Three times in the last week, we’ve walked in to Luke’s room in the morning, and he’s sitting up in his crib.
Another milestone this week is downright miraculous. Tuesday night, Luke and I were on a blanket in my parents’ backyard. I had just finished a plate of pot roast, and set it aside. Luke spied the plate and spied something he wanted. Instead of fussing and whining for it, he took matters into his own hands. Here is a video recreation:
Well I am sitting outside waiting for people to come buy stuff at our garage sale. It’s quite cold for an April day in Louisiana. I think it’s in the high 50s. Crazy. We’ve done pretty well so far. I think we might be close to around $100. We did not have a lot of stuff to sale but we we do have people are buying!
As I sit here I am reminded about times back in Santa Fe, Tx. My dad and I would look in the paper Friday night. We would find the garage sales, map out our route. Then on Saturday morning we would get up so early and hit about 15 sales before noon. It was so much fun! Those are some of my favorite times with my dad and family…the good ole days!
I am going to make sure that garage sale family time is a top priority at this Sciba house!
Last week Luke went to have a swallow study done. It is quite fascinating. They add barium to his food and then using a series of radiation pictures, they observe how he swallows and where the food goes. We found out that Luke aspirates on everything. Every sip of milk or bite of baby food a small amount enters his wind pipe instead of going down his esophagus. The therapist called it flash penetration and aspiration. So we are in the process of figuring what we have to do in regards to his food and continued oral skills. If there is any PWS family out there who has had similar issues, we’d love to hear from you. Other than that, Luke is doing so well. He has the brightest sparkling eyes and big smile. We’ve had people tell us he’s too pretty to be a boy! Matt said the other day he was laying down in his crib and then when he checked on him again, he was sitting up! Way to go, Luke.
My grandpa gave Mary the nickname, Feisty…and boy is it ever true! The more red her hair becomes the hotter her temper has come! It has gotten to a point where I have questioned if her type of extreme tantrums are normal for toddlers her age. Her faces gets red, she screams, hits things or herself. Sometimes her body will even shake if she has so much pent up frustration. I found this article and really found it beneficial.
In the article is says,”Highly sensitive and deep-feeling children seem most inclined to throw extreme tantrums.” So I did a little bit more reading on highly sensitive toddlers and the description really fits Mary. I found in one article that, “A highly sensitive child is often bright, articulate, creative, and insightful, easily able to tune into other people and their feelings. She may display a deep sense of empathy and compassion for other people. Perhaps she is a budding artist, a future novelist.”
So the next time I am at my wits end with Mary’s seemingly extreme tantrums I am going to look at her with the hope that in time her high emotional state will help make her one of the most empathic and compassionate people on the face of the planet!!
We just got back from my hometown in Texas. I was on spring break so I took the kiddos to my family for a whole week. We had a LARGE time. My family sorta lives in the country so there are pastures with cows, horses and goats. Every time we passed by cows, Mary would call them “moots”. She would yell “ah moots! Ah moots!”. Or if we saw a horse she’d say, “ah ney! Ah ney!”. She calls them by the sound they make. You’d have to see it to appreciate how precious it is. She likes them from afar but HATES them up close (within 100 feet). She would say, “bye bye moots.”. Luke liked them. He had a nervous laugh. I let him pet the horse and he had a look on his face like he didn’t know what to think, but he laughed nervously. He was soaking it all in!
We went to the beach which was a huge success. Mary and Luke loved the sand and the birds. Luke enjoyed the water but Mary would run from the waves that were breaking on the sand.
Picking strawberries from a little farm was also on our list of fun activities. Mary picked about 2lbs. of strawberries.
When we finally returned from Texas, Mary announced her displeasure by screaming at the top of her lungs “no no no! Ah Tay-tay! Ah Dee! Ah Momo! Ah Popo! No no NO!!!”, as we pulled into the drive. It’s good to know she had fun with our extended family and now knows all their names, however it is rather unfortunate that our daughter finds our house to be particularly boring in comparison to visiting family.
A Concrete Way of Love 