Little Miss Elodie hit the ripe old age of one-and-a-half today. My baby is now a full-blown toddler! How is that possible?
Elodie is full of personality! She loves everyone that loves her, and expresses her affection with hugs, kisses, and cuddles. She likes to hug my legs and lets out the sweetest little "mama" when she cuddles anyone. The other side of Elodie is quite sassy and opinionated. If she doesn't get her way, watch out! She has been known to hit, scratch, and bite. When she is really upset, she will bang her head onto the wall, floor, or something else hard. It's a terrible habit that I hope will eventually be replaced when she is better able to verbalize her feelings. And speaking of talking, Elodie currently has about 25-30 "words." I use that term loosely because many of her words sound identical and we rely on context to understand them. There are other words, such as "low" for shoe, that only we as her parents understand. However, she does have some other words that are fairly clear and obvious. I keep waiting for her to use something for Noah, but so far he has no name.
In April we will have her 6 month review with Early Intervention. Her OT was here today and we both agreed that we won't continue past that date. I'm hoping we will qualify her for speech-language services though, due to my concerns about her receptive language and her articulation. It's bittersweet to graduate from OT since we love her therapist, but it's also pretty amazing! Elodie is not just walking, but running and climbing on everything in sight. She has figured out how to open our lever-style door handles. Nothing is safe! So yeah, motor skills are no longer a concern. Her current OT goals now revolve around eating. Well, in the last week and a half, we have stopped using Elodie's g-tube. I finally decided to take the leap and see what she would do without it. As I suspected, she was more than happy to drink her thickened milk/Pediasure blend and eat all of her meals. Some nights I will push an ounce or two of water through a syringe for extra hydration, but that has been it! It's amazing how much this girl loves to eat considering how difficult it all started out for her. Most nights I think she honestly eats a bigger dinner than Noah. Despite her enthusiasm for eating, she is still only tipping the scales around the 15-20th percentile. We had a nutritionist come out last week and she weighed her at 20lbs 4oz, and measured her at 32 inches. We are supposed to recheck in a month to see how she is doing now that she is not using her g-tube. Fingers crossed for a slight gain! Oh, and Elodie recently sprouted about 5 new teeth, including 3 molars. That seems to be helping her successfully eat a larger variety of textures.
There is so much more I could say about how awesome Elodie is, but instead I'll sum it up like this. If someone would have shown me a crystal ball 18 months ago and given me a peek of how things would be today, I would have dropped to my knees and cried tears of joy! It's pretty remarkable to having a living miracle in my presence every day. She truly inspires me! Some days I still can't believe she exists and that I have been given the honor of being her mother.
