Tatum is so aware of her world and what she is working towards. She pushes her way through her daily program and is so obviously proud of herself. Today our wonderful support worker, Michy wrote in Tatum's daily journal "I love, love, love the way Tatum responds to praise. It makes my heart sing. She so understands EVERYTHING!"
It's true, she understands everything and it is so great to see it. When you ask Tatum for a kiss, she smacks her lips and LOVES kissing! When you ask her to put her hands in yours, she does! We've started using a choice board to allow Tatum to express herself and it is so amazing. We ask her everything from "are you hungry?", "are you ready for bed?", "did you enjoy that?" to "do you want to take a break?" and most of the time her answer is very clear. It's such a gift to be able to communicate and understand Tatum's needs and wants.
We've noticed huge improvements in Tatum's fine motor skills in the past couple of weeks. She is picking up toys and moving them from hand to hand. She picks up her Dolly and shakes it with joy. One of the BEST things that she is now doing is that she holds on when we are carrying her. It feels so good to know that she doesn't want to be put down, that she wants to be close to me. She is grabbing our faces, pulling our hair, rubbing our chests, grabbing our shirts, necklaces and glasses. It is so amazing to see Tatum use her hands and arms.
Today was a great day. We completed all 40 maskings that we are supposed to do each day - for the first time ever! The program that we have been prescribed is near impossible to complete each day. I've been able to introduce all of the components of the program except the balance program. We'll start that next week.
It's become very obvious that Tates and I need to start working first thing in the morning and have to keep at it until bedtime. We'll get breaks throughout the day and we can integrate much of her program into our lives with the rest of the family but there is no such thing as closing shop early for the next while.
Tatum is moving herself around about 5-10 feet each night in her room. We've taken her crib down and she is sleeping on a foam pad on her floor. It's comfy and cozy and is big enough for all of us to snuggle in with her! Sleeping on the floor gives Tatum the opportunity to move as much as she can all day AND all night.
We are patterning twice each day and Tatum is on her incline plane whenever she isn't doing the rest of her program, being snuggled or fed. We are all noticing improvement in her strength, endurance and coordination.
Today's pictures include one of Riley, Peyton and Tatum playing on the IPad in bed this morning, one of Tatum in her highchair last week and a video of us patterning Tatum last week. Our rhythm is a bit off because Tatum is starting to move her own arms, legs and head... not always the way we want her to! Quality isn't great... I took them on my finger print covered IPod!
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