Monday, March 30, 2009

Music

The past few weeks I've started to notice Payton enjoying music. She's always liked music - but now, she asks to listen to music and absolutely enjoys it. And-I'm loving it! At church yesterday they had a bluegrass band that played and sang songs. Payton clapped, smiled, and sang to her hearts content. She doesn't really sing on key yet, but she's getting there!

This weekend we went to Payton's cousin's birthday party. Faith turns six in a couple of days and it was a Hannah Montana party. They ofcourse had music playing and Payton got to dance, jump around, etc. She LOVED it. There was a girl there who was about to turn three and Payton really enjoyed playing with her. I've noticed that Payton seems to really get along with children who are around three years of age - seems to be around her developmental level I guess? It seems her delays are between 18 month to two years, so it was nice to see Payton playing with her.

It was a three hour trip to get to Faith's house - and Payton did fairly well with the drive. However, she is suprisingly still TERRIFIED of windshield wipers. I used to try and schedule our trips around rain. As a matter of fact, if rain was in the forecast, we'd pretty much cancel our trip. She had started to do better with the windshield wipers, but for some reason this little fear popped back up (ofcourse, it's been a while since we've had a good rain!). That poor little girl screamed and shook (and ofcourse that terrified Koen), but we were able to stop and buy some Rain-X and fix the problem....although everyone's nerves in the car gets jostled pretty quickly when you have someone that scared. When we pulled into the driveway when we got home Payton said "Thank you daddy for not using the windshield wipers. No more windshield wipers." This is a HUGE step up for her. In the past, we would've traveled the entire way with screaming, shaking, and crying because she would not be able to get over the anxiety of the windshield wipers possibly being used. This time, she could comprehend that we bought the Rain-X and daddy would not have to use the wipers at all. Although it seems like a small step, it was HUGE for us. I'm so thankful for every improvement we see in receptive hearing!

5 comments:

Julie said...

Wow it sounds like she had fun at the party. Noah really enjoys music. He loves to dance and we are going to a wedding in May and I can't wait. I am sure he will be the life of the party. Noah really didn't do well with loud noises when he was little, pots and pans banging, mixer, blender, coffee grinder etc. Then like overnight he outgrew most of it except for the fire siren. We live extremely close to a fire hall soooooo. Anyway lately I have noticed it getting worse again. Is this normal. I try not to feed into it to much because we are a large, loud family and there is just no way we will be noise free. I just try to reassure him. It is weird stuff now. Anything from the dryer buzzer to a low sounding beep the coffee maker makes. He gets real flushed and shakes and if I am nearby he wraps both arms around my neck. Here is a funny kind of and sorry to be so graphic. I passed loud gas the other day and he grabbed my neck for dear life. I had to chuckle. Anyway sorry to get so lengthy, I am just seeing more stuff lately that concerns me.

Tara said...

Julie,
I've noticed Payton's hearing getting more sensitive lately too. I thought we had outgrown a lot of it, but last night in the middle of the night she woke up terrified because she thought someone was using the breathing machine (nebulizer) and it was just a fan in my room. She screamed and shook a lot of the night. Things I never really thought about before I had Payton (the small things) sure can be debilitating.

Heather said...

OMG Julie.. you are too funny!

Tara... love the new pictures. They are adorable!

Unknown said...

Ava has been getting worst with some noises not sure why. I LOVE your kids, they are so cute, great pics thanks for posting :)

Nancy said...

We are still battling some anxiety with the car not starting each and every day. And sirens when I tuck him in at night.

In Erik's defense, though, I was terrified of gas station attendants and the American flag when I was small. I would apparently put a blanket over my head and scream at gas stations.

And I turned out okay. Uh...