Exploring the world

Gracie is exploring her world more every day. She gets a furrowed look on her face while she reaches for something, willing her uncoordinated hands to pick up or play with the object. At times she even pulls at her right hand with her left hand, relaxing the spasm in that hand and getting it to obey her a little better for a while. (so cute!)

More milestones in development:
- Last night she was really sitting very securely on my lap supporting herself with her own arms only at the table playing with food and even trying to get kernels of rice to her mouth and handing me her cup and guiding her cup to her mouth when she wanted to drink!

- Today she rolled over twice from back to stomach!

We played for quite a while in the delicious ocean (perfect temperature and waves!) and Gracie loves it! She stands for a long time (of course always supported) to feel the waves crash against her. She even tolerates the splash of waves in her face for the thrill of waves and water around her!

Comments

Anonymous said…

Good progress so far!! Keep up the hard work!

5:00 PM

Anonymous said…

abby, so happy to read about your amazing journey. your posts and pictures are beautiful (and such a respite from S5!) can't wait to meet your smiling daughter.
sanam

1:23 PM

Anonymous said…

Abby,
All 3 of ya'll are amazing! Thanks for sharing this wonderful time with us. I can't wait to meet Gracie!
Robyn

10:27 PM

Family of Three!

We are in Liberia - the electricity goes in and out because the generator is having trouble keeping up these days! So hopefully it will stay on long enough to post and the internet connection will allow me this luxury! We were united with precious Gracie on Thanksgiving day - I will write more about this later. But, oh! is Gracie a joy! She is so beautiful, so joyfilled, and a bit mischievious. Her physical limitations do not permit her to accomplish much mischief, but we can tell that she is trying to push some limits already. If we were not in love with her already, she is irresitable and such a treasure and blessing from God. In our two days together, she has not cried once. She spends most of her days smiling, she loves to snuggle (good match for us!), and has the most contagious laugh! Life takes more effort for her - her cerebral palsy is moderate and every activity is a challenge and is clearly tiring for her. Meal times (which she loves) take a long time and much patience and d...

New Stage of Life

Gracie has entered a new developmental stage. She now is active and has been rolling all over the floor. We cleared out a little living room so that she would have room to roll around - she's rolling front to back, both directions. She also has been much easier to get up on all fours - it used to take 3-4 adults to cram her into the crawling position due to her resistance. She now even spontaneously gets into a semi-crawling position on her own. In the crawling position she's been weight bearing even on her right arm (but always in combination with her left arm). She also has been rocking a little in the crawling position as if she gets it that this is a way that you can move! It's been so exciting. But it also makes her much more eager to be down with other kids and moving around. She's in a very active active stage, always moving, and wanting to move. She's also taken, not just a huge interest in other kids, but also interest in toys a bit more. She's so fun!

Check out this progress!

A year ago, my friend Rachel http://josiecomehome.blogspot.com/ emailed a photo of her beautiful son standing on his own... I've since dreamed of having a photo to post of Gracie doing the same thing. It was always one of those wild-don't-think-it'll-ever-happen kind of dreams, a romantic, fairy tale type of dream. But this week, Gracie made another leap in development and muscle tone. It started when I leaned her up against the wall and planted her feet a shoulder-width apart. For the first time, she didn't lunge for the safety of my arms or hands, but rather, she allowed herself to stand steadily on her own two feet and she kept her center of gravity centered over her feet instead of wildly in front of her or to one side or the other. She even quickly figured out that she couldn't lurch around in excitement while standing on her own two feet with no support but a wall behind her back, but rather had to express her excitement over this new development with a gentl...

Rattins living Coram Deo

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