Maisie update - 16 months

Maisie has done wonderfully with her physical therapy! We have been so pleased, as has her physical therapist. In 6 weeks Maisie went from a 9 month level gross motor skills to 14 month level gross motor skills, which means she has caught up to "normal." We will have two more follow-up visits from her PT, one at the end of August, one at the end of September. 

Through June and July, Maisie's PT came to our house once a week for a 45 minute session where she would play with Maisie and observe her, and then she would show me several things to do with Maisie daily to help her progress. I found it fascinating, and I learned so much! I am so glad Maisie qualified for this PT because it has obviously helped her and given her the extra boost she needed. She has just taken off! She literally mastered new skills every single week.  Twelve weeks ago Maisie sat up from a laying position for the first time, 10 weeks ago she pulled up to standing for the first time, and she only army crawled.  Now she crawls appropriately, scramble up the stairs like a champ, is cruising along furniture, walking with push-toys, and standing on her own. 

At her 15 month check-up, Maisie was up to the 10th percentile in height--a record for her!  Her weight was still 3rd %, and her head still 50th %.  I can't find my little slip with the info though, but I do remember she was about 17.5 lbs. 

Maisie's vocabulary has suddenly taken off. She is saying new words sometimes daily.  She's added a bunch of new words like blue, hat, light, cheese and Duke (which began with "k" and has since become "Gook".  I would guess she's saying about 30-40 words now, and she is already putting two words together at times.  Her favorite word is "dirty."  She says it CONSTANTLY.  "Duhty? Duhty?"  To her it means dirty and "no touch."  So she's always telling us "duhty" when she is touching something she's not supposed to touch, or saying "duhty?" when she wants to touch something she is unsure of or wants us to let her touch something she can't reach.  And then she just says "duhty" a lot for no reason that we can tell!

She is a BIG TIME Daddy's girl, my goodness!  She doesn't cry for Mommy, only Daddy.  About 3 o'clock in the afternoon every day, it begins, "Daddy?" "No, Maisie, Daddy's still at work."  "Daddy?" "Daddy's not here. He'll be home when we eat dinner."  "Daddy?" ...  and so on. When she went to her little class at church for the first time recently, she did great until the parents started picking the kids up.  Then she started to cry for...you guessed it--Daddy. This has been a blessing because Maisie has adapted to me caring for Duke very easily.  She's not been bothered by me holding Duke all the time and has transitioned really well.