Before her lesson; after the lesson...
This is hard for a baby!!!
This past week has been very, very exciting for me... Ella has had a lot of success using the toilet (with help, obviously!), and she did so well during her swim lessons... She is floating and kicking but we'll have to help her to use her arms more. Glendy said to focus more on that- and specifically, don't do a lot of underwater stuff with the baby! Well , just once every month or two in order to maintain those skills? I better confirm with her- anyway it's not necessary to do that with her often. And as she gets stronger she should get better at holding on to the edge of the pool. We'll have to go over to Ryan's parents house sometimes to practice : ) Ryan and his mom both came to the last lesson to watch, and I was able to get in the pool to practice working with Ella myself. I was a little nervous doing it but we did alright. Ryan was so impressed with it all that he's already agreed we should have Ella spend another week with Glendy next year, to help her reinforce old skills and learn some new skills. I hadn't anticipated doing it another time (mostly because it was a little pricey for me) but we liked it so much that we are planning on doing it next year too. It was worth it, definitely.
Thursday (Day 4 of lessons)
Friday (Day 5 of lessons)
Back to why this week has been so exciting! In addition to learning to swim and using the toilet a bunch, I think that I might be able to officially say that Ella crawled! She really wanted to get to those things she can't play with (the remote control, a tray for drinks) so she did some forward lunges utilizing all her limbs and made her way to those "fun" adult things! And then I put them farther away, how frustrating! So I think she just needs motivation to really get moving... She also has her first tooth coming through her bottom gums! You can hardly see it, but you can definitely feel it! Ryan just discovered it this morning. Everyday it seems to be something new now! I know teeth are inevitable and nothing to be proud of, but somehow I am!!!
Ella's comprehension of things is starting to amaze me too... Like today I asked her, "do you want to read a book?" And she immediately looked over at the books on the shelf next to the bed, where I keep some of her books. This actually happened twice today, so I don't think it was a mere coincidence or that I was mistaken (Ryan was there one of the times, and he agreed she clearly understood what I was talking about.) I'll try to incorporate some signs for things we use/say a lot: book, duck, milk, potty, lights on/off, etc - I don't know if that's helping but she does look intently at my hands when I do- and when I'm signing duck she smiles with amusement : ) I think it's because she likes to play with her rubber duckies in the bath tub, and there's also a cute stuffed duck from Ryan's parents that makes a quacking noise- she likes that. Anyway, I can't say that she's signed anything back yet- sometimes it looks like she might be signing milk but I think she's just wiggling her fingers... Still, I think that it's helping her to develop language comprehension skills... and eventually it may lead to some preverbal communication!
Here's another, AMAZING thing I don't even expect you to believe it but I'm going to tell you anyway.... Ella watches a DVD everyday (once or twice daily) that is ultimately supposed to help her learn to read. The written word comes on the screen, it's spoken, there's some image to associate meaning to the word, and there are parts to make it interactive also- the multisensory approach. Anyway, so Ryan was watching the DVD with her Thursday evening and the word "kick" came on. Ryan encouraged Ella by saying the word himself and demonstrating the motion. In response, Ella said "kick"! Clearly. This isn't the only instance either. About three weeks ago she clearly said "cat" after seeing and hearing it- and later in the week she attempted to say "dog" after seeing and hearing it (she didn't get the "g" but her attempt was right on cue). It's so exciting to see that she's really tuning in to what she's learning- and yes, she does enjoy it!
Well, I can't wait to share more of Ella's accomplishments- but I think that blogging 3 times in one week means I probably won't blog at all for the next week. It takes me longer than I'd like to spend doing it!
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