Olivia is fully walking!
She is now walking 100% of the time. And wants to be down ALL the time. Church has become an adventure.
Sickness (aka Croup Round 2)
Olivia got croup again. She and Maddie both came down with colds September 3. By Thursday, September 8 she was in Dr. Friedman’s office due to “wheezing”. Dr. Friedman diagnosed croup again and gave her another prescription for steroids. We were instructed to give it to her until the cough got better (or a maximum of 5 days) and to keep the remainder of the meds for “the next time” because Olivia seems prone to it. All we need to do next time is to call her and she’ll calculate the new dose. She only needed two full days of steroids to clear it all up.
More teeth!
I recently found two new teeth on the top – I *believe* they are molars but it’s hard to tell at this point. That makes 6 on top and still 3 on the bottom. Olivia loves brushing her teeth with Maddie at night. It’s the cutest thing and I promise to post a pic of her with her toothbrush soon.
Eating
Food still is something Olivia enjoys very much (just like her mommy). She no longer stores food in her cheeks but will swallow everything you give her. Her favorite veggie this month seems to be corn. She can’t get enough of it. She eats with a purpose too. We put the food on her hairchair tray and she will pick up a piece and pop it in her mouth very quickly! It’s adorable to see her do it. Unfortunately she’s lost her love of sweet potatoes but still will try anything and everything we’re eating. Last night she enjoyed pilaf with chicken, tomatoes and spinach.
Swimming
Olivia has had two swimming classes so far at the Y. She LOVES it! We got her a “warm belly” wet suit for her class and she looks adorable in it. She loves circle time where we sing. She claps and says “YAY” after every song.
Talking
No big changes in talking since our last update. Olivia understands SO much and babbles a lot but we’re not understanding a lot of what she says. Diana (her daycare provider) is speaking to Olivia in Spanish exclusively and Olivia understands her completely. Recently Olivia wanted to go outside so she kept standing by the door and pointing to it. Diana told her in spanish “we can’t go outside until you put on your shoes”. Well, Miss Olivia walked over to her shoes, picked them up and brought them to Diana!  I know it’s just a matter of time before all that babble will be translated into words. Then we’ll have two motor mouths!
Speaking of our first motor mouth …
Maddie Update
Maddie has made an extremely smooth adjustment to kindergarten. She’s done GREAT! She took the bus on her first day so we all walked to the bus stop. She bounded up the stairs of the bus and barely looked back to wave goodbye! She’s a chatterbox about everything *but* her day at school so we have to pull teeth to find out if she had a good day or not. She’s enjoying hot lunches on certain days. I think school has been a positive influence on her eating habits as yesterday she had three servings of fruit – two more than she had the entire month of August!
Maddie has started swimming and gymnastics again. We’re in the process of figuring out if she’s ready for the next swim class. Right now she’s still taking the preschool ages 3-5 class. I’d like to move her to the next class next session. Part of my reasoning is there are some younger children in her class (young 3 year olds). And the other part is selfish in that the current class starts at 6:25 so it’s a mad rush getting there in time. The new class wouldn’t start until 6:45. Her instructor is going to evaluate her this week and next and let us know.
Well, that’s the update from the Belfonti house for this month. Life is pretty “normal” so you probably won’t hear from me until after Olivia’s cardiology appointment October 6.