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| I'm getting potty trained. The very first time my mama sat me on my new little pot, I peed! OK, she admits it was probably a good accident that happened in the right place at the right time, but hey, progress in progress, right? I haven't had any more luck since last night, but we're working on it. It's a nice little pot and I don't mind sitting on it. It makes me feel quite sophisticated to even be working on such a Big Girl Project such as potty training.
Did I tell you I started to go to school, too? I'm going to speech therapy three times a week. I was in the Mommy and Me class for awhile and then the teacher decided that I was ready to go to class by myself. I've been going to the Mommy and Me group by myself for a little while now but tomorrow I start the Big Kid group alone. I'm a little scared but I'm kind of excited to see what it's like. Mama told the teacher that she's noticed I've started to say more words at home now, so they both saw that as good progress, even though I still stay pretty mum in class.
OK. Sorry. I'd like to write more but I'm beginning to get anxious about sitting here for so long. I've become a little more frustrated when things don't happen as I want them to and I've decided that throwing tantrums sometimes gets things to happen for me. Lots of times, though, Mama and Daddy just ignore me until I've calmed down. This only makes me even more frustrated but I guess this is a normal progression in the relationship of a toddler and her parents. I'm trying hard to communicate but the words just aren't catching up with me as quickly as I would like to verbally produce them.
Yes, I'm thoroughly irriated now and my Mama says she's going to give me a bath now to divert my attention away from this situation. Talk to you later!
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| I sincerely apologize for not writing sooner. I've been extremely busy lately and I'll get to why later. In a nutshell, I moved to Orange County and there is a lot of stuff to do here. But I needed to stop by and make sure everyone realized that I'm 2 years old now! Two! Yep. And I know how to walk. I've proficiently mastered all my gross and fine-motor skills to an age-appropriate level (Sen would be proud of me now!). Those are the biggest things I needed to tell you. I'll try to write more soon. I have to go to sleep now. I have speech therapy in the morning. (We all secretly know that my acquisition of the English language is phenomenal, considering my age. It's just that I chose not to demonstrate my remarkable capabilities for the adults who administer the evaluations. So I've been placed in a Mommy-and-Me speech group that I go to a couple times a week.) I promise -- More later. And I won't take a year this time. Of course, at this point, you probably don't have faith any more, but I'll prove you wrong. I will. | | |
| Mama says we're going to visit Daddy soon! My first big trip. The farthest I've ever been in my life! All the way to Orange County, wherever that is. I hope everything in Orange County isn't ALL orange, because although that is an appealing color to me, I don't think I want everything to be orange. Maybe they called it Orange because of the trees and not the color. Mama didn't say. Appartently that's where our new home will be so I am really curious to see what it's like. I will tell you all about it when we get back. But that won't be until the middle of June. And then I will be helping Mama get ready because she says we're going to be moving in with Daddy. I am so excited. I will get to see Daddy every day! My Daddy is so tall, when he holds me in his arms I feel like I am bigger than everybody else in the room (except for him, of course!). When you're two foot two, it's nice to feel that illusion sometimes. Believe me.
The doctor said I could finally go without the oxygen and I can't really explain quite how liberating that actually is... so I won't even try. Actually, I've been crawling a lot more lately and so I'm pretty tired. I think I should get some rest, so perhaps I'll come back another time to tell you about my liberation from the confines of singular locations and being tethered to an oxygen tank. No one told me growing up could be so fun! I want to spread this happy bit of information with so many other babies... but I don't see many very often. Maybe I will meet some when my mama goes back to school so she can learn to be a nurse. She says I'm going to have to go to daycare where they have other little people like me, but only when she is in class.
I need to go to bed. Did I already say that? Mama, where are you? I want her to pick me up and get me away from this computer. I would like to eat something before I go to bed and to be gently rocked to sleep. Not too much to ask if you ask me. But I am tired. I'm rubbing my eyes... Mama? Where is my mama? Mama, I'm TIRED!
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| My perception has completely changed. In the last two weeks, IÕve finally figured out how to crawl. So IÕm not quite to the point of being up on all fours like IÕve seen some kids do, but I get across the floor quite nicely nonetheless. Actually, I think IÕve only seen one girl crawl. I was at Kaiser with my mom. We were in the waiting room and there was a girl who was a little younger than me, crawling all around the floor. It looked like a lot of fun and incredibly liberating to not be stuck in one place all the time. Ever since then IÕve been determined to learn how to do what she was doing. I practiced a lot at Physical Therapy and my mom put me on the floor at home more. Then one day (March 21st to be exact), I crawled backwards at school. The Physical Therapist asked my mama if IÕd ever done that before. My mama said no. Sen was surprised. Mama asked if that was normal and Sen reassured her and told her sometimes babies learn how to crawl backwards before they crawl forward. Then little by little, I started to scoot forward. Sen calls it a Combat Crawl. I guess she says that because itÕs not completely crawling. I pull myself along and can get across the floor pretty quickly. I especially like it when thereÕs someone to arrange toys for me so I have something to crawl towards. IÕm not quite at the point of exploring just for the sake of exploring. Right now the main thing IÕm interested with is reaching my toys.
Just yesterday, my Auntie Tori figured out that I understand a few words. She said Òbye-bye ZahraÓ but didnÕt wave at me and then I waved to her. She told me, ÒNo, ZahraÓ and I shook my head back and forth for her. Everybody at lunch was amazed I understood these words. Little do they know, I understand a lot more than they think. ItÕs sometimes hard to coordinate my movements, though, and that is extremely frustrating. Later on that day, my mama tried to test me to see if I understood more words than ÒnoÓ and Òbye-bye.Ó She had a bunch of toys on the floor and she said to me, ÒZahra? Can you put these toys away?Ó so I picked up the toys and dropped them into the little tub Mama got from the hospital that she uses to store some of my toys in. She smiled and clapped and told me I did a good job. Then I got a kiss and a hug. She tried to see if I understood something else. ÒCan you take them out?Ó so I did. I reached into the tub and took some toys out. ÒPut them back, Zahra.Ó We played for a couple minutes until I got tired of the take-them-out-put-them-back game. Mama is still signing to me. She recently started doing a sign for Òall finishedÓ that I think is funny. It looks like sheÕs waving bye-bye with both hands. It makes me laugh every time she does it. I try to do it but only my right hand works. Someday IÕll figure it out. SheÕs still working on the signs for Òbath,Ó Òcat,Ó Òeat,Ó Òmore,Ó Òangry,Ó Òbetter,Ó and some others.
My baby teacher comes over once a week. We sing songs and play with cool toys. She came to my Physical Therapy appointment yesterday to make sure she wasnÕt doing anything to contradict what Sen is working on with me. My mama told Sen that she wrote a bunch of stuff about what I do in therapy for the webpage my daddy makes.
Speaking of Daddy, he came to visit me and Mama last week. I was so happy to see him. I canÕt wait until we move closer to him so I can see him all the time. Mama had showed me his picture everyday so this time I didnÕt cry when I saw him. I thought, thereÕs that funny guy from the pictures. ThatÕs my Daddy. ThatÕs my favorite word to say, too. Dada. Dada. Dada. I could say it all day long and never get tired of it!
My Daddy had a vacation so he stayed in Stockton for longer than usual. He got to go to therapy with me on Monday morning. Then we went to a Feeding Clinic at VMRC. There were a bunch of people there. I forgot their names. They said them too fast. There was a nurse, a dietician, a speech therapist, my service coordinator and another VMRC employee, and maybe one other lady whose title I forgot. They asked Mama questions and I sat in DaddyÕs lap. The nurse listened to my lungs and mentioned that my breath sounds were kind of coarse. The lady had noticed my cannula and oxygen tank, looked at Mama and said, ÒBut thatÕs probably normal for her, right?Ó Mama nodded. ÒYeah, she has BPD and sheÕs got the sniffles, so she sounds worse than usual.Ó Everybody watched me eat some baby food from a jar. (Mama used a the spoon. ItÕs not like I can feed myself yet!) Organic banana-oatmeal-peach. One of my favorites. Then they watched me drink from my bottle. I was so hungry, I ate a whole bunch. Two ounces down the hatch in a matter of seconds. After my demonstration, Mama talked to the dietician about eating habits and calories and other stuff I found boring but that seemed to fascinate Mama for some reason. By then I just wanted to take a nap but felt kind of weird because we were in a conference room full of people who were staring at me in my DaddyÕs arms. I waited for the nap until we got home.
On Tuesday, my baby teacher and her assistant came over to the house. Daddy was making an omlette in the kitchen but came out to watch what Rita teaches me. I wasnÕt feeling too good so I didnÕt want to play on my tummy that day. I showed everybody how I could stand and balance pretty good on my feet with minimal help. Rita even left me a toy to play with. I used up all the batteries, though, I hope sheÕs not mad at me.
Daddy stayed until Thursday morning and then he came to therapy with me and Mama. He stayed for a half hour and then he had to get on the road. I didnÕt want him to leave but I know heÕll come back soon. It was probably good that I was at school because I didnÕt really have time to concentrate on the fact I was sad that he was leaving. Mama says some day weÕll live where Daddy lives. Usually MamaÕs right. I hope this isnÕt like the time she told me I wasnÕt going to get any shots and then I did.
I donÕt know what else to tell you thatÕs new. Oh, yeah, IÕm cutting teeth and it hurts a lot. Two new ones on top. Right in front like the bottom ones. Mama says she wonÕt be able to call me ÒTwo TeethÓ any more. She seemed kind of sad that my nickname will disappear but weÕre both looking forward to expanding my palate of tastes and textures. ThereÕs a whole world of food out there, just waiting for me to try. That and a whole lot of square feet for me to crawl all over. Watch out, world, here I come!
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| (I apologize for not blogging sooner. I had so much fun playing with all the toys I got for my birthday that I have now been distracted for several weeks. But IÕm back! And here to tell you all about my first-ever birthday experience. It was great!)
IÕm a year old now. I had a birthday party and a lot of people came. My daddy was there. I was so happy to see him. It had been a long time since Christmas. And my cousins Leland and William were there, too. TheyÕre so much fun! Nana and Grandma Bessie were there. My Uncle Lee was there and so were Auntie Tori and Auntie Rachel. My Grandpa and Grandma Carol came. My Great Aunt Barbara and Great Aunts Colleen and Donna came, too. ThatÕs a lot of people right there, but that wasnÕt even all of them! People from the hospital came like Nurse Maureen. I was happy to see her since it had been a long time since IÕd visited the nurses in the ICN. All of my other nurses werenÕt able to make it so I missed seeing them. I got to see Israel Arias and Elizabeth and Alejandro, IsraelÕs mama and daddy. I hadnÕt seen them since Israel was released from the nursery so I was happy that one of my oldest friends came all the way from to visit me on my birthday. My mamaÕs friends came and so did some of DaddyÕs. People from my NanaÕs work came. There were other kids, but Israel was the only other baby. It was odd not to be the youngest person in the room (Israel was born about two weeks after me). I hope IÕm not forgetting to mention anyone.
My daddy gave me a bottle in the car on the way to the party because I was really hungry and that made me fall asleep. I had been so excited to see my cousins I couldnÕt take a nap, even though I was really tired. So when we got to the party at the Quail Lakes Clubhouse, I was fast asleep in my car seat. I remember being in the car and drinking my bottle and then I woke up when Nurse Maureen took a picture of me. ItÕs a good thing I didnÕt sleep any longer or I wouldÕve missed my whole first birthday party! IÕm so glad I didnÕt. It was so much fun. A bit overwhelming at times, but I was strong and didnÕt cry very much at all. I was so happy to see all these people and kind of amazed that everybody came just for me! I hope birthdays are always like that.
We had Winnie the Pooh balloons and cake and soda and juice and hors d'oeuvres. A lot of planning went into the party. My Nana and Auntie Colleen did a lot of work to make everything go well.
On my birthday, I wore a pink party dress and a matching pink bonnet. They had pretty embroidered lace on them and I think my outfit made me look very cute. I wore white tights and the flowered-print Mary Janes that I got from Isela Lopez. Isela is OliverÕs mama. Oliver was my first roommate when I was in the ICN. His mama was really nice to my mama and made her feel really comfortable in the hospital, right after I was born. My mama was scared and Isela reassured her that everything was going to be OK. HeÕs a couple weeks older than me. Oliver and his brother Elvis didnÕt come because Mama lost their phone number and couldnÕt call them to ask them to come. But they live in San Francisco anyway and it wouldÕve been a very long drive. But we remembered the Lopez family by wearing the shoes they gave me. My mama told me that she remembered when she thought I would never fit into those shoes. And now theyÕre almost too small for me! Because IÕm growing. (I weighed 12 lbs. and 5 oz. at the doctorÕs office today.)
A lot of people took pictures and my daddy will probably put some of them on my website one of these days. HeÕs so cool! He made me my very own webpage and IÕm only 12 months old! My parents donÕt even have their own websites. But I do! I even have my own domain name because my daddy is so clever: http://www.zahrawashington.com. You should check it out if you havenÕt already. This blog is free so I donÕt have the ability to make links for you to check out pictures as part of the text I write. WeÕll have to rely on my daddy for showing you what I looked like at my party.
Anyway, IÕm pretty tired now so IÕd better go and get some rest since IÕve got a big day ahead of me tomorrow. We go to Oakland to visit my pulmonologist, Dr. Breese. Maybe heÕll say that I can start to be weaned off the supplemental oxygen. IÕll be happy when I donÕt have to wear the nasal cannula any more.
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