Quick update on skills and such:
Josie’s coming along, making progress. Gross motor she stands without assistance for a few seconds but she’s really afraid to do much on her own. I am not sure where her balance is, but I know she’s showing some. And muscle is great. She’s got well defined muscles in her little legs and she stands up on her toes to reach things.
Her hair is long enough to do several different styles (ok so thats not a “skill” but it sure is fun). Pig tails are our favorite look (she gets the most attention when we go out when she has the pigtails….so I know she’s cute he he he).
She has maybe 50 baby signs? Note: we need to learn a few to teach her, popsicle, outdoor swings, different signs for different Grandmas lol. She is a sponge. Watching American Idol the other night and she was falling asleep in her swing and all of a sudden she started to sway with her hands over her head mimicking the audience. SO CUTE and really hilarious. I laughed so hard. And she claps with her hands above her head like the audience too. Smart cookie. Newish signs she has down perfectly are car, cracker, pair, apple, carrot, rain, share, sun, milk, dad ……. um too hard to remember anything……. and she knows a lot of body parts which is cool, and follows simple commands brilliantly (even if I sign something without saying it she can still follow and do what I ask her).
As for speech specifically (separate from language) she says Elmo pretty close to perfectly which is awesome bc she has the “o” shape down and can use it with purpose. She added “grandma” to her limited vocab (more like “ahma” really fast and sorta with a gah, but not sure its there yet). She has bah down and babbles a lot but other than that she’s still really limited — no dadas yet. Sorry Brian. We are supposed to be teaching her words with W and H and S and T apparently. So there are a lot of weeeees and whoaaaa and woooow going on here 
She sorta can say “more” too but that also sounds a lot like mama. And she “vrooms” her toy cars from Grandma Wilmot and roars when she reads Simba and “ee-ee-ee” when she sees a picture of a monkey. Coming along!
Feeding: she can take 7 1/2 oz, soon to be 8oz — but we don’t want to go up too quick. Retching is minimal, maybe once a day and totally bc of gas and complications of her dang fundo. She definitely is lateralization with her tongue and getting a lot more coordinated. Liquids she still can’t manage but in fairness we are supposed to be thickening all liquids bc they splash up into her nose and she gets raspy nasally sounds but it doesn’t seem to phase her. Trying to get her interested in a sippy (Nuk) but have been since forever. She likes a squeezy bottle with bendy straw that has a special valve you put in the straw to keep the liquid from going back down without suction. So the hope is one day she will get sucking. For now we are squeezing the bottle (she is biting the straw) and she really thinks its funny when she flicks the straw and the liquid comes out and splashes her. So of course she does that on purpose… a lot. Purees are coming along. She’s letting us spoon feed her and hand feed her cheerios. TRUST! Finally! She also had her first popsicle and she LOVES LOVES LOVES popsicle. But then who doesn’t?
She’s been very cuddly lately which is nice. Love that. She still loves her books. She is in to EVERYTHING. Mess maker. We try to applaud her when she puts stuff “in” (away) instead of taking “out” and it works sometimes. She emptied out a whole basket of laundry but put it back in after I coaxed her.
Her favorite shows are anything with Elmo, Sid the Science Kid, and American Idol. We try to limit TV of course, but this stage in the pregnancy and I need a minute to breathe a few times a day and besides tube feeding would be near impossible without sitting still and having a distraction.
She is still in love with anything baby and cute — ALL GIRL. Pretty sure her favorite color will be pink. Puppies, horses and baby animals she just adores. We go look at the cows and calves and horses around town a lot.
Music lover. Make that musical prodigy. She loves music and beats.
We tried on Fuzzibunz today for the first time (we got some at the Oneweekboutique) and she proceeded to poop in it. Snaps are great. We also got a ton of baby clothes for both girls and some maternity clothes for me and a new swing for Mary and a bunch of puzzles and toys for Jo. Good stuff. Then a week later we got to raid Childrens’ Home Society’s toy room and actually had to make 2 trips out to the car. We got a giant rocking fish (that needs to go on the porch, its huge) and wooden cradle and new baby doll in the box and a bunch of drawing type stuff, etcha sketch and markers and a no mess fingerpaint pad (whatever its called, no idea), some dump trucks, board books, two grocery bags of baby food purees, a pull along toy, and I snagged some Dr Sears books. All free. Yey. Thank God there are so many resources out there for special needs kids. Its amazing and so helpful.
In fact, two weeks ago I was almost in tears thinking how frustrating it was to never be able to buy Jo any new stuff and I get asked 10x a week at therapies if we have certain toys, or told that we need to have certain toys for her development and when Brian hasn’t had much if any work the past few months and we’ve been living off of Jo’s disability mainly, well guess what. We eat ramen noodles a lot. So I have been trying to offer up my day to God for help to get through and its really lovely actually. Whenever I get frustrated it paints a whole new picture of what we are here for, what counts, what matters, what doesn’t and that everything is temporary and completely in God’s good Hands. So The next week almost exactly a week after feeling so cruddy about our situation we are told to go down and raid the donations room. Woo hoo! Toys out the wah…hoo… lol…plus, we may be competing in the Florida Commerce Fit Challenge and grand prize is 10 grand. That’d be a step in the right direction!!!!
She’s getting good at coloring and loves it. Nice quiet activity… ok maybe its mom that loves it lol.
Still no shape sorting and pretty much all her skills are around 12 months or a little before, but still, we are progressing perfectly. Just slowly. But tortoise speed is a noble thing right? Slow and steady. Steady is the key!
Still a handful at mass but oh well. So was I. And look how nicely I turned out 
jk
I’m sure there’s more but this is already a long post. I can’t wait til she walks but that may be a couple months. But waiting with baited breath nonetheless. And Mary is on her way……………. eek!
Do you know about zooborns.com? You should check it out, I bet Josie would love it. Greta adores the animals and especially the videos of baby animals and their mamas.
Also, don’t feel bad about not getting new stuff. We buy so little new stuff it is ridiculous. Since Greta was the 5th girl grandchild on Matt’s side, we get hand-me-downs galore. And well now with another girl, we just hand clothes and toys down. Plus you can get more toys and clothes for the money when you buy used, plus it is more green
She will be walking before you know it. Greta was at the standing stage for a LONG time, like months. I thought she might never walk, she was just afraid of letting go and doing it, but now she is a pro and I’m sure Josie will be soon enough.