So, Julio and the kids left for LA yesterday. I stayed home with Tessa because I got the flu. I felt so bad because we’d been looking forward to this trip for months. Lucia got the flu over a week ago and it’s been slowly infecting each of us. Julio didn’t feel so great either, but he was determined to go. It’s funny how the kids only missed one school day this whole year until last week, right before vacation. Anyway, I don’t know why I can’t sleep-Tessa is sleeping peacefully and I should be too. insomnia I guess. But, I will miss spending Easter with my family. It’s the first time ever spending a holiday without them. I’m so sad.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Tessa 10 months
I took at least 10 shots of her and this is the face she made in every shot. You can see her top 2 teeth are about to come in.
We’ve discovered those pouches of baby food that they can suck the food out of-no mess and she loves them!
I found her in Marco’s room looking at books. She’s a smart one!
She likes helping with the dishes.
She loves to fall asleep on Daddy.
She isn’t walking yet. She seems to be getting really comfortable with the crawling, and not too motivated to walk. She’s been sick a lot this past month-first bronchitis and then roseola. Plus she’s still so tiny-only 15 1/2 lbs. Hopefully, she’ll be better for a long time and will gain some weight. She still gets comments from so many people about how beautiful and perfect she is. She’s not only beautiful, she’s sweet and although she doesn’t smile at too many people, her face lights up whenever one of her family sees her.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Our special girl is….special
When Sylvie was a baby, she had her blessing (or some other churches call it a christening) and Julio said his impression of her was that she was special. We didn’t quite know what that meant, of course all children are special, but Sylvie would be in a different way. As a baby, she developed normally and met all of her milestones. Even as a toddler, she seemed to be meeting all of her milestones besides being very small and an extremely picky eater. But, after Tessa was born, we and especially others, started to notice changes or differences. Sylvie is overactive and climbs on everything-chosing to get things and do things herself instead of ever asking for help. She doesn’t make eye contact much when she talks to you, it’s hard to have a two-sided conversation with her. She also started doing things like jumping a lot, waving her arms, clenching her fists when she’s excited, nervous, upset. tShe gets upset easily and has a very hard time following directions. So we decided to have her tested for any autism disorders. The pediatrician was no help at all and told us to contact the school district. We also contacted a state agency that diagnoses and funds therapy for autistic kids. They did an intake with me over the phone and said, “She doesn’t sound autistic to me. Go to the school district and then let us know what they find.” You see, Sylvie doesn’t exactly have all the traits of an autistic child. she does have language skills, she does socialize and interact with other children, she is very affectionate and shows emotion. The first person to screen her was a speech therapist and she scored in the average range for language and pronunciation. But, the speech therapist did think it necessary to refer her to a psychologist for further evaluation. The first psychologist was puzzled after observing her and said, “I’m not sold on the autism thing.” But, we wanted a second opinion. So, an autism team was set up to do further testing. That was over a month ago. In the meantime, Sylvie has been attending speech therapy to practice her pragmatic skills-conversation, asking for help, staying on task. She likes it and has been doing well. This week, I got a call from the Special Ed office suggesting I take Sylvie to a Head Start class that does inclusion. That means that most of the students are normal, but there are 5 special needs kids in the class and there is extra support staff. We went and Sylvie freaked out at first, but then she warmed up and seemed to like what she saw. We had our meeting with the special ed teachers and psychologist yesterday to find out their official findings and make an action plan. The psychologist said she does exhibit autistic behaviors, but doesn’t meet all the markers to be diagnosed with autism. So, the official (for school purposes) diagnosis is Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not otherwise Specified. She will also be tested by an Occupational Therapist for Sensory Integration Disorder. She will be attending the inclusion class and continue speech therapy through them and probably occupational therapy. We’re hoping this will help Sylvie cope with her anxiety, hyperactivity, attention span, social skills, etc. The psychologist said that in order to get an official medical diagnosis, we should still consult a pediatric neurologist, but for now, she is getting the services she needs.
It’s been so hard to come to grips with having a child that isn’t “normal” or “perfect”. Sylvie is a special little spirit that has come into our family to teach us patience, love and understanding. I just fear that the world world won’t understand her and will reject her. It’s hard as a mother to think of these things when you only want the best for your child. All I want for her is to be happy and be able to function in the world. Her family loves her so much.
Monday, February 27, 2012
A week off
Last week, the kids were out of school and since we didn’t get to go to Disneyland with the Hill’s, Grandma and Uncle B, we had to stay busy around here. It was nice to not be on a set schedule, sleep in and stay up late. We didn’t do a whole lot. But, we got out a couple of times to do some fun things…like the Discovery Museum.
and the bounce house…
It was a relaxing week.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Valentine’s Day
After our favorite pasta dinner (Julio got a steak), the kids put on a Valentine’s Day play. Couldn’t tell you what it was about, they were just being silly, but cute. Valentine’s sure isn’t the romantic, relaxing day it used to be, just a little fun and chocolate yumminess thrown in on a normal day.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tessa 9 months
she’s crawling! she’s pulling herself up on everything! she eats and picks things up with her left hand. she has two teeth on the bottom. she makes silly faces. she makes kissing sounds. she hardly ever naps and doesn’t sleep through the night anymore. she loves to explore and play with the kids. she’s adorable and I’m told that every day when I’m out in public with her. she’s still teeny tiny weighing about 15 lbs. (she hasn’t had her 9 month check up yet).she’s growing up too fast. this is my favorite stage in babyhood/childhood. I don’t want it to end.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Welcome February!
January is my LEAST favorite month. This year, it was more bearable since we’ve had such beautiful weather! Although I didn’t get pictures, we did spend some family time outdoors in January. We took a hike to some waterfalls with Grandma, Grandpa, Callie, Eden and Riley (Julio and Brian did not go). It was quite the adventure! Lucia, Marco and even Sylvie did great on the approximately 4 mile hike. The babies didn’t fare so well and Callie and Grandma had a hard time getting back. But as Grandma says, “we made a memory.” It’s been nice being able to play outside, have picnics at the park.
Grandpa finished retiling our shower and so we are going to start painting-the ceiling of the entire house. We will repaint some walls too. We’re (I’m ready for a change). Slowly, but surely-there’s so much to do in this house!
Sylvie had some evaluations this past month with the school district. She was screened for speech therapy, and was evaluated by the autism team. We’re still waiting to hear from the occupational therapist. We don’t know the results of all this testing yet, except that we did get an IEP for her and she is now in speech. She didn’t “technically” qualify for speech services, but they recommended it for her for pragmatic purposes and the teacher is working with her on conversation skills. She didn’t like the first two sessions, but this week she ran into the room and yelled for her teacher, “Miss Lisa, where are you?!!!”
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