A Star is Born!

Giving the thumbs up!

Our little ballerina!

Million dollar smile

Let me tell you our little Julianna is a STAR in the making! I have to give you a little history before I talk about today. For those that don't know Julianna has been in occupational therapy since she was 6 months old for torticollis/plagio and for some sensory problems. Now 24 months into therapy she is ready to be discharged! I walked into Active Development Therapies with a baby with a crocked neck, lop sided head and the worst case of separation anxiety they had ever seen! Today my little girl walked into Texas Academy of Dance took the hand of her new instructor and walked into the dance studio all by herself! That's huge for her! Active Development Therapies is ready to finally discharge Julianna under the stipulation that she be enrolled in an extra curricular activity (they wanted her to be around other children so she wouldn't regress). She is too young for pre-school and I don't trust day care (a whole nother blog!) So I signed her up for dance. I, myself danced for 13 years so it was only natural for that to be my activity of choice for her since she can't make up her own mind and really there are only so many options for a 2 year old. My niece Madison also started dance for the first time this week! Okay, back to my story. So her dance studio http://www.txacademy.com/ has cameras in each of the lesson rooms and while you wait you can watch what's going on in the class on a TV they have in the waiting room. Cool concept, it's neat to watch her without her knowing I'm watching! My little Julianna did EVERYTHING they asked her to do! She danced up a storm! Meanwhile all of the other little kids stood there or cried or a combination of both. Trust me I know how they feel, Julianna used to be an avid screamer too! But Julianna didn't let the other kids get her down (she used to have a big problem with mood stablization) and watched her teacher and did her steps perfectly, I really was impressed! She LOVED dance! I swear the kid is a natural! She cut a rug for the whole 1/2 hour! Then at the end of class she came running up to me "Mommy I love dance"! I was so proud I almost cried. She has come so far, she really has! I am thrilled at the fact she enjoyed it so much! And it was thrilling to see Julianna as a leader! She is the leader of our kids (Joe gladly takes back seat to her, he doesn't like being in the spotlight) and she was definitely the leader in class today as well! Oh and I was picked as room mother...not to sure if that's a good or bad thing but I jump at the opportunity to be involved with my kids "doings" (I'm also on policy council at Joe's school) so I accepted without second thought! More to come on that when I find out myself.

In other Pilkerton news Allie has been an absolute monster lately. I took her to the dr. today and they said her throat was red and she has a sinus infection. They gave her some meds. and also said she was heavily teething (she has 2 teeth with more on the way). She weighed 18lbs 12oz which is almost a pound jump from last month's weight! The poor baby screamed herself to sleep tonight, I tried to console her but she wasn't having it, she is just miserable :(

A happier thought...Joe had a good day today! He got on a off the bus without crying and I called his teacher just to see how he was doing in class. She said he was doing good. He doesn't cry all day (a relief!) and that the only time he gets "sentimental" was the word she used...hmm...wonder where he gets that from? Is right after they come in from playing outside. The next thing on the agenda is lunch and nap both of which he doesn't like. So once recess is over he tells the teacher "I just want my mommy to come" but she says she goes over the schedule and that after lunch and nap he can get on the bus and go home and that comforts him. I'm so pleased to hear he is doing good. It's been a big concern of mine for so long. And she said he was playing well with the other children....WONDERFUL! I'm leaving you with a picture of Joe getting on the bus for the first time this morning:)