Cake, Bibs and Pups

Amelia smells like cake! She came home from school today with cake batter all over her clothes. Amelia doesn't eat so for me this is a huge treat. Anytime she has food stains on her clothes -- I jump for joy. Today at school they had "cooking" -- so cute! For those of you who enjoy the sweet smells your child has after they eat candy, cookies or pudding -- breathe it in, cherish it, then go spray the clothes with OXY! (that stuff gets out everything!)

I can't believe it's already been a week since Thanksgiving. Time is a flying! We went to my niece, Karena's in Jersey City. It was scrumptious, delicious and decadent! Amelia could not keep her hands off her big brother, Spike (21). She kept grabbing his shirt, hoodie, whatever she could reach from her stroller while he sat at the table trying to eat! We left her house and headed straight to Baltimore to see my family. We were there until Monday. It was a terrific trip which included being with my sister and father on their birthdays, seeing family, my 20th High School Reunion and a Memorial for a friend, Dyana, from my class, who just passed away after a long battle with cervical cancer. It was so good to see so many old friends -- even though the Memorial was sad, it was nice to be there for it. Being out of town means missing lots of things I wish we could be there for.

One of the things that struck me while in Baltimore is how Amelia's younger cousin, Maya (2) has finally passed Amelia. Amelia has been somewhat competitive with Maya in the past and would vie for Maya's brother's attention, Ezra (5) (who is off doing many "boy" things these days, very understandable:). But Amelia is now interested in this cute little girl, who is on the fence about holding Amelia's hand because "she hurt me". We explain that Amelia doesn't mean to and that she loves Maya -- but I get it! At 2, I'm sure I wouldn't want to hold hands with someone who holds my hand too tight either. Maya also wants to know "why doesn't Amelia talk?"

Before we start saying "awwww, that's too bad" I must go on to tell you that as cute as Amelia is -- she is also a bit of a hell raiser at school! (That's my girl) Nestor and I went up to the school to pick Amelia up for a doctor's appointment and I was watching the kids during circle time from the doorway. All these sweeties are sitting in their adaptive chairs, listening to the teacher recite a story and interact with switches and such when I witnessed Amelia reach to the boy next to her -- who was just sitting there minding his own business -- and grabbed his bib, yanking it to her. Poor thing! All the nurses and attendants sitting there got the fabric out of her little vice grip and restored order. Everybody laughed! OY! Obviously she didn't mean to hurt anyone...but she was curious and she wants what she wants, when she wants it!

In terms of health, we've been good! Six weeks of antibiotics will do that! She finishes next week. It's part of the new regimin our Pulminologist put Amelia on for a chronic sinus infection which, we believe, is due to reflux. We are still doing the Vest and Cough Assist 2x's daily. As we gear up to start a new round of tests (they will inject radioactive liquid thru her G-tube, wait, and if it shows up in her lungs we know she's refluxing) -- to find out whether her fundoplication has come unwrapped or loose, or if she is just aspirating on her own secretions...you get the idea. Anyway, hopefully we'll have more answers in the next couple weeks.

Amelia's been doing lots of grabbing at everything, everywhere, all the time! I love it. She also has a new found interest in dogs. We take Amelia to the puppy store windows on Christopher Street all the time and she loves watching the pups. She puts her hands on the glass windows -- and I have to say she's quite popular because she has more brightly colored toys on her stroller than most kids have in their toy chest -- hint, hint -- puppies love that! They come up to her from behind the window, eying her ball and rag doll. Fun! And there are a couple big dogs in our building who see her off to school most days -- Chloe (Boxer) and Marshall (big Labradoodle) -- she like to pet their noses! I would love to get her a service dog one day, down the road -- seriously down the road! But how fun would that be? I'd absolutely have that pup doing Amelia's laundry, making her bed, etc. I can just see it now with one of those Donna Reed aprons on. Is that wrong?