Great month!

Wow! I can't believe a month has passed since I last posted here! Where does the time go?

Mikaela has had a really great month! Since her latest GI surgery, she has been eating like a champ! Real food! She loves chicken, turkey, most veggies, pasta, tortillas, some fruit, amazing! I swear, the first time I gave her chicken and peas (her first attempt at grown up food) I almost cried! To see her feed herself and drink from the sippy cup was something I took for granted with Justin and Juliana. It almost brought me to tears for the first week!

Since she's been eating better, she seems to be getting stronger physically. She scoots around in a sit position all over the place. I can't begin to describe how she does it. I suppose I should video it and attempt that whole YouTube thing. (Maybe Lucas's mommy will help me with that!;-)) Last week she pulled herself to stand in the crib for the first time unassisted! I had her in a sit and went to the bathroom to dump a dirty diaper in the hopper and when I came back she was standing. Now whenever I put her in the crib to hold her while I do something, she's standing when I get back! She still is not getting into a sit from lying down. Her "walking" still has a long way to come, however she is making progress!

Now for her hearing news! Amazing stuff! This past week - week and a half - Mikaela is really tuning into her environment. She looks towards sounds much more consistently. She is still mimicking duration of speech. There are four words/phrases that she recognizes strickly by auditory input. No signing accompanying it! When I say, "more? more? do you want more?" She often (not always) signs 'more' to me. Same thing with light. I say, "light, light, where's the light?" and pause....(pausing is the key!!! So hard to shut up and give her a chance to process and respond, but I am getting really good at it!) She will look up, and point to the light...then she signs it to me. She does "so big" and the last thing is "Uh, Oh!" when she drops something. It is adorable the way she flips up her palms by her shoulders and says, "uh, oh!" She is getting better at "bye, bye". Right now it sounds like "ah, ah" but the other day it almost sounded like, "ah, aye" ....a slight long i sound! It is really amazing to know that the brain is making sense of the electrical impulses!

I treasure every step. I am not at all anxious. I don't worry about what she will or will not be able to say. I trust that she is moving at the pace that is perfect for her. Hence the title of this blog, yet again, Mikaela's path.