Transitions

This clip gives you a sense of the crux of Hannah's difficulties with movement, as well as an idea of what she is working so hard on right now: transitions.



Although she can push her wagon around really well, it's much harder for Hannah to get all of her muscle groups to work together to get her knees up under her while her arms pull her up to a kneeling position, and then eventually pull up to stand. Without being able to do this, her ability to be independently mobile is still limited. And this transition is a big one in the precursor to cruising and walking.

The great news is that she wants to do it, and is trying so hard, and trying all the time. We've been putting her in this position for a long time now, helping her get her arms up and her legs under her, and then showing her how to pull up. In the past week or so, she has been getting herself into this position on her own, which is huge. And today...

(drumroll, please)...

She got from a kneeling position to standing ALL BY HERSELF!!!

I think it's telling that she did this while I wasn't in the room. My biggest challenge is letting her fuss and complain a bit and not always rushing in to help her. It's the hardest thing I have to do. But I do it when I think she's feeling good and well fed and distracted enough by her toys and her sister that she'll tolerate the frustration long enough to work hard to figure it out alone. This is exactly what happened today.

I was in the kitchen, the girls were in the playroom, and Hannah started crabbing. I told her I'd be there in a minute, and I thought to myself: "how amazing would it be if I walked in there and she was standing up?" A few minutes later, she was still crabbing so I thought she'd gotten herself into a position she couldn't get out of, and I went in to rescue her.

I walked in, and there she was, standing up. I couldn't believe it. And she was crabbing not because she couldn't get where she wanted to, but because she and Isabelle were fighting over a toy. Both of them standing up, playing together, fighting over a toy. Who knew that could make me cry?