(March 16th, 2005)

Lillian Clar is doing so well this year.  She has already graduated out of Occupational Therapy, at the top of her class, of course; can take at least ten steps at a time; and eats only the foods she likes!!  Sounds like a normal Keller kiddo to me!

She went in for her three-year check-up this past Monday (March 14th).  She is very healthy, yet a bit under weight.  Cora always weighs in under the curve (we call that perfectly petite in our house), and now Lil is following her pattern.  As long as she follows the curve, her pediatrician says, she'll be fine.  We also need to get her to eat a bit better.  We have been struggling with Lillian not wanting to feed herself, so we have taken the stand that if she doesn't feed herself, she doesn't eat.  Well, when you deal with weight issues, you start picking your battles.  Don't worry...you don't need to call CPS.  We are feeding our child, just not everything on her plate!!  She does need to become more and more self-reliant at this point!  Keep praying for her in this area.  Thanks!!

As far as her intelligence, she can speak in complete sentences, sing almost perfectly in tune, and can tell you how old she is.  Right now, her favorite phrase is "Wait a minute!"  Melissa, her wonderful physical therapist, told me a vignette from last week's therapy.  As Lil was walking through the door with Melissa to go back to the gym, she said, "Wait a minute.  Do I smell popcorn?"  Sure enough, someone had just popped popcorn!  Melissa (and Lil's mom) sure got a kick out of that!! 

In her physical therapy, Lillian is working almost exclusively on walking.  Her leg muscles have come a long way in strength, but her abdominal muscles still need help.  She also needs to believe she can walk, so she will practice more often.  All children have to come to the point of realizing that walking is much faster than crawling.  Lil is almost to that point.  At home, she enjoys furniture walking and is starting to go from piece to piece without holding on as much.  It is building her confidence.  We (especially her siblings) also encourage her to walk to us from a certain point to increase her balance practice.  So far, she is really enjoying the "game" of walking from point to point.  (right - This is Lillian with her physical therapist, Melissa.)

Stay tuned here to watch a video of Lillian walking (30 second video - requires windows media player) - coming soon!!