Arm Movement!
Laelia the Magnificent moved her left elbow for the first time ever! And the best part: we got it on video! Discovering that my camera could take videos has been great. I noticed she was moving her arms a lot one night when I was holding her a certain way. Charley grabbed the camera and voila! I took the video to show her physical therapist and she told me that it would be extremely hard to move her arms from a resting position, but since I had them up at eye level it gave her the freedom to move them towards her body. Now it’s been incorporated into physical therapy! So I’ll hold her like that from now on and see if she can get those elbows moving more on their own!
Look at her face after she moves that left elbow! She’s responding to her daddy’s gasp or something. But look how happy she was with herself. 
I can’t tell you how excited we are about this. She has previously shown no independent movement in her elbows whatsoever. She got to the point where she could move her shoulders (which is the only thing moving her arms) and of course she’s been able to twitch her fingers for a while now. It wasn’t until I watched the video Charley took that I really saw she didn’t just move her shoulders, but she bent her elbow! For the very first time! Ever! Hooray!
This picture is of Laelia’s physical therapist (right) and occupational therapist (left). This was one of those appointments where they double-teamed her. They were really excited about the video and her progress! I’m already looking at adaptive gadgets that can utilize this ability for feeding herself in the future!
I’m really pleased with the new right arm splint. It works the wrist a bit better. Her left hand is also much improved. It tends to lose range of motion very easily, but it has shown the most improvement! Yeay! Laelie!
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
that is awesome!
- M Rowe
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
that is awesome!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
yay!! i am so proud of our precious laelie. i love seeing her little face stare at the camera, and i am SO thrilled she’s getting more motion. yay yay yay for the most beautiful baby in the world. very much love to you all…
January 24th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Guys, I am so happy for you and Laelia. We need to see more entries like this with a ‘hooray’ tag
I pray for the three of you all the time. It is so encouraging to know that she *is* making progress. I know it’s been so physically and emotionally painful for all of you having to do the therapy exercises. I’m glad you’re able to experience some benefit from it even at this early stage. Keep up the good work!