My Heart is Super Happy

A Smoke Monster invaded the neighborhood last Tuesday. We didn't know how close the fire was to us, only that it was in George Bush Park. We were concerned that even if the house was not in danger, that because of her compromised lungs, she would have difficulty breathing if the smoke came our way. Luckily, it blew north of us and the fire though very close, had relatively little effect on us. It was a nerve wracking afternoon though and I was starting to gather oxygen tanks and important documents to load up in the car just in case. Luckily, we have had a couple of light rain showers the last couple of days, with a couple more on the horizon. I hope this enough to keep the wild fires away.


The physical therapist left a hula hoop for her to play with and she loves holding it and walking around the house with it around her.


She is finally handling her drink! I realized that she has the skills to hold the bear, she just hadn't shown any interest and so I didn't push it. Until the last couple of days. I have made her do it. I have left the bear sitting out on an end table and a couple times she has come by herself, picked it up, and taken some sips on it!


Like a true Texas native she is enjoying a Mexican meal of rice, tortillas and refried beans. As I am writing this, she just walked over to Todd, put her hands into a bag of Lays Wavy Sour Cream and Onion potato chips, pulled one out and popped it in her mouth. She is enjoying the taste of things, she will put things in her mouth, she just doesn't seem to have the skill to chew it and get rid of it. Unless it is a puree, it is probably going to come back out in little wet bits. This week we have had hummus a couple times and she really, really loves it and will eat 5-10 bites every time I try it with her.


We brought her outside to do a little walking out in the yard. She was able to walk up and down the pathway to the back gate pretty flawlessly, even though it has a bit of a slope. We also took her out into the grass and even though it is very thick, she negotitated that pretty well with just a few stumbles. The really exciting part is that she is now starting to to squat and stoop to touch things that interest her and she knows she has the strength to get back up without losing her balance.

A skill that we have been working on for months is getting her to stand from the middle of the floor. Every days she gets a little bit closer. She finally gets that she has to have her feet and palms flat on the floor and push with her legs. Unfortunately she often has her legs too far apart. She does better when she bends down to pick up things off the floor. She uses the height of the object to push off of while she picks it up. She has even been doing this with a frisbee that is less than an inch of the floor. She has also been balancing on very unstable objects like balls and still getting to a stand.

She enjoys carrying objects around the house. And now that we worked the peg puzzle and she has learned to hand things nicely to us, she is beginning to combine the two ideas. While Todd was working in the back yard, she picked up an empty flat of flowers that had a handle on it and walked from the house, down the path, in a flower bed between a row of plants and the fence line to give this to Todd who was weeding the bed. She was proud of herself! She is getting into the dreaded "helpful" toddler stage.


For whatever reason, she likes wearing her glasses over her patch. She looks like she is about to go to the beach. All she needs is some fins and her snorkle gear.


She really loves climbing up slides. There is a big one at the gym where she goes to play with other kids and she climbs it really well. This is a slide we bought for her earlier this year and put on the side of the house. Until recently it has been too hot to go out there and play with it. She needs help playing with it, but I know it is just a matter of time before she can do this all by herself, too. She gets hot and that makes her thirsty for her honey bear. Physical, occupational and speech therapy all rolled into one.

As Kai Lan, a character from one of Amelia's favorite shows says, she "makes my heart super happy!"