March 4, 2011
Wait. . . What the hell? It is March now? Where have I been? What in the world has happened in the last three months that would cause me to stop writing? Friday’s are typically slow around here, and the morning break should allow me the time to write. I reorganized the files for this blog, but that can’t be the issue. Weird. Well, today is significant for this blog, and I will get to that in a minute, but first let’s recap the beginning of 2011. . .
I don’t remember New Years. I don’t think we did anything special? Stayed up to our usual midnight schedule, watched the ball drop and go to bed. Whoopie.
We DID take Natalie to her first Hockey game, and it was awesome! She watched the Stockton Thunder play in their annual Teddy Bear Toss game. She even donated some of her newer stuffies. A big thank you to Uncle Jason for snagging super seats in the club section so that we didn’t have to fight the crowd with the baby girl. It made it a lot easier to navigate things. She was such a trooper. Natalie sat in my lap for most of the game, and only freaked out when the home team scored, because everyone in the arena cheered, and the sirens go off, and the music is loud, and the whole atmosphere changes without any warning. That was difficult to manage for her age, and I did my best to cover her ears and hold her tight so that she knew it was ok. Although she did well, I think we will only take her once a year until she is more comfortable. I was so proud of her. She actually watched the game. It was so cool.
I went to Virginia for a week in February for work, and I brought home a cold off of the return flight. I was sitting next to this lady, knowing that she didn’t feel well, actually feeling the virus get into my system and spread. It was horrible. I spent the next four days in bed, then Jakki did the same, and Natalie was not feeling well either. We started feeling better at the end of the month when something amazing happened . . .
It was Presidents Day. Not a typical Monday at all, as we were relaxing, watching movies, and grazing and playing throughout the day. Natalie was “couch cruising” all morning, and we started to walk with her by holding her hands and dancing around the house. Then it happened, she just started walking to us. It was great! We knew that our days of security were over, but we were also excited that she is developing and growing. We now have a full fledged toddler on our hands, walking from one side of the house to the other.
That was very important because just the week before we had Natalie’s 15 month checkup, and the pediatrician refused to write us off of the watch list for Natalie’s development. He is still concerned with her size, and he insisted that we continue with the follow up meeting with the Pediatric Autism Specialist in Vacaville. Which brings me to today. . .
Natalie has her follow up appointment with the Doctors in Vacaville, and Jakki is really nervous about it. I focus on what Natalie can do, as of today she knows at about 15 words (dada, mama, baby, cat, dog, ball, bubble, head, eye, bye bye, hi, cow) everything has been cow lately though. She points to something and goes “Cow??” and we say, “no, that is a horse”, and she responds “COW!”. She is too cute for her own good. She also knows three signs (food, more, and milk) , although she confuses them sometimes. She always wants more puffs. She is walking regularly, and likes to dismantle things. I think she is fine, and we don’t need the doctors to depend on our family for their job security.
The only major development that I would like to see now is teeth. I am ready to just feed her off of our plate, but we are dependent on baby food until she gets teeth. I know that some people get teeth late, I may have been one of them actually, but it is starting to worry me a little. However this is not relative to her cognitive skills, and I do hope that she does well for the doctors and their tests today. I just wish I could be there instead of here at work. That’s a whole different story, but the best place for me for my family is at work today. It sucks, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Here’s to a happy and positive Friday!
~ Nathan
p.s. For those following the previous Dora complaint, I let it go, and it did eventually die off. I think that the blog led to a small intervention, for everyone. I am learning to let things go too. . .
