Ellie has spent the last few weeks working on a new trick.
One of the main characteristics that her providers have mentioned from the very first day she was born was “low tone.” For her age, she is noticeably weak and floppy. We had to support her head when holding her for much longer than you normally would, and tummy time was a complete non-starter. While her squishiness does make her extra cuddly, we’ve obviously been working on trying to help her get stronger. She gets physical therapy once or twice a week, and obviously we practice on our own. Thankfully, we have noticed steady improvement since starting PT back in May.
Since last month, tummy time has gotten much much MUCH better. She’s lifting her head way up high without any help, is starting to push up and support weight on her arms, and is generally a whole lot more tolerant of actually being on her belly in the first place.
It’s still hard work, though.
Even more noticeable is that, when she’s sitting on my lap, she no longer wants to lean back against me. She is constantly pulling herself forward, doing a little crunch with those core muscles to get into a more upright sitting position. The first time she did it, I was so surprised I almost let her fall off my lap. In PT, we started working on a little tripod/supported sitting. She’d manage it for a second or two, but she still keeps her hands in fists a lot of the time and doesn’t have a lot of arm strength, so there’s a lot of collapsing and folding in half. We keep pillows nearby.
Still, we’re working on it. Sometimes you can position her just right, help her lock those elbows and bend her legs for a nice supportive base, and she can almost get the hang of it.
And then, every now and then, you’re supporting her and you can feel those muscles engage in just the right way. And you have five or ten seconds to back up with the camera, and catch this:
With all those weeks in the hospital, talking about “abnormal MRI” this, and “hypotonia” that, and vague references to potentially severe cognitive, language, gross motor delays… I never imagined she’d be this close to independent sitting at a scant seven months. She’s still not what you would call “developmentally appropriate.” There’s still tons of work to do. But man. This is freaking awesome.
Almost as awesome as consonants. Did I mention she is babbling with consonants? Two of ‘em at the moment, “m” and “b.” (And I may have heard “p” this morning.) Again, much closer to the range of normal development than I could have dreamed five or six months ago.
I love this stuff. LOVE IT. Oh, and this sweet, delicious little girl. She is just too much.
He did particularly well on imitating unfamiliar sounds (zoop! zip!), finding a hidden toy in several different variations, and grouping similar objects together. He showed good understanding of basic shape puzzles, even if he couldn’t quite get the triangle to fit properly, and did a great job labeling familiar objects with the correct word. I’m so proud.
