The Celebrity

Gracie-land has been a busy place. We've had so much fun with family members coming to visit and see the "celebrity" (& her brothers).  Incidentally, her brothers have taken her constant front-stage position very well and seem genuinely happy to let her be there, at least for awhile.  Her ears are doing fine and the cyst incision, which is about an inch long, is healing.  She had her first real bath in 10 days tonight so that was eventful!  She is saying various words off and on but it seems almost spontaneous and it's hard to get her to repeat them much. She has said pray, amen, ow, & I think I heard peek-boo.  They pop out & she almost doesn't seem to even know it sometimes. She has really taken to praying before meals and at various other times that are not quite typical prayer times.  We are doing a little potty training- trying to at least avoid some poopy diapers. The other day, I set her on the toilet and was all hopeful that she was concentrating on the "job" at hand, when I looked at her and she had her hands folded and eyes closed to "pray".  Last night her and Ben & Zach were playing some game- cops/robbers or whatever it was, and she came running out and fell on the floor as if wounded.  The boys love to imitate her grumpy faces and then watch her make them back in fun. 

She got pretty sick last week and had a fever for about three days.  It got up to 103 Thurs. which I did not like but apparently just a virus that has passed.  She is on an antibiotic again though, just in case her ears or incision were the cause of the fever & that may have helped her quickly get over whatever it was.

We found out that she will need to have two surgeries to close her palate.   Sounds like she will be in the hospital 2-3 days and then have soft arm restraints that keep her arms from folding all the way so she can't injure the stitches.  The stitches are disolvable & for about 2 wks she will eat very soft foods like yogurt etc. There will be other surgeries as she gets older but I don't completely understand all that yet.  Eventually, her gum will need bone added, which used to have to come from the hip but now there is another much less invasive option using bone protein.. or something like that!  We don't have the surgery scheduled but will likely be early to late November.  In the meantime, we revert between laughing like crazy & being in awe at how doggone cute she is, and wondering how something so cute can have such a mischievous streak.  The other day, Josh told her no as she went for the computer and she walked over across from us, stared ahead with a deadpan expression and then fell to her knees- (reminded us of the body language of a desperate person lost in the desert when the last plane ever flies over and doesn't see the poor soul...).  Anyway, bout time for bed. She still wakes a few times most nights but seems overall less restless than she was when her ears were infected.



Me -n- Grampa Merritt.  I was sick this night but still put up a good show.Grampa coined our new phrase "wave away", which is what I do when I want one of my many servants to go away or leave my royal presence.

 


Gramma Merritt & I looking at my  "Jesus Loves Me" book I sing with (from our friends the Cimbaliks). I'm wearing the sweater Gramma brought that was made by Jean Brown, a very good friend of our family in Alaska.



I guess big Snickers isn't too bad after all.

These were my "entertainers" Aunt Lisa & Uncle Kerry. They brought the bros & I some really fun stuff.  They also taught me that it's nice to have someone sit with me when I eat so now about every time I eat, I point to the chair next to me but nobody seems anxious to sit with me at every meal...

Goodbye all too soon

Three's a crowd but four is fabulous (& all so cute, even if  I am biased)!