Triumphs

I feel this past week or so we have jumped hurdles when it comes to Autumn's developments and therapies. I feel like we are able to rejoice in all her triumphs. These may not be life-changing triumphs but big enough for me to notice and get excited about. Usually Autumn excels in one therapy area at a time but lately she's been doing something new in all 3 areas.

Speech: She's letting me use my finger to put a "dab" of baby food in her mouth without gaggin. I'm able to "try" to brush her teether without gagging as well. She also put a toy cookie to her mouth the other day which is huge because she doesn't mouth anything. She's also loving her PMV and making some noises and wanting to vocalize with us. James says she says "Dada" which technically she does but I think it's just because it sounds like a growl noise she kind of makes and she's not meaning to actually say "dada"---she really wants mama to be her first word. ;)

OT: She's grasping with her index finger and thumb to grab small objects, she's learned to clap (at everything), waves bye-bye, and now blows kissesd...she even puckers now to give kisses. She's focusing on toys more by actually looking at what we ask her to grab and hand us and not just throwingeverything off her tray onto the floor. She's also mastered the sign for bath and asks for one everytime we take her shirt off.

PT: She's been a rockstar. She's continuing to gain strength in her arms and core. She's army crawling and getting faster at moving to whatever she has her eye on to get into. She can pivot around and she tries to pull up her body weight with her arms. She's learned to move her stander more to almost doing circles. She loves getting into toys and movies on the entertainment center and making a big mess. She went from exploring just the livingroom to now the kitchen and office as well. She's alwasy go a new bruise everyday on her head or ribs from exploring and banging into stuff. She loves when I sit down to eat lunch with a TV tray so she can crawl over and move it the entire time I'm trying to eat. :) Unlike when Madison and Gage were little, I'm enjoying all the messes she's making and have a new appreciate for them.

She's also been consistent on being off the vent for a total of 8 hours a day and having a consistent breathrate of 20 at night without oxygen. We still have MANY more hurdles to jump like still trying to stop her retching episodes after feeds (although they are getting better), eating by mouth again, talking, sitting up, signing, and many more to come but I'm feeling like we are heading in the right direction again and will get there with LOTS of patience, hard-work, prayers, and faith.