This photo is awesome, right? I sent it to IDSC for Life. Hopefully they'll use it in their photo campaign. Wouldn't that be so cool? Like their Facebook page to follow the campaign.
Here are a few more. Danielle has been enjoying the swing. She finally has enough upper body strength that I feel comfortable with her on the playground swings. Swinging is great source of sensory input for her. It provides vestibular stimulation. It's a great way to get some therapy in during a routine trip to the park with the kids.
No one likes to swing alone.
I'm noticing that in many of my photos lately, the focus has landed on the ears, or hairline. What the heck? I'm focusing on the eyes when I take the shot. Could my lens be a bad copy or is it me? I am using a very wide aperture a lot of the time, just because I can, really, thanks to my newest lens, so I know my shutter is fast enough to freeze any movement. My camera does not have AF micro adjustment settings, so that's not an option for me right now. I think it's too late to send the lens back :-(. I'm open to suggestions.
I'm so proud of my baby! Danielle is using her first sign. "More." I started signing with Danielle when we started her on solid foods, and we've been focused on feeding signs.
She has been showing me for weeks now that she understood "more," by removing her fingers from her mouth and opening wide for her next bite in response to the sign and spoken word used together.
She started using the sign a few days ago. Here's a video of her signing "more."
It appears that she is also signing the word "eat" but I'm still trying to figure out if she knows the word because she's been using it sort of randomly. I seems that she's still experimenting with it but I think it will soon be the 2nd sign in her repertoire.
On the neurology-front: Danielle is 12 weeks seizure free! Her neuro said he was impressed and encouraged by her cognitive development since our last visit. He added that statement to his report with an apostrophe! Yay! I love apostrophe's!! She earned it :-). She is having another EEG next week to make sure that her brain wave pattern is still looking normal.
Cardiology: Danielle had another echo cardiogram last week. Her heart is functioning just as it should be. We took her off her maintenance drug that was started after surgery to give her heart an easier time. If her blood pressure looks fine when we go back in a few weeks we can take an extended vacation from cardio. It will be an annual visit for Cardiology. Awesome!
We've overhauled our early intervention routine. We've added physical therapy, got a new occupational therapist (LOVE her!) and we're starting speech therapy this week. I've been trying to get Danielle in to aquatic therapy (she loves the water!) with not much success, but our new OT happens to ALSO be an aquatic therapist and she's going to get Danielle in to the pool with her. Score! We will have services twice a week, which I think will be perfect balance for us and will greatly benefit Danielle.
Danielle will be one year old in Sept. How does this happen!? There will be some exciting stuff to come, so stay tuned ;-).
