Tonight Ella was in a braver mood, and did 10 feet (17 steps) of free walking, shattering this morning's 7 foot record. And she did it repeatedly, at least 5 round-trip laps.
One other thing I neglected to mention.. She steers herself while walking. She might start off headed at a 45 degree angle to where she's going, and she'll properly curve to get where she wants to go.
This is all very good.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Walking progress..
Well, Ella's still not walking completely on her own, but she's definitely making a lot of improvements. Since Yule we've been having her walk back and forth between us for a few steps at a time, then collapse on the receiving parent. For a while, she regressed and got more hesitant, but recently she's made good progress again.
This morning, Ella will walked a bit over 7 feet ) without touching anything to go between us (10-13 of her steps). We were sitting in the hall and our hands were about 8 1/2 feet apart, but I subtracted a bit for reach-out and push-off. She also no longer needs you to "catch" her. You can simply put one hand up (in a "stop" motion), and she'll walk over, reach out with one of her hands, and grab it for stability while she turns herself around. Most of the time she can turn around with no more stability, but occasionally she gets excited, whips around and falls over.. oops.
We still haven't gotten her to do very much in walking towards inanimate objects, but she will take 3 steps or so to get to something she's really interested in (such as her mother's keyboard so she can bang out some music..). We've had no luck at all getting her to push off from inanimate objects, although we have gotten her to use one of our knees as a push off instead of our hands.
This morning, Ella will walked a bit over 7 feet ) without touching anything to go between us (10-13 of her steps). We were sitting in the hall and our hands were about 8 1/2 feet apart, but I subtracted a bit for reach-out and push-off. She also no longer needs you to "catch" her. You can simply put one hand up (in a "stop" motion), and she'll walk over, reach out with one of her hands, and grab it for stability while she turns herself around. Most of the time she can turn around with no more stability, but occasionally she gets excited, whips around and falls over.. oops.
We still haven't gotten her to do very much in walking towards inanimate objects, but she will take 3 steps or so to get to something she's really interested in (such as her mother's keyboard so she can bang out some music..). We've had no luck at all getting her to push off from inanimate objects, although we have gotten her to use one of our knees as a push off instead of our hands.
Monday, February 4, 2008
The flu and speech therapist...
Well, thinking I was "coming down with" the flu was an understatement.. both me and Karla got hit quite severely by the flu on Saturday night. Although my stomach recovered fully by Monday morning, I was still a bit sore and weak as my body was still recovering from the abdominal muscle strain, dehydration and fever. As a result, I took today off work to recuperate.
Flu aside, Ella saw a Speech Pathologist this morning for the first time. That was fairly helpful, and we got some feedback on some of the tactics we've been using, and some tips on recognizing some of her attempts at speaking so we can better encourage them.
It was also recommended we take Ella in for an audiological screen. This is a detailed hearing test, and a test with a device called a tympanometer that bounces sound waves off the eardrum and tests the movement of the eardrum by analyzing the reflected sounds.
Ella's hearing appears to be fine because she's got an excellent receptive vocabulary (she can clearly discern over 100 words that we've counted). However, because she keeps pulling on her left ear they want to screen for fluid trapped in her ear. It's probably just a frustration or boredom habit, but it could be a sign of trouble there.
Flu aside, Ella saw a Speech Pathologist this morning for the first time. That was fairly helpful, and we got some feedback on some of the tactics we've been using, and some tips on recognizing some of her attempts at speaking so we can better encourage them.
It was also recommended we take Ella in for an audiological screen. This is a detailed hearing test, and a test with a device called a tympanometer that bounces sound waves off the eardrum and tests the movement of the eardrum by analyzing the reflected sounds.
Ella's hearing appears to be fine because she's got an excellent receptive vocabulary (she can clearly discern over 100 words that we've counted). However, because she keeps pulling on her left ear they want to screen for fluid trapped in her ear. It's probably just a frustration or boredom habit, but it could be a sign of trouble there.
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