November 15,
2008
Hi Everyone,
It is hard to believe that it has been two months since our last
update. We have had a busy few months. Sophia continues to amaze
and delight everyone around her. She is charming, loving, and
quite the little princess!! We wouldn't have it any other way!!!
She has grown and changed so much in such a short amount of
time. We are certainly enjoying our life as a family of four!!
Sophia loves to learn new things!! She loves, loves, loves books
and so does her little brother. I often catch the two of them
reading books together on the floor! She is starting to reread
her favorite books to us at bedtime. She cracks us up! She also
loves music and singing. She loves to sing "The Wheels on the
Bus", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and "Pat a Cake". Graham
loves to sing too! Sophia is learning some of her letters. She
can identify letter S for Sophia, G for Graham, M for Mommy, and
D for Daddy. We are working on R for Rocky and W for Wingo. She
is beginning to find those letters in books and print. She can
count to ten most of the time and sometimes she can count to
thirteen. She has discovered the joy of Play-Dough. She loves to
fingerpaint with her brother too! Sophia also loves to dress up
and wear my shoes or Daddy's shoes around the house (whichever
she can find). She continues to be the best big sister in the
world to her little brother Graham. Graham is officially walking
on his own now. He has been taking a few steps and pulling
himself up for months, but now he is on the go. Sophia loves
holding his hand and helping him walk when Graham will allow her
to help him. He likes to be Mr. Independent!! She still wants to
help change his diaper and feed him when she can. Sophia also
like to bring Graham toys to play with too! When Graham cries,
she is the first to tell him "It's okay!" and she will pat him
on his back just like Mommy and Daddy do to comfort him! Now,
there are times when the little princess turns into that
terrible two year old and hits her brother. Thankfully, she
doesn't like time out so the hitting stops as quickly as it
starts most of the time!!
Sophia had her reconstuction surgery on October 17th! She did
great and Dr. Vinocur is pleased with her recovery. Dr. Vinocur
is such a wonderful surgeon. He truly cares about Sophia and
that makes us feel very at ease. Sophia only had one restriction
after her surgery. She couldn't ride her bike for two weeks
after surgery. I thought it would be difficult for her to not
ride her bike, but all I had to tell her was Dr. Vinocur said
"no bikes". When she would go over to her bike, all I had to say
is what did Dr. Vinocur say about riding your bike and she would
reply "no, no, no!!" Too cute! We have been back to see Dr.
Vinocur three times since her surgery for post-op visits. She
needs to be completly healed before the ostomy bag can come off.
We are still hoping it will be off before Christmas!!
Sophia and Graham enjoyed their first Halloween. Sophia dressed
up as Minnie Mouse. Aunt Dana gave her the costume as a present
after her palate surgery in July and it was the perfect
Halloween costume. Graham, of course, dressed up as Mickey
Mouse. I couldn't resist! Plus, it will be the only chance I get
to dress them in matching costumes. I am sure next year they
will be more involved in picking out their costumes. Daddy took
Sophia and Graham to several homes in our neighborhood. I think
Erik had as much fun as the children did trick-or-treating!!
My parents took us to Disney World last week. Aunt Dana was able
to sneak away from work for a few days to join us too!! The only
thing missing was Daddy!! He had to stay at home and go to work.
Sophia and Graham loved Disney World! Sophia loved meeting
Mickey and Minnie in person. Graham was more indifferent to the
whole idea of meeting Mickey and Minnie! It was so much fun to
experience Disney World through the eyes of Sophia and Graham!!
We ate breakfast at Disney Hollywood Studios with the characters
from Little Einstein. Sophia and Graham didn't know any of the
characters because they don't watch t.v., but it was still fun!
We found out that the characters were a little scary for Graham
at first. Sophia was a little apprehensive meeting the charaters
at first, but warmed up quickly. She even gave Minnie a kiss on
the nose!!!! Graham perferred to look at them from the safety of
Mommy's arms!! Sophia and Graham enjoyed being spoiled by Mom
Mom, Dziadzi, and Aunt Dana. We also visited Magic Kingdom and
Epcot! We hope to go back to Disney World again soon, but this
time we want to take Daddy along too!!
Sophia's speech continues to improve each day. She is quite the
talker! She is putting several words together when trying to
express her thoughts and feelings. We think her speech has
become much clearer. She still hasn't said anything for her
teachers at school or for Dr. Vinocur. She is doing a great job
working with her speech therapist, Miss Carolyn! She is talking
and using many sounds more consistently!! We are so proud of
her!!
Sophia has had a set back with her sleeping habits for a few
weeks. She prefers to fall asleep in our bed instead of her "big
girl bed". We put her in her own bed afer she falls asleep. She
is still waking up once a night, but she is not having night
terrors. We are so grateful! She still ends up in bed with us on
most nights. We are hoping that once her ostomy bag is off and
there will be no surgeries in her immediate future, and that she
will sleep more soundly in her own bed.
November brings more doctor's appointments for Sophia. We meet
with her palate surgeon and the hospital speech therapist later
in the month. We also go back to see the pediatric dentist for
her six month check-up next week. Plus, I am sure we will be
seeing Dr. Vinocur several times again this month!! When I tell
Sophia we are going to see Dr. Vinocur, she tells me he is her
buddy!! We also have to go back to get the second dose of the
flu shot for both Sophia and Graham.
We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday and
celebrating Daddy's birthday!! We can't wait to celebrate
Christmas with our two little ones. We certainly hope Santa
won't be too scary for Sophia and Graham. It should be a very
exciting holiday season for our family! |
Fall Fun!
I love to fingerpaint!
Waiting for Dr. Vinocur!
The cutest Minnie Mouse ever!
The cutest Mickey Mouse ever!
My little brother!
Disney Diva!
Minnie kisses!
I love Disney World!! |
