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...

PT Evaluation

Seeing as Stella is almost 8 months and still not rolling over or sitting up, I decided it was time to meet with a physical therapist (PT). Actually, I decided this about 6 weeks ago and this is how long it took for Early Intervention to send me someone. Ugh.

I really liked the PT and am looking forward to working with her. She evaluated Stella and said that her movements are typical of a 3 month old. I already knew that, so it didn't freak me out. It was nice to hear that Stella's muscle tone is good and that the PT was impressed with how responsive and curious Stella is. She thinks we will make good progress with Stella quickly. So, one more weekly item to add to my schedule. I know it will be worth it.

Active Learning Play Space

Probably the best thing we have gotten so far to help with Stella's development is an active learning play space. Michael's dad built it using instructions from this site:
http://www.e-advisor.us/PPS/index.php?fontsize=normal

It is modeled after the concept of the Little Room invented by Dr. Lilli Nielsen. The device is a multi-sensory learning tool that enables children with visual impairments to learn more about their surroundings and interact with their environments.

I am amazed at the changes I have seen in Stella in just a few weeks. While in the play space Stella is more active and more verbal than anywhere else. She knows where the toys are, seeks them out and plays with them, scoots all over the place and rolls onto her side to reach toys with both hands. She also loves to feel different textures on the sides of the play space. It's great because it is all self-directed learning. I just love this thing!

7 months old

Stella is still a happy, easy baby. We went to the pediatrician for her well-baby visit last week and learned that she is still very tiny for her age. She weighed almost 16 pounds and measured 24.25 inches. There are a lot of petite relatives (me included) on both sides of our family, so I'm not going to worry about it. It's actually very easy on my back :-)

Stella loves to lie on her back and play with toys, her pacifier and her fingers. She can now more easily find her pacifier and put it into her mouth herself. She puts everything in her mouth, and seems to especially enjoy fabrics like clothing and blankets. She also still loves her swing and can sometimes figure out how to pull on an attached toy to play music. Stella will sometimes spend up to 30 minutes in her exersaucer and does a pretty good job of exploring the different toys. She does like to bang on the part that makes animal sounds and smiles at the dog barking. We have a duck puppet that quacks, which she always laughs at. She is capable of rolling to her side, but hasn't quite figured out how to make it all the way over. And she is still pretty wobbly when we help her sit up. We are planning to start her in occupational therapy, but haven't managed to get it set up yet. Her TVI is great and thinks Stella is moving right along. Rolling and sitting are still Stella's goals. Michael's dad built Stella a small room - a therapeutic device - that has helped immensely. More on that in a separate post.

We do have her sitting up in her high chair and eating a few foods now. She usually tolerates rice cereal and bananas, wasn't impressed with pears, and loves sweet potatoes. I use a dipper to feed her instead of a spoon. I dip it into the food and then hold it in front of Stella. She grabs it with one or two hands and puts it into her mouth herself. It is quite a messy process, but she does manage to eat a good amount of the food. It's pretty funny to watch her eat sweet potatoes. She slurps every last bit she can get off of the dipper and her hands. Then she squeals and waves her arms to ask for more.

Stella started Kindermusik classes 2 weeks ago and she is doing pretty well. The teacher and other moms have been really friendly and supportive. I was impressed when one mom inquired as to the best way to interact with Stella. The class is 45 minutes long and Stella does well for the first 30 minutes and then I can tell that she is a little over-stimulated. When we repeat the activities at home and sing the songs she loves it.

Some of my favorite moments with Stella are when she's really giggly or snuggly. She likes to be held and snuggles right into my arms. I love when she rolls over next to me in bed, grabbing at my bra, wanting to nurse. It cracks me up when I lay Stella on the changing table and she gets really excited. She just loves having her diaper changed! She laughs, smiles and kicks her legs. Of course, I always tickle her tummy during the process, which is what I think she anticipates. Anytime Stella is playing alone and then I come to pick her up, she gets all excited and coos, waves her arms, kicks her legs, and then smiles and babbles when I pick her up. Baths are also fun. She enjoys the water. She is very vocal and kicks and splashes, happy well after the water is cool.