Progress

I just re-read my last post and Presley has made a ton of progress in the last month!! On Aug 29 she took her first steps!! She took about 5 steps trying to get my phone (screaming the whole time) and then another two a little later in the day. I was SO excited I immediately started bawling which Presley wasn't sure what to think of, she crawled over and gave me a big hug which just made me cry even harder. =) Peyton woke up from his nap and I was still pretty emotional so I was explaining to him how people sometimes cry when they're happy too and I was really happy because one time a doctor told me Presley might not ever walk to which he responded " I'd like to hit that mean doctor in the back of the head with my frisbee". Gotta love that kid! She hasn't taken many more steps since then, maybe 2-3 steps every 2-3 days but I'm sure she'll get it soon.

Fine motor skills seems to be the area she's excelling at lately. She has started banging two objects together and putting things into containers which were the two things on her evaluation that put her behind. She also is eating with a spoon (when I feel like cleaning a huge mess), putting blocks in her shape sorter (with help at first, but now can do it on her own most of the time), mastered clapping, waving and pointing and she's a pro at the little flap books as well. Her occupational therapist says she can see a lot of progress each week. Yeah!

The speech continues to be a concern but I'm seeing a little progress there too. She is starting to babble a lot more and it's clear she's trying to tell me something but I'm unable to understand a word of it. She can do the sign for more so she uses that sometimes to communicate but mostly she just imitates me when I do it. She points at Ely and makes a D sound over and over so I'm pretty sure she's saying dog and she does the same with ball but with a B sound. Receptive language is getting better too, she now will look at Ely, Peyton, ball, etc. when I ask her where they are. I just bought a speech therapy book on how to work with kids with language delays so I'm hoping to get a few tips from that.

Overall she's doing great. At her 15 month appointment her pediatrician told me "she really is a miracle"! She said she's seen 3 kids with Infantile Spasms and they weren't even close to how Presley is doing. People are sometimes surprised at how "normal" Presley is, they expect her delays to be super obvious but they really aren't. I'm in a good place lately too. I of course still think of seizures everyday and my week includes 4 hours of therapy so it's definitely on my mind a lot but it doesn't consume me anymore (most days). Presley is so happy and has so much fun everyday so how can I be depressed watching her? I get down when I start worrying about her future because we still have no idea what to expect but for now I just want to enjoy her and I have so much hope that she will continue to be my "miracle" girl and prove all those doctors wrong!

I came into the bathroom to find that she had climbed up on Peytons stool and was brushing her teeth! =)