Progress and Chipped teeth

Ok, the title of this entry is “Progress and Chipped Teeth.” What the heck does that mean? Well, we are making progress with Simmi in the speech department, slowly and surely. Now that I wear lipstick during the day (I still forget sometimes to put it on), she is far more attentive to my face and lips. She will even try to repeat my words. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it is encouraging that she will actually try to engage me and speak. She doesn’t tell me when she’s hungry or wants a bottle still, but we’re trying to be optimistic about her vocalizing.

Today Simmi got double teamed by two of the therapists. It was an overlapping session that went longer than usual. I made her a Mylar pom-pom made of lots of different shiny colors and discovered that when I wave it around she flinches and blinks, BUT when I wave my hand in front of her face (the therapist did also today) or move it around quickly and up real close to her eyes she hardly blinks or flinches. It’s almost like my hand isn’t even in front of her face! She loves carrying around the big pom-pom and I now use it as a way for her to locate things, or go to places she may never have gone before. For instance, I can put the pom-pom inside the cabinet part of her dresser and she will climb inside to get it. Before we started doing that, she wouldn’t go into cabinets or under tables. It becomes a marker of sorts and a way for her to judge distance. Who knew that a cheap Mylar door curtain would be so beneficial as a homemade pom-pom on a stick. I originally purchased the door curtain for inside her closet door. I planned on hanging it so she could have a place to hide since she loves to retreat to a quiet space. When things get overwhelming for her, she often goes and hides at the end of our long hall way, so I figured that since her room is now suitable for her to play in, I would hang it in the closet and she could go in there. But when I got the curtain, it was multi-colored and there was no way I was hanging that in her room. It would have looked very tacky!

We are still putting floors down, and it is a very slow process. One man (Dom) just can’t do it all. He is now working part-time and does some odd jobs as well. Scorpion proofing is first before laying the flooring…then comes the paint and finally the floor. Simmi continues to fall and have trouble walking. A few days ago she fell in the hallway (which still needs to have the flooring put down) and chipped two of her front teeth and split the interior of her upper lip. She doesn’t put her hands out to protect herself when she falls all the time, nor does she use her hands defensively if something comes up close to her…EXCEPT the Mylar pom-pom. With the pom-pom she puts her hands up immediately and tries to block it if I bring it close to her. She isn’t scared of it, but with the noise it makes and the sparkly movement, she does reach out to block it…giggling all the way. She walks into walls as well and doesn’t use her hands to stop herself.

She has quite a few bumps on her forehead but I was able to get three head measurements before she fell. At the time her head measured 48 cm. at 24 months (same size since Feb.). She went for a well-child check up post-head bumps and her head measured 49 cm. I asked the nurse to take two more measurements (it isn’t easy to get accurate head measurements) but she only did the one. When I went home I measured her as well and it was 49 cm. but only three days later, as the bumps on her head subsided, she came down to 48 1/2 cm at 26 months old. What does that mean? Well, in February, her head was measured by the nurse and it was 48 cm. and at that time she was in the 90th% percentile, and now at 26 months old she is 48 1/2 cm (after swelling on her forehead went down) which puts her in the 75th % percentile. We will continue to watch her head growth over the next six months, and if her head continues to decelerate, it would be a cause for concern. Her height is now 36 inches putting her still in the 90th % percentile. However, we need to take her to a shoe store that can accurately measure her foot size because she has been in a size 6 shoe since last November. The Umi’s that we got for her last year still fit and there is still room for her foot to grow. The Umi’s tend to help with her toe walking, but they aren’t very fashionable with a pretty dress so I went to Walmart a few months ago to get her a pretty pair of shoes. I thought that a size 7 would be in order, especially since she had just gone through a growth spurt, but when I put them on her, they were too big. I ended up buying her a size 6. I’m hoping that her feet are going to grow. She used to look like she had enormous feet, but now it seems like her feet are just not growing…maybe she just grew into her feet. LOL

Tags: head deceleration, toddler with chipped tooth, visual attentiveness, visual problems