Friday, October 29, 2010

Comparison in walking

Here are two videos showing the difference in Katie's walking ability from the first of August to mid-October. In the first video, (her first time on the treadmill) she needed help with foot placement. In the second video she is doing pretty darn good all by herself!



I had to video tape the second time from behind her so that she wouldn't get distracted! It's amazing to me how fast she is progressing, for Katie.  I know that all of her therapies: Horse, OT, Speech and PT (treadmill) have helped her so much, along with the conductive education program she attended this summer.  But honestly, from age 1 to 4 was slow progression for this child, and the last nine months we have seen incredible strides - since her transfusion. 


Here is the link for SWAN Rehab where Katie does the treadmill therapy, in Phoenix. It is one of the best places in the country for stroke rehabilitationhttp://www.swanrehab.com/


Here are some other links of the wonderful places locally (Phoenix mainly, and Tucson) that have helped Katie, a lot!  Maybe they can help someone else!

 http://www.swgaitway.org/ Conductive Education, Tucson
http://orthoticspecialists.com/ Orthotic Specialists (Leg Braces etc..)
http://www.headtotoetherapy.com/ OT, PT, Speech
http://www.bouldermountaintherapy.com/ Horse Therapy (plus they offer all other therapies)

http://www.fiestapeds.com/ PT, OT, Speech - we used to go here and they are great too!




Friday, October 22, 2010

At School

This is a note I received today from Katie's speech therapist at school:

Katie had a really good day today. We were playing with the babies, and when I asked her to put a blanket on the baby, she chose between a bottle and the blanket, and then she covered up the baby and did the same for following directions for bottle. She also gave me a baby when asked. I later asked her which center she wanted to go to next and she looked towards the library then with assistance, she quickly made her way directly there using only my fingertips for assistance. She was able to push herself nearly straight up from a seated position in the vinyl padded furniture as well.

Not the same girl as last year.

Susie

I'm not surprised my lil' bookworm went straight for the library center! (Amy)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Oh no! (teeth)

When we decided to put new floors in, we decided on wood rather than tile or stone because they are more "forgiving".  Our last house had tile throughout and I felt like I always needed to have slippers on, otherwise my feet hurt. Well, these wood floors weren't forgiving enough to Katie's two front teeth - she fell face first right on them the other night and they took her two teeth right out.  My poor girl cried for about an hour, but with the help of a lot of hugs, reading books with Daddy, and some Ibuprofen, she ended up having a good night sleep. The next day the dentist said it was as if she had had both teeth extracted, that there was nothing left in the sockets - which was good news.  She also says she sees this about once a week - so that made me feel a little better, and the fact that they were her baby teeth was also good news.  Bad news is that she will not have front teeth until her permanent ones come in which could be 3-4 years.  However, I must say she is just as cute as ever, and she is feeling fine, so it's ok.  And it will certainly help to make her Halloween costume a bit more authentic!    

Monday, October 18, 2010

From one phase to the next

Katie stopped with her tongue hanging out - it lasted about two weeks, but was immediately replaced with her hands in her mouth - constantly!  Ugh! So I am just trying to keep her hands busy and will see how long this phase lasts. Always something!

Katie continues to improve a lot on walking more steadily, and the two sets of company we have had recently are amazed at her growth in the last few months (both with walking and physically, how tall she has grown).  I will try to get some video of her at her next treadmill therapy because it really is something that needs to be seen - the difference from a few months ago.

One new thing Katie is doing is she will grab my finger, pull herself up, and pull me toward whatever it is she wants.  She has done this a handful of times and the other day, Katie pulled her Grammie over to the doughnuts (which I should not be buying!) and was loving the doughnut!  A definite sweet tooth.