Well, today our little girl, Lyla Jane, whom was given a 10% (or less) chance of survival to her first birthday, turned THREE years old! Not only did she turn three, she also started pre-school and rode the bus for the first time. She was up and ready to go by 7:15 this morning, which was a feat in and of itself. :)
Here's our big girl with her new backpack, ready to go, on a cold November morning. :)
Lyla and Sue (her helper). Sue is with her from the time she's picked up until 10:30 when she gets on the bus to come home.
Lyla had just a few tears when she got on the bus, as did mama.
There she went--what a moment to remember.
Joel and I actually drove in to see her at school--we caught them at snack time. :)
Lyla did great on her first day!
Thank you for your prayers for Lyla and for Joel and I. I had no small amount of anxiety about her starting school. I really think she is ready though, and will benefit from the stimulation and learning. There are only three kids in her class (all in the picture above). She will receive services from physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and even adaptive PE while she's at school!
Also, I just wanted to give an update of the things that Lyla has been doing lately. So here we go...
-You probably know from a previous post that she is a champ at climbing the steps now. We have to keep a gate at the bottom or she likes to sneak up them when we're not looking! We are working on her technique in getting back down the steps now.
-She loves to push the cart when we go to Wal-Mart or any store where we have a cart! It's her job and she loves it (occasionally running into displays and what-not.) :)
-She is steadily improving at standing up next to furniture, and really likes to get herself up by the windows in the living room and look out at the trees or, if it's dark, look at her own reflection.
-She is also improving at cruising between pieces of furniture and has discovered that she can walk along the back of the couch.
-She is getting a little better at self-feeding. She really loves sugar cookies, puff-corn, cheetos, popcorn, graham crackers, Club crackers, french fries, and even chicken nuggets (so healthy!)--all of which she'll feed to herself. She is also getting better at chewing up table food. I still grind up quite a bit of her food, just so she can get more calories in (she's a slooow chewer). We are still working on getting her to give herself sips from her cup--she's pretty resistant to doing that right now--not sure why!
-She still isn't saying much for words. She can say "tickle, tickle, tickle" and mama and dada. Still not sure if she knows what mama and dada mean though. The speech therapist at her school is really great and we are looking forward to the progress she will make with Lyla. :)
-Lately she's been having fun getting on her hands and feet and doing sort of a crab-crawl--so silly!
-She loves to laugh and imitate people when they clap and laugh. She still has the most beautiful smile. She is such a joy.
-She has such an easy-going temperament, and really doesn't cry very often. Her latest thing she does is when she is crying about something, she'll soon realize that she doesn't really want or need to cry, and then she'll just start laughing to cheer herself up. It's so funny, and an example of what a sweet personality she has.
-She enjoys her toys, especially ones that light up, talk, or play music. She can engage herself with her toys for quite awhile. She also still loves the Wiggles and watching Baby Einstein movies. We are thinking about trying to take her to the new Happy Feet movie because she loves music and dancing so much!
-She has her 3-year check-up on Wednesday, and I am guessing she'll weigh about 30 lbs. I'll give the full report on the blog here. :)
Thank you for all of your prayers and happy birthday wishes for her on this big day. We continue to thank Jesus for the amazing little person that Lyla is. She has been so healthy and happy. It is a miracle that she is three years old, and we have so much gratitude in our hearts to Jesus and to the many people in her life that love her and support her (and us!). Joel and I were praying for Lyla yesterday, and couldn't help but thank the Lord that He chose us to be her parents. What a privilege.
We pray that this year in her life will bring wonderful things. We hope that she will walk independently, begin to say some words, become better at chewing and self-feeding, and maybe even start to think about potty training. These seem to me to be lofty goals at times, but we know that with God, all things are possible.
Also, today marks 37 weeks in my pregnancy. Hopefully Lyla's little sister will enter the world in about three weeks! We so look forward to seeing the special bond and love that Lyla and her sister will have for each other. My heart fills to overflowing every time I think about it. What a beautiful blessing.
We praise the Lord for this red-letter day!
