26 Months

It is time to admit something...I am raising a strong-willed daughter. Big surprise, I know - not! It has been pretty evident that she is strong-willed since her feeding tube days (I attribute the tube to some of this stubborness. You don't go for months with having someone force something down your nose without becoming more than a little strong-willed). It is time to put that in writing though, as I try to keep this blog as honest as possible (I hate those 'our child is perfect and never does a thing wrong' blogs. How is anyone supposed to learn from those? I hope people can learn from our experiences. **Spoken like a true teacher**) I'm not saying that is a bad thing, nor is it a good thing. It can be both, and it is up to us to raise her to use it in the 'right' way.

Here are some examples of Sophie's strong-willed nature:

• Her favorite phrase of the month: "I not!" Runner-up is "I won't!"
• Sometimes she is nicer about not doing things and will say, "No thank you, Mommy" or "No thank you, Daddy."
• She loves to grab our pointer fingers and lead us around. This is usually paired with a "Come on, Mommy" or "Come on, Daddy."
• If we ask her to stop doing something, we will often get 'the stare' from her. This is usually paired with her throwing something down on the ground.
• Sophie wants to do a lot of things on her own now. If you try to help and she doesn't want it, watch out. A fit is probably around the corner.

Another prime example of Sophie's strong-willed nature tricked me a little. I didn't take it as her being strong willed at first. Instead, for a good few days there at the beginning of this month, I thought Sophie had been molested. Seriously. She screamed, wailed, kicked, said 'ow!' and 'no no no!' everytime we tried to change her diaper. She also stopped wanting to go on the potty (she was going multiple times a day before this all happened) and began freaking out at bath time. Her sleeping at night went downhill, too. I was getting really scared and nervous. There are only so many times that you can have these reactions before your mind goes down the worst possible route. I racked my head for any other reaction. There had been no changes to her routine, diapers (besides size - she is in size 3s now!), shampoo/body wash, or anything else. No diaper rash or infections. Nothing. I racked my brain and went through a bunch of scenarios with Joe but we couldn't figure anything out. Molestation seemed really far fetched, too. The only people who change her diapers are me, Joe, her baby sitter, Joe's mom and my mom. After her fits started, I thought back to where she might have been or who she might have been around. No one out of the ordinary. No one new changed her diapers. I was getting so upset. I finally called the doctor's office for advice. The nurse was very nice and asked all the questions I had been asking myself. Then she asked a doctor for  her advice. The doctor believes that it related to potty training. She said that this can be a normal reaction to kids who are being pressured to use the restroom or who are being made fun of and called a baby for using diapers still; it is a control thing. So her suggestion was to stop potty training immediately. Now we haven't really pushed Sophie with the potty. We would ask her twice a day and she would always happily comply, or would say no and that was that. Some days she would even tell us that she wanted to go to the potty. When she stopped wanting to go on the potty, we didn't pressure her. We have certainly never made fun of her or called her a baby for still using diapers. She is 2 for goodness sake! I couldn't help but roll my eyes at what the doctor said (it is the doctor I hate, so there you go). Still, it was the only thing I had to go on and it was a much better thought than where my mind went. So, we have stopped potty training. We still have some diaper changes where she freaks out, but she doesn't say it hurts anymore and it is pretty easy to distract her from them. Her sleeping has gone back to normal and so have baths. Thank goodness! Maybe it was just a control issue after all. Whatever the cause, I am glad it is over now.

Starting after her birthday, I tried taking away Sophie's pacifier and blanket during the day. She could only have it at nap time and when she laid down for the night, but no other time. I really want to break her of the pacifier habit now that she is 2. After the freakouts she was having earlier this month, I decided to back off and let her have them whenever again. If the freak-outs were a control thing, then this is a battle that is really not worth it. She is still young. We can try again in a month or two.

For every ounce of 'rascal' that Sophie has in her, she has just about double the amount of sweetness.

• When she goes for walks around the downstairs level of our house, she will tell us good-bye, wave, and blow us kisses. Often she will add a 'love you!' in there, too.
• When I spit out my toothpaste in the morning, she always asks if I am okay because she remembers that I've dry heaved there a few times during my pregnancy. She also asks if I am okay when I am crying (ah, pregnancy hormones).
• She is polite. Please, thank you, you're welcome often come out of her mouth without prompting.
• She will randomly give my belly kisses.
• When she wants to be held, she wraps her arms around me and puts her head on my shoulder.
• When we sneeze or cough she tells us 'bless you.' When she does it and we tell her 'bless you,' she thanks us.
• When we picked out a small pumpkin at the pumpkin patch, we had her pick out one for Josie, too. She picked out a little tiny one and didn't want to let it go. She kept saying, "It Josie!"
• She loves her cousins and her friends at the baby sitters' house. She asks about them all of the time and gets excited when she know she is going to see them.
• She tells us that she loves us. Everytime she does it, it melts my heart.
• Her favorite book is a Little Blessings one called Thank You God, Amen. She loves to 'read' it to us. Usually we get things like, "Thank you God, balloons. Aaaaa-men." It is so funny and sweet to listen to.

Sophie can be a challenging kid, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. She has always been my small but mighty girl; little with a big personality. I can't wait to see what next month brings!

'Little Momma' and her two kids

Giving her baby cousin a hug and kiss

Enjoying a smoothie

She only wanted to take a bath in her 'baby suit'

Enjoying a day at the zoo in her costume.

She wanted to eat every treat at the treat stations right away. She loved this cookie.

Sophie loved riding the rhino. She would even take one arm off at a time and wave it in the air.

Vacation!

We decided to take a quick trip to Lake Cumberland this year during a four day weekend. Sophie was surprisingly good in the car. I think Mickey Mouse helped a lot (thank goodness for portable DVD players). We had fun playing at the park, exploring some trails, visiting a pumpkin patch, swimming in the pool and playing in the room. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Sophie loved the cotton candy and ice ball...so did her Mommy and Daddy.

She kept trying to pick up these giant pumpkins!

She wouldn't sleep in her pack n' play at first. Instead, we would let her fall asleep on the bed and then move her. That didn't work the first night though, and she ended up sleeping between us in bed, upside down, and pushed up against my side. Josie woke me up in the morning by kicking Sophie in the head!

Sophie loved the 'big pool' (hot tub). She always wanted to go in it. Don't worry - it was cooler than most hot tubs (I put my feet in), Joe only let her in for a few minutes at a time and would dunk her in the regular pool afterwards.

Sophie loved wearing her 'baby suit' and swimming with Daddy.

She loved kicking around in the water. She is a lot more brave than she was this summer.

25 Months

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

This month has sped by. I didn't even realize that it was the 23rd until I was looking up a date while doing my lesson plans today. The start of the school year and a 2 year old are keeping me busy!

Sophie has been taking this 'terrible twos' thing very seriously. She has learned how to roll her eyes (it is like a teenager!), 'no' is her new favorite word, she has been saying "damn it" (and in the right context, like when she drops things), she refuses to wear one piece sleepers at night (she takes them right off, if we can actually get them on), she throws fits when you tell her no (sobbing on the ground as if the world is ending) and she has started waking up in the middle of the night (something she never used to do unless she was sick). Geez...what is going on with my sweet little girl? (I know, I know. She is just testing us and going through a phase.) =

Even with these not so great new behaviors, Sophie has been improving on old skills and learning some new ones.  When she jumps on her own now, she actually gets some height. She used to just bend her legs and think that she jumped. She gets a few inches off the ground now. She loves though when you hold her hands and help her jump, like when she is on a bed, the couch or her changing table. She has also started doing forward rolls. Not sure where she picked this up, but she is doing them. Sometimes they veer off to the side, but a lot of them are perfect. Impressive. I will have to start her in gymnastics sometimes soon. My little monkey would love that. Sophie has also been peeing on the potty more and more. Pretty much each day she will pee once or twice on the potty. There are some days where she will tell us that she needs to go. That really excites me. I'm still not pushing anything though. She is still young and there is that whole finding small enough underwear issue. At least she is getting used to going to the potty.

Sophie is still so much fun to be around. She has such a great personality. She will do anything for a laugh; funny faces, dancing, playing games, etc. Her smile gets so big when she makes us laugh. Future class clown right there.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Since school has started back again, Sophie has been going back to her babysitter's house. I hate leaving her behind, but I love that she gets to spend her day with other kids. I love watching her interact with the kids (all boys, minus a baby girl). They all get so excited to see Sophie in the mornings and vice versa. If they are playing with toys when she gets there, she jumps right on in and plays along. It makes leaving her behind so much easier when I see what a good time she is having. I also love that there is a baby there. Hopefully she will get used to having a baby around so it isn't a complete shock to her system when Josie gets here.

Speaking of babies, Sophie never really cared about dolls before. She had some but didn't play with them. This month though she has become obsessed with her baby dolls. It is sweet to watch her rock her babies, pat their backs, kiss them, hug them, and then throw them to the ground! For her birthday, she received a baby set that included a stroller, high chair, bed, etc. She is constantly putting her dolls in these things and acting like they are her babies. She especially loves taking her dolls for walks in the stroller. She will do laps around the downstairs, often making Joe or me walk with them. It is really cute. I love it when she hugs her dolls. It really is so sweet to watch because she has such love in her eyes.



Sophie doesn't realize it, but she 'graduated' this month. Now that she is doing well, she no longer has a case open with Humana's nurse case management program. Last week I said farewell to Tonya, Sophie's nurse case manager with Humana. Over the phone, I've worked with Tonya for over a year now (and another woman before that) in regards to Sophie and her health. Whenever there was an issue with something medically, I could call them and they would assist me. That is how I was able to get a month's worth of her expensive farrell bags covered when she was on the feeding tube (we originally were sent 7 a month-they aren't reuseable!). Whenever I had coverage or billing issues, I could talk to them to get things straightened out. Tonya also helped me get approval for Sophie's genetic tests. She gave tips and suggestions about how to help Sophie with eating even things to ask her doctors about. The best thing was that Tonya was also there to support me. She had to call each month for check-ups, but always made sure to ask how I was doing with everything. That was really nice. We have both known for a few months that Sophie didn't need their assistance anymore, but we neither of us wanted to end things 'just in case.' Finally this month, after hearing all is well with Sophie (and with Josie - Tonya wanted to make sure that she didn't have any issues that Sophie had), we knew it was finally time to close her case. I almost cried when saying good-bye to her. Not because I thought that I would still need her help, but because she seemed to genuinely care about Sophie. I am going to miss our monthly talks and all the help that she gave me. (Tonya did tell me before we got off the phone that Humana is getting rid of their nurse case manager program in November, so we were ending at the perfect time. It is sad that others won't be getting this wonderful assistance though.)

My favorite thing from this month is our new morning routine. There is nothing extraordinary about our routine, but it is still really nice. She has been waking up each morning when she hears Joe getting ready. I like sleeping in, so Joe brings her in bed with me before he leaves. Some days I ask her to cuddle with me, and she will curl up next to me for a little while. Other days she will lie down on Joe's pillow, drink some Pediasure and rest with me. There are times that she asks for cereal, so I'll go and get a box and bring it back upstairs so we can share breakfast in bed. When I am finally ready to get out of bed, she follows me around and 'helps' me get ready. She reminds me of things to get before we head out to the car (her bag, my shoes, her shoes, etc). She gives me hugs and kisses before getting into her car seat. On the drive to the babysitter's house, she usually tells me who all she is going to see (naming all of the kids from the babysitter's). When we get to the babysitter's, she is happy and ready to start her day. I couldn't ask for better mornings.

Even though Sophie has been testing us a lot this month, she is still an amazing kid. I can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Photo courtesy of Sarah Anne Photography

Wearing green to support CP

I caught Sophie on the floor like this, staring up at when I used to keep her birthday presents. She was fondly repeating, "Elmo-Abby", because a few of the gifts had wrapping paper with Elmo and Abby on them.

This is how we announced that Sophie is getting a baby sister, Josie.