What a year....Taylor's favorites

This week is so exciting because we're going to see my family in Missouri on Thursday! We are all so excited. I love, love, love going home and the kids have a great time. They packed their bags on Saturday and have had to unpack a few items, but it's a sign of how excited they are.

The other thing we're excited about is an upcoming vacation for our family from Taylor's therapy. Taylor so deserves a break, and while we will work with her on various exercises, the daily routine will get much easier. Susan is going to London until Sept. 5 so we'll get a nice long break - we're so looking forward to Taylor getting to be a normal kid, our big kids to not have the distraction for the last several weeks of summer, and a chance for all of us to take a deep breath. The morning schedule has gotten old the last several weeks - having anyone show up at your house at 7am four days a week for 2 hours of therapy is a hard way for everyone to start the day. Thankfully, Taylor doesn't mind most of it anymore, but it's still a juggle with two other kids and two parents that need to get to work. One of us, or Alison, is always with Taylor, so we're so grateful that Lauren and Jacob have been such good sports this summer.

We started with Susan last August and it has been an incredibly long year of therapy - mainly for Taylor, but also for our family. From my rough math, that is about 330 hours of therapy. The dedication Taylor has shown is truly amazing and inspiring. I'm proud to say that we have come a long way - we always have to be thankful for the increments, because the steps are still small, but we're so hopeful for her future. Like everything, I still do well taking things one day at a time - let's focus on motor skills for now, then we'll add on other skills (cognitive, speech, etc). To see Taylor practice standing and sitting, and exploring more with her hands and feet, is a huge gift.

I've gotten distracted - I'm sitting in our TV room - staring at Taylor's therapy roll, little toilet plungers and sitting stool, new orthotics, special bike and stuff - surrounding me. Typically our house is much neater, but the morning therapy session's aftermath is still here. It will be nice when we wrap up therapy in a few days and we can put everything out-of-sight for awhile.

What I wanted to share tonight is something that I am so thankful for - that Taylor has emotion and feelings and has an emerging personality. She smiles and laughs and gets sad and frustrated - feelings are what make Taylor unique and we are so thankful everyday for seeing more and more of Taylor. Here is what we know so far:
- she loves Jacob and Lauren and us - she saves her biggest smiles, deepest laughs and cuddles for us
- she has other favorites - like Alison and Julie and her grandparents
- nothing makes her laugh harder than when Jacob makes a silly noise - shrieking noises are her favorite; although a hysterical cry will also crack her up
- she loves music - Itsy Bitsy Spider (with hand movements) is her favorite song
- she loves to watch Barney and Baby Animals, or any show that has tons of music - she gets annoyed when the show stops
- she loves to play her toy pianos, shake musical instruments, and beat on drums; we really think she might be a rock star
- her favorite stuffed animal is a singing Winnie the Pooh bear
- her favorite food is any sweet fruit, like bananas or apples (baby food still)
- she loves it when you congratulate her - she beams if you say "Taylor, great job!" "Taylor is so big!"
- she loves movement - she loves to swing, ride in her riding car and anytime she is on the move - my favorite game to play with her is to essentially twirl around and watch her laugh
- she is the most happy when you peek into her crib in the morning - she is well rested and she kicks her feet and grins so big - she is so ready for the day

This gives you some insight into our sweet Taylor - we love her so much.