The Little Things

A few days ago I walked into the room and my jaw hit the floor when I saw Ellie just hanging out, lifting up her legs and grabbing her toes like it was no big deal! I squealed with excitement as I fumbled around trying to find my phone to take a picture to send to Scott and my mom. They were not going to believe this!

"Look who I caught playing with her toes!"

You might be thinking to yourself, what's the big deal? Don't all babies grab their toes and play with them? Well, yes, they do, and with my first three babies I thought it was just a cute thing that babies did. I now know that it is actually an important milestone that helps develop the muscles and balance needed for sitting. After spending the last three months of therapy trying to help Ellie lift her legs and reach for her toes and wondering if she would ever do it on her own, it is way more than cute, it is amazing! It is just another one of the little things that we took for granted with our older kids. With Ellie, we've learned there is no such thing as a little thing. I have started to noticed that rather than steady and continual progress Ellie seems to go weeks and even months without reaching new milestones and just when I start to get discouraged and fear that she will never progress she blows me away by doing something amazing...like grabbing her toes. Here are some of the other little things that we are celebrating that Ellie can do.

At 8 months old, Ellie is 24.5 inches long and just over 13 pounds. She is about the size and developmental level of a 4 month old. She has yet to roll over from her back to her tummy, but that doesn't stop her from twisting and contorting to roll from side to side as she watches everything going on around her.  It is becoming more common for me to set her down and leave the room only to return to find she has turned 180 degrees and her feet are now where her head previously was.  As previously mentioned, we have been focusing in therapy on building the strength and balance needed for sitting. I feel like she is close to having the strength, but still has a ways to go before she has enough balance.  She has started picking her legs up and kicking them around more, but still doesn't really put any weight on them when we try to stand her up.  

In addition to finding her toes she also found her hands this last week. Now whenever there isn't a toy or person to watch she just entertains herself by intently studying her hands and watching them play with each other up above her head. She has busy little hands and is getting better and better at deliberately reaching for and grabbing things rather than just grabbing whatever her hands touch. The other day I was rocking her and the whole time she was reaching up and grabbing my hair. It felt so natural and reminded me of when Mason used to play with my hair. She brings everything she grabs straight to her mouth to gnaw on. 

As much as she loves having things like her binky and toys in her mouth she has decided she isn't a fan of having food in her mouth :(  She shutters, cringes, and gags when I try to feed her bananas off my pinky anymore.  She still loves her practice bottles and gets super excited when she sees me shaking a bottle, but unfortunately the doctors believe that her pneumonia last month was caused by aspiration, so we have had to back off the bottles until we can make sure she is swallowing safely.

She is most age appropriate in her social development. She remains very smiley and interactive with us. She has the biggest, brightest smile that she loves to show off. Although we have started noticing a touch of stranger anxiety around people she doesn't know. This last week we experienced what may have been the best "first" I have experienced in all 7 years of motherhood. We were able to hear Ellie laugh for the first time with her speaking valve on. It was magical. I caught the tail end of it on video and I watch it multiple times a day. 

Words cannot describe what that sweet sound means to me.

Thank you Ellie for teaching me that it is the little things that are actually the big things in life.