Laughter

Stella laughed for the first time today - three deep hearty chuckles while I was changing her. For weeks she has smiled when something brushes her cheeks. Today that turned into laughter as I pulled clothes over her head. How darling. There are few sounds better than a baby's laughter.

Four Months Old

Stella is still a very easy and happy baby. She is addicted to her pacifier and usually falls asleep while sucking on it. She smiles a lot, babbles, and reaches for and grabs objects. We usually put things on her tummy and she finds them and brings them to her mouth. She loves to have her cheeks stroked and smiles from the touch.

On October 20th, she met with Marla, her TVI (teacher of the visually impaired), for the first time. She was very impressed with how strong Stella was. The main thing we need to work on at this point is tummy time, which will strengthen Stella's muscles in preparation for rolling and crawling, just like any other baby. Getting blind babies moving is especially important though, because we don't want them to learn to become content staying in one place - she needs to explore her environment. So far though, Stella seems to be very curious and eager to interact with her environment.

Pretty Eyes

Stella got new conformers today - not quite painted prosthetic eyes, but a much better step in that direction! They are white conformers with a circle of color in the middle of them - a quick and easy version of painted eyes. I love them. Who would have thought I would ever be so happy about fake eyes, LOL. She has one blue and one brown, but I'll take it! Much, much better than the conformers she had before. 

Stella does open her eye lids all the way when she is wide awake and alert, but it was hard to get a good picture. This is the best I could do. The conformers move around sometimes, like Stella actually has eyes that move. It's odd, but it's nice too, because she is much easier to look at now, and there is a decent illusion that she is looking back. It's nice to know that her lids and muscles work well at least.

Happy Halloween!

Check out Stella! She was such a sweet, cuddly black kitty. We took her to a party, where she slept through just about everything and was happy being passed from person to person.