2 year wellness check

Ainsley had her two year wellness check last Friday.  I was happy to find out that we didn't have to get any shots this time!  Ainsley was really good in the waiting room, and I should have known it was just the calm before the storm.  The nurse called us back to the room, and immediately had me take Ainsley's clothes off of her.  That's when the breakdown began.  Ainsley doesn't like taking off her clothes, except for a bath, and even then it can be a fight.  She was very upset because we took her boots off of her.  She screamed while the nurse took her temperature, measured her, and continued screaming the entire time while we were in the hallway getting her weight and blood pressure.  I know she's not the only kid that screams at the doctor, but it drove me crazy! 

She weighs 31 pounds and is 35 1/2 inches tall.  She's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight, and the doctor asked if people mistake her for being older, because she's actually the size of a normal 3 year old.  The good thing is her weight is proportionate to  her height (according to the doctor) so at least she's not too chunky!

I had to fill out a questionnaire that asked about different skills and things Ainsley was currently doing.  They then took my answers and scored them somehow to determine how well Ainsley was doing compared to other kids her age in various tasks.  According to their results, she's doing great with her gross motor skills, but is in the "gray" area in fine motor and speech.

One of the questions in the fine motor skills section was if she can put beads on a string.  Really?!  Who gives a 2 year old beads to see if they can bead them onto a string?  No, I'm sorry, but Ainsley can't put beads on a string.  Another one of the questions was if she can use a spoon and fork.  The fork she's pretty good at, but she still turns a spoon upside down before getting it to her mouth.  I've tried showing her numerous times not to turn the spoon, but she hasn't picked up on it yet.

Speech was the other issue they were worried about.  They said she should be saying at least 50 words clearly and putting two words together.  Words like "bye-bye or no-no" don't count as two words together.  They want her saying "I want" or something similar, where each word means something different.  The doctor then recommended having Ainsley evaluated further to see if she qualified to see a speech pathologist.  Of course, I told her to go ahead and schedule a consultation appointment and we would go from there. 

I came home and told Joel about it, and after discussing it a little more, we decided that Ainsley does say quite a bit more than we give her credit for.  And, of course, last weekend she started saying more words and stringing two words together.  Her favorite phrase right now is to get in a place where she can't get herself out of and yell "I stuck!"  Here's a video of her saying she's stuck.  Of course, when I ask her what she is (thinking she'll say stuck), she points to herself and says "girl" in the video. 

They called on Monday to schedule a consultation appointment, and I went ahead and told them not to worry about it.  After going through all of it last year with Ainsley, taking her to physical therapy, her not qualifying for the state's program, etc. we've changed our minds on these type of consultations.  Ainsley will talk when she's ready. 

Joel and I had just talked about something similar the week before and we both said that with baby #2, we weren't going to worry so much about developmental milestones as we did with Ainsley.  Every child is different, and will do things on their own time.  I think we've realized that we need to be a little more laid back and let our children do things on their own time instead of trying to get them to do things before they're ready.  If Ainsley's speech doesn't improve over the next few months, I may get back in touch with the doctor, but for now we're going to see what she can do on her own.  It's so hard to know if you're doing the right thing.  They say that right around two years old is when the brain is rapidly processing new information, and it would be a good time to get started with a speech pathologist, but is it really worth all the trouble?  We don't think it is at this point.

Everything else looked great at the appointment and we don't have to go back for another year.  It would be very nice not to see the doctor again for another year, but I'm sure Ainsley will get sick sometime over the course of the year.

Last weekend, we took Ainsley to Mom's for the night while we met friends at the Elks for a Valentine's dinner/dance.  I was exhausted from little to no sleep the few days before, so I asked Mom if she'd just keep Ainsley all night and Joel and I would go to Dad's for the night, where I planned to sleep in.  They had Rowdy that weekend also, so I knew Ainsley would have a great time playing with him.  Of course, Mom didn't care, and I was ecstatic knowing I'd be able to sleep in the next morning!  Mom accused me of having other reasons for wanting her to stay the night, though.  Ainsley's fingernails needed trimmed and her toenails needed a new polish change.  She was right, they did, but I hadn't had time to do it that week.  Thankfully, Grandma Shelly never lets Ainsley's fingernails or toenails look bad.  Ainsley came home with trimmed fingernails and pretty red toenails!!!!  And, I was able to sleep in the next morning...until almost 10!

We went to the Elks for the night, where they had a comedian and band.  The comedian was terrible, but the band was really good.  They played a little bit of everything, including Lady Gaga, which made me happy!  Joel and I even stayed out until a little after 11 that night.  I thought for sure we'd be back at Dad's and in bed by then.  It was good to get out of the house and enjoy a night with friends.

Girls enjoying the night!

Two of our favorite people

Last Saturday was Hannah's first birthday party, so we ran over to Mom's to get Ainsley before heading to the party.  I think Rowdy had kept Ainsley awake and playing all morning and she hadn't taken a nap yet.  She fell asleep on the way, and surprised both of us when she didn't wake up when we got there and got her out of the car.  Joel carried her in and sat down in a recliner, where she stayed asleep the entire party!  She was so out of it; I even heard her snoring a few times while Hannah opened her presents.

This is how she was throughout the entire party...didn't wake up until we walked out the door!

Hannah didn't really care about opening her presents.  Instead, she wanted to color like Grandma Teal, who was writing down the gifts.  She did love her cake and cookies after the gifts were opened.

After Ainsley's appointment on Friday, I was in my office working while she was playing with her blocks on the floor.  I told her I was going to run to the bathroom and she could stay in my office and play with the blocks.  She didn't like that idea, and followed me into the bathroom, where she proceeded to act like she wanted to sit on the toilet and go to the bathroom.  I finished, flushed the toilet, and asked her if she needed to go potty.  She responded with "yeah", so I thought there's no better time than now.  She was trying to pull her pants down at this point, so I took her pants and diaper off of her, lifted up her shirt a little and picked her up to put her on the toilet.  Of course, neither one of us is exactly graceful, and while I was putting her down on the toilet, she straightened out her legs, and her foot went right into the toilet bowl and into the (clean) water.  Oops!!!  Not exactly a great start to our first potty training experience!  Ainsley didn't seem to mind too much, and I was able to pull her foot out and sit her down on the toilet seat the second time.  She sat there (while I held onto her) and just stared at me.  Of course, she didn't go to the bathroom, and only wanted to sit on the toilet for ten seconds or so and she was done.  At least she's taking an interest in it, though.  Since then, I've put her on the toilet three or four other times when she's asked, and it's been the same outcome.  She sits for a few seconds and then she's ready to get down. 

One of my goals for tomorrow is to get her potty chair out and into the bathroom, so she doesn't have to sit on the big toilet.  I don't think I'm going to stress potty training too much right now.  I'm afraid she'll revert when baby #2 gets here.  I'll let her try to go if she asks, but I think we're going to wait until after the baby gets here to start full time. 

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Ainsley hasn't liked brushing her teeth for a few months now.  I don't really know when it all changed, because she used to love brushing her teeth.  I've had to hold her down with one arm while trying my best to brush her teeth with the other hand while Ainsley fights me.  I asked her last weekend if she wanted to brush her teeth and I sat her on the bathroom counter.  To my surprise, she let me brush her teeth without a fight!  The next night I took it one step farther and let her stand on her step stool while she "brushed" her teeth.  She really just likes to put her toothbrush under the water and suck the water from it, and repeat about fifty more times. 

She's now obsessed with brushing her teeth and thinks she needs to do it ten times a day.  Every time she walks by the bathroom, she has to walk in and get her toothbrush out of the drawer and stand in there and whine.  She thinks we're going to go in and turn the water on for her, which doesn't happen!  The other night, about 1 in the morning, Ainsley woke up and started whining (like she does every night), so Joel went in and brought her in bed with us.  He laid her down on the bed and then went in to go to the bathroom.  Ainsley immediately crawled out of our bed and ran into the bathroom.  While Joel was going to the bathroom, she got up on her step stool, got her toothbrush and toothpaste out and thought she needed to brush her teeth.  AT ONE IN THE MORNING!  She thought it was the end of the world when Joel informed her she wasn't brushing her teeth at one in the morning.  She has it so rough!

Ainsley's still a little dare devil and likes to see just how much she can get away with.

I caught her in the rocking chair one day last week watching Mickey.

Stickers are still a huge hit with her, although, one night last week while Joel was suppose to be watching her, she somehow put stickers all over one of her toys.  We now have to watch her closely with the stickers.  And, she doesn't like it when you tell her she can only put stickers on a piece of paper!

I caught her with her finger up her nose the other day while bouncing on her horse while wearing her new hat.  She's one classy little girl!

Grandma Shelly got her cleaning rags and a mop for her birthday, and she likes all of it.  If only, she could really help me clean....She does like to "clean" the windows, but I end up getting more fingerprints on them than were there originally when she cleans them.  And, that's why I never clean my windows.  There is no point!

Cleaning the windows, or putting more fingerprints on them???

Ainsley doesn't like for me to even act like I'm going to put her hair in a ponytail.  She hasn't let me do anything, other than put a bow in her hair to pull her bangs out of her eyes, for quite some time now.  I decided yesterday morning that I was going to try to put her hair in pig tails, which wasn't a very good experience.  She fought me, we both screamed and yelled, and I ended up with one ponytail instead of the two I had originally planned on.  I think it probably did pull on her hair a little, and she's not used to it, so it probably hurt a little.  She didn't like it when I took it out last night either.  It was very nice not having to put her bow back in fifty times yesterday.  Putting her hair in a ponytail kept the hair out of her eyes all day.  I may try to do it again one day this week, but I need a few days off after the fight we had getting it in yesterday!

Here's a few videos from the last week.  You can see Ainsley eating a cookie here.  She also says "cookie" in it.  And, here's a video of Ainsley singing.  She usually "sings" more, but she was busy drinking the day I took the video.  I'm still trying to get a better video of her singing, because she really gets into it sometimes!