More October Musings

More sign acquisitions by Baby Bunny:

32.  Train

33.  Wind

34.  Rain

35.  Stars

36.  Water

37.  Juice

She still hasn't said a word.  She is babbling a lot more, moving her tongue around, and making noises.  It almost sounds like she's singing.  What's kind of amazing is that she's been trying to whistle.

Baby Bunny's art work, ca 2013.  It looks like a face to me!

We went to a fall carnival with a few more kiddie rides.  Bun Bun wasn't too thrilled on the merry-go-round.  Throughout the ride of about 5 minutes, she fought hard to get off.  She didn't cry, but wasn't giggling with joy either. 

Who needs a toy when you've got a laundry basket?  Daddy sez that there not enough pictures of him with Baby Bunny.  But then, most of the pictures I take of them usually come out blurry.

Within a 5 minute walk of our apartment is a small park/playground.  This is about the only thing I will miss about living in the apartment.  The plan is to move into the new house over the next  week!  Stay tuned!

Art

Bun Bun has been busy.  She has been busy with pens and crayons.  Her OT has been working on her hand-writing skills - vertical lines, horizontal lines, and circles - and how she holds writing tool in her hand.  This helps her with not just writing later but with staying at attention to a task.  When she draws on a vertical or slanted surface, she is actually building up her core trunk strength as she crosses mid-line stretches her right arm pass her left arm.  So, she has been busy with a ball-point pen.  She's been drawing on paper, walls, and her shoes.

Her artwork on paper has been pretty impressive - nice firm strokes.  Her work on the wall was strongly discouraged early on.  (Thankfully, it's kind of behind some curtains and hard to see anyway.  And, no, we didn't beat her to stop her from drawing on walls.)  On her shoes, that's a very different story.  Over the summer, I had bought her a pair of cute purple booties.  I waited all summer for the weather to cool down and her feet to get bigger so she can wear them.  Last week, she took a red pen and drew all over them (pictures to come later).

We hit another milestone last night when Daddy and Mama went to the movies and left Baby Bunny home with a babysitter.  Daddy and Mama went to see "Gravity" (best movie I've seen in a long, long time).  Baby Bunny stayed home with Diana, a church friend (note: not a family member!).  She did OK.  According to Diana, Bun Bun cried for just a little bit.  After they read "Goodnight Moon" about 10 times, Bun Bun went to bed.  She was asleep when we got home.

More signs:

30.  Horse
31.  Bus

Cutie!  You can see her art work on her shoes, although not very clear.

Indian Summer (80's this week)

Curious Bun Bun trying to get at something in the bin.  There's not much in there, just diapers, small packs of tissues, some pens, and joke mustache glasses.  She has fallen in once and thought it was hilarious.  We keep a lot of boxes around the house.  To Bun Bun, they are a lot more fun than the actual contents.

No, Bun Bun doesn't wear glasses.  We were having fun with an app on the iPad.

Autumn Updates

This is how much Bun Bun has grown in 3 months.  She is at least 3 inches taller.  Many of her pants don't fit anymore, or those that were too long in the spring are now just right.  Picture above was taken about a week ago.  Picture below was taken at the end of June.  Sofa is there for perspective.  By the way, Daddy is growing a beard.  Doesn't he look handsome?

This curious little monkey loves to explore.  Here, she's fascinated by a small twig at the playground.

Bun Bun's signing update.  I'm sure she has picked up a few more.  I just haven't kept good records.

27.  Tree
28.  Bunny
29.  Flower

Our search for a house has ended.  We found a house about 1 mile from 婆婆.  If everything goes well, we should be moved in by Thanksgiving.  Settlement is scheduled for October 23rd.  This may be somewhat flexible which is unusual.  Everything now is pending on our mortgage being approved.  We don't foresee any problems.  The house needs some work especially deep cleaning.  We want to do some painting and have a new heater/boiler installed.

I am also very excited about the church we've been attending.  The teaching is sound.  The people are wonderful.  Bun Bun can make friends since there are other toddlers around the same age.  In fact, Sunday school has been her first exposure to structure that will help her get ready for pre-school when she turns 3 (way too fast if you ask me).  This weekend, we'll be attending a membership class to see about becoming members of the church.

Speaking of school, I will be looking for a small table/desk for Bun Bun.  She'll have to practice sitting still and doing work.  Gasp!

Napping Bunny

One of the best thing about being a mom is having Baby Bunny fall asleep while I'm holding her.  Here she is out cold after playing at Grammy and Pop-pop's house a week ago.

I wonder how much longer I will be able to savor moments like this.  Here we were back in October last year, a bit smaller and shorter.

25.  Book
26.  Doll

New toy

Bun Bun got a new toy!  This is a tent from IKEA.  She quickly learned to duck to get in & out, then entertained us by popping out of the entrance.  Surprise!

24.  Ball

Recording Bun Bun's signing vocabulary helps me keep track of her progress.  Her Early Intervention team met yesterday for annual review.  Her speech therapy will now be once a week.  Hopefully, Bun Bun will be talking soon.  We have an appointment at CHOP next month for speech assessment.  We may be able to get more help there.  I wonder what her first word will be.  George?

The other day, John and I were having a conversation with the grandparents about a friend of ours named George.  Bun Bun started to sign for monkey.  The girl is obsessed with Curious George!

September... goodbye summer, hello fall

With the arrival of September, kids are back in school, and vacations are over.  My summer was somewhat productive.  I got a grant proposal submitted in June (the study section to review it will meet in October).  We sold a house (still looking to buy one to move into, although we've made some progress... stay tuned).  Baby Bunny about doubled her signing vocabulary:

22.  Car
23.  Grandpa

Our PT pool group ended.  It was really fun to see Bun Bun interact with another little girl about the same age.  Even at church, she's been more social with the other kids.  She has been running up to other babies, giving them hugs, then knocking them over, and making them cry.  On other therapy notes, we have an annual review this week.  Bun Bun has gotten all sorts of tests to see where she is developmentally.  She scored about 21 months for cognitive skills (ability for mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making) and about 18 months for gross motor skills (physical abilities such as walking, climbing, etc).  Being now 26 months old, cognitive abilities at 21 months meant her supplemental instruction (SI) therapy will be reduced to once per month.  It's bittersweet.  We won't see Miss Debbie every week, but GO BABY BUNNY, SMARTY PANTS! 

Go sleepies, Baby Bunny!

Baby Bunny inherited a toy that makes music.  Here, she's dancing to a Mickey Mouse tune.  She was swinging her hips, but I missed it!

Cute!

I am biased and really don't think there can be anyone cuter!  Daddy is off to the side taking a rest; Bun Bun has tired him out!

It looks like Bun Bun is winking.  She actually squints her one eye when she looks to her side.  We have talked to an opthalmologist about this and were assured that there isn't anything wrong.  It should be something she'll grow out of.  We have yearly visits to the eye doctors.

Quick Updates

The new school year starts next Monday.  I've been packing in all in: last minute experiment, get ready for the new semester, spend time with Bun Bun, and house hunting.  Fortunately (or rather unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), there hasn't been a lot of houses for huntin'; so, we keep lookin' and waitin'.

Baby Bunny's signing vocabulary:
16.  Hat
17.  Shoes
18.  Socks
19.  Wash hands
20.  Brush teeth
21.  Daddy

We realized that we needed new "Baby Signing Videos" when the tune of "Diaper Dance" started to stick in our heads.  So, Baby Buuny has picked up a few more signs over the last 2-3 weeks after Daddy dug up the new videos that I had packed up during the move.  This little girl amazes us by how quickly she learned new things.  Still no words out of her mouth yet though.

On Tuesday, we were at clinic getting some evaluations.  She weighed in at a hefty 24 pounds and measured 2 feet 8.5 inches!  Two years ago today, she was barely 5 pounds!  Her latest trick has been climbing sofas!  Makes me nervous sometimes! She sometimes forgets to climb down backwards or leans back to nothing...

Harmonica

婆婆 brought Bun Bun a harmonica from Taiwan.  She's actually quite good at playing it, better than what the videos showed.  I missed her play in the second video by half a second, but the smile is just too cute not to post.

Bun Bun's signing vocabulary update:
1.  Doggie
2.  More
3.  All done
4.  Baby
5.  Eat
6.  Kitty cat
7.  Cracker
8.  Monkey
9.  Banana
10.  Drink
11.  Bird
12.  Fish
13.  婆婆
14.  Mama
15.  Poopies

Here's a family picture at the Phillies game Sunday night.  It went way past our bedtime.  You can see Bun Bun getting really tired.  Despite the Phillies losing the game, we had a great time.