Working On Wheels

Amber has been doing really well in her walker!

She's a pro at going backwards and turning sideways now! Her favorite thing is putting herself under the table.

We are still working on getting her to come forward.

 We've been trying all forms of bribery!! 

 She's also doesn't have lolly pops down yet.

 Once she gets it though....

 she loves them!

She has taken a few steps forward. Usually how it goes is, she gets really excited to move forward. Then confused about how to move so she ends up going backwards. Which makes her really happy so she goes running backwards until she gets stuck.
Along with lolly pops and cats we've bribed her with paper she can pull of the fridge and fridge/side of oven singing farm magnets. It's so cool to watch her discover more of her surroundings. I really love the visibility this walker gives her.

This is Amber's last week with the trial walker : /  Next week we'll discus the benefits of this one vs. her regular baby walker and also evaluate how she's doing in it. If it's decided that she'll be able to get one of her own I'm not sure how long the whole order/wait process will take.

Amber's New Wheels!!

Yesterday Amber started her trial with a Rifton Mini Pacer Gait Trainer!

It's soo tiny!

 It took a lot of hands to get her all set up. 

From the left; Amber's early intervention therapist, me, my dad, the equipment vendor and Amber.

 Amber's taking a break here and we're learning about all the adjustments we can make.

 It took us almost an hour and a half to get her fitted right but once she was comfortable she loved it!

It has a ton of available adjustments which is perfect for Amber's strange shapes, you can't even tell one of her legs is shorter!

 It forces her to be in a standing position, something she's not totally used to.

Because of this it's going to be more work for her until she's used to it but she's already doing really well.

 It has a ton of "accessories" to help positioning. 

Amber is using the chest prompt, the hip positioner with pad and hand holds. Since this is the trial version it also has ankle prompts, hand loops and the guide bar attached (in previous pictures). 

 It's designed to grow with her and also change as she strengthens.

Everything can be removed so it can also be used as a regular push walker.

She really likes it and since the wheels can swivel and go sideways she's already able to move and go places she can't in her regular walker. Amber is still pretty much going backwards. The wheels have settings to change how easy/hard they roll and you can also put breaks/locks on so she can only move forward.

I took this video at the end of the day, so Amber's a little tired. She can move around with her body straight and her head upright. At this point she had just discovered that she could see the floor so she wouldn't look up at all. Sorry it's kind of long but you know how kids are as soon as I stopped videoing her she would move! I did miss her two tiny steps forward but I'm sure in no time she'll be all over the place!

We have the walker for about three weeks and then the therapist and us will have to decide how beneficial to her and her development it would be. 

And She's Off!!

Last week was kind of a drag. After being advised by her cardiologist we've decided to not go ahead with heart surgery for Amber. It was a tough decision to make and I'm having a hard time with the fact that there is nothing we can do for her.

For good we got the ok to start giving her baby food again! She was kind of skeptical of it the first day but now she's loving it again. We'll also be changing up her feeding schedule again. In the next couple of weeks she'll be moving on to big girl formula during the day and pedialight at night. We've discovered that when she has pedialight at night she's much more active during the day and looks a lot better. With this new schedule she'll be getting more food by mouth and it will be a higher calorie so it will even out any extra calories burned by mouth eating.

The best news I have for you which totally makes up for such a crappy week last week is; Amber's therapist dropped off a baby walker on Friday! She tried it out on Friday and loved just being able to stand! The therapist told us it would probably take a while before she started moving in it. We didn't get a chance to put her in it all weekend but today we put her and guess what.....she walked across the kitchen floor! We were totally shocked! I could not be more proud of her!

Sorry it's sideways I was so excited I didn't even think that I wouldn't be able to flip it. Hopefully the tech guy can work his magic and fix it for me.

I could watch this over and over again! She went all the way back twice before she got really tired out but her face is priceless! She is so happy to be able to move around. Pretty soon she'll be all over the house.