She said "UP!"

Our littlest is named Baby Monkey because until the age of twelve months, she touched and grabbed everything with her feet. She kept her hands and arms curled up against her body and rarely used them. After an inclonclusive MRI at six months, it was determined that she was severely developmetally delayed. She has had extensive OT and PT therapy - through which she is rapidly catching up to an age appropriate level. We have our theories that she may have had a vaccine injury, and have had her vaccines divided out and spread weeks apart since the time she was four months old. I can't give any scientific data that this has made a difference - I just know that she has made remarkable leaps since we were told that she may never be normal.

She is fifteen months now - crawling and pulling up. She has met all of her OT goals and has been dismissed from therapy. The only thing that she is truly lagging behind on is her speech.

She says "bye bye"; but we have not been sure that she understands what is being said to her because she does not respond...until last night...

She pulled up on the side of the bathtub, looked me in the eyes, raised her arms up to me and said, "UP!"

I just stared at her. Did she just say that?

"UP!" She said again expectantly.

Yes! Thank You Lord! She said "UP!"

What this means, I don't know; but it looks as if we have nowhere to go from here but "UP!" Blessings abound!!

Birdie Boy

My first born is nick named birdie boy because when he would finish eating, he would purse his lips into a beak like shape and pull his arms up to his body in a way that reminded me of a tiny baby bird. He was and still is yummy and wonderful. He is five now. He has changed so much that sometimes I look at his growing body and wonder who is that person? His mind works over time and he asks the most hysterical questions. A sample of an everyday exchange:

Birdie: Where are the Indians?
Me: (trying to keep it simple and not thinking it through) Well, America was full of Indians, but the white man came and took over the land and some of them died.
Birdie: Did the white man kill them?
Me: (uh-oh) Well...not really....but the white man killed the buffalo that they needed for food and they were forced to live on a small part of land in America.
Birdie: Why did the white man kill the buffalo?
Me: Ummm...they killed them for their horns and skin.
Birdie: That was not very nice of the white man to kill the buffalo and Indians.
Me: No, you are right.
Pause
Birdie: Who are the white man?
Me: We are the white man.
Birdie: (horrified) IAMAWHITEMAN??!!!???
I hope that this is not a life long disappointment.