Since going to Gainesville a few weekends ago, Mattie has been making steady progress. She rolls everywhere these days and still is trying to sit up the hard way! She is much more relaxed and has been better playing with her cognitive toys. I have been trying to teach her what a nose is. I will point to my nose, her nose, & pooh’s nose, repeating the word nose. Occasionally she will reach out and grab my nose when I ask her but most of the time she brings her hands to her mouth and starts to make a noise and moves her hand back and forth. It is sooo funny. As I am talking to Sarah about this, Sarah mentions that when she signs “eat” to Mattie, she does the same thing! And apparently while she is lying in bed trying to nap!! Oh well, one day she will realize that she has a nose and will be able to sign “eat”, but until then we will keep ourselves amused with her playful antics. 🙂

So last week I could not make it to her OT appointment. Jim calls me and wants to know if I got his text of Mattie walking. I am in shock. WHAT?!?!?! So I watch the video and I am in tears. First of all, we don’t normally “walk” Mattie. The few times our PT tried, Mattie would scream and cry. She does not know to move her feet forward or to bend her knees. In order for her to “walk” we would have to pick up her legs, which are stiff as a board, and move them forward. It has been a long time since we “walked” her. During this OT session, Mattie started to bend her knees and pick up her foot and place it down again. So they decided to try and see what she would do. While holding under her arms, she bends her knees, picks up her foot and actually moves forwards. She is walking!! It was really incredible to see. I have never given up hope that she would walk one day, and this just proves to me that she will be able to do it!! Check it out yourself: Video of Mattie Walking

Some other updates 🙂

We had a pedi appt last Thursday and Mattie gained 15 ounces in 6 weeks. We both thought that was pretty good!! This puts her in the 5%. She is back on the charts!

Mattie has been doing better with eating food. Last month we had her speech therapist come out to the house and give us some pointers. I thought Mattie chokes on table food, but I was corrected in that she gags. Either way, it makes me panic! If we can place the food on the side of her mouth and not straight in, she does better. We have found out that she loves chicken. Like addicted to it!! 99% of her food is now homemade. It is such a pain, but hopefully our efforts are paying off with some weight gain.

We were able to get in 10 total ABM sessions last month and another 8 are on the books for June. I think Jim really started to believe in this therapy after seeing the progress she has made the past few weeks. He even questioned whether we should move to California for a few years, where the main ABM center is. Now that put me in a panic. I think we are doing well with the system we have in place. We are getting in what I believe to be the recommend sessions every month. As long as we keep our commitment to taking her the 8-10 times a month, there is no reason to move. Plus, if I was to ever leave my family it would be to move to NYC not Cali 😉

So… speaking of NYC…

Jim and I decided to take Mattie to see Marcy, a top ABM trainer and practitioner, in NYC this summer. She comes highly recommended from other moms and from our Gainesville practitioner, Josie. We talked to Josie about it and Jim’s main question to her was, what is the difference between spending all of this money to see her rather then just coming to you? I loved Josie’s response. Sometimes having another ABM practitioner work with Mattie could give alternative insights to some of the issues Mattie is having and how to resolve them. Since we can’t afford a trip to CA for the main ABM center right now, this is the next best thing. We already planned a trip to upstate NY this summer to see Jim’s family. So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go into the city to see Marcy. We are going to be able to do 5 sessions thanks to all the donations we have received so far!! I am really excited about this trip!