Romy has adjusted fairly quickly after Ray left. The first night was awful. I mean REALLY horribly awful. Ray always put her to bed every night without fail, so she was so upset when it was me who had to do it. She cried for her 'Dada' and it ended up being extremely upsetting for both of us. The next night was much better and we haven't had too many problems in the sleep department since.
The 4th of July was pretty exciting for Romy. She absolutely loved the fireworks. Last year she was terrified of them, but this year she kept clapping and signing for more. Super cute stuff.
Romy also had her annual IFSP. It went well and I was so surprised at how much she's accomplished since last year. Her motor skills are still very delayed (of course) but her cognitive and social skills are blooming wonderfully. She's 30 months old and her cognitive age is anywhere from 23-27 months. So she's still lagging behind but if you adjust for prematurity, she's doing many age appropriate things. What puzzles me is how she always gets SO close to catching up and then stagnates for a month or two or even three which then keeps her from being age appropriate followed by a burst of development, which then continues to cycle. However, she's still considered to be doing remarkably well and I'm pretty confident that she WILL catch up once and for all. Who knows how long it will take, but we aren't stressing.
Her social skills were her strongest skills. She was age appropriate and beyond. What a little social butterfly. However, these social skills did not include speech. She's still fairly delayed in the speech department. She is beginning to name more objects and has even strung together a few words, but she still relies mostly on gestures and signs to get what she needs. She can says her name "Whoa-whoa" as in "Ro Ro," which is what her cousin Chris calls her. She says "beeze" for please and "tanku" for thank you. We've begun to look into augmentative communication devices for her as well. Her speech therapist's introduced us to the idea. I was hesitant at first, but they really believe it's the motivation Romy will need to really get her speech going and help her communicate more efficiently at the same time. However, the equipment is extremely pricey, like five figures pricey. Our insurance will most likely cover it if we can prove that Romy has the cognitive skills to operate something like that. We'll probably start off with a loaner and work from there.
Other than that, we're still waiting on her walker but she's been doing pretty good with the basic loaner walker we have. I still have to help her keep her legs from crossing, but she can take steps by herself. She's also getting fitted for new AFO's tomorrow.
Well, that's about all that's new for us. Ray is doing well over in Iraq and we've been able to talk just about everyday. We've also been using Skype a lot, getting to see his face has been great. Romy gets super excited too. So, who's ready for some pictures???
Good Morning, Romy!
Thumbs up!
Waiting for the fireworks with Tita Lisa.
Cheeser.
