8 months next week & more

 Hollyn had a pediatric assessment today.  She was pretty tired because she'd already been up 2 hours before the session started (and an hour and a half is usually about how long she tolerates being awake,) but she managed to show a pretty typical version of herself to the nice specialist.  In the end she's about right on for her age, with some areas to work with.  One was the demonstration of understanding "object permanence", meaning if you cover a toy, for example, they'll go for it because they understand that the object still exists.  In Hollyn's case, it's not a concept I've tested her for myself, but she didn't really do it at the office today.  Of course in her defense, the specialist was hiding toys with a paper towel, and since Hollyn loves paper, she was just taking that part and ignoring the toy.  It's like covering broccoli with ice cream and expecting the veggie to be sought after. ;-)  Anyway, it's something to work on at home.

Another aspect to keep a watch on is her complacency.  She so mellow, which is good, but we don't want it to an extreme.  We're supposed to play and be silly with her and help her flex those emotions.

Finally, the area to be most mindful of right now is regarding eating.  Hollyn does not like baby food (homemade or store bought) and she'll only eat things like cheerios/baby puffs if I place them in her mouth as she doesn't really try to eat them when they're placed in front of her.  At the end of the evaluation I mentioned her gagging reflex being so strong, and also the fact that she's never seemed to swallow correctly.  On a few occasions she has swallowed differently, and when she has the bottles have suddenly worked as advertised (venting), and she didn't leak milk all over herself.  Similarly, she never sucked on a pacifier.  She would chew on it for a few seconds, but that's as good as it got.  So, the plan is to give it some more time, but if I can't get her to eat enough, she may be seen for occupational therapy for eating.

We had a great time visiting the Stevenson relatives in Idaho over Thanksgiving.  As usual, the camera stayed hidden except for one photo-shoot.  Below, the boys built some things with the K'Nex at grana's.

Last Friday Brennan, along with the other 1st graders and kinders, put on a music concert at school.  It was cute.  I caught 2 songs before rushing out to take Asher to his first day of preschool, and when I got back 15 min later it was over.  Mom was standing in the gym holding Hollyn while some workers put chairs away around her.  I wish that they had mentioned that the concert was only half an hour long.  I'd assumed it was an hour.  If I'd known, I could have stayed for the whole thing and just taken Asher to preschool 10 min late.  Ugh.  Mom says the other songs were really cute though.  Also, I ran out of memory on my camera after 1 picture and 6 seconds of video. :-(