Careful -- she bites

Maria has been a biter for a while, but she's really gotten bad about it lately. She managed to draw blood from her Aunt Rosanne and she frequently bites her own arm or fingers. I think she's biting herself less hard than she used to since she's learned that it hurts when she does that. However, the rest of us aren't so lucky so we have to be careful around her.

When she's not biting, she sucking her thumb. She's become incredibly oral lately. That interferes with everything else she does. After the great sitting day I posted about last time, she's done very little sitting. She still does better than she used to and is learning to balance without use of her hands (with them being in her mouth and all), but she can't hold it for very long.

Her standing is coming along. She can take the weight, but she still doesn't have the balance. Yesterday she stood, supporting herself with her hands against the seat of a bench, with no one holding her up! OK, it was for only about a half second, but that's a half second more than she's ever done that kind of thing before.

She has had "tantrums" lately. I put that word in quotes because Maria's tantrums are so much less than another toddler's would be. They are just bouts of frustration. I think it's a combination of wanting to move but not knowing how to do things, and wanting to communicate but being unable to. We continue to try signs and talking and so on, but still can't tell if she gets any of it. She sometimes seems to imitate things but never consistantly. For example yesterday I was going "ma ma ma" with her and she started to open and close her mouth soundlessly, but I'm not completely sure she was imitating me.

She has her usual busy therapy schedule this week and her birthday is coming up soon. Terrible twos, here we come!