Zoo Fun

It's been another pretty quiet week in terms of things to report. I've had a pretty bad cold since last weekend and now Jamie has it too. Please say some prayers that we can manage to keep it away from Kinsey!

Last weekend while I was sick, Kinsey played with Jamie and Pop-Pop a lot, but we also watched some movies together. Here she is watching Toy Story:



We had a little fun this week though - the weather people promised us a record-setting warm day on Wednesday and we fell for it hook, line and sinker. Jamie took the day off and went with us to music class in the morning and then we all went to the Zoo in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather people were wrong - very wrong (by about 20 degrees) so it was only in the low 50s, but it wasn't too bad and we still enjoyed the zoo.

Here are some pictures and videos:
Watching the Big Cats: http://youtu.be/NVkGNvG1tbo (I love watching her head tilt at the end of this video when the cat goes out of her view)



(I think this big cat was watching her!)


She liked this lizard because he was really active right up against the window and he was at the perfect height for her to stand and watch him: http://youtu.be/0UDvQcv_Xqc



Watching the turtle swim: http://youtu.be/ST2w6AFsxMw

The Flamingos were her favorite: http://youtu.be/4JFkrOzrRRY


And she liked the monkeys too: http://youtu.be/zkBMVGCV4VQ

Since Jamie was with us at Music class, I was able to film Kinsey dancing with the scarves this week: http://youtu.be/xLkQ868Md4c She's still doing really well standing up for the whole song!

This week I also made a new toy for Kinsey from an idea I found on Pinterest. Pipe cleaners in a spaghetti strainer. Kinsey really enjoys pulling them out and she wants to put them back, but doesn't know how yet. She just puts them on top of the strainer. http://youtu.be/bsdx3OH29wU

Pony Ride

This week has been pretty quiet, so there's not much to report.

I did forget to mention last week that Kinsey is now 26 months old (it's getting hard to keep track of it in months now that she's more than 2 years old).

As I mentioned last week, we took Kinsey to the National Western Stock Show last Saturday. We went to a rodeo  - the first time we ever took Kinsey to an event in an arena like that. She did well with it for the most part, but we did have to take a lap around the arena once in the middle because she got too squirmy. She did see the horses and got excited about them, but I think her favorite part was when they turned the lights off and moved the spotlights around the room!

We also went to the petting zoo and Kinsey even got to ride a pony! I was so excited that she was able to do it (kids had to be at least 1 year old and a parent could walk alongside the pony so it was perfect for us)! I think I enjoyed it more than Kinsey did. She didn't seem to understand where she was. But I know a lady through MOPS that has some ponies on her farm nearby and when the weather gets nicer, we're going to take Kinsey there to hang out with the ponies and ride them some more. I think if she gets to see the pony and pet it before riding, she will get it better.

Anyway, here's a video of her pony ride and that's it for this week: http://youtu.be/R-uTrga4qnI

Big Steps (Yes, Literally!)

This week Kinsey has been nothing short of AMAZING! I mentioned last week how well she was doing in her walker all of a sudden, but this week she's been doing even better!

My Uncle Arthur sent Kinsey a push toy walker that all 3 of his grandchildren used. My dad put it together and we stood Kinsey behind it and she immediately started walking with it! She did a great job stoping and starting with it and was even standing still and letting go of it in between walking. Then she would grab the handle again and start walking! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhcYliCcZ0

After watching how well she was standing behind the walker, we decided to try and see how well she could stand on her own. To our surprise, she was able to stand and balance for quite a while! She did it repeatedly for 30 seconds to more than a minute at a time. And she's been consistently doing it all week! In fact, we started music class again this week and towards the end of class we always have a little dancing session with some colorful scarves. I've always helped Kinsey stand up and dance with the scarves, but this week I let go and she did it all on her own! (I had to catch her balance a few times, but she never fell the whole song!) Here she is standing for more than a minute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ti6Du28heA

And that's not all . . . I've noticed she looks like she wants to take a step when she's standing so yesterday I decided to try to see what she would do if I held just one of her hands while she was standing. And what do you know - she took a few steps! Previously she would not take a step unless she had both of your hands. If she had one hand, she would stand there and reach for the other one and absolutely would not take a step until she had both hands. She's not super steady at walking with only one hand yet, but she's doing it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_5l-4PSkH4

Kinsey's physical therapist was so happy with her walking progress that she has decided to focus her efforts on going from sit to stand. We're working on this with Kinsey sitting on a stool or your knee behind a table and trying to get her to reach up to the table to help herself stand up. She's really got the idea, but similar to the walking thing, she won't do it without a hand, either her hands in yours or just your hand on her hips. She's really close though, so I know she'll get it soon! The therapist is also working on standing from a kneeling position too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGg6w4py_Jc

Of course, we still need to work on her using her arms and hands more in general. She's getting the idea to bend her knees and sit down when she's tired of standing instead of falling backwards, but doesn't always do it. And she doesn't put her arms out if she starts to fall forward. So that's something else that I've asked the PT and OT to focus on.

All of this is not to say that I haven't been keeping to my resolutions and working on her other "homework" too. She's been wearing her glasses and hearing aid a lot this week and we've been practicing with sounds. She's been a lot more talkative recently and I've really been trying to get her to make some new, consonant, sounds instead of just vowels. She seems insterested in watching and touching my mouth when I do it, but I haven't got her to do it herself yet.

Anyway, we had some fun this week too (not that all the other stuff isn't fun - Kinsey definitely enjoys standing and walking!) Today was a cold, snowy day so we planned to stay home all day. I made some homemade, edible finger paints and she did some painting. (Of course, she didn't try to put it in her mouth once, but you know she would have if it wasn't edible!)





We also watched the snow fall outside the window.





Kinsey is also learning how to rock/bounce her new rocking horse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkiiMRy_-lE

And Kinsey has graduated to the big girl bathtub too! We've been using the inflatable tub inside the regular bathtub because we weren't sure she was steady enough, but after a bath at Uncle Steve & Aunt Kristin's house, we decided she could handle it. She loves having the extra space to splash around (her legs her getting too long for the inflatable tub). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsk4kRIhqn0



Oh, and last weekend we went back to see the Clydesdales for picture day. Kinsey was able to pet the Clydesdale and we took some pictures together.





Tomorrow we're going to the National Western Stockshow and going to see a Rodeo! We think Kinsey will like it a lot. We'll be able to go see the animals in a petting zoo too. Hopefully everything we want to do will be indoors because it's going to be a really COLD day!

Resolutions

As we begin a new year, I've been thinking about my resolutions for 2013. I heard on the news this morning that less than 50% of people make resolutions and even less of them keep them, but I always make them and have a pretty good record of keeping them too. So with that in mind, my resolutions this year are focused on Kinsey and doing more for her. Now before you all start screaming that I'm a great mom and do a great job with Kinsey, I'm not saying I feel like I've been doing a bad job, but I do know that I could be doing more for her and am going to do just that!

So, my resolutions for this year are:
1 - Do more of the "homework" from Kinsey's therapists. The therapists always give me things to work on between their visits and when they ask me how she did with those activities, my response more often than not is "We didn't work on that." With 4 therapists, I know I can't do everything they suggest, but I'm comitting to do more and be able to give them real progress reports and hear myself say "We didn't work on that" much less this year!
2 - Be more dilligent about Kinsey wearing her hearing aid and glasses. Sometimes I forget to put her hearing aid on in the morning and before I know it, the whole day and then a whole week has gone by without using it at all. Same for the glasses. I'm determined to put an end to that this year.
3 - Work on the activities and "homework" that's not as fun as some of the others. I focus a lot of time on getting Kinsey to walk because it's an easy activity and it's more "fun." But I need to work on some of the less "fun" things with her just as much.

We are still working on walking though and Kinsey's doing a great job again. She was doing well up until the allergic reaction and hospital stay, after which she wouldn't use her push cart or walker very well anymore. I put them away over the holidays to make room for all the new toys and company visiting, so yesterday I pulled the walker out and she took off immediately! It was the best she's ever walked in it since the therapist changed it to be hardly any support. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/FfR5phodnvU

On another note, we spent last week visiting Jamie's family in MN. We had a great time, aside from the fact that it was unreasonably cold there! Here are some pictures:


Kinsey going through Aunt Kristin's cookbooks


Kinsey's footprints in the snow


Outside Grampa Barto's barn with daddy


Meeting the piglets at Grampa Barto's


Reading with Gramma



Playing with cousin Sara


Gramma with all her girls


Playing with Grampa Barto's Farmall (it was too cold to go outside and play with the real ones)


Celebrating Gramma's Birthday!


Hanging out with Uncle Steve


Kinsey loves her Great Grampa Barto


Cuddles with Aunt Kristin


Laughing with Gramma

Here's another picture from Christmas. Gramma and Papa Wayne bought Kinsey an extraordinary pop-up book, The Wizard of Oz. The pop-ups are really elaborate and Kinsey loves them!