Long Time No Post...

It has been very challenging trying to find time to sit down and write in the blog. Molly is very busy and demanding. She was at the breakfast table last week while I tried to go on the computer... I looked over after a minute or two and she had somehow reached the tube of toothpaste and opened it up and was eating. I didn't know how much she had eaten, so we had to call poison control... it all turned out to be fine, but it is for reasons such as these that I have not had any time to myself or to get things done in general.

She has been doing relatively well, but this is definitely a challenging age. She hurt her left femur 2 or 3 weeks ago, but seems to have completely recovered from that. She right foot began hurting with her new orthotic shoes and that slowed her down for a couple of days as well.

She knows what she wants and, even more so, what she does not want. It makes things such as brushing her teeth, getting dressed, getting in the car, brushing her hair, etc. take a very long day, whcih makes for an exhausting day!

She is talking more and more with each day and repeating funny things back to us all the time... here are some highlights from this week:
"Can you stop talking for a minute, I'm no the phone"
"I don't know about that"
"Let's go to the Halloween section" (at Target)
"You never know with stickers if it will hurt or not" (when we take them off her skin)

She has been taking several steps without her walker and seems very proud of herself.

We went to the hairdresser yesterday and Molly got her first "big girl" haircut. We cut about 2" off and she cried off and on throughout the process - oh so fun ;). She looks adorable. I was worried it would make her look younger, but it had the exact opposite affect. We will be sure and post a picture soon.

We have been continuing to use her bone stimulator on both tibias and that seems to be helping quite a bit. We went and saw Dr. Caudle today and her X-Rays looked great! We will get them off to Dr. Esposito to get his opinion and hope he feels the same way. It is hard to believe she has already had her femur rods for 18+ months!!

My Mom was in town this past week, which was a huge help and greatly needed! This is an exhausting age and it is times like this that having family around can make a big difference. Napping has been a challenge lately, which makes for a very long day. She is up there right now... "not sleeping".

She is getting more and more independent with her walker and can now walk around almost all of Target without any difficulty. We weren't sure she would ever get to that point - it is hard to believe she is already so mobile before the age of 3. It is amazing to think how much Molly has exceeded our dreams and aspirations for her physical development.

Molly is going to be a skunk for Halloween and I am really looking forward to taking her around the neighborhood this year - I think she will enjoy the process, but we will see how things go. I am preparing for the possibility that she will not want to wear a costume.

We had our initial preschool meeting last week with Wake County and I am extremely overwhelmed by the process and discouraged by their responses and suggestions. I know that she is ready to be in a school setting and will really enjoy it, but she needs a 1:1 aide to keep her safe. They are challenging that because she is doing so well cognitively that she does not qualify. My argument is that in order to reach her potential she needs to be in a social environment with her peers, which is something I have not been able to find for her up to this point. We will be hearing from them in the next week or so, but I have a feeling that it will be a several month appeal process.

More Molly quotes

Yesterday, in response to:

"Do you need to go to the bathroom Molly?"

Molly politely responded with:

"That is very nice of you to offer, but no thank you"

And now this morning, Molly wants me to stay home with her all day, just like the weekend. So she said:

"I think you have the flu Daddy. You need to stay home and rest."

-Jim