the difference between doing and mastering

OK, I have learned a good lesson in the past few weeks. But first, lets take a trip to the past.

At Ella's 9 month appointment: I tell the doc that Ella has rolled over a few times, but isn't doing it regularly. She says, thats ok, as long as we know she can do it. She also says not to worry about the not rolling over since she has mastered sitting and the skill of sitting comes after the skill of rolling over (PT says this is not a good way to look at child development: skipping steps is not good if it is essential and rolling over is essential).

So, you know that she had rolled over a few times (6 times max.) before she started her therapy. Now, she has rolled over an average of 4 times a week for the past 2-3 weeks. Much better than the past, but still not mastery. Her PT says that, in order for her to have mastered a skill, she must be able to do it without help multiple times in one day. Needless to say we are not quite there, but we certainly are a lot closer than we were a few weeks ago.

So, lesson learned: it is great when she does something once, or even a few times. However, I shouldn't get so excited as to think that I no longer have to work on that move with her. There is going to be a bit of space between doing something once and mastering it to the point where I don't have to practice it with her anymore.

Also on the movement front: She has almost mastered going from sitting to kneeling. At her last PT session she pulled up to kneeling by holding on to her toy bin (we put a 10lb. weight in it so it wouldn't tip over) multiple times without any help at all. Since the session she has pulled up on me multiple times and has done it a few more times on the toy bin. However, she gets lazy and will reach for a toy that is close by sometimes, instead of pulling up all the way to reach for a toy that is farther away.

food

Ella is receiving some help, not only from a PT, but also from an OT (occupational therapist). This is because of her tendency, at the time of her evaluation, to vomit when offered foods of varying texture that needed to be chewed.

She no longer seems to have this problem. In fact, she has become quite the adventurous eater.

This past Thursday, the OT came for a visit. She proclaimed that Ella seemed to be doing much better. She was elated at her use of a cup to drink from, and marvelled at her chewing style. She suggested to me that Ella could try eating small cuts of meat, fish, etc. (ie. not pureed).

On Friday, Ella ate small cut up pieces of chicken. Multiple pieces, picked up off the table by her own fingers! And, to top that off, when we went out to dinner with her tonight she ate one piece of broccoli, multiple small scoops of mashed potatoes (normally she doesn't like them), some cheese and spinach mixed together, and a few pieces of chicken off Matt's plate.

I am truely amazed.

misc. news

Lisa gave birth to baby Ben Fersch yesterday morning. Horray and Congratulations!

Why is it that when some of their teeth come in, it hardly affects their mood? Then, other times, they are a holy terror for over a week and are unbearable without a little Tylenol in their systems! I think that you can guess which phase we are experiencing right now.

what a name is in...sounds like

Elephant...ellaphant
Elevator...ellavator
Elemental...ellamental
Element...ellament
Elementary...ellamentary
Elegant...ellagant
Elevate...ellavate
Elevation...ellavation
Candela...candella
Umbrella....uh...this one is fine the way it is
Mortadella (type of sausage)...also ok

not something you see often...if ever

I wish I had my camera with me this morning.

Ella and I went for a walk around the lake and saw a most unusual sight.

A man was walking....um, wrong verb...his dog. At any rate, the dog was walking. The dog's owner was riding a unicycle.

How we love the swings!

This was taken in June.

Ella loves the swings and when we follow one of our usual walking trails, we always pass the swings and she gets excited and coos loudly to get my attention to let me know that she wants to get on.

It is ashame that it is so terribly hot and humid these days. I don't like walking with her in this weather so she has missed out on quite a few chances at the swings.

HOOOORAAAAY!!!

She rolled over from her tummy to her back 2xs this morning!
I knew that the time was coming. She has practically been doing it by herself for almost a week, but she has always needed me to move her arm to get her started.
This morning she did it without me even touching her!

She has also been balancing herself on her knees without having to touch anything to hold her steady. This seems like a small victory too, but she can't actually get herself onto her knees by herself. I have to get her there, but then I can leave her without having to worry that she will fall over. It is so cute to watch her on her knees, playing with a toy and totally oblivious of anything else.