Friday I worked from home. Holly and daddy had a fun morning, letting mommy get a little extra sleep. Daddy always does a great job of wearing her out before he leaves for work, so she is ready for a nap. Mommy simply had to feed her, sing to her, and put her in the swing and she was out. I was able to check email and catch up on some report reading. She woke up just at 12:15 time to eat and get changed before Katie and Sally were to arrive for a combined Therapy session. I had assumed that since she spent the morning with mommy, and at home that Holly would be amicable, she was happy and playing on my lap, but just like Tuesday, once I handed her over to Katie, she was crying.
Mom jumped on the floor, to work with her on her therapy, starting with practicing how to sit. She was facing Mommy who handed her toys, and Katie worked on supporting her back, thighs, and stretching back her shoulders. A few minutes later Sally arrived. When working on her sitting skills, Holly was not getting her legs/thighs down to the floor, for this reason she was pushing back. When she was a position to get seated properly, she could support herself, and several times Katie was to let go and she would right and balance herself. She let her tip to see if she would extend her arm to catch herself. A few times she did, but not consistently, so it is something we need to continue to work on. We also had her reach side to side twisting and turning.Sally brought a vibrating pillow, and Katie brought a bolster. We used the bolster first for tummy time, to support Holly's chest so she would use her arms to reach out for toys, and hold herself up with a little extra support. Then we put the bolster on the vibrating pillow and she sat on it like a horse or a see-saw. In this position she was able to get her back in the correct posture, where she was sitting forward on her legs and weighted correctly, so she was not tilting or pushing back. She had a very strait and strong back and balanced herself very good. When Sally pressed down on the pillow below the bolster the whole thing would vibrate. I don;t know the details why, but the vibration helps with her moving in the correct way, I will ask Sally more specifically about it when I see her next week.
We also pulled out the ball, and holly stood, leaning on the ball, and then when we rotated it, she got some tummy time. She later sat directly on the vibrating pillow, and practiced some more sitting.Then we tried some arm stretches, first we used the figure eight cloth brace. This is like a shrug, where her arms go into the two eight holes and the cross of the eight, is behind her back. Sally had it much looser then she realised so we pinned it tighter, but it dug into her arm pits rather then pulling back her shoulders and she wined when it was on, so we didn't use it very long. Next we tried the Kinesio tape, which is just like the tape they used in beach volleyball and swimming during the Olympics, we had some that was brown fleshy colored and some that was pink. We taped from the front of her shoulder around to the middle of her back, and then a few across her back. The idea is that when she reaches forward with her arms it creates some slight resistance and gives her back muscles a work out. Her back muscles are weak making it hard for her to hold up her head or push up when in prone (tummy time) and also hold herself when she tips from sitting, or even get into a sitting position. She didn't seem to mind the tape at all, and she could easily keep it on for 2 days, if it doesn't peel on its own, though in her case she gets sweaty when she sleeps, so I think it would peel the next morning.
Holly worked with her therapists for almost 90 minutes which is really good for her, often she gets tired after 45 minutes with Sally, maybe an hour with Katie, so they were both shocked so much time had passed. She had been slightly cranky the entire time, due to the mommy/stranger anxiety separation thing, but not so much that she didn't work or participate, but by this time, she was getting over tired and ready for a nap. When they left she did not want to go to sleep, I had to sing to her rock her, get her somewhat tired and then finally put her in the swing.I had another few hours for some more work, then it was time to go to swim class. I thought we were running late, because I had to pump, and then wake and change holly, but we got there just as the doors were opening. I fed her a snack (half bottle) while we were waiting in line to pay and sign in. I was worried she might be cranky, since she had been fussy much of the day, but she was great.
At first the pool was empty, and I didn't know if it was because they started a Saturday Morning, 10:00 AM class, or because it was September, and Summer was over, but I didn't recognize anyone and there were like only 10 other babies there. But by the time the song circle began there was the regular large crowd of maybe 25 babies. Still most were faces I did not know, Sophie, Iko and Brody, who had been there every week like me before, were not there, but I did see Lili, and also Aleutia and Cole were there. So it was nice to see them again. Aleutia's friend Isis was visiting from Vermont, with her 6 year old Julia, who was great fun. She kept handing Holly a rubber ducky pool thermometer, and Holly would immediate start chewing on the duckies head. I would let her for a second then take it away and it would float off then a few minutes later Julia would give it back. It was very cute. There were a few other toddles, 18 months, 2 1/2 that were very energetic and kicking. Cole was splashing and he really likes the water.
Also my Friend Isabel and her baby Sarah were there, I met her at the mother's group. Sarah was just 3 months old, and she was as big as Holly, but she was much more sleepy, and not very active yet, but that is normal for her age. She did seem to like the water though. When we sang Old Mac Donald has a boat, Holly loved chasing and reaching for all the toys, we found her favorite big red lobster (I think there is a theme here) and she chewed on its claws. She had fun trying to touch Cole and Sarah's face, and liked holding Julia's hand. She didn't mind getting splashed, but I didn't put her under today, because she is getting over her earache. Near the end she was getting sleepy, and rubbing her eyes, she didn't mind laying back and resting on mommies shoulder and overall had fun. The water was warmer then usual, and when I brought her out her teeth were clattering and her feet looked purple, for a moment I was worried, I quickly took her bathing suit and swim diaper off (this is the first time she wore the suit at swim class, which she was complemented on) and got her under a hot shower, which seemed to help, and then once I dried her off and dressed her she was fine, and her feet were back to normal, but I was worried she might have gotten a chill, or was feverish, but she had a normal temperature when we got home.Since she spent most of the day with Mommy, she played for a while with Daddy as Mommy did some more work. My Tivo was still acting up so I decided to call in and exchange it, I think there is a corrupt Hard-Drive, I was on hold for 55 minutes before they answered, and it was another 45 to complete the process, but I am happy it is getting exchanged / replaced, this time for free. Joel said he would build me a media server that I can watch Internet downloads on without having to transfer them to Tivo, which is why I think it keeps breaking.
Holly was up late, and playing with Mommy while daddy ate, and we decided to build a creature together in spore. She had fun watching the laptop screen, it is a very colorful game, and she was tired, so she sat on one side of my lap, laying back in the crook of my arm, and on the other side of my lap was the laptop with spore. she was content just to be held, and didn't want to engage me, but wasn't ready to be by herself in bed yet, so after her long day we let her veg out. Sadly, she fell asleep and Mommy stayed awake most of the night playing with her creature!
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