CALEB

Caleb still LOVES animals
When he's thristy he will do whatever it takes to get a drink from the fountain!

I had sooo much fun hanging out with just Caleb this week! While Micaiah was napping we took every opportunity to do something fun. We tried to find things that were a little harder to do when both of the boys are home. Although Caleb and I bonded for two years without interuption, I wish I had more one on one time with him these days. This week was really good for us! Since he goes to school I always get that time with Elijah when Micaiah is napping, and of course, Micaiah being the youngest, also gets her one on one time.

Caleb is such a bright and curious litte boy. He loves to cook. We made most of the meals together this week. He loves making breakfast, lunch, dinner, and of course dessert. We made two batches of cookies, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end. Caleb is soooo generous, we handed out cookies to our friends and he gets so excited about it.

Caleb loves school. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Rider and can't wait to get there each day. He comes home and tells us all about the exciting events of the day. We love when it is warm enough (above 40 degrees, that's my limit) and get the opportunity to walk to school.

Arts and crafts is one of Caleb's favorite things to do. He has choosen to hand make each Valentine this year. We have started already because I know he will a very long list of recipients other than his entire class!

We started using a calendar to teach Caleb about time while waiting for Micaiah and especially during our pick up trip. He knew when Grandma Tina was coming, when we were leaving, and when Micaiah would be home. He always knows who's birthday is next. I found a calendar for him in the $1 bin and he loves it! He has colored school days blue, his favorite color, Home Depot project days, orange, and has made a cross on every Sunday. We often add our upcoming events to his calendar too.

Caleb has picked up more spanish since Micaiah has come home and is great at using it! He loves Diego, CARS, TOY STORY characters, and Veggie Tales, especially Larry Boy. He continues to enjoy music, especially drums and guitar. He loves to play games and read.

We are prayerfully considering whether we will send Caleb to Kindergarten next year. He turns 5 in July and would be one of the youngest in his class. Academically, we feel he is ready. We are just unsure if it is the best fit for him? We are leaning towards sending him but still unsure.

Caleb has tons of energy. Peter's mom always described him as having lots of energy as a kid. Everyone always assumed he was a difficult child. Rita says he was a very good kid. Caleb seems to be the same way, an excellent kid with tons of energy. For Christmas he got two great energy burning games! HULLABALOO and Veggie Tales, DANCE DANCE DANCE. The VEggie Tales game is a home version of DDR, the arcade game of dancing by stepping on the arrows on a floor mat as they come up on the screen. It is connected to our computer, he loves it and is very good at it!

MICAIAH

Well, those of you have not seen Micaiah will be shocked to read this:

Micaiah says
-"pa" this is pacha in Spanish, translates bottle, although we have transitioned to sippy, she still calls it "pa"
-"woof woof" this was her official first phrase, she mimicked Bailey after just a week or two here
-"da da" since daddy's birthday, Oct 6
-"uh-oh" she even uses this to tell me she wants something she has dropped
-"ma ma" since early Dec.
-"da" up, of course, it took awhile to figure this one out
-"ooooo" open, she love to open and shut EVERYTHING

-"yi ya" Micaiah
-"ya ya" Caleb or Elijah
-and the newest "RORA" DORA. She has become obsessed with Dora. She got a life size stuffed Dora for Christmas from her surrogate auntie Amy Rudge. This Dora is about an inch taller than our little muchkin. We went to the book store and amongst all the books she found a Dora book, brought it to me and said "RORA". So of course, we had to go to the library and get 13 Dora books for her to read.

Yesterday she was in the living room by herself and she said, "Ma ma" (pause) "da" translated this means "Mommy I want to get up on the couch and read all these Dora books" After I put her up on the couch, she preceded to read through all 13 Dora books! happy as a clam to be sitting and reading, she loves books!

Micaiah started walking during the 2 1/2 weeks my sister was here. She is playing so independently, sleeping very well at night, taking 2 short naps each day, and she does lots and lots of screaming in an attempt to communicate (and sometimes to through a tantrum). We are doing our best to replace those screams with words and signs.

she knows the signs for: more, please, eat, and all done!

She is growing leaps and bounds, smiles all the time, laughs back at you when you laugh, and is such a girl! She likes to carry around her Dora bag and backpack, brush her hair, wear her coat in the middle of the day, and she loves to have her socks and shoes on. She has been feeding her babies bottles since she came home and loves to brush her My Little Pony's mane and tail. She attends an early intervention class once a week for 2 1/2 hours. She loves it and we are gaining lots of insight on helping her continue to develop. We see a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist every time we are there. It is so nice to have her constantly being asessed and for myself to continue to gain information on how to help her get up to speed with the development of a 16 month old! She is feeding herself with a spoon and I wouldn't be surprised if she began the dressing and undressing process soon! As I said, she is such a girl! Way different from the two boys I am used to.

more adventures

Peter came home from a weekend of skiing with his students and was off to see his dad the next morning. We figured it was best that we all did not go, it would just be too much for Peter's dad for us to all be in the house. So, we thought it best for Peter to take Elijah. They had wonderfully bonding time together, hopefully I can get him to blog about it later.

Caleb, Micaiah, and I held the fort down. We started our Valentine's, made cookies, played our new Christmas games and some old ones, read more of Charlotte's web, and really enjoyed our time together. Caleb even took us on a date! We went out for dinner and then to browse the bookstore and play trains. A wonderful date, I thought.

Caleb and I have started to read Charlotte's web, Elijah listens most days too. When we are done with the book we are planning to see it in the theater. Our next book will be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! If anyone knows of other book/movie combos, we are looking for lots of ideas, we are hoping to continue reading the books and then seeing the movies. All of us are really enjoying it!

Last night, after 4 days in IL, daddy and Elijah came home!!!! yeah! Daddy has only been home 5 days in the last month! It is good to have him home!

Art continues to spend his days resting. At this point he is bedridden. We covet your prayers for Art and Rita.

okay this is it for pictures tonight!

After Caleb's performance in his Christmas musical we took him out to Bob Evans! His new favorite restaurant. They serve smiley face pancakes!
Amy did lots of lovin' on my kiddos!

are you sick of pictures yet?

rosetta sent us a tea cozy. Rosetta is my sister's wonderful mother-in-law, who lives in Australia. where they use tea cozies to keep the tea kettle warm. Tanner wanted to model it!
Our only snowfall so far this year, maybe more on Monday.
Amy, Caleb, and Elijah having way too much fun!
Then after styling my boys hair, she got the make up out! Just kidding, it is tub crayons. It took a few days for it to wear off Caleb's face, after we scrubbed like crazy!
Fun after the tub!

fun!

Daddy's little girl, in one of her cute hand me down outfits for Christmas!
A proud walker! She officially mastered walking during the two weeks my sister stayed with us! She started out scooting, crawling, and walking a very little bit and by the end she was my walking girl!
Daddy was in charge of making lunch! Cheddar cheese face, turkey hair, bagel eyes, the boy's favorite, salami mouth and nose!

more fun at over Christmas

my sister is an amazing cook, tonight she taught me how to make falafel and homemade Margaritas, with fresh squeezed juice. Once we had the table set we realized we had put everything on the kids table, as we were used to setting up for the kids. We laughed and moved to the grown up table. The kids were already in bed!
We took the wagon to deliever of Christmas presents to the neighbors.

Every time Amy took a picture, Micaiah wanted to see it and she always turned her head sideways to look at it!

She loves pictures!

more pics from Christmas

We celebrated St. Nick this year! Amy's friend Cecily and her daughter Tanner were with us! The kids all opened stockings together.
Amy and the kids and I went to see a live nativity (or at least live animals) and then played at the park. The weather was beautiful.
Movie night at our house. We popped popcorn, sat on a blanket and watched the Polar Express. One of our Christmas traditions.
Amy and I took the kids to the Festival of Lights, the zoo is all lit up, there are trains set up, and we even saw Santa's reindeer.
For gifts this year we passed out popcorn boxes for our neighborhood friends, Caleb and Elijah wrote the kids names on the boxes and we put popcorn and chocolate covered pretzals inside. The kids had a blast making them and giving them out! and eating them!

update on the family

wow! it has been a long time! my friend shelley keeps up with her blog and she has five kids, under five! not sure what my deal is?

the latest.

we left for IL on the 20th of December to be with Peter's dad as he asked us to come. We enjoyed being at his side to hold his hand and love on him. He had a very difficult day on the 23rd and we decided to split for Christmas.

Peter stayed in IL to be with his family and I took the kiddos to be in WI with my family. It was a difficult thing to do, but God blessed us in our time apart. Peter had an entire week to serve his dad and mom. He loved every moment of it! He spent lots of time at his daddy's side, reading to him, holding his hand, watching sports together, and just loving every moment of it. He had the opportunity to give his mom, brother and sister a much needed break as well. He even got a few opportunities to watch his niece and nephews. He had a great week, but missed us lots.

Christmas eve, Peter and I and the kids attended church together and then I headed for WI, hoping to make it in time for the Christmas Eve service with my step-mom, sister, and brother-in-law. We made it. The service was at the church where my dad's funeral was. This was very difficult at first, but I was so grateful to be there and so thankful to be with my family. Christmas day we had Christmas three times! the kids loved it! We ended the day at my aunt's home for a family Christmas with my dad's family. This was the only time we have seen snow this year (other than a brief falling in Cincinnati). Caleb was exstatic. We didn't bring our snow stuff to my aunt's so Auntie Amy and my aunt Sandy started the hunt for winter gear for Caleb. In their search they found a Packers hat to keep Caleb's head warm. He refused to wear it! Daddy was proud when he heard that story.

Blessings
After we opened gifts Christmas morning my step mom gave us a gift, something that was my dad's she wanted each of us to have. I got my great grandpa Arbruster's rosary, he had given it to my dad, Peter got a fun Mickey tie I had given my dad as a child, Caleb and Elijah got compasses my dad used when he was hunting and Micaiah got a Santa Claus mug my grandmother had given each of her children, her mother had done the same.

My aunt Renee found a beautiful way to honor my dad this Christmas. She gave all her siblings and parents a Christmas ornament with a beautiful poem on it and my father's name on the back. She also gave one to my sister and I, our's had DAD written on the back.

It was difficult not have my dad around but we enjoyed celebrating his life. One day in WI we spent the entire day doing "dad" stuff. Unintentionally, it just happened. We went to the barn where my dad raised bunnies. Caleb fed the bunnies while the rest of us cried. Then we visited with the wonderful family who my dad became very close with while using their barn to house his bunnies. It was a wonderful morning. Then off the the restaurant. This was my dad's second home. He went there almost every day, for coffee, a meal, but mostly to hang out with the crowd and smoke a cigarette. We showed off his newest grandbaby (no one is WI had met Micaiah except Gramma Tina) and had a meal together. Later that evening we ended up at a Supper Club, to celebrate my step-brother's wedding. It was one of my dad's favorite places to go, we enjoyed a great meal and then played the juke box and danced until...

my cousin called to say the boys were both throwing up. You got it. Caleb and Elijah had the stomach flu, Micaiah woke up with it the next morning. YUCK!!!! Caleb was done by morning. Elijah had it for 5 days, and Micaiah for 7 days! YUCK!! glad that's over. 8 days of sick kids, including New Year's Eve, oh well! My sister took Caleb to the store to buy party hats and noisemakers and we made the best of it!

On the first we headed back to IL and spent the week with Peter's family, Art had his bad days and his really bad days. On Saturday it was time to head back home. We said our good byes to Art. That took a couple hours, I think?

Home again, it has taken us all quite a few days to adjust to being home again. Especially Micaiah, Elijah, and mommy! But we are glad to be home, wishing we were in IL still.

Peter is now off to Colorado snowboarding with the youth group. He left this morning and Caleb had a fever this afternoon! I sure hope this isn't a repeat! I don't know if I could do 3 sicks kids alone! I don't know how single parents, including my mom, ever did it!

So, Art is still having bad days and really bad days. We are just playing the waiting game. He says he is ready to go to heaven. I am really really excited for him! I imagine that sounds a bit strange, but I see where he is now, and I know where he is going. I feel very sad to loose him, but I told him to give my dad a hug and a kiss from me and I know they will enjoy a few rounds of golf (if you can play golf in heaven?) Heaven is better than anything we can ever imagine. I am even more in awe of God when I realize that Art will have a new body, he will be healed and he will be whole. That alone is just soooo amazing.

the best Christmas present ever...

...and the reason I have not blogged in so long! (my newest excuse) My sister is here from Australia! As you can see it has been sooooo much fun!

It has been between 50-70 degrees most of the time Amy has been here! We enjoyed lots of time outside!

Micaiah flew down the slide and into Auntie Amy's arms!
Amy has studied photography and got some great shots of us! I will try to blog more, the great pictures were taken by her!

enjoying the holidays!

Tonight we went down to the Madeira Festival. We had hot chocolate and cider, decorated Christmas cards, listened to the Christmas music, sat on Santa's lap, went on a horse and carriage ride, ate pizza, listened to the children's choir sing Christmas carols and watch the lighting of the Christmas tree downtown Madeira!

Elijah, Daddy, Caleb, Micaiah, Mommy, AmyMicaiah wasn't so fond of Santa, even when I sat with her
Elijah looks so fascinated, it looks like a Hallmark snapshot

Elijah and Daddy on the horse and carriage rideMicaiah and Mommy on the horse and carriage ride

Caleb and Santa

We told Caleb to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, he went on and on and on and on...Thomas's troublesome trucks, James, the CARS from the CARS movie,...

we said, okay Caleb, I think that is enough!

Rudolph!

Isn't he creative!

still enjoying the 70 degree weather!

this is what Micaiah does if you put the camera in front of her, I didn't even say anything

cute kids

aren't they adorable? Elijah and Micaiah are in the stoller going to pick up Caleb from school. It has been 70 degrees here all week so we have been taking advantage of it! today is the last day!We found Caleb and decided to bring him home with us! Look, they are all holding hands!

Yes, I asked them to :o)

i'm back...believe it or not

referring to Gramma's comment: (I'm faster than you Gramma Tina, but I got to get a better picture of the tree, it didn't turn out)

so maybe this is the better time of day to blog these days!

last night we decorated our Christmas tree. the kids were so excited. we made hot chocolate, put on Christmas music and started tearing through the ornament boxes. Peter finished the lights and Elijah got to turn them on this year. Papa made us a really cool box wrapped like a Christmas present to put under our tree, it has a light switch on it and when you flip the switch the tree lights go on! Elijah thought it was soooo neat! Caleb remember a lot from last year, (where we put the advent calendar, where certain Christmas ornaments came from, our pickle tradition).

We have a tradition we began our first year of marriage. Someone gave us a pickle ornament for our wedding. Traditions says you hide the pickle and whoever finds it first gets a special present on Christmas morning. Well, we have always done things a little different. Whoever unwraps the pickle hides it. When the other person finds it, they don't say anything but instead find a new spot to hide it. On Christmas morning whoever hid the pickle the "best" wins rights to winning the pickle tradition. Last year Caleb joined in our fun. This year he unwrapped the pickle. He was so excited to find it and announced that he would be going to hide it. This morning I found it and started singing, I found the pickle, I found the pickle. Caleb has convinced Elijah to help hunt for the pickle. Caleb is off to school now, he hasn't found it yet!

After hot chocolate, ornaments, and Christmas music we were ready to set up our Nativity. An even more special event this year because my dad gave us our nativity set for Christmas quite a few years ago. Peter read the Christmas story while the boys placed the Nativity pieces in their spots as the story was told. It was a little crazy but so so special. Micaiah held onto one of the sheep during the story. We are so grateful to have her with us this year, Peter remembered only wanting her for Christmas last year. Here she is.

ok so I really stink at blogging these days!

so what's new?

we went to Peter's parents for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. Art was still in the hospital up until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. it was good to bring him home. they seem to have the cancer under control (as much as you can). however, he has a compressed vertebrae (I not sure if it is 1 or more?) and this puts him in a lot of pain, regardless of the meds. He spent most of our time there laying in his recliner, only getting up to use the restroom. It was good to be with him, love on him, and serve him. We really enjoyed spending time with Peter's brother, Chris, sister, Amy and her family. We spent our days with Art and took the kids to play at Amy's for breaks. Caleb and Elijah love to play with their cousins and the weather was beautiful! We were so thankful to be together for Thanksgiving and to have Micaiah with us! our first holiday with her!

We went yesterday to get our Christmas tree! the kids were ecstatic, tonight we decorate it! Last night over dinner the kids brought up a funny story I would have blogged, had I been on here lately. and yes, inappropriately, they brought it up at the dinner table.

I was giving the three kids a bath when Micaiah was starting to grunt, like number 2 might be coming soon. I quick grabbed her out of the tub and set her on the potty. She pooped in the potty!!!!! yeah Micaiah! then I started to think maybe some came out in the tub so I told the boys to get out right away. I took Micaiah off the toilet wiped her bottom and set her on a towel in my lap. I got the boys out and put towels around them. Looked down and Micaiah had pooped in the towel and since I didn't notice right away I had wiped her with the towel and dropped some poop on the floor. So of course, she had to get back in the already emptied tub. I tried to stand her up on the bathroom floor while I quickly dried the boys so they could go upstairs, naked of course, and I could wash Micaiah, again. That's when she peed on the floor. I just started laughing! Caleb said, Mommy, why are you laughing. I said what else am I going to do? of course, Peter was not home.

so the dinner conversation started out good, remember when Micaiah pooped in the potty, and then Caleb and Elijah just kept adding more the perfect dinner conversation. Remember when she pooped in the toilet, remember when she pooped on the floor, remember when she peed on the floor!

At least it was just the five of us at home having dinner!

CALEB!

the grandma who likes everything to be equal noticed that there has not been pictures of Caleb lately. well, she just jumped the gun because here is a whole blog about Caleb!

Here is the ROBOT!!!! He was so excited about Halloween! He came up with the idea of being a robot all on his own, and daddy made his costume, a friend loaned us the head!Caleb helped daddy rake leaves, jumped on the tarp and daddy dragged him to the front yard for leaf pick up! they had fun together!

So why the blog about Caleb? well, yesterday we had the privaledge of attending our first ever parent teacher conference! Here are the results:

Mrs. Rider used these words to describe Caleb, kind, inquisitive, musical, social, fun/silly. She mentioned he likes music, friends, art, and the special activities they have each day. She did an academic assessment: he recognizes the letters in his name, all the uppercase letters (he missed V), counted up to 29, recognized all the numbers (0-9), demonstrated 1:1 correspondence, named all his shapes, sorted objects, recognized his colors, plays in a variety of areas. He enjoys blocks, music, art, and books the most. She described his play as 1) associative: shares common activity with other children;however, no specific roles are defined nor is there a shared goal and 2)cooperative: cooperates with others on common projects, assumes roles and/or playes games with rules. there is an exchange of ideas and a shared goal within a chosen activity. Mrs. Rider said he plays at both levels.

Mrs. Rider said, after we inquired, that the one thing he could work on is settling down after silly time. She said he is so much fun to have in class and is always excited to be there. He is very helpful. Mrs. Rider said he transitions very well. Early on in the school year he was much more attached to his friend Ethan, whom he knew before the school year started. Mrs. Rider said, Caleb is not attached to Ethan and is very good and making new friends and playing without Ethan.

Mrs. Rider asks up what are thoughts were on sending Caleb to kindergarten next year, having a summer birthday and all. We shared with her we were thinking about waiting a year because he will be so young, mostly likely the youngest in his class. I want him to be a leader, not a follower because he is with kids who are all older than him. However, he is firstborn, making him more of a natural leader. She recommended sending him. I was surprised. Our school district tends to hold kids until they are 6. I asked if she would let me know in January if she felt we would be hindering Caleb to hold him back another year. Lots to pray about.

We are sooooo proud of our little guy! What an amazing kid!

only a few pics would publish at a time...here's more

After a long day at school, grandma finally got to hold Micaiah, she fed her a bottle most nights before bed. They both enjoyed their cuddle time. Micaiah was drawn to Art! She would cuddle with him a few times a day! I think she brightened his days a bit!

more pics (I figured I owe you a few)

Micaiah meets Uncle Chris! they had a great time together! She sat on his lap and didn't even cry when I left the room! This was a first!
Micaiah meets Auntie Amy! They had a great time playing together, all of her kids were so excited to meet Micaiah. Amy picked out Micaiah's first Cabbage Patch Newborn, a hispanic doll with the name Jada, a name we considered for Micaiah!

trying to be distracted

well, this probaby won't be the most uplifting blogs...

Micaiah did sleep well last night, or at least we did. Neither of us heard any long spouts of crying. Unfortunately she refuses to sleep during the day. yesterday she napped for 20 minutes one nap and 10 another, and not another wink. today she is in her crib crying, I am hoping she falls asleep soon, this is more difficult than when the boys cried it out, but they were younger, and caught on quicker. This seems to be the best thing for her though, like I said, she actually got some good sleep last night and is learning to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

on a better note, Peter's dad should be coming home from the hospital today!

maybe a few pictures will brighten up this blog. we went to visit Peter's family a few weeks ago and Elijah gets a very stiff neck when he sleeps in the car, so this was my latest solution. I open for any other suggestions, we have tried to different types of travel pillows.

Micaiah got her very first Cabbage Patch Newborn from Auntie Amy, Brandon, Megan, and Timothy. Elijah really enjoys taking care of Micaiah's baby for her.This is the two girl cousins on Peter's side. Megan (6) is sooo excited to finally have a girl cousin!

something to write home (or in my blog) about...

okay, so I deeply apologize to those of you who have been left hanging because of my lack of commitment to this blog. I'll just say, three kids keeps me VERY BUSY, exhausted at the end of the day, and I LOVE IT!!!

so what's to write home about, well, to start one of the big reasons I have been not blogging is because I have been very very tired. It's been almost 2 months of waking up somewhere between 2 and 10+ times per night for the Guatemalan princess who likes to wake up often and sometimes stays awake for HOURS! so we have tried numerous things to get this little girl to sleep through the night or even just wake up 1 or 2 times a night, but 10+ times was really getting out of hand. When we visited Peter's parents we slept her on a futon mattress on the floor, she woke up only 2 times per night the entire week and took 2 hour naps every day without waking up in the middle. We thought it was the crib. We came home and put the crib mattress on the floor and she woke up a gazillion times! so we figured the crib mattress was too firm! so, we found a 1 3/4 inch thick wool crib pad and tried that with a super cushy soft blankie to lay on. this seemed to help a little, but it was not the miracle solution. so we decided time to let her cry it out again, maybe it would work this time. well last night she was up screaming for up to an hour at a time at least 3 times. todays naps were short lived and she had an exhausting day. I spent lots of time cuddling with her and loving her when she was out of bed, to reassure her of my love and consistency in her life. so tonight I laid her down, the boys were being noisy and I never got her asleep before I left the room. I put the boys down and she cried for less than 10 minutes and it wasn't even constant screaming! Oh, I hope tonight is better!

and as for Peter's dad. He is in the hospital with an intestinal infection. At first it seemed to require antibiotics and then he could go home. the radiation is working and his pain from the cancer was lessening. Then the antibiotics didn't seem to be working, they anticipated a very risky surgery and miraculously overnight the antibiotics kicked in and he is feeling better and they have since regulated the pain. the news is up and down. Peter talks to his family at least once or twice a day. some days are better and others not so good. we continue to pray for Art's comfort and for peace in their home. The cancer has not spread to any of his major organs and the radiation has reduced the tumors and pain.

what else? Caleb is doing very well! He was a robot for Halloween and is loving preschool! He has made new friends and loves his teacher. One of his new friends lives just down the street from us! We went to play at their house on Friday when it was 70 degrees out here! Caleb is practicing for the Christmas musical at church, he is soooooo excited. He loves to practice the song at home and can't wait to perform on stage!

Elijah is sooooo sweet. We have eliminated his naps, he was staying up till 10 or 11 when he got a nap. He seems to finally be adjusting to sleeping later in the morining and is getting used to his new place with Micaiah in our family. He was Superman for Halloween. He is a great big brother and loves to be the big boy and the big brother, but not enough to want to go in the potty! oh well. He is sick, he seems to always be sick. Just as he gets over one thing he comes on with another. He takes vitamins, washes his hands as much as I remember and eat really well. I guess it is from the RSV when he was a baby, it is very frustrating. I feel bad for him.

Micaiah was a dog during the day in the warm house and a bunny at night when it got cool (we had two cute costumes for her to wear)

let me see if I can get some pics up before I sign off...

Caleb (robot), Elijah (Superman), Henry (Curious George), Allie (ladybug), Micaiah (poodle)

hope to be back soon! (I really am going to try to keep up again)

oh yeah, Micaiah took her first steps Oct 30 and is progressing every day, she had gone about 10 feet and learned to climb up the stairs a few days ago!