Summer days

Well today is the 28th of July, so we have been a family of 5 for 4 weeks now..wow, hard to believe! It's been great to start getting into a rythmn here at home, and start to see family and friends a bit more. Kelly is really getting comfortable now and we see more and more of her personality. She is even showing signs of being a normal 2 yr. old with the hints of temper and some of that wonderful whining that happens at this age. Actually it IS nice to see those things! She is getting frustrated with not being able to communicate, and we are thankful that she is learning some Sign Language to help. To date she is using 11 signs with meaning and intent, and starting to "get" a few more. Just yesterday Ron and I watched her while she was playing, stop and practice making her hand do the "down" sign, a tough one to make small fingers do. It was really cute and really encouraging to see her figure it out and try to do it on her own. She is so proud and pleased when she can tell us what she wants.
We have several Dr. appt.s set up and will be starting the whole surgery process soon. She goes for a hearing test next week and while I think there might be some hearing issue, I'm not worried that it is bad. She LOVES music on the radio and "dances" to it in stores, so I know she hears some sound. We will also see the ENT the week after that, and so on and so on.
We are hitting the beach, pool and park whenever possible, and enjoying the relaxed schedule very much. The "big" girls are gone now in the morning, and Kelly hates to see them leave, and is very cranky when Daddy leaves too....Mom is not nearly as much fun as the girls and Dad are! She is starting to enjoy books a little now (hadn't any idea what a board book was when we got her) and actually watched a few minutes of T.V. this morning with me. She prefers to move around and play and is pretending a lot too. I watched her "make" food and wanted me to join in the meal with her. She has alway pretended to eat and feed you, but I hadn't seen her prepare the meal yet...too funny. She was also putting the dogs to bed, blankets and all...sweet, long suffering dogs...they adore Kelly and put up with her sitting on them, pulling on them and crawling on them. Good dogs!!!
It's a bit crazy, being my age and re-visiting the toddler stuff. Especially when you shift from making a bottle, changing a diaper and then helping with a college application or handing out money for them to have lunch and a movie....my brain sometimes has to take a minute to shift, but it manages.....weird, but wonderful!!!!!