Update on Lydia

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lydia has changed a ton in the last few months. Her biggest change has probably been socially. She used to cry whenever strangers would come near her. She was very shy and didn't really know how to act around other people. Now she is bouncing off the walls bring strangers toys and generally being a happy kid. I attribute this mostly to the fact that she's had so many changes in her life, what with moving. She went from having about 400 square feet to play in to a whole big house. She's learned to climb the stairs and is a lot more independent. She loves to explore and get into things. She loves to play in the driveway and her favorite part is the rain gutter. She loves to put her feet under the trickle of melted snow water that comes out of it. She's still wary of the grass, but has been venturing a step or two onto every time we play outside lately.

For a while we were worried about all her delays and what they'd mean. We were worried she might have some sort of autistic spectrum disorder, and her therapists told us that 18 months-old was the crucial point for that. We were to look for a lack of progression or regression. Well, I'm happy to say she's been progressing like crazy.

She had a growth spurt a while ago, and for the first time in her life, she fits the clothes that she's supposed to fit. She's still skinny, but with her cloth diapers, she's fitting into 18 month jeans and shirts. We bought her a little dress right after we got here to Arkanasas and she wore it for 2 Sundays and now it's too small. It's good to see her finally growing after being worried about her for so long.

The only thing left is for her to start talking. She is not talking at all and this does keep us a little worried. If it's not one thing, it's another with Lydia. Babies are supposed to be saying their first words by 16 months, so we're getting her evaluated for speech therapy. I'm not too worried, though, because she's done everything right when she wanted to so far, and I'm thinking this will be the same. She completely understands what we're saying, and learns new words every day. Today she learned "whale" and "boat". She has toy ones and I asked her to go get them from amongst her other toys and she brought them strait to me. She's understanding, just not reciprocating. It's really starting to frustrate her, too, because sometimes I have no idea what she wants. Hopefully that will motivate her.

Another big milestone for Lydia is that she is no longer in her crib. Because of our arrangements, Lydia is sleeping in our walk-in closet, which wouldn't fit a crib. So we just put a mattress on the floor and let her have free reign. Unfortunately, the carpet at Grandma and Grandpa's house is comfy and she prefers sleeping on the ground by the vent. We've given up trying to get her to sleep on the mattress.

Last Sunday was her first Sunday in nursery. I felt sort of lost without her with me, but she did well for the most part. At first, a baby cried so that set her off. She was inconsolable, so Grandma went in and helped calm her down. Once she calmed down, however, she was good for the next hour and a half! When I went to pick her up, she was drenched in water. The nursery leader was very apologetic and said that Lydia had been to quick and got a sippy cup loose and dumped it on herself. Lydia didn't care, so I just wrapped her in a blanket and all was well.



Lydia in the bath this morning. She's gone from hating bathtime to loving it and splashing around for 45 minutes.




Last night this was what we found when we went to check on Lydia. She had fallen asleep with her hand under the door. It was both sad and creepy




This is a standard night for Lydia in her little "room". You can see her mattress over to the side.



The following are after a large snowstorm here in Arkansas. This was our attempt at having Lydia make a snow angel.







This last one is the last picture we took of Lydia in our old apartment. Goodbye orange carpet!

3 comments:

Callan said...

So glad to see everything is going well and that Lyddie is having fun. I love the bath picture. hehe She's already gotten so much bigger since December. Thanks for posting!
Callan

Caitlin said...

I love it when you post. :) I am grateful that Lyddie is growing and adjusting so well and that you guys are having fun in Arkansas. She gets cuter every time I see a picture of her. :) I am also glad you guys got jobs. :) Thanks for the update.

Cindy O said...

And her hair is getting longer too! I invite you to closely examine the bath picture to support my supposition. I'm glad you are keeping us posted - I miss having you near enough to visit every now and then - but am glad that everything is going so well for all of you.