Our new friend the Orthodontist

We had our first trip to the Orthodontist to discuss Elizabeth's jaw. Since she was a baby people would often comment on her uncanny mouth and how she resembled Winston Churchill. Her under bite is so severe that when she bites down her bottom teeth completely cover her top teeth. Her Speech Pathologist wonders if some of her articulation difficulties are due to her under bite and Elizabeth's watchful dentist thought it was time we should meet Dr. F.
Of course Elizabeth was the youngest client in the office and was her usual chatty self asking the Dr. what his intentions were with her. He took one look in her mouth and pronounced her as his new friend. This new friendship (very expensive friendship) won't start until she is older and will include braces and surgery to align her jaw.
Dr. F mentioned to look out for her 6 year molars as they should come in soon which I think might be awhile as all her teeth come in very late. On the way home Elizabeth declared she had mouth pain and should stay home from school as her 6 year molars were coming in.
Once again the effects of her prematurity continue to pop up and reminds us this will be lifelong.

Birthday's

Since Elizabeth started school she has been the party girl. She has been invited to an endless string of parties which we are so happy about. She has been bowling, to a makeover party, to indoor playgrounds, a gymnastics party, Princess party and a jungle party. I have been with her for each party and it has been nice to see how she is interacting with other children and how they are interacting with her. Of course I still see a difference between her and her peers socially and she has yet to have a true friend at school but the children and their families are including her. At one party there was music playing Elizabeth and a little boy danced and he dipped her as they twirled around which was the sweetest thing to see.
We are looking forward to more parties, I just have to start saying no to the cake as I am not burning it off like the party girl.

Adaptive Dance

Hope you enjoy Elizabeth's dance recital she had this summer (she is the smallest one in the class). Her adapted dance class has been one of her favourite activities where she can be herself and have fun. With assistance from her helpers she is working on new skills and building her strength. Her helpers are the most amazing young girls who are so talented and who give time from their busy schedules to help Elizabeth. We are so thankful to her teacher for giving children with disabilities and opportunity to dance and to shine.

Hooray for Snow

Finally we have snow, it has been miserably muddy until now. Elizabeth continues to LOVE the snow; she loves to eat it, roll in it, to eat it, climb in it, to eat it, build with it and eat some more. Have established how much she loves to eat it? She grazes so much that her face is a chapped mess and we have had to develop guidelines with snow eating.
I too love the snow, there is so much to do and I enjoy shovelling the driveway (no I am not nuts)I just love being outside getting exercise. We have been out as often as we can to go tobogganing at a local hill and Elizabeth has a ball. I love that she is getting an amazing workout by walking up hills. It is nice to see each year how she is improving as last year she needed lots of help to climb up the hill and this year we just need to hold her arm.
Elizabeth continues to be a daredevil and loves the 'jumps' and now can hold herself upright on the toboggan during bumps. She even held on tight enough to knock a man out of the way as he was in her path. She also learned from her Uncle that donuts are not only the ones you eat and they are now added to her daredevil list. Hopefully we can keep this white stuff so we can get out more and enjoy winter.

Anxiety

This cute little fella in the picture is capable of causing emotional breakdowns filled with crying to the point of vomiting for Elizabeth. A visit to a department store 3 years ago and me pressing his tummy has permanmently etched a traumatic memory in Elizabeth's little head. This is not the only creature that upsets Elizabeth you can add Wall-E, baby alive and baby toys that play music.
At her last appointment with her Developmental Pediatrician a toy went off in the hall and sent Elizabeth into an emotional meltdown and the rest of the appointment Elizabeth would not look at the Dr. and was very anxious. After a long conversation with her and talking about some other concerning behaviours (chewing on fingers and clothing, highly excitable) she feels that she has anxiety and all the new changes this year have caused her anxiety to increase. I had been blaming her new behaviours on sensory needs but after seeing how these behaviors stopped over the Christmas holiday I am in agreement.
Our new plan is to work on desensitization with the objects that cause her so much fear and to teach her coping skills to use when faced with an anxiety provoking situation. This week she has conquered Baby Alive and has declared that Iggle Piggle can wait until she is 7. I think Iggle Piggle is coming sooner than next year but we will do it together (and on an empty stomach).

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday. Of course our time off has flown by and one more day until we are back to work. Despite some sort of influenza virus that ravaged both Elizabeth and Daddy for a good week each we still had a good time. We kept to our tradition and went to Christmas Eve mass with the girls and they enjoyed the children's service and learned about why we celebrate Christmas. Elizabeth had a great time Christmas morning she woke up at 2:00 am and proceeded to open her stocking therefore was pinned down by me and we all slept in until 8:00 which was a real treat. She received the Tangled hair braider princess that was top on her list and as soon as she came in the living room despite being wrapped in heavy paper was greeted by a yelping puppy in a box (one that requires batteries we are not going there with a live one) once unwrapped she discovered GoGo the walking puppy which she loves.
We had a great Christmas breakfast with Grandma Ellie and Grandpa Boris and was spoiled by them. We ended our day at Grams and Gramps house with her cousins Madison and Danica and once again was spoiled again with her Video Girl Barbie (a total change from Rocky the talking dump truck last year). Of course there were some dragons, hot wheels cars and dinos as gifts but I am loving the fact that Barbies were top of her list for Christmas. As usual we have spent a large portion of our holiday trying to find room for all her new goods and I think a trip to IKEA may be in the future. Mommy and Daddy shared a gift and we now have a better camera so improved pictures will be in the future.

Thank You to All

Elizabeth's Christmas project for the babies in the NICU went perfectly. The donations we received from family and friends were amazing, we even received gifts from New York and Pennsylvania (thank you Anne and Abby). As you can see in the pictures the gifts were endless we received blankets, toys, hand knit hats & blankets, clothing, books and Christmas keepsakes.
With the help of Angela who has beautiful twin girls who were also born premature we stayed up late wrapped each gift and attached a card which had the girls pictures and how small they were when they entered the world.
On Christmas Eve Elizabeth, Meredith, Courtney and their big sister Kaitlyn delivered the gifts to the NICU. We had planned a drop off at the door but the Charge Nurse had us bring them down the hall in the NICU. We were not prepared to enter the doors to where everything began as even now it still brings back some scary memories that we try not to relive.
Elizabeth was so excited to bring the gifts for the babies and was so concerned about the 'tiny baby birds' as she calls herself when she looks at her NICU pictures.
I am sure the gifts from everyone will be cherished by the new parents who are with their babies in the NICU this Christmas.
Thank you to all who helped out with our new Christmas tradition.

Officially 6

 
Elizabeth is now officially 6 years old. Over the past week she has had endless cakes and get-togethers for her birthday. The first party was with her friends at a local indoor playground where she celebrated her birthday with close to 20 friends. I am so happy see the relationships she is developing with other children some who are family friends but others who she has met at school. On the day of her birthday Elizabeth was invited to a Christmas party for a girl in her class and it warmed my heart to see this little girl tell the other kids that Elizabeth was to go first because it was her birthday and her mom had added candles to the cupcakes and all the kids sang Happy Birthday, this was another affirmation of the choice we had made for her school as there are some great children and families who we are getting to know. Mommy and Daddy bought Elizabeth Barbie and her horse Tawny which she loves and a Nintendo DS which she has figured out all ready and loves playing.
It hard to believe that only 6 years ago we were had just begun a hellish nightmare and now we have a witty sweet little girl who we are so proud of.

A letter to Santa

 

Elizabeth has finalized her requests to Santa and worked hard on her letter. She has surprised us completely and has asked for Barbies this year. She has 2 Barbies already and lately she has been playing with them which I love to watch. Her new daycare has 2 little girls and I think their interests are rubbing off on her. I am fairly sure Santa will happily oblige and ensure the Barbies she has asked for will be under the tree.
As you can see in the letter her printing is getting much better with a weighted mitten she has more control and her letters are getting smaller. She is on a waitlist to be assessed for a computer as writing is difficult, slow and is beginning to frustrate her. We are confident that her printing will continue to improve so she can complete short written works at school.

I let my guard down

Things have been very good in the barf department for Elizabeth. She had gone 4-5 months without vomiting and is eating quite well (I won't count getting car sick on her Halloween costume because Daddy let her read her book in the car). Because of her long vomit free spell at some point I stopped doing a cursory check for garbage cans and quick escape routes. This left me ill prepared at her last Dentist appointment.
I think a series of events led to her mass explosion across the room and at the poor Dental Hygienist but she did give us a warning (I'm gonna barf)but my previous quick reflexes (I have been able to slide a bowl across a table and catch her dinner) and not knowing where the garbage can was left her and the office in a mess. Poor kid had to go home in the cold in her winter coat and underwear.
The plan for next time; no cookie dough tooth polish, she is not to lie flat and only afternoon appointments (she is pretty gaggy in the mornings). This little episode, a frequent cough and her gagging through breakfast is leading me to think that reflux is still not a thing in the past. Maybe we should invest in one of these, I do find Ziploc bags are great but it would be nice if they were not clear.