Resisting Serendipity: June 2012

THIS is where the toothbrush goes!

Gwenny is having fun moving around the furniture.

This was a fun toy and exercise at OT. G had to use both hands to put the "track" together (with hand-over-hand assistance) and then put the balls in at the top to watch them roll down. She was intrigued. She's doing very well with her left hand, her right hand still lacks strength to hold some objects that require her thumb to spread further (like that small ball.)

Gwenny's eyeing the cupcakes!

G shared her cheese with Toby...and missed his mouth.

This is therapy tape again, this time on her back and her tummy. It seemed to help encourage her muscles to work better for sitting, but taking it off was far too painful for G (and Mama!!!) Therefore, we won't be doing it again. I still have my eye set on the Spio brace (a trunk brace) so we'll see if we can make that happen in the next month or so.

Always lovin' that IPad from Dada!

Working on arm strength with the Bamboo braces.

Chillin' in the mild Utah sun.

Having too much fun with the cake box! Who needs toys?

Socializing. I keep getting told by therapists that it is important for Gwenny to be around other kids. I'm so grateful that I get to hang around family and friends that I love while G gets to hang around kids, too!

The exercise ball- building core strength!

Here, I've set up the IPad in front of Gwen, while she is on her belly on the exercise ball, so she has to extend her back in order to play. We do this for 10-15 minutes with slowly rocking her back and forth and side to side so she keeps her back muscles engaged the entire time.

Here Gwenny is practicing bearing weight on her legs and feet. I have her face me and play as long as she can keep her back straight. She has a lot of fun putting the cookie jar lid on my head! When her back starts to get tired, and her little booty starts sticking out, I turn her around to face away from me so I can hold her back straight against my body. We do this for 15 minutes.

Here, I have G sitting on the exercise ball, again, for core strength. (This is MY least favorite exercise, as it is hard on my shoulders and neck to help her balance. Although, she is getting stronger.) We sing songs and she puts things on my head to distract her for this exercise, too. While playing, I have to constantly adjust her so her back stays semi-straight, keep her from falling, and bounce/rock her around for extra work. We are up to 10 minutes with this exercise.

The following are pictures of some of the stretches we do for Gwenny's hips.

A "butterfly" type stretch for the inner muscles of her hips. I do this with her feet far apart as well, as long and as far as she will tolerate.

The 'bicycle' type stretch. We're rotating her legs like she's riding a bike. We count while we do this, to keep her entertained. We end up somewhere between 50-100.

A basic quad stretch while she's on her belly (I think that's HER least favorite.) G often tries to wiggle out of this one early.

Here, we are stretching one leg up toward her body, while holding the other leg to the ground for more of a stretch in her hip area. G's right hip continues to be tighter than her left.

The Bamboo Braces are arm braces to keep the elbows from bending too much, and a baby with weak arms to collapse back down to the belly. They are made of a thick, soft material with a plastic stay that runs along the inside of the elbow. There are 5 thicknesses of stays to use in order to work down to the least amount of resistance, before discontinuing use. These are used to promote arm and shoulder strength while bearing weight on the hands for crawling and playing on 'all fours.' We tried a pair at therapy this week, and then ordered some online. They came the next day and we have already used them a few times. Gwen isn't thrilled with them, but seems to be tolerating them well. Hopefully we'll start to see more strength as we continue to work with them.

The idea is to get her to stay on all four (hands and knees) which takes a good deal of work from me. We try to keep her shoulders above her hands, and hips above her knees. (You can see in the pictures I'm using both my legs to keep her legs in place, and then I use my hands to help her play and adjust her hands.) We do this while I distract her with something else. At this point, we are up to 15 minutes of play on all four. The IPad has come in VERY handy for this distraction. Thanks to Gwenny's Daddy for that!

The two stripes running down Gwen's back in this picture are therapy tape, to 'remind' Gwenny's back muscles to work for sitting up. My jury's still out on if they work or not, but they were NOT fun to take off.

The Spio brace is a bodysuit type brace to encourage the core muscles to work. It is made of a soft, thick material (NO hard plates to force the back to be straight) and it fits very tightly. It can be adjusted with the velcro on the back, at the sides and the shoulders. The brace does not force the muscles, just 'encourages,' so the idea is that it strengthens the muscles by making them work more than they would without the brace.

We had an opportunity to try this brace this week, as well. As you can see in the photos below, it seems to make a difference in how straight Gwenny is sitting. Unfortunately, this brace is so expensive, and most likely not covered under insurance, it will be a while before we can take one home with us for regular use.

I've been having trouble brushing Gwenny's teeth as she bites down on whatever I put in her mouth. This week we bought an extra soft spin toothbrush and some apple-banana toddler toothpaste to try a different approach. She's still not loving it, but at least her teeth are getting clean and there are no major meltdowns.

Gwenny is now completely moved over to sippy cups! She holds them with both hands, which is a big development for us. She loves this style of sippy cup and seems to be very proud that she has control over it. She will show it to you, and raise it above her head proudly before putting it in her mouth.

We had some fun at the Gateway Mall this week. Gwenny got to play in this fountain and share an orange-pineapple snow cone with her Mama!