Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Physical Therapy


Since Megan was tiny, she was never much of a belly-lover. She'd tolerate being on her stomach for short periods of time, but never very long. She also never really seemed to master rolling over. As she got older, those two traits seemed to lead into her struggles with transitions. She learned to sit on time, but unless she could reach what she wanted by stretching as far as she possibly could, she'd just ignore it. She never did any sort of locomotion on the floor at all. She didn't scoot, slither, crawl or roll. In fact, when we tried to help her do any of those things, she'd cry like she was in pain.

So when we went to the doctor for her one-year check-up, the doctor recommended we have her evaluated for physical therapy. She was already taking her first steps, but if she fell down, there she'd stay. If she was laying down, she'd stay there, too. (In a way it was kind of nice...she couldn't really get into any trouble either!)

She was evaluated by the county Birth-to-Three program. She was 3-6 months ahead in her development in all areas except for her large motor skills. Those more closely resembled a 7-9 month old. That meant she qualified for services.

A physical therapist came to our house once a week all summer long. She'd work with her on different strengthening exercises and give us activities to work on with her between visits.

Megan's progress was amazing. In a matter of two months, she has accomplished all of her goals. She gets from laying to sitting, crawls, rolls, pulls to standing and climbs up stairs all on her own. I don't know whether she just hit a physical developmental milestone or if the therapist was some sort of a miracle worker, but I never would have guessed she'd come so far so fast. Now the therapist is only going to meet with her once a month. Our goals are to work on getting to standing in the middle of the room (without using furniture or a person to pull to standing) and creeping backwards down stairs.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Our Summer Vacation


In early July we went on vacation to Washington D.C. with Grandma Kathy. We decided to go to D.C. since most of the sights are free. We thought that even if Megan had a tantrum or needed a nap, we wouldn't have to worry about having paid a huge fee for entry.

But Megan was such a trooper. She really enjoyed sight-seeing and people watching. She had so much fun that she didn't want to nap in her stroller very often. So she didn't get as much sleep as she normally would have, but who does on vacation? :)

We saw the Whitehouse, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the World War II, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials on the first day.

The next day was the 4th of July. We went to the parade and saw the fireworks. Luckily, we went back to the hotel so Megan could nap in between those activities and missed the big storm that cleared the National Mall.

We went on a tour of the Capitol, through the Air and Space Museum, and to the Library of Congress and the National Archives. One of Megan's favorite stops was the National Zoo. She was a big fan of the pandas.

Then we went to Baltimore for another Megan favorite, the National Aquarium. They had a dolphin show and a whole display on frogs. She had so much fun that she wore herself out and slept through the last quarter of it.

We had a great time and would love to go back some day when Megan's older.