Beccablog
For non-fans of kids, please note the subject. It will not offend me if this sort of rambling is not for you.
On Saturday, Amaryllis and I were sitting on a blanket at an event, and I noticed that Rebecca was sitting without any support from me. Amaryllis and I started watching, waiting for her to tip over. She sat unsupported for what we believe was more than 10 minutes! This is a new record, the last was around 8 minutes at school and therapy. In fact, she has never floor-sat unsupported in front of me before.
The past few months have been enormous for Becca's progress. She has stood (without knee braces) at a low shelf for @3.5 minutes, supported herself on hands and knees for @2.5 minutes, taken a few independent steps while her therapist "walks" her around the room, and is starting to walk reciprocally (one foot at a time) in her walker instead of shoving both feet simultaneously. Huge progress in gross motor skills.
Her command of reciprocal language is also growing. She understands more and more words, some of which she responds with specific actions, such as "up" causing her to arch her back, "give me your hands" she reaches for me, "how big is Becca" she raises her hands in the air, and "time to brush teeth" she clamps her mouth shut.
Sadly, she really doesn't want to use her vision. It is really hard for me to get her to look at things, much less use a visually guided reach. Her school teacher is going to come over July 5 to babysit, and I want to talk to her about options I should pursue.
Other Becca news: we have a nurse again. I was a little worried having a guy watch Becca unsupervised, but he is doing pretty well, and my paranoia is subsiding, though I will be cautious for a while at least. Nothing to do with the nurse, but being careful doesn't hurt. Since I have the nurse, I hope to do some more activities in the SCA as well as elsewhere.
The other recent thing Becca has been doing is getting very excited when I come to pick her up. When she hears my voice, she starts laughing and wiggling around.
She is also willing to put both arms around my neck for short periods now instead of being slung over my left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
That's enough for now. It is great to have so many things to record.