Health Update

Thank you for your prayers.  Things are much better here today!  Health is such a sweet blessing and one we have learned not to take for granted over the last several years. 

Eliana was finally able to eat something last night about 7pm.  She spent a lot of the rest of the night with painful diarrhea though.  She had a long night's sleep - about 12 hours.  She woke up feeling much better.  She was ready to eat this morning.  I gave her some Kix cereal to hold her until I could get some oatmeal ready.

An unexpected sweet moment came during this time.  When Eliana finished what was in her bowl, she began to protest.  I looked at her and then she said and signed "more".  I asked her to say please which she did.  I was happy to comply with her request.  We did this multiple times with her learning to say "more" first instead of just fussing.  She began to add please a little more quickly too.

Having her initiate speech is a wonderful thing!  It's something most children do and we can just take it for granted.  Each little mileston with Eliana though seems something to be celebrated.  If we can get her to move to two word sentences, that too would be a great milestone.  Something small, and yet big too.  It is just so sweet to hear her little voice telling me what she wants.  It is so nice to have her communicating! 

She has had a good day.  Playing, eating, no sickness.  What could be better?!

We tried to do a school day and had a pretty productive one.  At the moment, my oldest children are cooking dinner as part of their geography course.  We are having a meal from Maine.  It looks yummy. 

Earlier today I did something I should have done in a more planned fashion long ago.  A few days ago I began making a list of specific games, toys and activities that could be used to help Eliana with certain skill groups.  I tried to think of things in a variety of areas - speech, oral motor, gross motor, fine motor.  I also just tried to think of toys that we have and how they can be used in a productive manner.  I made a grid (2 pages) of these skills and printed it out.  I'm planning on having a teaching time with everyone in the family so that when they are playing with Eliana it can be done in a way that really benefits her.  We all play with her so there is no reason we can't learn to adapt our play a little bit so that she is learning while playing.  I'm hoping this will help me to stay on top of her learning too.  I can post more about this if anyone is interested.

The rest of the family is feeling fine.  Joshua had no relapse after being sick on Monday.  I emailed his numbers to his doctor last night and she said that everything looks great.  He typically has a spike at lunch time because we are giving snacks without a dose of insulin.  She said this was all still fine.  If/when he moves to a pump, he will correct it then.  For now, we are both (dr and I) comfortable with his regimen and not wanting to add another 3 shots a day for snacks.  That just seems like too much!

More later.  Still have things I want to do in a catch-up post like our trip to the beach.  We spent a wonderful week at the beach with my family just prior to Joshua's diagnosis.  I have some great photos to share.  It may be the week-end as most of my spare time now is in planning and schooling. 

We are thankful for our healthy bodies.  Thankful for good food to put in them.  Thankful for friends and family who are praying with us.  Thankful for a wonderful and good God.

Blessings

Leslie