Posts filed under 'Milestones'
There’s been a lot going on since we last posted, and I’m happy to report most all of it’s good news!
March opened with a change in the lineup here on Team Anna. Tara’s mom flew out from Kansas on Saturday (3/2) so that she could pinch hit for me while I flew back to Colorado for a week of face time at work. Poor Debbie was sick as a dog when she arrived, but fortunately it turned out it wasn’t anything a whole bunch of medication (procured from a local urgent care) couldn’t fix in a couple of days.
Tara and her mom had a pretty good time of things during the week I was away. Anna made good progress in her therapy and in other ways as well. She’s suddenly able to count to 5 most of the time (sometimes higher?), and has a pretty decent grasp on her ABCs for somebody who’s not even two yet! She’s talking up a storm — still mostly two word sentences, but wow, the vocabulary is impressive. Meanwhile: Her therapists were very happy with her progress, and she’s now used to the (crazy busy) routine, which means she’s sleeping and eating well. She’s mostly healthy, too, which is new and different for everyone.
Lots of work and a bit of the stomach flu kept me pretty busy for the week I was away. It was good to see my folks and Max on Thursday evening, and I managed to make a bit of money at the poker game on Friday. But I felt anxious the whole week and wanted to get back “home” to Birmingham. (It’s very hard to be away from Anna and Tara for that long — I have no idea how parents who travel regularly do it).
Granny Debbie made a fantastic Dora the Explorer cake for Anna’s early birthday (pictures to follow?), which we all enjoyed on the evening I returned. Then Sunday morning (3/9) it was back to the airport to drop off Debbie, who’s apparently deep in the throes of Anna withdrawl as I write this. (Thanks so much for visiting and for all your help!)
So that brings us to this week, our last week of therapy. Anna got her cast off yesterday, which was pretty mind-blowing for everyone involved. Anna was frankly a little bit confused, and kept acting like she was expecting us to put the cast back on. It made us both happy to let her know that the cast is gone (at least for a while). And it was great to finally give the girl a real bath with plenty of bubbles, no rush, and no smelly cast to put back on afterwards!
We were thinking of taking her out to someplace fun like Chuck E. Cheese’s or McDonald’s to celebrate. But the combination of three weeks of not being able to use her right hand plus a bunch of new books and toys from her early birthday celebration this past weekend meant that Anna was really much more in favor of sitting at home and playing in relative peace and quiet. And who could blame her?
Everyone was expecting today to be a really tough therapy day. Anna’s historically really bad about using her left hand after she gets her cast taken off, and the therapists were ready for a major battle. But the girl continues to surprise, and she’s been unbelievably good about using both her hands or even just her left hand when we ask her to. (That’s the new therapy focus: bi-manual exercises). There’ve even been a couple of moments when she’ll use her left hand for a task without even thinking about it! In general, though, today was a great therapy day, and the therapists are really happy with what they’re seeing.
Friday’s our last day of therapy. We’ll have a few solid hours of therapy in the morning, and then we’ll relocate to the clinic at UAB for Anna’s “exit interview”. Saturday we’ll try to pack, clean up, and hopefully get outside to do something fun since the Ides of March is Anna’s official birthday. Sunday we’ll need to be out of our apartment by noon, and grab lunch somewhere on the way to the airport. Tara and Anna fly back to Denver in the afternoon, and after getting them on the plane I’ll start the long drive back home (ETA: Tuesday).
It’s hard to believe we’ve made it this far, and that we were able to survive three full weeks of 24/7 casting and intensive therapy. But we’d do it all again in a heartbeat. The gains have been impressive, and on the whole the last three weeks have been enormously positive for Anna on many different levels. She’s able to turn her hand over much further than she was able to before (even with Botox), she’s able to isolate her pointer and thumb, use a fork independently to stab food, and sit cross-legged. Her core strength and strength in her left hand and arm have improved dramatically. And almost as importantly, she’s really done a truly fantastic job listening and learning to follow directions — a very large challenge for someone so little — and with tolerating all the long hours of therapy.
We’re so very proud of our girl!
March 12th, 2008
A long, challenging day today, but things have gone amazingly well so far.
We had Anna’s initial evaluation and casting at 8:30AM at the UAB ACQUIRE program this morning. Anna did us very, very proud. All the doctors and therapists there were extremely impressed with how well she’s doing. Anna “passed” almost every evaluation they threw at her. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a ton to learn, but it does mean that she’s made some very significant progress in the last year and a half since her initial diagnosis, and it reflects well upon all the therapy we’ve put her through so far. This is truly a tribute to Tara for putting in so many long hours in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and therapy with Anna, and to the dear little girl herself for learning to endure and prosper despite it all.
During the therapy Anna was fitted for her new full arm cast. Tara had tried to prepare me for this ordeal, warning that based on past experience with her two previous castings “she’s going to scream bloody murder for as long as it takes”. Well, the good folks at ACQUIRE added a single, simple variable to the equation of putting a hard cast on an almost-two-year-old that made all the difference in the world: A Sesame Street video. Lulled into near unconsciousness by the psychedelic antics of that little red monster Elmo and his muppet friends, Anna hardly put up a fight and the new cast was on her arm in almost no time.
We’re very impressed with Anna’s new therapists as well. They clearly know what the heck they’re doing. Obviously they’ve got the casting and occupational/physical therapy parts down pat. But equally impressive is their understanding of the developmental psychology of the kids. Frankly, knowing what exercises to get the girl to do is only half the battle. The other half is figuring out a way to get her to want to do the exercises in the first place. So almost all the “therapy” consists of games, games, and more games, guided by a firm hand. (That bit is important too. I’ve already been ejected from the therapy sessions three times because I’m clearly the “softy”, and Anna tries to use me as a “safety net” when she’s upset with what the therapists are trying to get her to do — which, despite being a “game”, is rarely anything easy). Perhaps the most important thing is that Anna seems to really get along with her therapists, and they’re growing fond of her too.
After the morning session where we had the initial evaluation and the casting we went home for a quick lunch and to put Anna down for a nap. (The poor kid is still fighting a cold, which means she’s twice as exhausted as she normally would be, and it was a brutal morning for her even without a cold). Then our therapists showed up at our apartment with a truckload (literally) of “toys” and other therapy gear. They spent the rest of the afternoon “playing” with Anna, and they’ll be here at 7:00AM tomorrow morning right after Anna wakes up to continue the program. The goal is at least 6 hours every day (excluding naps) of one-on-one (actually, two on one since we’ve got an intern working with our primary therapist) therapy, 5-6 days per week for the next four weeks.
Overall we’re extremely happy with how everything’s played out so far. The main thing is that our therapy team really seems to “get it”. It’s not uncommon for folks to look at how “well” Anna’s doing and ask why we’re pushing her so hard. Today was a bit of confirmation from folks who really study this stuff that all our pushing has been necessary, that all the hard work has helped make an enormous difference in Anna’s capabilities, and that yes indeed there is a bunch more hard work to come.
But for the moment, we’ll allow ourselves to indulge in a feeling of accomplishment. When we asked what we needed to work on this evening our therapists recommended we just take it easy tonight, “let Anna do whatever she wants, and have her favorite food for dinner.” So we took a short walk together, and tried to relax over some pizza and a glass of wine/apple juice. It was over a year ago since we signed up to come on this adventure. It’s been a long year, and a long trip, and it’s a little hard to believe we’ve made it here after all. We’re happy to know that we’ve been doing well by our little girl, and to be in the company of folks who are experts in helping take her therapy to the next level. We now know this is a marathon and not a sprint, and that progress is measured in feet rather than miles, but today at least it feels like we’re on the right path and headed in the right direction.
I’ll sign off tonight by remembering out loud that the real star of the show today, in every way, was dear little Anna. So strong, so smart, so charismatic, and so very patient. She truly made us proud to be her parents.
Sleep well, and dream sweet dreams, little one. Tomorrow is another day, and another set of challenges. But we’re here for you always. We love you.
February 18th, 2008
In the past week Anna has:
- had her eyes checked (everything looks good there)
- visited the new Children’s hospital
- met with the rehab doc who said she looked “just great”
- had her botox injections delayed until she’s seen next week by her OT down at Children’s
- had her hips x-rayed to determine if there is any problems with her hip development (everything looks good)
- tripped over a bronze bunny sculpture at Children’s and injured her left hand
- made a trip to urgent care on same day as trip to Children’s
- had hand/wrist/arm x-rayed 4 times to determine if anything was broken or torn (probably just a sprain)
- had her picture taken with Henry in their pumpkin costumes (not such a fun experience for anyone!)
- re-injured her hand
- played in the park a couple of times
- made another trip to urgent care to determine if she has another ear infection (unfortunately, she does)
- been re-weighed and measured: 27.2 lbs, and 35 inches long (big girl!)
- visited Oma, who returned home today after a 9-day stay in the hospital during which she had emergency abdominal surgery
That’s it, in a nutshell.
I’ve got new photos…I just need to post them. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.
October 28th, 2007
Anna had her 18-month check-up last week on Friday. She now weighs 26.2 lbs (this after a day of throwing up! Thursday was not fun) and is about 33 or so inches tall. Everything seems to be on track!
I’ve been busy making Halloween costumes for Henry and Anna. We’re planning on taking them for pictures with their costumes - hopefully they will cooperate and wear them during the photo shoot.
We had dinner last night with Taara, Erik and Ian! We hadn’t seen them in about 6 months, and were amazed at how much the babies had grown. We had a great time and hope we can get together again soon.
Anna’s new orthotic is causing some bruising on her leg - so we have an appointment with the orthotist so he can modify the brace.
That’s all for now. It’s raining here…has been all day long. Very dreary and cold. Makes me want to stay in bed with the covers pulled up to my chin.
September 24th, 2007
We’re taking bets on how long it will take the monkey in our family to figure out that she can push the chair to the kitchen counter, climb onto said chair, and access all the forbidden wonders located on the counter top. This evening we walked into the kitchen to find Anna standing on one of the kitchen chairs. When she learned this new skill, I haven’t the slightest idea. She certainly was pleased with herself! So…who’s going to make the first bet?
In other news…we went to the circus today. The Greatest Show on Earth is certainly lacking. Perhaps it is just because I’m older and jaded, but it seemed smaller and amateurish (Neal agreed). I mean, they had two clowns…yes, that’s T-W-O clowns; and some troupe from Bulgaria jumping through hoops and such. No tigers (thanks Roy), only one elephant, one horse, and some dogs catching frisbees. We arrived a bit late to the arena and tried to find our seats in near complete darkness. In the meantime, Anna was totally freaking out. The darkness, the spotlights, the people…all of it caused her to cry and scream at the top of her lungs. We honestly thought that we were going to be forced to bag the entire thing. After a bit, the house lights came up and we were able to calm her down. By the end of the performance, Anna was crying because we had to leave.
On Friday Anna received her new orthotic. I hate it. She doesn’t seem to mind it though, and I guess that’s all that matters. It extends up her leg to about the largest part of her calf. It has two hinges that allow her to bend her knee and ankle, but prevent her from pointing her toe. She’s definitely heel-toeing, but she sort of looks like a pirate with a peg leg. She swings her left leg out and around. I’m hoping her PT can tell me whether this will change once she becomes used to the weight and the way it works. We’re certainly going to need to go shoe shopping again. So far we have one pair of shoes that fit over this new brace. I’ve heard that Nordstrom’s allows you to split shoe sizes for situations like this. I think she’ll need a size larger for her left foot (and perhaps larger width, too). The shoes at Nordstrom’s may cost you more, but it is probably still less than what you would have to pay if you were forced to buy two pairs each time.
Yesterday Neal sent me to a day spa for my birthday present. What a great gift! I had a massage and facial, and I got my hair cut! I realized that this may be the first (no, maybe second) haircut I’ve had since Anna was born. Anyway, the stylist asked me if I wanted to keep it long and if I pulled my hair back. I answered not necessarily to both questions, and she took it from there. I must say I was pretty freaked out (still am a little) by my new “do”. It’s much shorter than I’m used to, and it’s layered. I don’t think I’ve ever had layered hair - feathered, yes; layered, no (oh come on…I lived through the 80s). Needless to say, I think I’m going to need a little time to adjust to this new haircut. It’s supposed to be “wash and go” because I told her I don’t have the time or patience to deal with fixing my hair. This morning I had to do a lot more than wash and go. Why does your hair NEVER look the same on the second day? Arg.
Max has a new friend (or nemesis, we’re not sure which) that comes to visit him almost everyday. This very curious, orange tabby cat has been making the rounds nightly. This rocks Max’s world. They loudly mew back and forth to each other for what seems like hours (this usually happens after everyone has gone to bed). I’ve resorted to spraying the orange tabby with water (through the window screen) to make him leave so that the house is quiet again. Max then runs from window to window looking for his contact with the outside world. Poor guy.
September 16th, 2007
Super-quick update on Anna’s progress…she’s walking! She doesn’t do it ALL the time and she’s still pretty cautious, but she’s most certainly getting around more and more on two feet. Of course, we are excited beyond belief. Her physical therapist says that in a couple of weeks she expects Anna to be walking pretty much all the time. I guess that’s our cue to finish all the child proofing.
In other news, Anna had her 15-month check-up on the 15th of June. She weighs 23 lbs and is 32 1/2 inches tall (50th and 97th percentiles, respectively). Everything seems to be going well developmentally, and I hope I’m not jinxing this by saying that her ears look good! Let’s hope we don’t have to battle any summer ear infections.
Anna is finally acquiring some words! No longer is everything “bah” - she now says “Dada” and “Mama”, “Bir” (bird), “Dat” (cat), “Ba” (bath), “Buh” (book), “tic” (tickle), “go”, etc. As you can see, we don’t really have any final consonants, but I think those will come with time. She’s also picked up a ton of signs - dad, mom, rabbit, bird, dog, book, drink, shhh, sleep, please, more, food, cat, cow, gorilla, telephone, etc. I’ve learned quite a few signs myself in the past couple months! When I’ll ever need the sign for elephant, I’ll never know.
That’s about it for now…I hope to capture a “walking” video in the near future. I’ll be sure to post it if I can catch her in the act.
June 25th, 2007
So Anna has been standing a lot lately. She just lets go of whatever she’s leaning against and just stands there. Well, on Thursday during her OT session Anna walked! She took 4 steps all by herself. Anna’s OT held out a toy for her to come get and Anna let go of the couch and walked to her! The OT kept moving a little further back and a little further back and Anna just kept coming! I was stunned. She hasn’t repeated her 4 step performance, but we have witnessed 2 and 3 step attempts.
Walking here we come.
May 5th, 2007
Busy busy busy. That describes these last couple of weeks since our mid-April post. Both Neal and I have been crazy-busy at work lately; simply not enough hours in the day. I have to wonder where the last 2 weeks have gone, though.
Update on Anna…shortly after Neal’s last post on the 16th of April, Anna either developed another ear infection or had a flare-up of the same one she’s had since…oh, I don’t know, the first part of March! She had an ear infection when she went in for her 12-month check-up. She was given a 10-day course of antibiotics, which didn’t clear it up. We went back to the doctor and were given a different family of antibiotics - 6-day course. And we most recently went in and received yet another family of antibiotics - 10-day course. We’ve been off the antibiotics for 4 days now…so far, so good. We have an appointment next Friday to see if this round of antibiotics actually killed it. I hope so. If not, there is talk of ear tubes. Let’s hope that we do not have to go that route.
Otherwise, Anna is doing well! She is gaining weight and growing tall. At one of her last doctor’s appointments she weighed in at 21 lbs 7 oz. She gained 1 lb 4 oz in about 2 1/2 weeks. We’re less concerned with her weight these days. We’ve discovered that the things on the edges of table tops are now fair-game. Anna can now peek over the edge of a table and check out what’s on top. Yikes.
We’re still actively cutting teeth. I know I’m tired of all the drool and fussiness - I can only imagine how tired Anna is of the entire business. We’ve pretty much got all the first year molars now and the 4th front tooth on top is pretty much in. I think we’re starting on some of the canines, although I can’t see anything yet. She’s chewing on EVERYTHING again. She won’t let me put my finger in her mouth anymore to check on tooth status and with the number of teeth she has, if she doesn’t want my finger in there, she’ll let me know by biting it! Those baby teeth are wicked sharp.
We have some news to report on the therapy front. During the second week in April we had the 6-month review of Anna’s IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) through Imagine! Anna’s OT, PT and our service coordinator met at our home to discuss Anna’s progress to date and develop some goals for the next 6-month period. Anna met all the goals we set back in October, and by pretty much any measure she has made excellent progress. Our new goals consist of learning how to walk, clapping hands, and developing a refined pincer grasp. It was also determined that Anna would benefit from weekly PT visits rather than the bi-weekly we had during the previous 6-month period. So we now have PT on Mondays and OT on Thursdays every week.
Yesterday Anna was fitted with a pair of orthotics made by a company called Cascade. They are designed to help Anna regain the arch of her left foot and keep her feet in alignment, which should help her to walk and prevent her from developing some bad walking habits. They are made of a semi-flexible plastic and come up just over her ankle bone. We went shoe shopping yesterday to find a pair of shoes that would fit over the orthotics; that was a challenge. We found a pair of teva-esque sandals and a pair of Converse canvas hi-tops. When she wears the hi-tops, you can’t even tell she’s wearing them (she just looks like she has amazingly fat feet). Right now we are only wearing them for 45 minutes a day. We’ll do that for 3 or 4 days and then gradually increase the amount of time she’s wearing them until we reach 4 hours a day. Once she starts walking she’ll probably wear them for longer.
Anna’s OT is going well. She’s using her left hand to help with more and more bi-manual tasks. We’ve been working on using two hands to pick up a ball and a large cereal box. We’re still wearing the cast on Fridays and Sundays all day and the sock during dinner. I must admit it is getting harder and harder to stick with the regimen. She’s started fighting the cast and I find it difficult to be the “bad guy.” How do you tell a 13 1/2 month old that this is for her own good?
Hope to have some pictures to post soon. I need to download them from my camera.
May 1st, 2007
Today was the last day of Anna’s intensive therapy round. We drove down to Children’s today and met with her OT and the hand specialist who did Anna’s initial evaluation. Both were very pleased with Anna’s progress! When we started this on March 19th, Anna was not able to pick up anything with her left hand. Now she is able to pick up cheerios and puffs with her thumb and index finger! It is truly amazing what she has learned in such a short period of time.
Anna’s final day of wearing the cast was actually Saturday. Yesterday was a super-crazy day (Easter) so we ditched the cast and her OT wanted to see her without her cast today. As was expected, Anna reverted back to a lot of her old patterns when the cast was removed. She continues to play mostly with her right hand, but is using her left hand as a “helper hand” more and more. If food is placed on her tray, Anna will use her right hand to pick it up; however, if you present food to her left (i.e. hand it to her) - she will reach for it with her left every time. Remarkably, she still uses only her left hand to self feed with a spoon or fork. I guess we’ve never really given her right hand a chance to eat with a spoon or fork.
What’s next? Well, we aren’t rid of the cast yet. The OT recommended wearing the cast a minimum of 2 days per week for the full day. She also thought it would be a good idea to constrain Anna’s right hand/arm during one mealtime each day. So…we’ll be donning the cast on Fridays and Sundays and putting on the ski glove/sock for dinner each night. And much to Anna’s chagrin, we have already scheduled a 3-month follow-up evaluation and have signed up for another round of intensive therapy/casting to begin in October down at Children’s. The fun never ends! But we’ve seen how much progress Anna has made with this therapy and we are wiling to make the most of it!
We have some great pictures to download and post, but I left the camera in Anna’s room. She’s asleep now and we do not dare go in for fear of waking her. I’ll have post them later. Speaking of sleep…I think I’ll head that way myself. I figured it up yesterday, Anna and I made 14 trips either to Denver or Fort Collins in the last 3 weeks. That’s 45 minutes each way. Needless to say, we’re a little sick of driving.
Almost forgot to mention a couple of other milestones. Anna has almost cut all of her first year molars. The top left one is still not quite through yet. She now has 4 on bottom front, 3 plus the start of another on the top front and her first year molars. She’s missing her canines on top and bottom, though. Anna has also found a couple of new words: ball, dog and bye bye. Today at therapy she wouldn’t stop saying “ball” (there are a lot of big exercise balls in the therapy gym). For the past week or so, Anna has been standing on her own for a few seconds at a time. She’s getting braver and braver with each passing day. Walking here we come. Note to self…better get moving on that childproofing you’ve been putting off.
April 9th, 2007
We’re in the home stretch now! We have 6 more days of casting left in this round of intensive, constraint-induced therapy. It has been a tough couple of weeks for all of us, but I must say Anna is such a trooper! She’s done amazingly well with the cast and has shown a remarkable amount of patience for a one-year-old. She’s put up with a number of different people poking, prodding, and stretching her, not to mention tolerating a cast on her right arm, a new brace-thingy on her left hand/arm, and a whole bunch of kinesiotape on her shoulder and back. With all equipment and tape we’ve been jokingly calling Anna the bionic baby.
But it’s working!! All the hassle, discomfort and frustration for Miss Anna is paying off. Today I watched her eat grape (cut into quarters, of course) after grape after grape with her left hand with only minimal help from Neal and me. We were so very pleased. And Anna seems to realize that she is doing something great because she has such a look of pride on her face. It is truly a joy to watch! Anna has made so much progress during this period of casting that we are already signing up for another round at Children’s in about six months.
April 3rd, 2007
We completed our first week of casting therapy!! We’ve had 2 formal therapy sessions down at Children’s and two more sessions here at the house. Needless to say, we’re glad it is the weekend! Two more weeks and 9 or 10 more sessions to go.
Anna has tolerated the cast quite well. We leave it on all day and remove it right after dinner in the evening. She doesn’t have to wear it at night - thank God. She generally fusses and gives me dirty looks during the first 30 minutes to 1 hour after I put the cast on, but then she’s back to her happy self. Most of the therapy we do revolves around eating. That means we get 4 opportunities for very focused therapy each day (meals plus snack time). It is hard to keep a 1-year-old “on task” when doing play therapy. We do an activity for about 5 minutes and she’s ready to move onto something else. Eating, on the other hand, takes advantage of her motivation. We can spend 45 minutes to an hour doing the same thing over and over and over again, and she doesn’t really tire of it until she’s full!
I know it has only been a week, but we’re already noticing progress! When we started this therapy Anna was able to spoon-feed herself (sort of) using her left hand (see movie from a few weeks ago). She could also hold a biter biscuit (long cookie, for those of you who are unfamiliar with what a biter biscuit is) in her left hand, but often forgot it was there after a few nibbles and it ended up falling out of her hand. She was unable to pick up food items off her tray - no matter the size. That was so last week.
I’m pleased to report that Anna is spoon-feeding herself with her left; holding the biter biscuit in her left hand, dipping it in yogurt, putting it in her mouth, and repeating the process over and over; and picking up puffs (think cheerios) with her thumb and index finger and actually getting them to her mouth on her own (hit or miss on the getting them to her mouth, but progress nonetheless). All I can say is “WOW!”
Anna’s regular OT was extremely impressed with her progress. She was stunned at how much was accomplished in just one week’s time. And I think Anna’s OT down at Children’s was a little taken aback at how quickly Anna had picked up these skills (obviously she doesn’t know Anna, huh?). Of course, there is still a long way to go, but we are so encouraged by these small steps! We’ll be sure to keep you posted on her progress during the next 2 weeks. I hope we’ll have even more to report.
March 23rd, 2007
One year ago today you were born, little one, and what an amazing year it’s been.
You’ve learned so much in these past few months: How to breathe, how to cry, how to nurse, how to burp, how to roll over, how to sit without falling over, how to sleep through the night, how to laugh, how to babble, how to giggle when tickled, how to drink from a bottle, how to say mama and dada, how to make the signs for food, milk, and the cat, how to sit up all by your self, how to crawl, how to stand up, how to make friends, how to play with toys, how to read books, how to grow teeth and just a very little bit of hair, how to snuggle, how to eat grown-up food, how to find your way across the room, how to cruise around the coffee table, how to climb stairs, how to clap, how to pick up things with your left hand, how to wave like a princess, how to blow big smacking kisses across the room, how to give hugs, how to give kisses, and how to light up an entire room with your beautiful smile.
And we’ve learned so much too: How to give birth, how to change diapers, how to give baths, how to dress tiny babies in tiny clothes, how to install car seats and baby gates, how to nurse, how to burp a baby, how to make a little girl smile, how to function on very little sleep, how to make a bottle, how to make breakfast, how to teach a baby to stretch, clap, sit up, eat, crawl, stand, sleep through the night, and climb stairs, how to cope with the fears all parents face, how to sing, how to distract, how to be more organized and not worry about when we aren’t, how to be more patient, how to love each other when we’re under fire, and how to love you, unconditionally, always and forever, for you are the most wonderful and rewarding thing in our lives.
Thank you, Anna, for joining our family and for and teaching us so much. Happy birthday, dearest girl. We love you.
March 15th, 2007
It seems like it has been awhile since I posted new pictures. We also have a few movies to show.
Anna has been doing some great things with her left hand! The first movie is of Anna crawling (almost 3MB). It was taken about 5 days ago and she has already improved immensely in her speed and synchronicity. The video is pretty grainy because of the poor lighting conditions.
The other two movies were captured this evening. Anna and I have been working on using her left hand to grasp things. She has difficulties rotating her arm and hand inward, which makes feeding herself with her left hand quite diffcult. Using a long cookie or a spoon, we’ve been working on maintaining her grasp and rotating her arm and hand to get the cookie or spoon to her mouth. She’s caught on and now wants to feed herself yogurt with her left hand (2.5MB). Notice I’m not constraining her right hand at all.
The last clip shows Anna banging on the table with her left hand (almost 2MB). This is the first time Anna has banged repeatedly (and rapidly) on anything using her left hand. Actually, it is the first time she’s done anything that rapidly with her left hand. Of course we’re not neurologists, but we feel this shows that her brain is working to send multiple, rapid signals to her left hand. The video is pretty grainy because of the poor lighting conditions.
Anna is such an amazing little girl. Neal and I often find ourselves on the verge of happy tears when we witness her doing new things with her left hand. She’s truly come so far! Now if only she’d grow some more hair… 
February 28th, 2007
Anna has finally given up the commando crawl in favor of all-fours crawling! She’s also managed to synchronize her arms and legs and is crawling reciprocally. And now she’s working on speed! Yeah Anna!
Another big accomplishment: Anna has learned how to get down from a standing position. No longer does she scream and cry at us or the ladies at daycare to help her down when she doesn’t want to stand any longer. She can do it all by herself. Yet another move towards independence.
February 23rd, 2007
As Neal mentioned in his post yesterday, Anna has just started crawling. She’s doesn’t move far, nor is it very graceful, but she’s trying and that is key. The simple fact that she is getting herself on her hands and knees is amazing considering the fact that her left arm is not that strong. Here’s a movie (7.5MB about 1 minute or so) of Anna that I took just this afternoon.
Anna’s cousin Henry is quite the dancer. Recently he’s started groovin’ to music of any kind. Here’s a short clip of him dancing to one of Anna’s toys.
January 26th, 2007
Previous Posts