State of Grace

I realized I haven't written about Grace for awhile. I think she is the reason most of you read my silly blog to begin with, so you deserve an update. :)

Best friends Grace & Jessie. 

Where do I begin? I guess we'll start at the top and work our way down.

Grace's new wheels. We ordered it in purple. 

• Grace's shunt has been working wonderfully since it was replaced earlier this year.
• Her vocabulary has exploded within the last few months thanks to the tips of our speech therapist.
• Her occupational therapist continues to work with Grace on using her left hand/arm consistently. She'll use her arm briefly, but it's something we'll have to work on for years.
• Grace is now able to get in and out of sitting by herself, climb over cushions, and take steps with assistance. She is a little pro with her gait trainer (a big walker) and I'm hoping she'll be standing on her own by this fall. 
• Today we ordered a "wheelchair" for Grace. It's basically a glorified stroller. She is getting almost too big to carry and has nearly outgrown the umbrella stroller. The main concern was if we decided to send her to the special needs preschool, they would want some way to transport her from room to room. It breaks my heart that we will have a wheelchair for Grace, but I just keep reminding myself that it's temporary. She is expected to walk. This is just some assistance in the meantime.
• Speaking of the special needs preschool, in a few months we will have a  meeting about her "aging" out of First Steps and what she will do then. It fills me with anxiety and is a good topic for a whole other blog post.

What you talking about, Mommy? 

Our biggest news has been with her vision. At the recommendation of a friend, I took Grace to the Low Vision Centers of Indiana. Dr. Windsor was so patient and helpful. Instead of being told that we "have to just wait until Grace can tell us what she can see", we were given so much more information on how to help her and what to expect. Grace has hemianopsia - which is very common in stroke victims. To get an idea of what Grace sees, place your hand over the left side of each eye. While she doesn't see just black, the brain blends in the space she can't see so it just looks very blurry, it does definitely limit her vision. It explains why she turns her head to the left to see (like in the picture above.) It helps open her line of vision. Try covering the left part of both eyes again. Now turn your head to the left. You can see a lot more! We go back in 6 months to see if she is ready for glasses.

I think that's about it! She's basically your typical two-year-old. She gets into anything she can, learning lots everyday and thinks the world revolves around her. And basically it does.