Shelby - various updates

Shelby's been a busy girl this summer. She has seen her various doctors (all 5 of them), had a CT Scan, an EEG, and kept up her regular appointments with her three therapists. I have talked about her self-feeding milestones, but she has made significant progress in other areas as well. As Beth, her PT said today, this has been a summer of awakening.

Shelby had an EEG done before going to the neurologist at the end of June. Dr. Poplawski was pleased with the EEG, as compared to the one she had back in December. The Dec. 2010 EEG showed epileptiform discharges on both sides of her brain. The one in June showed less frequent discharges, and only on the right side of her brain. We decided to keep her Keppra levels the same.

Our physical therapist and orthopaedist decided that Shelby was ready for orthotics, so she was fitted for Cascade A.F.O's in June. Shelby is wearing them most of the day now, and it has been fine. They help with her stability and she is tolerating the standing position more and holding her left foot in a better position with them on. So far we have been pleased.

We had Shelby's 2-year well visit with the pediatrician a couple weeks ago. She is still in the 3rd percentile for weight at 22 lbs, but is now in almost the 75th percentile for height at 34 and a half inches. Since she has been eating so well, we are not nearly as concerned about her feeding intake. Dr. Love said she will probably be tall and thin like her dad. He was especially impressed with Shelby's language skills, which are pretty much on target for her age. It feels really good to be able to say that she is "on schedule" for something developmentally.

On a much lighter note, I was able to get Shelby to sit still long enough to french braid her hair this morning for the first time ever. She looked adorable:

And lastly, Shelby seems to be in a really good place with her therapists right now. We had a rough spring as far as therapy goes...Shelby seemed to shut down and resist any of her therapists efforts. Thankfully, she has done great with PT and ST this summer. I had mentioned that she started with a new OT recently. He is enthusiastic and has plenty of ideas and Shelby seems to like him, but the two of them have been engaging in a power struggle that has held up progress--you know how stubborn she is! Today we did a joint session with PT and OT and we had a breakthrough. Shelby did great, and the entire hour was actually fun for everyone involved as you can see from the pictures below:
Two different times, Shelby started to pull up by herself at Harding's train table. I hope to see more of that in the near future!
The nice thing about having the summer off (besides being able to go on multiple vacations) is that I have been able to be at all of Shelby's therapy sessions. She has come a long way this summer, and I feel like we are in a good place going into this school year. We'll be doing some type of modified constraint therapy in the fall and I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll do with leftie then.

Self-feeding

True to form, Shelby is highly resistant of my summer project for her, and has decided to develop a project of her own. On Sunday night when Trip had finished brushing her teeth, Shelby grabbed the toothbrush from him and started brushing them herself. We talked about it that night and wondered if she would do the same thing with a spoon.

Sure enough, Shelby started grabbing the spoon from us and feeding herself the next day. Since then, she has started to take the spoon and dip it into the food on her own! If you have ever watched Trip or me feed Shelby, then you know what a frustrating and laborious process it can be, but it feels like there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. She even is doing better with textures and the speech therapist thinks that Shelby is beginning to chew. Well done Shelby!

Summer projects....kid edition.

Shelby's Project: Eye Patching

Shelby's ophthalmologist suggested that we start patching Shelby's stronger right eye for two hours a day to strengthen the left eye (this is the exact same concept as the constraint induced therapy casting of her arm). Poor girl! This infuriates her and so far, the longest amount of time I've been able to keep the patch on her is 30 minutes. I can distract her for a little while with the ipad and her favorite toys, but then she remembers the patch and attempts to rip it off (which I know hurts). Then I move to things I don't normally let her mess with, like my cell phone or our computer. I'm hoping to build up to the full two hours of patching in the next couple weeks.

Harding's project - Swimming

Harding has taken swim lessons several times, but due to lack of regular exposure to the pool after his lessons, he hasn't been able to stay completely comfortable in the water. This summer, we joined a pool and are working on teaching Harding to swim in earnest. Here he is below with my mom and my niece Riley:

Beach Week #1 Complete

We've been "off the grid" for the past week as we vacationed with the Kinnaird clan on Folly Beach outside of Charleston. It was lovely.

Indeed :)

John and Barb
My sweet babies and me.
Harding loved catching waves in the shallow surf and couldn't stop grinning.

Don't let this picture fool you, Shelby is cutting molars right now and wasn't an angel the entire trip. But she did settle in to the beach life towards the end.
Obligatory picture of all four John Harding Kinnairds. Harding was the only one cooperating.

I can finally get Harding to pose for pictures...now if he would just teach his sister.
Harding poses with Uncle Matt, Aunt Ash, and his future cousin here. The newest Kinnaird addition will arrive in December.
The whole gang on the Folly Pier.
Harding spent a great deal of time getting Grandpa Kinnaird to read to him.

Low Country Boil....yum!

I love that they are making the same face here.

Trip trying to get a fussy Shelby to nap in the hammock. I love the effect of the fogged up camera.