Speech update ( and other things)

Maggie enjoyed her first sucker ! She has made up her mind that she likes certain sweet treats now.  As we were all sitting around the kitchen table Sunday night after church and cheering Maggie on, I thought of December 2009.  I was packing for China back then and had read that I need to bring Cheerios and lolly pops and lots of them !  So, I stuck Cheerios and lolly pops in every crevice I could find in my overstuffed suitcase.  They were every where.  Which is funny to us now, because as every one knows  - Maggie had never eaten solid food and had NO patience for us trying to put anything near her mouth.  She would break down something terrible if we even got near her mouth.  So all that to say... It was a big deal when Maggie pulled that tootsie roll pop from my hands Sunday night and went to sucking on it.  It is the little things in our  life right now, like tootsie roll pops, that really remind us how much Maggie is changing and thriving.

I love this picture of Maggie and how much it captures her personality - Independent, Beautiful and Spunky.

Speech Update #2034

(Most of my updates on Maggie's speech are for my records and to see just how things are progressing.) 
Maggie had a great speech therapy session today - her best one !  She has started saying Ahhhh with a good open mouth sound and on request.  This is huge for our baby girl !!!

She has been babbling off and on, but never on request and very little imitating sounds.  So, I started working with her and got a little creative.  Right now, I am using a wooden clothes pin that I hold up to my face, I open the clothes pin and say Ahhhh and for some reason that made sense to Maggie.  She started repeating Ahhhh back - a lot, consistently and on request.  Her speech therapist was blown away today !  Maggie worked so hard in therapy and she was so tired and worn out when we got home.  We will continue to work on her open mouth sounds and try to get her to say Baa Baa on request too.  Maggie is trying so hard, you can see it on her face and in the way her mouth moves.  But, this is very difficult for her right now and it takes a lot of her energy and a lot of my energy. Plus, Maggie could win an award for being a super Velcro baby ( clingy baby) if there was such an award being given out !  I am wondering when this Velcro baby stage will end ???

I also wanted to mention how WONDERFUL Maggie's therapists (Her Early Intervention special teachers and her speech therapist) are.  They are AMAZING !  We are so blessed to have access to them and they truely love and care for our Maggie.  They are some of her biggest chearleaders.  They come up with the most creative, fun things to do with Maggie which has helped her develop  and change to who she is now - a much different little girl compared to when she came home from China.  Thank you Missy,Suzie, Shannon, and Lucy !!