Rolling Over

Last night Stella rolled over for the first time. We were at my dad's and I had put Stella down for her tummy time. As I was sitting at the table chatting with my dad & Meg I looked over just in time to see Stella roll onto her back. A few moments later I put her on her tummy again and she immediately rolled onto her back. Yay! Progress finally. I wonder if we will ever get her to play on her tummy again...

PT Evaluation

Seeing as Stella is almost 8 months and still not rolling over or sitting up, I decided it was time to meet with a physical therapist (PT). Actually, I decided this about 6 weeks ago and this is how long it took for Early Intervention to send me someone. Ugh.

I really liked the PT and am looking forward to working with her. She evaluated Stella and said that her movements are typical of a 3 month old. I already knew that, so it didn't freak me out. It was nice to hear that Stella's muscle tone is good and that the PT was impressed with how responsive and curious Stella is. She thinks we will make good progress with Stella quickly. So, one more weekly item to add to my schedule. I know it will be worth it.

Active Learning Play Space

Probably the best thing we have gotten so far to help with Stella's development is an active learning play space. Michael's dad built it using instructions from this site:
http://www.e-advisor.us/PPS/index.php?fontsize=normal

It is modeled after the concept of the Little Room invented by Dr. Lilli Nielsen. The device is a multi-sensory learning tool that enables children with visual impairments to learn more about their surroundings and interact with their environments.

I am amazed at the changes I have seen in Stella in just a few weeks. While in the play space Stella is more active and more verbal than anywhere else. She knows where the toys are, seeks them out and plays with them, scoots all over the place and rolls onto her side to reach toys with both hands. She also loves to feel different textures on the sides of the play space. It's great because it is all self-directed learning. I just love this thing!

7 months old

Stella is still a happy, easy baby. We went to the pediatrician for her well-baby visit last week and learned that she is still very tiny for her age. She weighed almost 16 pounds and measured 24.25 inches. There are a lot of petite relatives (me included) on both sides of our family, so I'm not going to worry about it. It's actually very easy on my back :-)

Stella loves to lie on her back and play with toys, her pacifier and her fingers. She can now more easily find her pacifier and put it into her mouth herself. She puts everything in her mouth, and seems to especially enjoy fabrics like clothing and blankets. She also still loves her swing and can sometimes figure out how to pull on an attached toy to play music. Stella will sometimes spend up to 30 minutes in her exersaucer and does a pretty good job of exploring the different toys. She does like to bang on the part that makes animal sounds and smiles at the dog barking. We have a duck puppet that quacks, which she always laughs at. She is capable of rolling to her side, but hasn't quite figured out how to make it all the way over. And she is still pretty wobbly when we help her sit up. We are planning to start her in occupational therapy, but haven't managed to get it set up yet. Her TVI is great and thinks Stella is moving right along. Rolling and sitting are still Stella's goals. Michael's dad built Stella a small room - a therapeutic device - that has helped immensely. More on that in a separate post.

We do have her sitting up in her high chair and eating a few foods now. She usually tolerates rice cereal and bananas, wasn't impressed with pears, and loves sweet potatoes. I use a dipper to feed her instead of a spoon. I dip it into the food and then hold it in front of Stella. She grabs it with one or two hands and puts it into her mouth herself. It is quite a messy process, but she does manage to eat a good amount of the food. It's pretty funny to watch her eat sweet potatoes. She slurps every last bit she can get off of the dipper and her hands. Then she squeals and waves her arms to ask for more.

Stella started Kindermusik classes 2 weeks ago and she is doing pretty well. The teacher and other moms have been really friendly and supportive. I was impressed when one mom inquired as to the best way to interact with Stella. The class is 45 minutes long and Stella does well for the first 30 minutes and then I can tell that she is a little over-stimulated. When we repeat the activities at home and sing the songs she loves it.

Some of my favorite moments with Stella are when she's really giggly or snuggly. She likes to be held and snuggles right into my arms. I love when she rolls over next to me in bed, grabbing at my bra, wanting to nurse. It cracks me up when I lay Stella on the changing table and she gets really excited. She just loves having her diaper changed! She laughs, smiles and kicks her legs. Of course, I always tickle her tummy during the process, which is what I think she anticipates. Anytime Stella is playing alone and then I come to pick her up, she gets all excited and coos, waves her arms, kicks her legs, and then smiles and babbles when I pick her up. Baths are also fun. She enjoys the water. She is very vocal and kicks and splashes, happy well after the water is cool.

6 months old

I can't believe my baby is already 6 months old! Time just flies...

She is doing really well. She doesn't seem to be developmentally delayed at all, which I am happy about. Of course that doesn't mean anything about what the future might bring.


Stella has become quite verbal. She babbles a lot, especially when she is playing alone or is trying to get our attention. She makes the ahh and mmmm sounds often, and sometimes the b sound.We swear she can saw mama and milk :-)

Stella loves to explore her environment and will quickly reach for any toy that makes noise. She explores objects with her hands and puts them right to her mouth. She is doing better during tummy time, but still much prefers to be on her back. She does well sitting up now too (while being held) and has started to bang on objects a bit. We have started propping her up in the exer-saucer and she enjoys it for a little while. She smiles a lot and laughs when I tickle her or play blowing or kissing games with her. She loves playing peek-a-boo and sometimes will play by herself.

She is getting stronger and bigger every day. It's so fun to observe! I think she is almost ready to move up to clothing sized 6-9 months and size 3 diapers. Sleep is a bit wacky these days. She usually takes one short nap in the morning, and then a long nap in the afternoon. Sometimes if we let her she will sleep for 7 hours in the afternoon! Usually she will wake up to nurse and then fall back asleep. I think her night time is from 4pm-6am. Ahh well - at least when she sleeps she does it in long chunks.

Her therapy seems to be moving right along, although both Marla & I would love to see her rolling over soon! The trips to the ocularist continue to be difficult, but the conformers are doing their job.

Christmas

Stella had a wonderful first Christmas. She had no idea what was going on of course, but she happily laid on the floor while the rest of us opened presents. She was eager to explore every new object we put next to her. She was a great little traveler - sleeping the entire way to and from Michigan, and she loved visiting with all the relatives and being passed around. In fact, she was spoiled - by the end of the trip she didn't want to be put down. I think she must have missed her play gym though, because the first time I put her under that when we were back home she got so excited.

Stella got some really neat presents:

- A handmade quilt with fabrics of different textures. It also has her name embroidered in braille and made out of detachable stuffed fabric.

- A vtech move & crawl ball

- A Baby Stella doll

- Lots of cute taggies stuff

- A Safe Sippy cup

- A Munchkin Mozart music cube (she loves banging on this)

- Various books, rattles, blankets and clothing

First Food

Stella had her first food today, other than breast milk. I'm being aggressive about introducing her to new foods because I know that eating can be difficult for some blind children, and I'm hoping that having her experience a variety of tastes and textures from a young age will encourage her to enjoy eating.


I started with rice cereal - a typical first food for infants. I mixed it with breast milk and offered it to her from my finger. I held it to her lips and she stuck her little tongue out and licked the cereal. She must have enjoyed it because she grabbed my finger and pushed it into her mouth and sucked all the cereal off. It was so cute! Except for dipping my finger in the cereal for refills, I let Stella do everything else. She wanted more and more - her chin, cheeks, nose and fingers ended up covered in the stuff. Hopefully this is a good sign regarding her relationship with food and feeding.