Yellowstone in June: The Family

In June we went to Yellowstone.  My dad, Shin and Heather were all originally supposed to come with us, and we booked a two room hotel (camping with a five month old was not my idea of fun).  Unfortunately, circumstances had it that none of them were able to make it, so J's brother, Cory, came with us instead.


We had lots of fun--spotted a couple bears, got snowed on, went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center, saw lots of Bison, and enjoyed the beauty of Yellowstone.

I have separated the trip into different parts: The Family, where I include pictures of us, The Animals, and The Scenery.

When we arrived in Yellowstone, we found a picnic area to eat lunch, and right off the road was a bison grazing, so we took the opportunity to get some pictures.  It's definitely not the closest bison we saw (right alongside our car on the road), but it was fun to get a picture with the bison hanging out in the background.

 A group shot of all of us

 

Zuri loved looking at all the signs.  When we went again in August, she remembered some of the pictures and was eager to tell Emily about them.  Her favorite were the paint pots because of the "blup-blup" sounds they make.  She loved the geysers when they got high, but she didn't love the sulfur smell.   

 We were able to get some really cute pictures of Zuri.  She was pretty funny throughout the trip.  Sometimes she would want her picture taken and then other times she wouldn't want anything to do with the camera.  Whenever we pulled the stroller out instead of the snugli, she would want to ride in the stroller instead of walk, so it became a big struggle to get her to stop whining about suddenly tired legs.

When we didn't have the stroller, Zuri would run up and down the trails, having a grand old time.  Go figure.

 She was very excited about the chipmunk.  When we returned in August, she remembered the exact spot the chipmunk had been and was disappointed that she couldn't find him again.

 

 When she didn't whine about wanting to ride the stroller, she wanted to help push River, and she was always trying to get smiles out of her sister.  It was really fun to watch.  She even got to the point where she would get mad when I would try to help her push the stroller.  It reminded me of our shopping trips.

 River did about as well as you would would expect a five-month old to do--especially a five-month old who doesn't like the car.  There was lots of crying and fussing mixed in with extreme cuteness, and all too brief periods of sleep.  On the plus side, she was so worn out from the day, that she slept pretty well at night--only waking up once or twice.

Zuri had a harder time at night.  The first night we put her on the queen-sized Murphy bed in the living room.  We left the light on over the stove for a night light, but we forgot to turn off the ice-maker in the freezer, so when the ice cubes dropped, she got really scared.  Luckily, we had a king-sized bed, so there was more than enough room for her to snuggle in with us.  We didn't even attempt to have her sleep in the living room the next night.

Zuri's favorite part of the trip was when she and I went swimming the first night.  J and Cory crashed so I took the girls to the pool.  River had her first experience in a swimming pool.  She seemed to like it.

 

 On some of the longer hikes, Zuri would skip ahead with Cory.  She loved some of the open trails, and that is where she seemed to have the most fun.  Especially when there were mud puddles to jump over. 

 At Norris Basin it was still pretty nice out when we arrived, but as we hiked around the trail toward Steamboat Geyser, the clouds thickened up quickly.  It started to rain, and then snow.  We didn't have our umbrellas with us at that time, and we didn't want the girls to get too cold or wet, so J bundled both of them together in the small umbrella stroller and ran from Steamboat Geyser back to the car.  Cory and I took our time getting back, taking pictures in the snow.  Luckily, the storm was brief, and the snow didn't stick. 

On our way out of Yellowstone, we stopped by Lewis falls, where there was still quite a bit of snow still on the ground.  Zuri had more fun playing in the snow than seeing the waterfall.  

Fun-Sized

 When Zuri was younger, we went through the gamut of tests with her.  It got to the point where we would take her into the doctor's office and she would stick out her arm because she knew what was coming.  Everything came back normal.  Normal, normal, normal.  The doctor said that she is a "perfectly healthy two year old in a nine month old body."  Well, why is she so small then?  There was one oddity: her growth hormone levels were low.  Not alarmingly low, but low nonetheless.  There was talk of steroid shots for increasing her growth.  I didn't feel comfortable going that route at that time, but she is now six years old and the size of a four year old.  It doesn't feel like she is catching up at all.  If we were to do the growth hormone treatments, we need to do them before she is eight, so we called up the doctors and got the round of tests going again.

After speaking with Zuri and me for a few minutes to get reacquainted, the doctor turned to me and said, "she is smart.  Really smart.  Is her IQ 140?"  She said it in such a way that it wasn't really a question.  Never having had Zuri's IQ tested, I didn't quite know how to answer her.  I have always known Zuri is smart (even as a baby she would problem solve to get what she wanted).

We then talked about the results of the latest round of tests.  We went over the tests taken when she was younger and when we got to the FISH test (genetic test), the doctor asked what they had been looking for.  I told her about the worry of Williams Syndrome and a few of the other syndromes.  She was really surprised at the mention of Williams Syndrome because it effects the mental as well as the physical.  I told her about how we participated in early intervention because of her eating and how they tried to pin an autistic diagnosis on Zuri partly because of delayed speech.  The doctor said that when she saw Zuri four years ago, she could tell that she wasn't autistic then, and she definitely isn't now.

As we went over the current labs, she showed me the results and compared them to the previous ones done.  Thyroid, liver, protein, iron, etc all normal.  No gluten or lactose problems.  Her energy is good (anyone who has spent five minutes with Zuri knows that she rarely stops).  Her last major sickness was an ear infection almost a year ago, so her immune system is functioning properly.  No leukemia or autoimmune disease.  Nutrition levels--good; she is "nutritionally sufficient."  They were good before and they are good now.  Growth hormone levels....within the normal range.  Really?  Wow--awesome!  So....what does that mean because she is still so small? 

 The doctor said that Zuri is "fun-sized."  Right now she is a "six-year old equivalent of being a 4'11" adult."  Fun-sized.  She noted that I treat Zuri like a six-year old, but I need to make sure others treat her like a six-year old as well.  Most adults will, simply because Zuri speaks like she is older.  However, I have observed other kids picking her up and treating her as if she is younger, although the older she gets, the less she tolerates it.  Kids just adore Zuri.  She has a ton of friends.  Whenever we go anywhere with kids who know her, all I hear is "Zuri!  Zuri's here!"  It warms my heart.

The doctor must have seen the disappointment in my face when she said that Zuri is the six-year old equivalent to a 4'11" adult (I'm not expecting her to be tall, but I was hoping she would at least hit five feet), because she said not to worry, that Zuri will grow later.  The doctor said that her body is compensating, and that her growth hormone levels have doubled in the the last four years.  She said that she expects Zuri will be taller than 4'11".

In regards to her eating, we talked about the difficulties we still have in getting her to eat.  The doctor said that even though she is thin, she is not too thin, and because her nutrition and energy are good, that we shouldn't push her too hard with food.  Don't make food the enemy, is what she was saying.

Assessment: FINE - She will grow - later

I have to admit, I started crying at that point.  All the anxiety and fear that something wasn't right, or that I was doing something wrong just melted away.  Well meaning, but misguided people who jokingly (and not so jokingly) "suggested" that we get a feeding tube for Zuri had planted seeds of doubt that I couldn't shake, especially on days when Zuri would eat less.  To have the doctor tell me to just continue what we have been doing, that Zuri is just fine, was a release.

Not too long ago, when I was talking about my worry for Zuri, my sister asked me a question that stuck with me, "when are you just going to accept that Zuri is small?"

I think I can now, besides, she's not small, she's fun-sized.  ;-)

7 Months

 Has it really been seven months already?  It does seem like the time is just flying by.  Her little personality is starting to emerge.  She loves to be around people--being held, especially.  She is very vocal and will let you know her mind.  She is also already a mover--she is all over the place.  She will mostly roll to where she wants to go, but she has also started army crawling, and is on the verge of crawling.  She will get up on her hands and feet and rock back and forth.  At that point she usually gets frustrated and cries because she hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate her limbs to propel her forward, but she is close, so very close.

 She is also teething.  Oh, the joy.  She has two teeth which have emerged on bottom, and one starting to poke through on top.  Her schedule has completely changed, and the last several nights she has woken up around three or four in the morning and has not gone back to sleep for a few hours.  She has been a fussy girl.  It makes me miss the three AM wake-up to eat, and then right back to sleep. 

 She is also a pro at sitting, and sitting herself up.  She is at the point where she seems to say, "I have sitting down, let's work on standing!"  She will lock her knees into a standing position when I try to have her sit and play.  She loves her exersaucer and will bounce up and down when in it.  I even caught her pulling herself up on a stool earlier, but I was too slow on the camera to capture it before she toppled over. 

I wanted to show her pulling herself up, but she decided to stick her leg out, but you can see how close she is to crawling--she gets herself up!

 

A good view of her two bottom teeth.  She is such a cutie!