Smilestones

Today is a new beginning. So let me start off with some small things that made me smile this morning.

Lauren seems to know that whenever she wants a piece of food, she has to make a noise, any noise, before she gets it. She's pretty quiet in nature, so this is a huge step for her. Usually its just a quiet "hmmm" - but hey i'll take it! Furthermore, she has been for the most part consistent with this new "cause and effect" skill - and believe me this is another big step for Lauren as she is the most inconsistent little girl you will meet!
Steve noticed the other day that her pincher grip is coming along nicely. Its now almost a full pincher grip rather than a pince and rake into the palm of her hands. This was a rather pleasant surprise, because she seemed to have mature this skill on her own - without therapy, without practice, without teaching!! YAY! I know its a small thing, but just the fact that its a skill that she developed this on her own, in her own time (it was a very long time), it brought a smile to both our faces. She's also learning how to suck on her sippy a lot better these days. After her palate surgery, she still didn't get the idea of sucking on her sippy cup - she would constantly chomp on it and we ended up slitting the valves so it was almost free-pouring, even though her palate was fixed. Yesterday, we bought her new sippy cups (because the old ones were so worn) - and we only had to slit the valve a little and she was able to suck away the milk all on her own. Hopefully over the next few months, we won't have to slit the valve at all because she'll have developed a strong enough suck with her mouth muscles.

Just a quick update on my morning. The sun seems to be coming out of the clouds..