Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Moving right along...

On Saturday, Mikaela signed MOM!! Okay, she only did it 3 times that day and hasn't done it since, but she DID sign it!! She was in her neglect-o-sphere (aka Excersaucer) and wanted out. (I usually sign as I say to her, "Come to Mama" whenever I take her out. Same thing when I take her out of her crib, highchair, car seat, stroller, etc...) As I was walking over to her she signed 'mama'! Her hand was open, facing out, and on her chin!! She had her mouth open, which I am thinking she was imitating me....like she was speech reading!

Some other cute things she is doing: points to head, nose, teeth. She plays peekaboo. She imitates a silly song I sing when I feed her. She also imitates 'woof, woof, woof' when she sees Otto or any dog for that matter. (It's like "uh, uh, uh" - but with closed lips) Then when she sees Puca, (our cat) she imitates a meow sound. (For her, it's like "mmmmmmm" - like a whine, kind of.) I also have a bunny on her highchair and when she sees him, she imitates 'hop, hop, hop'. (It sounds just like her woof, woof, woof.) But she has the right rhythm down. Then when I pull over the butterfly on her highchair to which she imitates my 'wheeeeeeeeeee'. (Yep, you guessed it, it sounds just like her meow imitation.)

The ASL signs she knows and has used: Head, Nose, Teeth, Dog, more, milk, eat, light, mama, the letters "F", "D", "L", and "E". She knows receptively, but hasn't yet signed them herself: Cat, Daddy, Sister, Outside, Flower, Tree, Butterfly, Bird, and I am pretty sure she knows more. I think she understands some phrases I sign to her, like "Change your diaper, NO, Take a bath, go in the car, Ready to eat, Go to sleep now," and things like that.

Physically she is progressing as well. What she can do: On her tummy, she pushes her self up and locks her arms. (She can't get into crawling position yet, but she's working those legs under.) She pushes herself backwards, spins around, and she can roll from belly to back, but doesn't like to. She can also roll from back to belly as well, and - doesn't like to. She cannot get from sit to crawl or belly position and likewise cannot go from belly to sit. She is, however, making progress towards that with some assistance from me and/or her therapist. She cannot pull to stand, but does quite well if I stand her and cruises along the ottoman.

Overall, I am very happy with how she is improving!! Everyday is so exciting and I don't take anything for granted! Looking foward to noting 'hearing improvements' here as well soon! Surgery is less than a week.

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