A Mila Update!

Mila has been making HUGE progress since having her tonsils and adenoids out. It could be a coincidence, or it could be that she's sleeping so much better and has a lot more energy (that's my guess!). She is sleeping in later (now she'll wake up around 6:30 instead of 5:30) most days and she seems a lot more well rested. She doesn't fall asleep in the car nearly as much any more. She only seems to get sleepy right before her nap. Before her surgery she was falling asleep throughout the morning...and she could fall asleep just about anywhere! Let me just say, I'm so thankful to have that one behind us....that recovery was ROUGH! It took her about a month until she was back to herself completely!

Since her surgery she's learned to pull to stand on furniture and cruise along furniture! She's walking in her gait trainer daily and even took a few steps yesterday without the "seat" piece attached! She will walk while holding our hands as well. She's still doing treadmill thearpy, which she has made a lot of progress in as well! She can walk for about 15 minutes, taking up to 25 steps at a time before putting her weight into the harness to take a break! She still has a long way to go to independent walking, but she has blown us out of the water with her HUGE progress in such a short period of time! I feel bad thinking that maybe the sleep apnea was holding her back more than we thought. But I'm so glad it's all taken care of now!

She's also saying "mama" to get my attention (allllll dayyyyy lonnnnnng!). While this is much nicer than whining, she's now perfected the most pathetic whiney "mama" if I don't get to her fast enough, or if I have to leave the house without her.....it is pretty adorable :) She says dada and bubble as well. She's babbling a lot more and her favorite sound is the cutest little "la, la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The other HUGE thing she is doing, which TOTALLY surprised me, is going potty ON THE POTTY! She uses the big potty, too! I was going to wait until closer to 3 until I started anything potty related with her, but she has shown me she is ready to start now! It all started because she was in the bath and I knew she had to "go." I put her on the potty and she did her business no problem. So I did that a few more times after her bath and before we knew it she was pooping on the potty every single night before bed with only one poop in her diaper instead of the potty for almost 3 weeks now! She will also pee on the potty when I put her on there, but is not close to telling us when she has to go. If she were walking I'd start full out schedule potty training with her, but I think we'll wait until her gross motor skills improve a bit more. For now we'll just keep doing what we're doing and it's nice to have one of the two little ones not pooping in diapers anymore!! Mila smiles so big when she goes potty on the potty and we all clap for her....it's pretty darn cute!

While we thought we were done with surgeries for the foreseeable future for Mila, she'll be having yet another one in August :( It will be eye muscle surgery. Currently she tilts her head very far back to watch tv, or see things far away, even with her glasses. She does this because she has nystagmus and she has found a "null point" where the nystagmus stops and where she can see clearly. The null point happens to be when she lifts her chin up and tilts her head slightly. As she is getting closer to walking, and because we know she already has balance issues due to a brain difference, tipping her head back while trying to walk will throw her off balance even more and it could prevent her from walking independently. Her prescription also changed a bit, so she got new glasses! She outgrew the pink frames and we got her the next size up in purple :) I think they're adorable!!

Here is a Mila Photo Dump! 

At one point I joked about putting one tonsil or adenoid back in because she was still awake at 10:30 one night!!! And she was not even close to tired, as you can see! 

Her crazy sleeping positions still continue, even after surgery! She slept in this position for 45 minutes of her nap! 

Mila's new glasses !

Mila + glasses + pigtail s= most adorable thing in the world! 

My favorite picture ever of Mila! (I wish it was high quality and not cell phone pic!)

Mila, who was awake again while everyone else was sleeping for the night, was making her scary face! 

She was getting some morning snuggles in with mama since she's usually the first one awake! Check out her cute haircut! 

This is what her "posturing" looks like....she lifts and tilts her head quite extremely so she can see better. She was watching tv in these pictures. This is always how she looks when watching tv or looking far away. 

No exaggeration, she can see better this way...poor girl :( Soon she won't have to hurt her neck to see well. 

And here she is working on some fine motor activities. 

The focus! 

This happened when I didn't get her down for her nap on time! 

She still LOVES swinging! 

 Blurry pic again, but this is her at physical therapy....she loves the platform swing 

We were so lucky to find an awesome family who lent us their old gait trainer until Mila's came in. She finally got her very own PINK gait trainer :) She usually LOVES it and barely gives me enough time to buckle her in before trying to run off in it! 

 Proud Potty Face! 

Standing, only holding on with 1 hand! This is a huge accomplishment for Mila girl! 

Here are a few videos of Mila in action! 

Mila cruising...

Mila in treadmill therapy...

Mila walking in her gait trainer....

 

Here is Mila's whiny "MAMA!!!!" when I was pretending to leave without her ;) 

And this one was too cute not to include....."I've got no strings to hold me down" or "Riverdance" as Shawn says!

I have plans for so many more blog posts including Sofia and Zoya updates, Sofia's first haircut, Sofia's Welcome Home Party, Father's Day, and more!!! If only the day had a few extra hours ;)