Signs, Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts in which I will show Ellis doing her sign language. These clips are hard to get because she is so smart and so nosy! When I get the camera out, she can't do anything else but try to play with it. I have resorted to hiding the camera in piles of stuffed animals or under blankets or behind furniture and most of the time she still sees it and gets distracted trying to get to it. So it is very time consuming trying to outsmart her or distract her enough. It has taken me weeks just to get this many. I will keep trying and hope to post more eventually. She knows about 25 signs now and uses them without coaching. I try to teach her one or two a week.
If you click on the ASL links, you can see the words as they are meant to be signed. Ellis communicates well with her signs, even if they are not all spot-on. If she were speaking, her pronounciation wouldn't be perfect at this point, but associating an object or action with the word is the important part right now.


ASL for "dog"

ASL for "baby"

ASL for "Mommy"

ASL for "Daddy"

ASL for "flower"

Real Steps!

Since this video was taken last week, Ellis has gotten a lot braver with her steps. She's getting harder to keep up with every day. The sweet baby is still getting over a bad cold but seems to be almost back to normal. At her checkup yesterday she was 22 lbs. 6 ozs. and 32 1/2" tall.

This one is funny. Who needs a Sit 'N Spin?

Ugh

Baby Ellis has had another bug this week, a trend that we are not enjoying. She seems to be better today, so we hope to all get some rest this weekend. Here's a cute shot of Ellis looking out the window and signing "flower." I am still collecting videos of her signing and hope to do a whole post soon of just those. Have a great weekend!

She's a Toddler!

So close!!!

Quick update

Ellis's appointments today went well. Her doctors are not changing anything at this time, which is reassuring and slightly disappointing at the same time. Her eyes are stable and we are supposed to keep patching four hours a day. Her swallowing function is about where it was several months ago. She does well in general but still has trouble controlling food sometimes and does aspirate a trace amount every now and then. We can keep giving her small tastes and new things to try, just no more than 15 mls (3 teaspoons) a day. This is all good news because she is maintaining very well. I think I had gotten my hopes up that her swallowing had improved because as the one feeding her it seems like she is doing so much better, but the test showed us what we can't see from the outside. We are thankful that such things are available so we can hopefully avoid pushing her too hard before she is ready. Ellis was such a little wonder woman today, cooperating for the most part with the demands of the test. Even as I was trying to get her to drink icky barium and shooting thickened paste into her mouth she behaved very well. She didn't like it, but she hid her face instead of throwing a fit. Sweet baby.

Fall Fun

Ellis is feeling much better! We have gotten outside some in the past few days, and she even felt up to a little craft project. Ellis decorated her very first pumpkin! (Thanks to Robin Granny for providing the pumpkin. And thanks to architecture school for teaching me that rubbing alcohol removes permanent marker from skin of you get to it soon enough.)

Tomorrow Ellis will have an eye exam and a video swallow study. We are hoping for great results all around. This little girl is eager to eat big girl food as soon as the doctors say it is okay. Her favorites right now are potato chips (just little licks), hummus, and ice cream. :)

Catching Up

Ellis has been under the weather this week, so there hasn't been much time for blogging. She's cutting six teeth that we can see and feel, and as if that wasn't bad enough, she's had a stomach bug that is wearing us all out. She's feeling better today but still isn't all the way back to her perky self. Maybe staying up until 3 last night has something to do with that. Our nights this week have all pretty much gone that way.

So no new pictures yet this week, unless you all want to see documentation of me doing two loads of stomach-bug laundry every night and us pacing the floors at 2 in the morning trying to induce sleepiness. No? Well then, I'll be happy to share some pictures from last week that are much more fun.

Ellis loved having Grandma Robin & Ken here for a visit! We all got outside for the last bit of warm weather.

Ellis loved playing, reading stories, and dancing around the living room for Robin & Ken.

Ellis being bouncy. If you listen carefully you can hear her little squeaky noises that she has been making lately. She's grown enough that she can occasionally get some air around her trach to make sound. It comes and goes, but we love to hear her voice any way we can get it.

Cousins Tony and Wanda came to see Ellis! Tony is Ellis's seventh cousin. Thanks for visiting! 

Out and About

Late Night with Ellis

We can tell Ellis is feeling better than she did earlier this week. She has much more energy and is eager to play. Even with the hospital stay and all the medication, her sleep schedule hasn't changed at all. We were hoping to get her to an earlier bedtime, but no such luck. She's still not sleepy at all until about 1:30 or 2:00 am no matter what we do! I have read every article, talked to experienced parents, and consulted the doctors. The consensus is that unless we are willing to move her bedtime forward around the clock (keeping her up until 3am, then 4am, then 5am, etc. until we get all the way around again to 9pm), nothing else is going to work. We are weighing the pros and cons but will probably not do this. I don't think this old Mama could take it. So for now, we are just making the best of these late nights. And what's more fun in the middle of the night than oreos, John Cusack movies, and glowsticks?

Thanks, Joe & Moe, for the glowstick fun!