Wordless Wednesday

What am I up to?

Too much really. Stretched a little thin but loving it.

Kiya is keeping me on my toes for sure. She is trying to be sneaky but given that she is set to loud all the time that hasn't really worked. Add to that that she is just too darn cute and let's just say the next couple of years are going to be interesting. We are headed to Chicago for a follow up appointment at Shriner's. She is approaching one month in cast and they like to check on the kids after the first month in their first cast. Her appointment is Monday Oct. 11th. I am super excited because some other amazing mom's will be at Shriner's that day and I can't wait to meet them in person.

We also got Kiya's 2nd cast date. It will be December 14th. We can cut her cast off up to two weeks prior to that which would be very close to her 2nd birthday. We are opting for about one week/8 days prior as it makes me nervous to take it off. I don't have to worry right now about her back getting worse. No cast means her back could get worse.

The rest of life is also keeping my busy. I now occasionally blog at

http://www.luckycastclub.blogspot.com/

Okay, I have only posted once so far but I am a new author. It is a joint blog with multiple authors who are moms with kids with infantile scoliosis.

You can also check out this cool website, set up by a friend I hope to meet on the 11th.

http://www.luckycastclub.com/

Basically both ventures are there to empower and reach out to families dealing with scoliosis. Our ultimate goal is to set up a non-profit organization to raise funds and gather supplies for families and kids dealing with this condition. We are starting small and dreaming big.

First up, a Pajama Drive. More details will follow but ultimately, we are trying to collect comfy pajamas size 12 month to 5t to distribute to kids on their cast day. We got Dora pajamas for Kiya from a dear friend and it was really neat. We want all kids to have that.

If that isn't enough, I may be joining forces with an old friend from grade school who now works for Project C.U.R.E to see if we can get some more medical supplies headed to hospitals in Ethiopia.

Add to that that I still work full time, am a full time Mom and have two crazy pugs who don't get nearly enough attention and my plate is FULL. I wouldn't change a thing though. Busy is good. Keeps me out of trouble.

Cast pictures--finally :)

llama llama again!

Kiya loves to read. She will sometimes be content just flipping through her books by herself or she will insist that you read them to her. She has some very clear favorites and those change over time. It used to be Princess Baby and Good Night God and then her Dora books and well now it is all about Llama Llama.

There are a total of 4 Llama Llama books. We own two. The other is only in hardback and the holiday one is a pre-order only right now. So this means that we read these same two books multiple times per day and I am not talking about twice each. Try more like 4 or more times each book everyday. She can't say llama so she screams for mama. She calls me mommy and the books mama. Very cute really.

These books are a little longer and she actually pays attention to them. She will sit or stand for the whole book and usually each time we read it. She loves them.  We get a little tired of reading them but they are cute books and it is a guarantee we will have the others. I am hoping they pop up on her daycare book sale list. That is how I got the other two and they were only $3 a piece.

So until then we will read llama llama and enjoy all of the baby llama drama. :)

Walking?

So tomorrow we hit two weeks in cast and 1 week in her ankle supports and guess what....we have a sort of walker :) She would take independent steps before but usually only after much coaxing and really only to me or to Dave.

Now that is not the case. On more than a few occasions today did I spot Miss Kiya taking off walking all on her own. She even stopped a few times even and just stood there not holding on to anything. She would walk from her toy box to the coffee table to get her sippy cup. She walked from the window to the couch to try and get the remote control. She walked from the couch to her table to play with her puzzles. I could go on but that would be boring. In the past Kiya would crawl to get to these things but it appears she might be leaving the crawling behind.

I am not going to say she is a full time walker yet but we have a solid part time walker. The best part is she will walk with her shoes and supports and without :)
My baby girl is going to be running soon...pray for us.

Life with a frustrated, determined and loud toddler

Kiya is doing fantastic. In fact her physical therapist was just so impressed with her. She couldn't believe how well Kiya was walking, bending, etc with her cast on and her ankle supports. She doesn't think it will be all that long before Kiya takes up walking full time. Right now it is a part time activity but standing is much more comfortable and as she gets used to her ankle supports that will help too. She also commented on how great Kiya's hand/eye coordination are, her verbal skills and just how well she will imitate sounds, words etc. The two of them had fun yesterday.

That said there are times when Miss Kiya gets frustrated. And her frustration leads to screaming. Sigh. Bring on the terrible two's. If she tips over and is in a corner somewhere she has a hard time maneuvering herself to be able to get out. Also since she still crawls at times and wears a lot of leggings, she slips and falls a lot on the carpet and the linoleum floors. Both of these require a scream and usually mommy asking if she needs help. If she says yes I help her otherwise I encourage her to try again and do it herself.

She also really wants to try to climb the stairs again. This Mama is not ready for that one. She is top heavy and only been in her cast a little over a week. Maybe in a few weeks....maybe....or not. Sounds scary.

She is very determined to do things herself yet sometimes she just can't, hence the frustration. She has a great vocabulary so we are encouraging her to use her words and not scream and if she is to whiny/screamy/frustrated we take a break. A break includes her sitting in her chair with her blanket (also known as tee tee thanks to a girl her age at daycare) and calming down. She gets up when she is ready and is usually in a better mood after that.

Volume control is an issue in that she doesn't have one. She is set to LOUD all the time doesn't matter if we are inside a store, at home or outside at the park. Screams of "hi, bye bye, nigh nigh" are all common.
We also hear a lot of "Mommy, Daddy, r you?" (as in where are you). Or my favorite, "Mommy, now or Daddy, now." She also repeats everything and since Badger can be a tad naughty at times and is told no a lot, she has been yelling at him. Poor guy. So we are also hearing, "Doggie, no. Sit." Doggie is Badger, Bassy is Sebastian. She rarely yells at her Bassy. Though I was calling for Sebastian to come inside and she was behind me saying, "Bassy,  Bassy, r u?" We are working on not saying no to Badger but that is tough. He has issues but we are trying to praise him and teach Kiya "Good Doggie".

Yesterday we were at the grocery store and she was singing which she does all the time and when she finished "wheels on the bus" she screamed "yeah". I told her she was being loud and she repeated "loud, loud, loud" to the tune of "wheels on the bus". Sigh. And no there was no inside voice at all. She is just loud and loves to hear herself and wants to make sure everyone can hear her too. It always cracks me up when a former teacher at daycare says that she doesn't hear Kiya talk much. I was like, really, try spending 30 minutes with her in the car.

So life has returned and we are settled into our new normal. Kiya is just a remarkable kid and I am truly in awe of her. Nothing is going to stop her and I think that is a great quality. Next week she starts her transition to her new room at daycare. I am not super thrilled about it as we will have brand new teachers that she doesn't know and will now have to deal with her cast. I foresee this Mama Bear having to step out and set up some guidelines but we shall see. I am trying to be open minded about it but I know what they are going to want and it isn't what I want. For example, Kiya falls asleep on her own. She doesn't need to be rocked and while I complain about nap fail she does just fine if she chooses to skip one. Apparently these teachers want all the children to sleep. Kiya sometimes sleep 13+ hours a night and therefore doesn't necessarily need a nap. In fact even in her current room on her daily sheet there was a frowning face because she only napped for a little over an hour one day. Sigh....sorry she is a curious kid and just can't be bothered with sleep.

How is she doing?

GREAT!

Check Kiya's Kare Korner for more details :)

I love this kid. She is a super star!