Monday, May 18, 2009

14 months of Lolly Excellence!

Well, my small baby is 14 months (yesterday)! I know all parents say this, but I can't quite believe it! Here is a word picture of Lolly at 14 months.

She is just coming out of her baby-hood into toddler-hood. She is starting to explore her world, always cruising back past me to check I'm there. She laughs and smiles all the time, and seems like a truly happy soul. She is very determined, and wants what she wants - all normal and natural for a babe of this age. She is daring, and secure. She can be a little shy with new people, but likes to play and see other babies and friends.

Her favourite things to do are playing with the fishpond, which is mostly dropping things in it, and recently, pointing at the fish food and wanting me to feed the fish (and then trying to pick fish food out of the water and eat it!). Here she is brushing her teeth with some fish water - eeeeww!



She loves books, her favourites are The Foot Book by Dr Seuss, and some picture word books that live in the car. She is also partial to all our Seuss books, and a lovely ocean life book of Snails that plays sounds of the oceans. In the car, she needs a constant supply of books, and will sit happily (if it's one that suits her) turning the pages, pointing at things in it, and burbling the "story" to herself. She also loves to play with her brother, who makes her giggle just by looking at her, and tickles her mercilessly! DinnerDad is also a big tickler, she asks about Dadda now during the days, and when she hears a motorbike, will say "Dadda, dadda". Awwwww. She also loves the bath, and looking at photos on the computer (or the camera), she gets very excited to see pics of herself, Snail and Smash in particular.

She has a few words, Dadda, Mumma, Booba (another word for Mumma LOL), Star (her first proper word), a kind of "duh" sound for dog, "meow" for cat, and "baaa" for bath. After dinner or eating in her highchair, she will start trying to take off her shirt and say "baaaa". Mucho cute.

She is standing and cruising on furniture now, not far off walking. Last week she started to stand unsupported, she still falls over, but is testing the waters.


She loves standing up next to me and falling (hurling herself) on me and laughing, she can do this for ages! Here she is mid-fling:



She likes her food, especially DinnerDad's cooking! We also have platters of biccies, cheese, fruit during the day and she likes to snack on this (or for afternoon tea with Snail). She loves drinking water out of her sippy cups. She recently had her first Babycino (with no chocolate on top, just froth) and loved it, and today at the shops was clearly expecting one when I got a coffee for myself (she wasn't disappointed!). She loves hot chips (I suck off the salt LOL), nashi pears, rice cakes, and cheese. She likes meat too, and will eat that in preference to other foods.

So that's Lolly, a gorgeous, happy baby, 14 whole months in the world. Much love to you, my daughter!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A baby gets bigger! And of our recent adventures...

Here are some recent pics (lazy blogging today) of our doings. The thing about babies is that they get bigger! Who'd-a-thunk-it!?

Lolly is delightful as usual, she is standing and cruising, and decided to crawl (as well as bum-shuffle) last weekend. She practices standing all day, and cruises around furniture (a bit unsteadily, but gets surefooted so quickly!).



She loves her car and scoots around at great speed.



She really enjoys the weeks we have the brother and sister too, though there are some jealous moments with the Snail. Smash is there just to amuse her, and she loves to play and giggle with him. Here are the girls busted doin' something.



We have been busy lately, lots of gatherings with other mothers and babies, weekend picnics, a visit to Buddha's birthday (where we lit a special candle and asked for blessings), and visits from our Aunt J (we went out to lunch with her last week and had great fun). Here are some shots of our travels:

Bhudda's Birthday festival, and our candle.




Hanging out at home with Snail.



Auntie J!



Having friends over!



My beautiful girl is growing up, and I'm loving every minute of it all (even the sore boobs from teething chomps). She's so open and happy, it is a joy to spend all my time with her. Smooches Lolly!



Will be updating a little more often in future! :)

Friday, May 1, 2009

Blogging Against Disablism - A Photo Essay

It's Blogging Against Disablism day, and here's a photo essay on my gorgeous (step)daughter, Snail.

I've been in Snail's life as her stepmum since she was 4. DinnerDad and I have 50% custody of her, in a week about arrangement. We do Friday to Fridays, she has just gone back to her mother's today. Here is Snail.



Snail has Pacygyria, a congenital brain malformation that causes physical and mental disability, and epilepsy. She is lucky not to need a feeding tube, and has always eaten and swallowed just fine. She's in a wheelchair, but has mobility in a kind of bum shuffle, so that's how she gets around our place! Here she is in her chair on a bushwalk.



Her little sister, Lolly, also bum shuffles, as she learned this from her Snail! Here they are together, off 'sploring

Snail needs our help to feed herself, get dressed, and do most day to day activities. She's in nappies too, though we're starting more toileting with her this year. She has around 200 words, but understands a lot more than that! She uses lots of assistive devices, she has a walker (that stays at school), orthotics, glasses, and a special computer with a touch screen that she can use to play with and communicate. She takes lots of medication for her epilepsy, which is still not well controlled.

Snail is the most happy, beautiful natured child. She's simply delightful. Though don't get me wrong, she can throw a tantrum with the best of 'em! She loves to read books, play with dolls "a baby", and her real baby, Lolly,


play in the water (or the bath - she is a total water girl!),



and she LOVES cars, and "mo mo's" or motorbikes. Sometimes DinnerDad is riding his motorbike somewhere with us in the car, and Snail goes spare with "dadda!! Dadda!! MO MO!!!", it's hilarious. She loves music and Snail-y dancing is a delight to behold.



She also loves the garden.



She can get frustrated with lots of things, as her world can be limited. She hates to be left behind. She doesn't like reverse! She can be jealous of her little sister. She loves her Selene and wants to sit with her ALL THE TIME! She wants to watch Blues Clues and can chuck a fabulous shitty if we all watch something else. Most of her grumps are about her difficulties in keeping up with the rest of us. We do what we can to make this easier for her, but we can never fix it completely, it's just part of our lives.

Snail has taught me a lot (in a completely corny way, [ETA insert unicorns here]) :-). If there's a point to this essay, it's that living with a disability can be hard. Don't make it harder by staring, avoiding, and not getting the fuck out of the way when you see the mother with her one year old in a sling and pushing a kid in a wheelchair! Maybe smile. Don't act shocked if you talk to Snail and she just keeps saying "hello, how are you" and isn't "normal" after all. Listen.