Learning to Stand…When She’s Ready

“Lola had a good day. Able to maintain balance with rocking stool by herself in standing. Better from for bench sit to stand – leaning forward instead of pushing back into support. Completed stand to bench sitting by herself several times.”

This was Lola’s physical therapy report from Tuesday and by far the most positive one she has ever received from her PT. While we are diligently working with Lola’s use of her orthotics, standing is proving to be quite difficult for Lola. We were told that when one area of therapy excels such as crawling or her vision, the others may regress or be harder to achieve such as standing or self-feeding. Lola’s biggest challenge in standing is her low muscle tone. Sister has abs of steel, but her hips, hamstrings and buttocks are lacking in muscle tone. Her PT has given us exercises to help build muscle and next week she is bringing a compression suit that will help Lola utilize those specific areas. In all honesty though, I think Lola will stand when she knows she is ready and able. She just learned to crawl not even two months ago so it makes sense to me that standing and walking will come later. I am fully confident she will eventually walk and we will most certainly continue to guide her, but I’m also stepping back and giving her what we have given her all along which is time.

And because standing isn’t nearly as interesting as going through mommy’s clothes…

The last of my mom’s three weeks with us is coming to an end and I’m sad to say she is leaving tomorrow. We’ve had many adventures and many laughs. She was sick for a week which means she should be staying longer to make up for lost days, but business calls back in Costa Rica. I’ll post more about our time together along with pictures in the next few days. We’re going to miss you mom!