Speech

Today I took Bella to Cook Children's Rehab Services to have her speech evaluated. Of course as she is being tested she says 10 new words that I've never heard her say before. It ended up that she is in the 16th %, but she is picking up new words so quickly that the speech pathologist decided to give us information on things we could be doing at home to help Bella with her language development and then suggested we come back in six months if we were still concerned. I feel good about it. I really liked the speech pathologist and I was amazed at how quickly Bella was picking up words just by phrasing questions a certain way.

So Smart!

Today I got a glimpse into just how smart my little girl is getting. Three things happened.

1. I was working in the kitchen and she came up to me and put her arm out with her hand up and said "Stop" (she has not been forming words yet) then she took me by the hand and lead me to the living room rug and pointed to where she wanted me to sit down so we could play together.
2. After we played for a while I asked if I could go change my clothes. She sat there and thought for a minute. You could see the wheels churning in her head. Then she stood up, took me by the hand again and walked me directly to my closet so I could change.
3. Then Bella rolled some of her toys under a piece of furniture. I asked her what she was going to do now. How was she going to get them out? She went over and got one of her golf clubs, took it to the piece of furniture and started fishing for it!

She is just changing so fast! I know everyone says that, but it is so true!

Dentist

Bella went for her first dentist appointment today. She was a typical, active two year old, but she did really well. She didn't like having people looking in her mouth, so I had to help, but the dentist was quick and it was painless and then she was off to play with the animal puzzle again (It made sounds!)! I think the overall exprience was positive for her.

Dr. Visit

I took Bella to the Doctor this AM and she checked out just fine. She is 35-1/4" tall and 29.4 lbs. That puts her in the 75% for both height and weight. Dr. Tom said that is great especially since she started out so little. He wasn't overly concerned about her speech, but did go ahead and order some speech therapy just for our peace of mind.

Cherries!

We've finally found a new food that Bella will eat! Cherries! Her cousins had ordered drinks that had cherries in them the other night at dinner and one of them asked if he could give her one. After the first one she was hooked! All the rest of the cousins then started digging out cherries in their drinks to give to her. So when we went to the grocery store the next time I thought I'd get some fresh cherries. I just grabbed a bag, Grant looked at me kind of funny and went on. We get home and that is when Grant asks me if I realized these cherries would have seeds in them! Bummer! We improvised that day, but ended up wasting a lot of the cherry cutting out the pits. So, today I got a Cherry Pitter! Yes I am a kitchen gadget nerd! I couldn't help it, but this thing is so cool! It punches those seeds right out, leaves the cherries whole, doesn't even smash them and it has a splash guard so you don't get cherry juice on you when you use it! Obviously it takes little to impress me!

Port Aransas

Week before last we went to Port Aransas with Grant's family for a vacation. We had a wonderful time! Bella LOVED the water! She giggled every time a wave hit her and would go about chest deep with her life jacket on. The sand, not so much! She preferred to sit in the Dora chair. At one point she had even conned Grant's cousin's, daughter to bring the sand to her in a bucket to play in. :) Quite the charmer isn't she?

Here is a picture of her with her dad and Aunt Melinda on a boogie board.

 Here is a picture of Gran, Grant's cousin and her daughter looking for shrimp with the kids. They used that PVC pipe thing to suck out the sand from the hole the shrimp had made and then they would look through the sand they had brought up or put their hand down in the hole looking for them. After they caught a bunch they would feed them to the seagulls

 Bella in her Dora chair trying to brush off some sand.

 Giving Dora a drink of water from her cup.

 Here is our little strawberry. Once again in the Dora chair! :)

 Giving kisses!

 Tuckered out! I am actually awake and just basking in the moment! Bella is not really a cuddler and if she does she wants her daddy so I was savoring every moment! You know she was tired if she was letting me cuddle with her like that!

Child Study Center

Sorry this is out of order, but we went to the Child Study Center on Friday for Bella's 2 year check up. Bella was great! She "performed" well and was very out going so they were really able to see all that she is able to do like stack blocks, name body parts on a doll, do shape puzzles, run, kick a ball, point to pictures etc.

The one area that she is lacking in and they are concerned about is in her speech. So they have recommended putting her in speech therapy. Since Bella was a preemie she qualifies for some free services and then we are going to have her pediatrician order some therapy so we can get some private therapy as well. They didn't seem overly concerned about it, but said it was better to get a jump on it so it doesn't become a hindrance.

Grant and I feel that if this is all that we have to deal with considering her beginnings, then we are doing great! What a blessing!