Two Month Anniversary

I can't believe we have been a family for two months. What a whirlwind! We have thrown so much at Emma and she always comes out of it smiling her mega watt smile and laughing.

Emma's surgery was February 3rd, she has had a cast with a rubber heal for the last two weeks, she now has a temporary foot and will get her real prosthetic in about three weeks. After each change she adapts and figures out how to walk again.

I know all parents think their child is smart, but Emma really is. I promise. She completes four puzzles at once, can show you how to buckle her carseat and kitchen booster seat, she can put on and take off her shoes and socks, brushes her own teeth (of course I go back and help when she is done), washes her own hands, is potty training, reads books to herself (turns the pages appropriately, identifies objects in the illustrations and says "all done" on the last page) and cleans up and puts things away in the correct location when asked to clean up.

Yesterday Emma had her speech evaluation and the speech therapist said that she is speaking at a 20 month old level. She has gone from 0 to 20 months in 2 months! The therapist also said that there is a three month wait before she can start therapy and that Emma could be at age level by that time.

Emma's favorite thing in the whole wide world is her teddy bear. It is ALWAYS with her. Teddy Bear is how she processes and practices new concepts. Emma wipes Teddy Bear's nose when he has boogers, puts Teddy Bear on the potty and wipes him when he is all done, sometimes Teddy Bear has potty accidents and Emma say "oh no" and wipes his bottom with a wipe, Teddy Bear wore one sock when Emma had her rubber heal and wore only one sock, after Emma gets upset and needs some snuggle time to calm down she will re-enact the scenario with Teddy Bear, she has even given Teddy Bear a "lecture" about going poo in the potty after I had "talked" to her about using the potty after a few accidents. I am VERY aware of what I say to her.

Jake and I feel very, very blessed to have Emma as our daughter. We could not have asked for a better, smarter, cuter little girl and have learned a lot from her.

Emma and I went to the park last Friday and Emma really enjoyed climbing and sliding.

A Big Update

On February 3rd Emma had her surgery.

The hospital was great about helping Emma not get upset. They had a playroom in the general waiting room and another playroom in the surgical area. They provided a Mandarin translator, showed her pictures of the room she would have her surgery and let her decorate her face mask. They also put smelly Lip Smacker chapstick inside her mask and had her practice smelling it before she went into the operating room.

I took her into the operating room at about 7:30 am and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Emma did not cry at all. I was able to see Emma in recovery just as she was waking up at about noon.

We found out that medication wears off on Emma quicker than average, so the first twelve hours were hard on Emma and me. Once they figured out her med schedule, though, she was back to her old self. Unfortunately that was at about midnight. I feel bad for the family sharing the room with us. Emma would start getting loud then would shush herself. She is so funny.

The requirements for her to leave the next day were that she could keep food down, that she was off morpine and that she would take her oral meds. She ate dinner that same night, so that wasn't an issue, she stopped taking morphine first thing the next morning and started taking her meds with no problems, so we were ready to go.

We took it easy the next couple of days.

On Sunday Jake's mom came into town and stayed until Tuesday. It was great to have her out and get to meet Emma.

On Monday Emma had a check up and got a new cast with a rubber heal so she could walk and she did. By Wednesday she walking all by herself! Unfortunately her cast fell off on Saturday and her new cast has a much more angled knee bend so she can't walk by herself anymore. How frusterating for her. But, she gets her prosthetic foot on the 23rd and she should be up and running again.