Day Two: Thanks for the prayers

Today was a good day. Some things were harder today and some things were not. I'll start with the positive because that's always a good attitude, right?!?

Laila did a lot better today with sitting up and being aware of her body. Several times I saw her catch herself and fix her posture while sitting at the table holding on to the bar for different activities. While I was working with her at the table yesterday I would have to keep one hand around her so I could catch her if she started to lean, then it got better where I would only have to keep a finger there just so she'd have something to feel which would signal her brain to sit up straighter and today I would say most of the time while she was at the table with a bar to hold onto I just sat in a chair next to her. Her instructor even told me that at times that I saw that she was very stable I should get up and go grab a tissue or something so that she could start to gain some independence and realize that she could do these things without me sitting there because starting next week she will be going by herself to therapy until the end of our three weeks when I will join back in for learning how to take all these new skills home with us. The other thing that was nice about leaving her for a minute was the fact that I got to take a picture today which I haven't been able to do. They keep Laila very busy with a very scheduled day (I'm in heaven:) so there's no time for pictures for me! In the picture you see above you can see the kind of table and chair she is using and the bar that I keep talking about that she hangs on to. In that picture her posture isn't the greatest but you can kind of tell what I'm talking about. You can see that they put a mirror in front of her. They are still working on body parts and today added in some skills of learning pairs so we were learning which of our body parts come in pairs. Then we did a craft where she got to glue some eyes on a small paper plate. Tomorrow we'll finish with the rest of the face.

Laila did a lot of rolling a scooting today. She also did a lot of walking and standing but that didn't go as well. She was pretty lazy when it came to the walking and standing but I have to wonder in part if that has to do with her muscles being sore. Think of yourself when you start a new workout program. Now think about that workout program being five hours long everyday and most of it consisting of muscles you never use. I'm sure her legs are very sore but, if we don't keep working them her body will never get used to these movements and she'll continue to have this soreness. With rolling, we continue to have her front, back, front, back and on and on until she gets to the place she needs to be. Continuously we are telling her to keep her arm and leg straight and telling her how she is getting closer to her destination hoping for her brain to make the connection that she can actually be mobile and in control of what and where she wants. She's been able to roll for some time now but doesn't do it very often. We need her brain to understand the connection between rolling and getting somewhere. With scooting she is lying on her back and pushing herself with her feet. She actually started doing this about six months ago but we were told not to let her. We tried to break her of it but she wouldn't stop and then after her evaluation at CLC in March they told us not to discourage it, that we could find a way to make it helpful. So, once we actually wanted Laila to do it she either decided it wasn't fun if it was permissible or she finally decided to listen to us to stop doing it and then was confused. Either way, I was pretty impressed with how well she did with it today. It is a deliberate movement where she needs to put her feet together flat on the ground, keep her knees together (which is a hard thing for her) and the push straight. Then, she walks her feet back close to her bottom again (again, easier said than done) and starts all over. It so hard not to just cheer her on with the words I'm so used to like "Come on Laila! You can do it! Go, Go, Go!" Instead I have to narrate the things she needs to be doing in an encouraging voice like "Come on Laila, you can push your feet. Push push push!!" See the difference? While encouraging, I'm helping her brain to understand her movements more. I hope so anyway!! :)

I talked yesterday about her eating and I'm going to give it a big thumbs up again today! Right when it was time for lunch Laila and I had had about enough of each other and the instructor stepped in and said she'd take over helping Laila with lunch today. When I tried, we didn't even get past me trying to get her to transform from her limp noodle posture to even sit to start. I left the room for five minutes to go to the bathroom and check my voicemail and when I came back she was taking great bites and ate almost an entire jar of baby food! Sometimes she just gets sick of her momma and again, since I said this will be an honest portrayal...... sometimes I need a break too! She was also drinking from her cup pretty well today. Last night when I was eating dinner she finished her milk that she had taken to school which means that she drank a whole nutrition drink (240ml) by mouth yesterday. That pretty exciting since she probably hasn't done that for at least four months. Also exciting because her diet consists of about 900 calories per day and she drank 240 of that by mouth. (it's 1calorie/1ml)

Another aspect of her therapy that I got to see today was a sort of tummy time activity that they do in the morning. I can't remember what they called it but after starting school, sitting in her chair learning what day it is and a few other facts, she has to stand and try to pull herself up onto the table. They help her with the movements. Once she is up there they did different activities where she had to raise up her head when they were talking about her or the toy she had in front of her. They also played catch across the room with a large ball and the kids had to turn their heads from side to side watching the ball. At first I thought Laila was just going to take the opportunity to take a little snooze and she just laid there, but then she figured out that they were talking about the book that was by her head and that it was pretty fun to watch the ball. I love when she does something like that where I think "no way is she going to do that" and then she just shows me. I do love when she proves me wrong in those situations :)

When I was talking with Jack this morning I was telling him how I think this is as much for the parents as for the children. I truly have to rewire my brain as well to help her succeed at this. I have to throw out everything I knew from teaching the other two kids and do it the way Laila needs. I need to understand it's going to take time and repetition to create new behaviors. This is especially tough because of the fact that Laila has only been with us for a little over a year. I'm not only breaking habits she and I have made but also habits from other places she has lived. I need to persevere because how am I ever supposed to expect Laila to stop giving up and thinking it's too hard if I do that? So, we move forward looking at the positive things we see so far and believe this will continue to sink in and make a difference. I'll leave you with one more positive note. Today they came in to take pictures of Laila for her progress report. They will do before and after pictures to put with her final report to see how she has improved and what we need to work on at home. When I was talking to her her instructor at the end today she told me she was very glad they came in today to take pictures because she already sees so much progress that if they even waited another day, she thought they wouldn't be accurate "before" pictures :) Two days in :)

A little encouragement from my sister from yesterday I'll share today. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be the glory" Ephesians 3:20