RowanEmilia.com

A lot has been going on in Rowan-land lately. Rowan continues to progress and do more and more every day. A summary…

1)Potty training. She’s 95% potty trained! I can’t explain it, but she is reliably staying dry and letting me know when she has to go. She isn’t perfect but is pretty close. We’re working on the independence part, pulling her clothes up and down, etc, BECAUSE..

2)She’s going to school! A real school, not a daycare type. Crazy, huh? This has been my obsession for a few months. It’s ridiculous how difficult finding a preschool has been. Blech. Rowan qualified for HISD’s preschool for children with disabilities but for various reasons we decided that was not the right place for her. So she will be going to a Montessori preschool or primary program. The school is well respected in Houston and is one of the few that goes through high school. They know she has some special needs but don’t seem concerned about it at all.

3)Everything else. Rowan is talking and learning like crazy. She still has a lot of difficulty saying some sounds but she definitely tries. She has a few multi purpose sounds she makes when she doesn’t want to or can’t use her words but she’s trying more and more. I recently sat in on her speech therapy session and learned she’s been holding out on us. Rowan has WAY more words than she normally uses. And apparently she loves flashcards. Weird.

Her current obsession is learning her letters. She’ll point to letters anywhere (like on my t-shirt) and try to name them. I would say she recognizes at least half of the uppercase letters. Rowan knows her basic colors, body parts and is really proud of herself that she can say “elbow” while pointing to her elbow.

So, that’s a little about what’s been going on around here. I thought I’d end the update with a picture of our recent shopping trip…

Getting ready for school!

Just a couple photos from my recent Houston visit.  I have more to work on..

We spent the last week in Galveston with Ryan’s family. Rowan LOVED the beach and had an amazing time. We even have video (thanks to Ryan’s mom) so I’ll post that as soon as I figure out how.

Rowan was released from the endocrinologist today! We’ve been going to the endocrinologist every 3 or 4 months to keep track of Rowan’s Vitamin D and Calcium levels. DiGeorge kids often have parathyroid deficiency which can lead to hypocalcemia. Rowan is NOT one of those kids. Her calcium levels and her parathyroid hormone levels have always been fine but her Vitamin D has been low. But with a low level supplement everything is fine, so the doctor said he didn’t need to see her anymore. WOOHOO! One doctor down, one to go (immunology, cardiology will be around for a while yet) and I’m so excited! I’m happy that my girl is getting healthier and healthier!

Yup, Rowan is definitely talking! She only has about 10 words (and sadly, one of those words is Elmo) but she likes to use them. All the time. I think I mentioned before that Rowan has difficulty coordinating all the muscles involved in making verbal sounds, and a bit of a palate issue that makes certain sounds harder to make. All this is true, but our girl is still trying. So her words that she says without prompting and relatively properly are…

Mama, Dada, Nana (grandma), ba-bye, all done (“ah duh”), bath, ball, ice (she says this now instead of asking for water), up (working on “duh” for down), and yes, Elmo. There are a few more she’s working on. She says “nana” for banana,”aba” for apple and her friend Abby, and something like “daddee” for doggie (Sophie). She also uses “baba” for bubbles. There are plenty of other words she uses but they aren’t super consistent. “Help” is probably the next one we’ll be adding to the list.

So she’s coming along! It’s so exciting to watch her use her words more and more.

Photos by Mustard Seed Photography

So this is what happened a few hours later..