Olivia Birth to 3 years old |
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Olivia at 2 years old
Olivia at 3 years old |
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Olivia’s First 12 months
Olivia was not able to breastfeed so I pumped and gave it to her out of a bottle. She slept in 2-3 hour stretches. We started Early Intervention and Physical Therapy right away. We mostly needed moral support in those first few months. We worked on putting her on her belly and weight gain. At 3 months, she weighed about 10 pounds.
She smiled for the first time at 3 months. We also started our nighttime routine of a bath, massage and stories. She started sleeping through the night at this time. She rolled over both ways around 4 months. She started solid food at 5 months and had no problems. In fact, she ate an entire bowl of rice cereal her first time out. She laughed for the first time at 6 months. At 6 months, she weighed about 12 pounds.
We had a whole new set of exercises including tummy time, the doorway jumper, the exersaucer, trying to reach up for toys on the toy bar, sitting up, crawling and head control. She had pretty good head control by this time. She was doing well with eating. She was really interested in her toys and would reach to get them. We started using a corner chair to get her to learn to sit up. We also started using sign language at this time. At 9 months, she weighed about 15 pounds.
We continued to work on sitting up and crawling as our main physical goal and continued the sign language. She graduated from the corner chair to a regular booster seat with an insert for her bottom to help her stay put. She really started to recognize family members at this point. She was also really starting to "talk" and say different noises and make different sounds. She started taking two 2-hour naps at regular times. At 12 months, she weighed about 17 pounds.
Olivia’s 1st – 2nd year progress
We had her first birthday party in Feb. 2002. She mushed the cake and ate it up. She started to laugh and smile and interact more than ever. We were still working on sitting and crawling. She was starting to indicate what she wanted by using her hands and yell. She could identify her nose and knew quite a few words. She would clap when we would say "yeah". Her P.T. also made her AFOs which helped her to stand. She fell in love with the Teletubbies. Her brother, Gabriel, was born in March when she was 13 months old. At this time she still weighed 17 pounds.
She finally sat up on her own at 15 months. She started to say "bababa", "dadadada" and "yayayaya" at this point. She would occasionally do the "eat" and "mama" sign.
Olivia went to the zoo for the first time and petted the animals. She went to a carnival and rode a pony. We went camping numerous times and she loved it. She started eating table food and loved it. She finally gained a pound taking her up to 18 pounds at the end of 18 months.
She started to make a lot of new sounds and "say" quite a few words. She could make a noise for chicken, snake, fish, horse and dog. She could also point to her head. If we said "dance", she would bounce up and down. At this point she was really into lift-the-flap and pop-up books. She also could do the sign for "eat" and "Mommy" appropriately. She gained 2 pounds during this time and finally reached 20 pounds! She started to army crawl and would "regular" crawl on our bed. She could also get on all fours and would get to a sitting position from her back by using her arms instead of her abs. She would roll over and then push up. She also got wrist braces during this time, which really helped support her when she was trying to crawl. She really started to know family members and get excited at the mention of their name.
She started using a walker and would actually move! She kept crawling more and more as well. She really started to notice her brother and wanted to play with him. When we read books, she could turn the pages when we asked her to. She could also brush her teeth, or mine, when I asked her to. She could drink through a straw and would give lots of kisses. She continued to be very social and loving.
She can stand by herself with toys in both hands for about 20-30 minutes with her AFO's on. She's actually taken a few steps with us holding her hips. She pulls herself up all by herself too. She will share with you if you ask her for a bite of her toy or food. She also gives big, wet kisses now when you ask for one. She also turns her light off and then we twirl before bed. It's so cute because as soon as she clicks the switch, she throws her head back to twirl. She's really discovered how loud she can be lately and is taking full advantage of it!!
She's full-fledged crawling everywhere, She can walk if you hold onto her hands or if she's in her walker. She’s also said 3 new words in the last 2 weeks----"Hi, Dada!", "Mama (in the middle of the night when she needed me)" and "Bye-bye!". She does all of these regularly now. She also does the "baba" sound for Gabriel and the "rarara" sound for Riley and rock to sleep. She also plays peek-a-boo with her own hands now. She knows where her head, her hair, her nose and her belly are now too. She's really developing her sense of humor. She "gets" when things are funny now, even if they're not obvious. She loves to "get" her brother and dad and loves to have them "get" her. She just started really liking to be tickled. She loves to wrestle with her brother and dad and get my belly.
Olivia 2-4 years
Olivia kept making major progress in language—too many words and signs to list. She also continued to make progress with walking and took her first “real” steps in October of 2004. She learned to stand up by herself from a sitting position in December of 2004. She began pre-school and loved it, although has been plagued with numerous ear and viral infections due to all of the new germs. She continues to LOVE movies, playing with her brother and being social.
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