Eleven months. Seriously. I’m not kidding. One month shy of a whole year.
I’m going to say this now so that I’m not a party pooper on her actual birthday: it really doesn’t feel like it should be so close. And not just in the usual “time flies” way, though that’s always true. I just have such a disconnect between Ellie, the little person in my life, and the day that this baby was born. Obviously I remember it very clearly. But the ten weeks that followed were so surreal, my memory of March and April of 2011 will always be warped. She didn’t even come home until May. So to think of celebrating in the middle of winter is kind of strange. Plus, developmentally-speaking, she’s not doing the kinds of things that other nearly-one-year-olds are doing. I don’t feel like I have an almost-toddler on my hands, the way I would otherwise expect of an 11-month-old.
THAT SAID…
The upside of being told in the hospital that your baby could potentially have very significant developmental delays and perhaps permanent deficits? Every time she makes a new leap forward, every time she does something sort-of-normal, it’s cause for celebration. (Remember that line from Say Anything…? “Start out depressed and then everything is a pleasant surprise.”) When we were still in the hospital, and they suggested that there may be gross motor issues of TOTALLY UNKNOWN severity, I silently wondered things like, “maybe we should move to a one-story house in case she never walks and needs to be in a wheelchair.” Had I voiced that thought, I can tell you the doctors would have just looked at me and shrugged. They had no way of knowing which way it would go, either.
But my girl? My girl wants to be on the move.
Sitting up and rolling over are old news, she’s a total pro. While she can’t yet get herself up to a sit, she can go from sitting down to her belly with increasing speed, purpose, and grace. While on her belly, she now uses her arms to pivot around, and sometimes ends up pushing herself backwards until her legs are stuck under the couch. Between the pivots and the rolling, I can no longer assume she’s going to be right where I left her. That photo up there? I put her down on the quilt in the foreground, sitting up. She managed to get herself over to the TV somehow. It ain’t fast, but she moves.
In physical therapy, we’re working hard on getting more strength in her legs, hips, shoulders, and arms in the hopes of getting her to crawl. With as good as she is at sitting, we need to have her on her belly more so that she can learn to crawl before she learns to just scoot around on her butt. The physical therapists swear up and down that, once babies learn to do a seated scoot, it’s nearly impossible to teach them to crawl. So we spend time on her belly and try to scoop those knees up underneath her instead of being splayed like a little froggie.
But coolest of all, in the last week I can see her try to pick those little hips up on her own. Her stamina is improving almost every day, getting stronger and steadier in those hips and shoulders, kicking those legs, bouncing that little body.
I don’t know how long it will take, but my girl is going to crawl.
How awesome is that?
My big, awesome, 11-month-old girl. My munchkin, my pumpkin pie. What a joy you are. Happy almost-birthday.
Go Ellie Go!
She is so stinkin’ cute I can hardly stand it!
I love reading your blog. My twins are slightly younger then yours and we have recently learned we are expecting our 3rd. I love seeing that you guys still seem to be having a great time as a family even with ellie’s challenges. Keep up the good work and I love Ellie’s huge smile!
She is adorable and looks so happy. It sounds like she is doing great!
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Curiosity is a wonderful thing. I’m thrilled to see that Ellie’s desire to explore her world is getting her across the room, stuck under the couch, and even trying to get those hips under her adorable little body. Here’s hoping that you will need to do massive childproofing soon.
Joanna recently posted..It’s Not All Magic
I think it’s always a little bittersweet when your baby turns one. I know exactly how you’re feeling, well maybe not exactly, but close. I think it was actually you posting a pic of Ellie on twitter that made me realize, MY baby wasn’t a baby at all anymore! She’s a full steam ahead toddler now and I’m totally freaking out, especially since I’m pretty sure she’s my last. So yeah, happy and sad.
It’s probably not a good comparison, but Sophia was behind developmentally, at least physically for a while too, because of being in her brace for so long. And I’m sometimes worried, albeit irrationally, about her too. And clearly she’s running circles around everyone now. It’s hard not to worry, but try!
Eating up some yummy baby goodness this morning.
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Ellie looks wonderful. Your perspective on her development, your absolute faith in her, and her own stamina that grows each day will carry her to great things! Happy Almost Birthday!
Wow, she is doing amazing things! Way to go Ellie! Its umbelievable that she’s almost 1, it seems like yesterday.
You could always do 2 celebrations- one for birth and one for homecoming.
Go, Ellie! Go, Mama! So much they have to do on their own but we have every right to celebrate them as if they were our successes too because they’ll only appreciate our worry when they have their own kids.
Mommy, Esq. recently posted..Christmas is for Giving and Figuring Out Toy Storage
You’re entitled to feel how you feel-I read something somewhere about how NICU parents are very prone to PTSD and I imagine you just don’t recover from that in 9 or 10 months, but as Ellie continues to grow and advance, I hope the memories and difficulties and emotions of that time start to fade as they become overshadowed by the victories and the wonderful person Ellie is becoming.
Happy almost birthday Ellie! She may be moving on her own timeline right now, but I believe she’ll catch up before you know it in every.single.way–Ellie seems to have a lot of spirit and I don’t think anyone or anything is going to stop her!
Also, is it just me or has she had a growth spurt recently? She looks so long in that first photo!
That is SO AWESOME!!! She is looking so big and grown up. Hooray for the big things and the little things!
Kate (This Place is Now a Home) recently posted..She Says… A Dog is a Boy’s Best Friend
Such an awesome post! That smile in the last picture says it all. Look out world!
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