A few months ago I noted that Tatum has finally landed in her body; that her body and spirit had finally joined and she felt present in the world to us. Now we are seeing that Tatum is not only present in the world, but she is experiencing the world around her and letting the world know her as well. She is showing us who she is, what she likes, what she wants and what she is capable of doing.
I'm asked almost daily how Tatum is doing and often what she is doing these days. When you have a typical child, you might say "she's sitting" or "she's pulling herself up on everything" or "she's taking off her own diaper". With Tatum it's different. Everything that Tatum does for the first time is amazing. We celebrate everything with big cheers, crinkly noses and pictures. It's interesting that almost everything we congratulate Tatum for doing, we didn't pay much attention to with the other girls. It's kind of sad that we took all of Riley and Peyton's small victories for granted because all of the small victories add up and lead to the big ones... they deserve credit too! It is such a valuable gift to learn how to appreciate all of life's little things. I now know what it means to do so.
Wikipedia defines Neuroplasticity as "changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes... Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held position that the brain is a physiologically static organ, and explores how - and in which ways - the brain changes throughout life."
We are watching Tatum's brain undergo neuroplasticity daily. Each day it is so obvious that her neural pathways are connecting in new ways and her synapses are firing faster. Every day, since beginning our program with the Institutes, we have seen Tatum grow stronger and healthier and most days she has even done something new.
Two weeks ago, Tatum began sticking out her tongue and making 'raspberries'. Not only is she doing it for fun, but she is also copying us when we do it and thinks it is funny!
Tatum is regularly saying all of the following sounds: la, ha, na, wa un, ba, da and ma. We are sure that ba means she's hungry or wants a bottle. It's obvious that the rest of her words mean something, it is our mission to figure out what that something is! She loves talking and telling us what is on our mind. She's getting so good at using her choice board as well. It is so nice for us to have a way to figure out what she needs and wants and for her to have a way to tell us clearly.
Tatum's core strength is really great. She is able to sit fully upright in her highchair and likes to pull herself towards her tray. She is able to sit upright on the floor for close to 10 minutes at a time now. When she is sitting on our laps and leaning up against us, she is close to getting herself to sitting from a reclined position as well.
Tatum has started complaining when someone other than Mom or Dad is holding her... it's very exciting to see that she is 'making strange'. Typical behaviour is good behaviour!!! She is also occasionally throwing temper tantrums on the patterning table... show us your fighting spirit Tatum! We love it!
The inclined floor is still a regular part of Tatum's day (40 trips per day). She is now regularly actively moving towards her needs. She excitedly wiggles her way down the ramp towards a book or her bottle. It is so great to see that she has her 'eyes on the prize' and works to move towards it and grab it. It is still a challenge to actually grab what she is aiming for but she can definitely purposely move herself towards a target.
While on the patterning table, Tatum frequently gets actively involved in moving her arms, legs and head in cross pattern motion. It is so obvious that she knows what to do to get moving, she just needs to keep building the physical strength to make it happen.
Today I decided to put shoes on Tatum and see how she is doing in standing position. She blew my mind. She's been doing better and better with bearing weight on her legs but I did not realize she was so strong at this point. After putting on Tatum's shoes I put her in standing position while holding onto her at the hips. I felt her legs engage and put her footing in a solid position. I then felt her hips engage, her core integrate with her hips and her posture go completely upright. I then let go of her hips and held her by the fingers while she held herself in a complete upright standing position. She's still wobbly but our baby girls can stand up and she is so proud of herself.
We all get so excited when Tatum gets excited. Part of her 'Vestibular/Balance' program requires us to swing her in a blanket swing style and hammock style. She loves it and laughs hysterically every time. Her smile lights up the room and her laugh is infectious. To me it is a glimpse of who Tatum is deep inside. One day soon she's going to show the world who she is, deep down inside... I know it.
