Starting to Get the Hang of This

Walker.....check!!! Bearing weight.....check!! Able to take steps......check!! Holding on to the walker for dear life.....check!! Forward locomotion.......check!!! All systems go for take off!!!! I literally had goose bumps when I saw this today. Everyday at the end of PT,Beverly (Haley's therapist) lets Haley use her walker and walk back to the waiting room to me. Well today, Haley came out first and Beverly was not holding onto the walker like usual. She was taking steps with the walker without any help at all. We usually have to help push the walker forward while she takes steps. Haley is getting the first taste of independent movement with her walker. Here is a little video clip of her walking today(mostly unassisted, she still needs help with steering and sometimes slides backwards). It is still very scary to let completely go of the walker and every little wobble makes us jump and reach towards her, but she is walking!!!!!!

Haley's New Wheels

Haley is showing more and more interest in walking....too bad she just doesn't have the balance to support it. I had a feeling she would eventually need a walker. The thoughts of it used to upset me, but now I'm excited about getting one. If it makes her more mobile and happier....I'm happy. Our PT is letting us borrow theirs for a few weeks to see if she is ready. She is doing well with holding onto it and balancing inside of it. She will takes some steps but still needs us to kind of pull it forward for her. She hasn't quite grasped the concept of stepping and pulling it forward to equal forward motion. She will get it, and hopefully we will get her her own walker soon.

She picked up a new baby sign somewhere today. I'm not sure where she learned it, school probably. But she was doing the sign for "eat" and at first I didn't realize she was really trying to communicate something to me. But then she started fussing and continued doing the sign and "ding-ding-ding" it occurred to me that she was telling me she was still hungry. Gave her a graham cracker and all was good. So far she knows milk, more, please, bye, and Os.

One more new thing she is doing is throwing and rolling a ball. As rudimentary is that sounds it is something the OT actually works with her on and she has just never done it. So here is a picture of her throwing and rolling a ball.