her new non-dairy cheese. It was a hit. She also sucked down the vanilla/chocolate mix soy milk like it was going out of style. Add to that yogurt and mandarin oranges. She was a human vacuum cleaner. We're also having a bit of a problem with constipation. So after a month of being off Miralax, we have started that up again.

After supper we took a walk outside, but it was still so humid and the mosquitos were terrible, so we came back in and played downstairs where it is much cooler. Gracie didn't even fuss about having to come inside...she doesn't like it hot either.

She had a hard time falling asleep and is still quite restless. Hopefully that is not a sign of the night ahead.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Good Mood Gracie

Gracie had an okay night, but woke up in a good mood after a little snuggling. She didn't think she really wanted any breakfast this morning, although she did eat the 4 mandatory bites of yogurt needed to get the seizure meds down. She fed her cereal to her baby doll. She drank her orange juice right down and of course, her favorite part of breakfast, her Flinstone vitamin was gobbled right up.

She was sober and a bit tired on the drive to daycare, wasn't sure she wanted mom to leave, but when her 7 year old buddy suggested they dance, she decided it might be okay. She had a good day and even colored a Care Bear picture. It is so cute and she was one proud little girl when I got to see it. Jeff picked her up and they got a little bonding time before I got home. She was happy to see me and snuggle, but she was daddy's girl tonight.

Gracie was very intrigued by the storm that blew through. It was the most aware she has ever been of weather. She pointed out to me that the wind was blowing. She blew with her mouth and signed "wind". Then said "rain" as well as signed it, when it started to rain. She got very concerned and a little scared when it thundered. We assured her it was fine and she gave us this "okay if you say so" face.

We stayed inside tonight with the wet stormy weather and had a great time singing, dancing, splashing in the tub, and coloring with markers. She was such a good girl tonight. She was so happy, ate a ton of supper, and didn't fuss about hardly anything. It was a good night.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday - Those Itchy Mosquito Bites

Gracie had a restless night and I think the mosquito bites are to blame. She was rubbing and itching her head where the nastiest of the bites were bothering her. She was one tired girl this morning and did not want to get out of bed. I think she was half asleep eating her yogurt and to top things off, they messed with the programming on The Disney Channel and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was not on during the time we get dressed.

Gracie spent a little too much time with mom this weekend and was not ready to let go of me when I took her to daycare. She didn't fuss or get upset, just wanted to stay snuggled in my neck all day. The promise of a story being read finally lured her away.

Jeff picked Gracie up and they had some time to play before I got home. Gracie was all smiles when I got home and sat in my lap for the longest time. She just snuggled while daddy cooked supper. After supper we headed outside for a walk. Since it was so hot out earlier, this was her first venture out to play for the day. She walked pretty much the whole extended block 20 steps ahead of us. Then she swung for awhile and went down the slide a number of times too.

She continues to amaze us with her words, imitations, and all of the things she understands. We didn't have to have any timeouts for biting tonight. She did have one meltdown when she went to the gate above the stairs and told me "bye". That means she wants to go outside. I told her it was too hot and we would have to wait til after supper. She fell to the floor in a fussy tantrum. I got down on her level, informed her that it was too hot for mommy right now and imitated what would happen if I went out into the heat. (I took two deep breaths and fell over.) She found this hilarious and tantrum was over. If you would have told me three years ago that I would be imitating a heat stroke to appease my child, I would have said you were nuts!! I guess we all know who is nuts now!!!

Gracie is now fast asleep in her pink and purple leopard spot jammies.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

The Weekend - Some Fun Firsts

We had a good weekend. Gracie was happy and healthy throughout. On Friday, Gracie was at back-up daycare again and she had alot of fun. The staff there are so awesome. Jeff worked late that night, so it was just us girls. She gobbled up her supper and then we just played.

On Saturday, Jeff had to work all day, so Gracie and I got up early and did some shopping. We got caught in the rain and got very wet. I actually think Gracie enjoyed that. She was a very good girl while shopping and then we headed home to make lunch. I recently found some non-dairy, non-soy cheese that is quite good and I used that to make Gracie's favorite lunch...macaroni and cheese. She also had two other favorites...peas and pears. She ate and ate and ate. Then she took a 2-1/2 hour nap. I snuck in and took a nap for part of that time too. When she woke up, we filled her pool and water table with water and she played and played and played. Daddy came home just before supper and she was thrilled to see him. We took a walk to the park after supper and Gracie is getting really good with balance and climbing up the stairs on the play equipment. On the way home, we stopped to let Jeff tie Gracie's shoe. As he was doing this she leaned over and was resting across his back as he was kneeling down, and totally unsolicited, she said to her daddy for the very first time "I LOVE YOU". That was a major heartmelter for both of us.

Her extra long nap made bedtime later than usual, but she was a happy girl and we were fine with that, although she was extra tired this morning. We had her favorite cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning and she gobbled them right up. We went to Jeff's church today and as always she enjoyed the music, but was too restless to sit during the message. At the end song, Gracie went to the aisle and danced her little heart out.

Then it was home, lunch, and naptime. Gracie took a 1 hour 45 minute nap today, which was much needed. After nap, Gracie and Jeff were playing downstairs for a bit while I was doing laundry. Gracie informed Jeff she wanted to sit on the toilet. For the first time ever, Gracie went potty in the toilet. I think this child may potty train herself. She only went a little bit, but enough to know what happened. She did empty her bladder into her diaper a little bit later, so we still need to work on this a bit.

After this Gracie and I went shopping. She noticed a bandaid on my finger. She leaned over and kissed it. That's what mommy does for her owies! We are really see a huge cognitive burst with Gracie the last few days. She is talking, telling us what animals are and what they say. She is singing a lot of songs and hitting key words. She is telling us exactly what she wants. Sometimes it takes a little bit to totally figure out what she is saying, but we eventually get it.

For those of you wondering how the biting is going - we are making great progress. We still get bit occasionally, but many times when she goes to do it, we say, "Gracie, I hope you are not biting because you will get a time out." Miraculously many of these intended bites turn into kisses.

Later this afternoon, we played out in her swimming pool and with her water table again. She had a great time splashing. Then to the swing and slide. Later after supper and bath we took a walk but the mosquitoes were so bad, we didn't stay out too long.

Gracie is now fast asleep, rejuvenating for a fun week ahead.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Increase in Meds = Increase in Cognition

Gracie had another great night last night. I could really get used to these good nights. I was awakened by Gracie putting both of her legs over my stomach in her sleep. I guess she thinks mommy is a footrest.

We had sort of a crazy day today. Gracie's daycare provider's daughter was sick, so we really didn't want Gracie hanging out there and catching something, so we took her to our work's back-up daycare center. Gracie had a great day. She wasn't sure she wanted to stay, actually was pretty sure she didn't want to stay, but once mommy was gone all was well. She played outside, she played in the sand box, they took her for walks down the hall to see the babies, she had a great love of that room and signed "baby" and "milk". She also loved when they would shake the wobbly bridge on the playcenter. This surprised me greatly, since it usually scares her a bit with her balance difficulties. They said she did great on it and wanted them to make it move "more".

I did get a call around lunchtime to see if I had any tips on getting Gracie to eat. She wouldn't eat or drink anything for them. They were wondering if they could give her crackers to see if they could get something in her. I gave them my wholehearted approval and told them to scrap the milk for water too. It worked like a charm and she did end up eating her peaches too. Her appetite is decreasing and she is getting a little finicky at times.

When I picked her up she was all smiles. We headed to Target after that and she enjoyed being in the stroller, then to my hairstylists where daddy met up with us to take Gracie home while mom got pampered.

To those of you that know Gracie well, you know that he word "no" comes quite easily to her, and the word "yes" does not. Tonight on the way home, Jeff asked her "Should we go to McDonalds and how about chicken nuggets, fries, and a sandwich for daddy?" In her big voice, Gracie responded "YEAH"!

We are two days into her seizure med increase and we are seeing another cognitive skills burst. She is speaking so much more, she is telling us what pictures are. Tonight she saw a pig in a book, said "pig", then hopped off her bed and got her piggy bank off the dresser. Then she told mommy that she needed "money". With all that effort, she got to feed piggy some loose change.

Tonight I told Gracie we needed to change her diaper and go get ready for bed. As I started to lead her to her room, she wanted to go elsewhere, but I kept helping her along to her room. She was now getting frustrated, so I stopped and she signed "potty". I told her to show mommy what she wanted. She walked to the bathroom, I opened the gate and let her in. She walked right to the toilet. I took off her diaper and sat her on it and she was so proud. She even tried to go potty, but didn't quite get that success. Maybe next time. She is definitely getting the concept. I think potty training is getting closer and closer.

Gracie is now sleeping soundly. Sweet dreams.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday - A Happy Girl

Gracie had a great night, which means I had a great night. She awoke a little unhappy, but only until I carried her back to bed and snuggled with her for a bit. She needs that morning snuggle with her mom. I quite enjoy it myself.

Gracie enjoyed the drive to daycare -- she was singing in the backseat and reading her kitty book. She had a good day there and was a happy girl when I picked her up.

When we got home I took her for a wagon ride while supper cooked in the oven. She ate like a little piggy tonight. I don't see that so often anymore since her growth has slowed down. After supper, Jeff, Gracie, and I all took a walk and played outside. I went to the grocery store later tonight and Jeff put Gracie to bed. She was a good girl for him.

The fun word of the day: I ordered some shoes for Gracie online and they arrived today. I took them out of the box and showed her and she said "shoe". Usually she signs it, but today it was verbal. Yay.

She is now sleeping peacefully.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday - Another Absence Seizure

Gracie had an awesome night and awoke in a great mood. She was such a happy girl this morning. I took her to daycare and was not loving driving in the fog. It was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Gracie had a good day at daycare. She went to the park, got to swim in the kiddie pool, and run through the sprinklers. She also got books read to her and had fun with the other kids. I did get a call from our daycare provider later this afternoon, as Gracie had another absence seizure. So I contacted our pediatric neurologist and we have decided to increase Gracie's morning dose of seizure meds. We're not quite sure why her current dose isn't doing the trick, as she hasn't gained any weight recently at all. Hopefully this will take care of the seizure issue.

Tonight we had our neighborhood National Night Out party. We have great neighbors and got to meet a few new ones. We all had fun until Gracie wiped out on the cement when she was running. She skinned both knees and an elbow big time. I took her in the house and stuck her in the tub to clean everything. She is allergic to bandaids, so we had to leave them uncovered and a little oozie.

Gracie loved all the puppies and kittens at our party. The kittens she got to see through the window. The puppies were all hands on and she got lots of puppy kisses.

Gracie got to bed about an hour later than usual. She fell asleep instantly. Sweet dreams little girl, sweet dreams.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday - Happy Girl

Gracie had a pretty good night and awoke at 5:15 a.m. She insisted she did not want to go back to bed, but she also insisted she needed to be held and snuggled. She was in a good mood and was happy to meet some new kids at daycare today. She had a good day and even made mommy a pretty paper flower during craft time.

Jeff picked Gracie up and they were dancing when I got home. Gracie was in a great mood tonight. She was happy, interactive, ate a good supper. I am so excited as I found some dairy free shredded cheese that actually tastes pretty good, so I made Gracie a favorite...macaroni and cheese. She liked that.

After supper it was bath time, then we went outside for a walk. She had tons of energy, but when 8:00 p.m. hit, it was very obvious from her mood that it was time to go in and go to bed. It took her a while to calm down and go to sleep.

By the way, our consistency with timeouts and staying very calm with her is paying off already. I also tell her that she needs to calm down at times and she looks at me and repeats "calm down". So she is starting to understand.

Gracie had a little stare fest at the table tonight that I suspect was an absence seizure, but I'm not totally sure. I was feeding her yogurt when she just stared ahead. The only difference I saw is that her head went down as if she was falling asleep. That has never happened with an absence seizure before. So we will keep an eye on it and if we see anymore, we'll contact her neurologist.

I was having trouble loading some of her birthday pictures last night, so tonight I'll add a few more from her birthday weekend.

Love,

Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Birthday Weekend

Gracie had an incredibly busy and mostly fun birthday weekend. Here's her weekend in a nutshell.

Friday - Her actual birthday: Gracie awoke in a crabby mood and it just never really got better. Our plans were to take her to the zoo. Her birthday cake had monkeys, bears, and tigers on it to continue the zoo animals theme. I should have realized that Gracie has a hard time with transitions and turning three must have been one of those tough transitions. So against my better judgment, we loaded her up in the car and headed to the zoo 70+ miles away. She was happy to be in the car for a while, but then became very unhappy and decided to gag herself to the point of throwing up everywhere. At the very moment that vomit was coming out of her mouth, one of her mondo nose bleeds started. By the time we arrived at our destination she was covered in blood and vomit and was still incredibly grumpy. I changed her clothes, cleaned her up, and we had a picnic in the back of the van. She didn't really enjoy the zoo. The few animals that she did seem to get into were the ducks, flamingos, fish, zebras, and some little goofy looking monkeys. We stayed a max of two hours and headed home. She napped in the car and again when we got home. She awoke a little happier, but still not great. She opened presents and our big surprise of the day was when she opened a card with money in it, got excited and said "money". We didn't even know she knew what money was. About 8:00 p.m. it was like a switch was flipped and she was in a great mood.

Saturday - More Birthday Cake: Gracie was in a GREAT mood, an incredible contrast from the day before. She was happy and cooperative and smiley and just so much fun to be around. We hung out at home for most of the morning, she took a long nap, and then Grandpa & Grandma D. and Aunt Kathy came over for supper and birthday cake. The theme of birthday cake #2 was Dora! We all played outside for awhile in the evening.

Sunday - A Birhday Cookie: Gracie was in a pretty good mood again today. We went to my church and she did pretty good for most of it. Jeff did need to take her out for a little while. Then we came home, had lunch, a nap, and Aunt Sheila, Uncle Chris (her Godparents) and cousin Kayla and Jason came over to help celebrate her birthday. Gracie loved playing with everyone and liked when Kayla and Jason would play with her in her room. We had a giant birthday cookie and today's theme was Tinkerbell. This evening we took her outside and she played on the swing and slide with our company and was very sad to see them leave.

I would say she knows how to celebrate!!!!

Love,

Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie