Maya:
So I cannot tell you how amazed I am with Maya this week...I am not the only one...her teacher is pretty amazed as well! Two weeks ago we ALL caught a nasty virus which gave Maya pnuemonia...with antibiotics and breathing treatments and some oxygen at night, Maya avoided the hospital, and managed to overcome the virus really well. Last week at school was a bit challenging for her, BUT this week she is back to herself and feeling better than ever! Maya gets off the school bus at 4:00 or so, goes potty and then has family time until 8 during the week. It is strange to really only have 4 hours a day with her. It has not been too much of a change since the nurses were here until 4 PM each day last year. And now, we have her all to ourselves on the weekends and Holidays. So, Maya is actually showing some great improvements in communication. She has continued to make great strides with motor skills, but communication has continued to be a huge area of concern...really not much improvement over the last two years. Well this week has been so FUN! Maya gets off the bus and goes potty VERY consistently:-) Well, Addy thinks Maya is now cool, since she is giving us all a lot more eye contact, so Addy likes to play "copy cat" with Maya...so she sits right down next to her on the potty and joins in on opening her backpack and looking for Maya's daily work. She even kicks her feet and stims her arms up and down like Maya...AND Maya LOVES it!
Then we have some down time and dinner (which Maya insists on being a part of even though she is not an oral eater yet. If we decide not to sit her at the table because she is really engaged in a toy (which is rare), she eventually notices us at the table, walks over, and stands by her chair until we put her in it). She watches us all so intently and gets super excited every time we sign to her. She is beginning to follow directions like "sit down" "stand up" and "come". And she loves to watch us sign about the food we are eating at dinner time!
After dinner, daddy does clean up and us girls get to play. Two nights in a row we played chase initiated by Maya. She does her best to "run" down the hall and if I run in front of her she will chase me. Then I will chase her and tickle her, which often caues some great laughter from Maya. Addy has discovered how fun this is and joins us. When I try to tickle Addy she says "get Maya". If Addy decides to change activities, she often wants Maya to join her...so cute!
Maya's eye contact is getting so great and she is really engaged in what we are signing, either watching intently or responding with excited body language. She even has done more purposeful signing too...she will sign "more" when we are finished reading her bed time stories, she seems to be waving "hello" some to her sisters, and her teacher is starting to see her label more objects at school. If I hand over hand help her sign something she will often then do it herself when I remove my hands.
At school Maya is independently going to her chair and sitting when directed by her aid or teacher, she walks independently to PE and Library from the class room with occasional redirection instead of hand holding...this is HUGE!...I even saw her put a paper into her backpack by herself when I went to observe on Tuesday! Also, Maya seems to be overcoming some of her fear of large groups...she is more relaxed now in large groups and is more willing to participate in groups rather then retreat and hide in a corner and read books.
Our other girls are simply amazing too. We are working VERY hard at trying to get Addy to sign with Maya, and I am finally seeing her be excited to communicate with Maya and include her in things...which is really fun (I am sure it has a lot to do with Maya's new interactions with her). Teya is simply adoring her big sisters and stops at nothing to be with them. She has figured out how to pull to stand next to Addy and Maya when they are at the train table, or crawl around many obstacles to get to Addy working on a jigsaw puzzle (which Addy does NOT like, since Teya likes to eat her puzzle pieces:-) ). Overall, I am really enjoying this new stage where the girls are really aware of each other, and most of the time enjoying one another's company. Of course they are sisters, so they certainly have their moments with one another. We are very happy to have 3 happy, healthy girls. Now, if we could just get Maya to wear her CPAP machine at night time we could get her trach stoma (hole) sewed up!
