Tooth!

Yesterday I felt Stella's first tooth. She pulled my finger into her mouth, chomped down on it, and it hurt! Sure enough, when I looked I saw the sharp little white tooth protruding from her lower gums.

Poor little thing has been cranky all day today, so I know she is teething hard core now. Her gums are swollen and she just can't seem to get comfortable. I have been giving her teething tablets, but she had trouble napping so I gave her tylenol which helped.

OT Evaluation

Today Julie came to evaluate Stella for occupational therapy. Some of the things an OT might work with Stella on are motor skills, self help skills such as feeding, oral motor skills, play skills and sensory processing skills.

The OT was very impressed with Stella's skills and found very little delay. The fact that Stella uses her hands very well, is already self-feeding a bit, and has no sensory issues is wonderful. Julie said it was evident that we have been working with Stella a lot. I give most of the credit to Marla, the TVI, who has taught me pretty much everything I do with Stella.

Julie agreed that for now it is important to focus on Stella's gross motor skills, like rolling and sitting. Yay! Go Stella! It's so nice to hear feedback that Stella is doing some things well, and that we are doing the right things to help her develop and grow.

8 months old

Stella is 8 months old now. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and I think she must be gaining weight, because she is so chubby! I love her baby fat rolls, especially on her thighs.

Things are moving right along, although slowly, with her physical development. She is making progress with rolling and sitting and seems a lot stronger than she used to be. Sometimes she grabs her feet now if I help direct her hands to them. When I put her in the small room she scoots and rolls all over. Often she scoots right out of the box, and she usually turns herself 90 or 180 degrees from how I put her down. She is great at finding things around her to explore, and usually after she drops an object she can find it.

Feeding is going very well. Stella still breastfeeds mostly, but she gets at least one meal a day of baby food. So far she has had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, apples, bananas and pears. Also she can feed herself cheerios and gerber puffs. She just loves those things! It's pretty funny to watch her eat them, because her hands are so moist that they just stick to her fingers and she has to shove them into her mouth with her other hand. I'm impressed at how easily she finds them on her tray and gets them into her mouth.


We took the kids to a water park this month at Wisconsin Dells and Stella did very well. She loved being in the water. Her favorite part was sitting at the edge of the wave pool. Each time a wave splashed over her legs she would laugh and coo and kick her legs. It was a struggle keeping the wet suit out of her mouth - she wanted to suck on it. Yuck!

I love watching Stella with her big brother Sebastian (3 years older than her). They are able to interact a little now, and Sebastian loves playing with her. Usually he is appropriately gentle. Stella just loves him. Anytime he comes near or talks to her she lights up. He likes to tickle her, play peek-a-boo with her, bring her toys, and help her roll over. Sometimes he tells her stories, and strokes her and kisses her, which is adorable.

Things have slowed down at the ocularist. We are not changing Stella's conformers quite as often anymore. We are hoping Stella will have a growth spurt soon and we will be able to insert conformers that are quite a bit larger. I am glad that we have settled on a design that seems to work well and doesn't fall out. Stella does have a lot of discharge from a socket, so keeping them clean and preventing them from getting red is a constant chore. I'm pleased with how her face is looking and am happy with the work June is doing. Stella still cries like she is being tortured during every visit, which is not fun for me either.

It seems like the majority of people who meet Stella don't realize she is different. Either that, or they are just very polite. Most people smile, and talk to her, and tell me how adorable she is. Sometimes I wonder if they just aren't very observant. Of course, a comment I hear quite often is along these lines, "Oh what a cute baby. She's sleepy, how sweet." And this is even if she is babbling and moving her arms and legs. One man did ask me if she was Chinese. I just smile and say thank you, because it doesn't seem worth it to explain her condition to every stranger I meet at the store.

Rolling Over

Last night Stella rolled over for the first time. We were at my dad's and I had put Stella down for her tummy time. As I was sitting at the table chatting with my dad & Meg I looked over just in time to see Stella roll onto her back. A few moments later I put her on her tummy again and she immediately rolled onto her back. Yay! Progress finally. I wonder if we will ever get her to play on her tummy again...