This is for Lisa, because she reminded me that it's been a month since I published my last post (which is not to say that I haven't been composing new posts, they just don't make it up here!), and that means Rosie is 7 months old and it's time for an update.
Ah, 7 months. I forgot how much fun this age is. For weeks I've been worrying about not engaging Rosie enough, and then all of a sudden it got easier, not because I got better at it, but because Rosie is so much more interactive! Her personality is getting easier to see and experience and she's responding to us so much more. I love it!
The biggest change in the last month is that Rosie started physical therapy to strengthen her neck (she has torticollis). We go to see the pediatric physical therapist once a week for now, and then there are exercises I have to do with her everyday, multiple times a day. It's been just over a week and I think I've run almost the full gamut of emotions already: guilt (why didn't I do something sooner?), anxiety (what if there's already permanent damage?), reassurance (it's really minor compared to what it could be), determination (it'll take time but we'll fix this!), elation (we did it without anyone crying!), patience (I know you hate this, sweetie, but it'll be over soon), uncertainty (is this the way I'm supposed to hold her?), frustration (just. hold. still!), resignation (fine, we'll stop), back to guilt (I only did her stretches twice today and now she'll never get better), and exhaustion (we have to do this for how many more months?).
Really, her neck is not bad at all, and developmentally she's right on track. And I can see a difference in just a week, and we're finding ways to get through the stretches more easily. But my baby hates me three times a day, and that's hard. When she gets mad enough, she will literally push away from me and refuse to look at me. (Granted, that happens more when I try to clean out her nose, but she's not a fan of her stretches, either.) My biggest worry right now is that this is going to be a barrier to our bonding as she gets more responsive. I want to be sure I see her, not just the angle of her head, and I don't want her main association with me to be "Quick! Squirm! Get away!" So here's hoping I have something more positive to say about that in a month...
On happier notes:
Our shrieking, babbling girl has started mimicking our sounds. Tim is sick (boo) and this morning, he was coughing and Rosie coughed right back at him. I pretended to cough and she did it again with a huge grin on her face. New game! She'll even "sing" back to me sometimes - I love it!
We are having success with solid foods. Can I just exclaim for a minute how happy I am about that? Success! With solid foods! We've only tried cereals and vegetables so far, but even so, Rosie typically likes to take the spoon away from me as soon as it's in range, stick it right side up in her mouth, flip it over (so that most of the food ends up in her mouth), then take it out and chew on the bottom of it. And somewhere in the process, the food gets mostly swallowed. SUCCESS!
Rolling-everywhere-Rosie is just starting to scoot (mostly backwards) and in her wild rolling-ness, she tends to get stuck under the couch. She also is catching onto the concept of coming and going, so if I start to "chase" her, she rolls away, and if Daddy beckons her over, she'll roll across the room to grab his toes.
Speaking of whom, this girl's got a sixth sense for her daddy. Anytime he walks in the room, she instinctively knows it and has to find him and grin like crazy at him. Daddy's girl? I think yes. She also continues to adore her sister, even though sister's new favorite game is Take Toys Away from Rosie.
Her first tooth has cut through on the bottom and I think the second is on its way. At least, let's hope so, because the minute that thing shows up, it's sleep training time. Rosie has, so far, resisted transitioning to a crib or pack 'n play and still insists on waking up 2x a night, so once she's healthy and not teething, I think we're just going to bite the bullet and let her cry it out in the crib until it takes.
And other than that, Rosie is still our ridiculously happy, bouncy girl. She gets SO EXCITED when I go in to get her from a nap, I just had to video it.
Other than the physical therapy part, Rosie at 7 months is great so far! We just can't get enough of this beautiful, happy girl.
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| We tried on her Halloween costume a bit early to make sure it would fit. Too. Cute. |
Your post reminded me that Jane had torticollis - I had totally forgotten, or rather, blocked it from my memory! Keep up with the stretches, I can almost guarantee Rosie won't remember, and she'll thank you later for fixing her :) Lovely girls! Hope all is well!
ReplyDeleteThat star snuggler is ADORABLE. Or, should I say, Rosie is adorable in her star blanket. For real, torticollis makes me want to scream because when Blake had it, the information I read it said it was super rare when I actually think it's extremely common and yet most people are completely unaware of it (even among the medical doctors themselves!). I asked Blake's pediatrician about his inability to look in the other direction and she totally blew it off. Luckily we were in Utah for his 4 month appointment (different pediatrician) and it was diagnosed immediately. I was annoyed with his old Ped. because I think we could have avoided a helmet had we been made aware earlier on and done physical therapy. Anyway, Rosie will be fine. Blake had an really bad case and you wouldn't even know it now. She is seriously so cute! Thanks for the update!
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