These are busy days for young Dalia. She has had visits from Sandy, the ocupational therapist, and Alisa, the speech therapist. I've missed out on the visits, having started back at work full time, but Tal is here, and has taken notes and me in. OT at this point involves Dalia using her mouth, her tongue and teeth and gums in new ways so that she can eat more efficiently and control her drooling a bit. We have a mirror on the table so she can watch herself eat, and we have lots of rubber toys for her to chew on, and for us to play tug-of-war with. She's got a Nuk, which looks like a mini rubber version of a medieval torture device, except it feels great in her mouth. Tal ordered some toothbrushes that vibrate. She loves it all!
Her language acquisition is very advanced, but she has problems with some pronunciation. She usually says "Na Na" instead of "Mama" but is getting better at the Ms. We are to work with her on B sounds and P sounds. We also are supposed to be working with her to get her to blow bubbles, to work on some of the aspiration sounds. She continues to surprise us with all of her words and combinations. Tal made a list and came up with 300 or so words... this in less than 4 months in the US!
Like everywhere in the Northeast, it has been so hot here... which makes it all the better for swimming! Dalia has been playing in her kiddie pool on the deck all the time. All weekend, she ordered Tal and me to dive into the pond over and over again, imitating us counting, "One, Two Three, Go!" and making a pushing motion with her hand. Minutes after we came out, she would say, "Na na? Na na? ..." until I jumped in again. Finally... Ginger managed to entice Dalia into the water by laying a towel out into the water, which made Dalia curious enough to climb on top of it. Yea! We've been having great times watching the huge frogs at the pond and listening to them talk to each other.
Today, Dalia woke up saying, "owee, owee, hurt, hurt." Somehow, we hadn't noticed a huge sliver on the bottom of her foot - and now, she couldn't walk on it. Tal decided to take her to the hospital to have it removed. Shots of Lydacaine later... major extractions and lots of screaming ... and all better.
Tonight, while she was watching "Elmo's Shapes and Colors", I was folding laundry as she was playing with a tiny stuffed animal lamb. She pointed to the t-shirt and said her version of "off", so I took the t-shirt off. She held out lamb's shirt and placed it gently in the laundry basket.
And now, this Monday will be Dalia's second surgery to repair her cleft palate and to put tubes into her ears. We will report from the hospital, if not sooner!
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