I was tickling Maria the other day. She is rarely ticklish, but this was one of those days. I’d stop and she’d wait a second, then she’d start rubbing her stomach so I’d start again. It was very cute and a clear example of communication. She was doing a similar thing when I was sitting on the rocking chair with her. I’d stop, and she’d start kicking her legs so I’d start again.
I also think she’s starting to make the “eat” sign. It’s hard to tell because sometimes she’s just putting her thumb in her mouth (which is a no-no when Uncle Andy is feeding her), but it’s happened several times. She’s also started doing some things like putting out her tongue, which Cathy thinks means “I’m hungry” and I think means “I’m thirsty”. Either way, it again seems to be a sign of communication.
She’s started offering food and her bottle to other people – well me at least since I’m her favorite 
She’s been doing it for a while, but seldom enough that I wasn’t sure it was real or not. She’s doing it much more often now. That’s a big milestone.
She sees the eye doctor next week. Her chalazion has been coming back lately and we’ve gone back to using the hot packs. Her eyes seem to be working in synch better, but we’re not always that good about the eye patching.
Cathy got Maria’s AFOs tweaked on again this week. Talking to the orthotist she realizes that we have apparently been doing a poor job of getting the AFOs on. It’s very important that Maria’s heel be fully down or we are just reinforcing the foot position we are trying to correct and it looks like we have often been putting them on wrong. The problem is there is no reliable way to tell. We’re going to be more diligent about it though.
Cathy is still trying to figure out the wheelchair thing with Maria. We have to have some kind of conveyance for her when she starts school this fall. She’s been talking to the insurance, the state agency, and the equipment provider and she’s very confused. It looks like we’d need to get a wheelchair and a specialized stroller. There are all kinds though and no showroom to look at them so it may be a matter of pick a brand at random and hope it’s the one we need. We’re going to talk to the PT and hope she can give us some more guidance.
We keep talking about the fact that Cathy is intelligent and educated and can’t figure this stuff out. There are a lot of people out there who are neither – what the heck do they do? It’s quite a mess sometimes.