Giggles

Today was another breakthrough day for Taylor (or at least, me watching Taylor). Her therapy is like a whole new world all of a sudden (all of sudden defined as the last 6 months of very hard work). Thankfully, it does seem like it's coming together for her. The first 40 minutes of therapy this morning were spent rolling - back and forth, over and over and over again. Taylor absolutely loves it. She was cracking up -absolutely giggling - the entire time. It was such a complete and total joy to see. Every now and then I get a glimpse of the kid I know she can become and it is so heart-warming. It sounds a little cheesy, but I had a vision today of her running and laughing and I can see how happy she will be. She simply loves to move. She was loving rolling side to side and experimenting with moving her body. It's like she's finally realized that she can initiate movement (now that her muscles are loosened) and she's relishing the feeling. It is such a joy to see her having fun and (largely) enjoying the hours of therapy now. There was so much hard work and tears required to get here - I am so incredibly thankful and relieved.

Her other new trick is using her hands more - we can't wait for this to come together for her! Finally, she will pick up a toy from her high chair tray (the easiest place for her to reach) and she is having a great time banging toys on her tray and experimenting with picking up and dropping. She was laying on her side for awhile at therapy today, reaching across her body, with her bad arm and rolling a ball to me. She thought it was great fun - she's realizing that she can participate and play. Her hands can work for her. Her world will open up so much once her hands really let her explore the world. She's also found her thumb and is contemplating becoming a thumb sucker. This would be awesome because then we would be rid of the binky problem at night. The beauty here is that her hand has to be unclenched for her to find her thumb - it's great to see her hands opening and her making use of them.

It was just a great therapy session today and good progress with her hands at home too. We're so thankful and blessed that she is progressing and her future is looking brighter. We try very hard to focus on this and the improvements that we're making. The reality is that our schedule remains very busy and we can't wait for Taylor to be able to do the things that she will love - whether it's becoming more independant and holding her own bottle or picking up finger food, or playing with toys. She remains very much a baby at 17 months from a motor skills perspective, yet we believe cognitively she is on track, or nearly on track. I admire her hard work and how well she handles what must be very frustrating circumstances many times a day. You can imagine how hard it would be to see something super cool, yet not know how to reach it or interact with it. Her brain is beginning to put the pieces together though and we're remembering to cherish every small step. These pictures are a great example of the fun she's having now. Lauren and Jacob lined up riding horses and all three of them had an absolute blast. Taylor just loves to play with them and feel included.

Her other big activity this week was an appointment with the orthotics doctor. She has outgrown her first pair of magic shoes, so now has another new pair to help with her standing. This effort was much more seamless this time around and the first pair of new orthotics seem to work great.