Weekend Playdate at Pen Park

Last weekend E did lots of fun things, one of which was going to our favorite playground. E brought her friend J this time.

There is a little playground (for toddlers), and a larger playground for older kids. Elena typically stays at the toddler playground--she still needs assistance for some parts of it--BUT NOT MANY!! She is supervised on steps (but rarely helped, as there are handrails) and while navigating the structure, as there are openings that she may fall through (we have not had a fall scare so far). Her biggest issues on this playground are 1) a hump she needs to go over, typically she almost falls here and has to hold on to the side wall with both hands, 2) a depression section, where almost the same things happen as the hump, and 3) when she is trying to sit down to slide--there is a handlebar above the slide, which she hangs on to, but the gap between her rear and the slide is so large she isn't able to sit down without help (she'd probably let go, and as her butt would hit the surface, her head would too). Still, she is navigating up and down the steps pretty well (some difficulty/frustration with her right leg), and climbing very well, and walking around and under the play structure without assistance!






Whew! Goin' for distance!

She also did the swings (can pump herself, but not start from a stop), and she also went on the big kid playstructure. I was helping another child--and she managed to climb up a chain ladder and into the playstructure all by herself! I'll take a picture of the ladder and post it

HERE.

Sweet!

PT payoff: local playground

I took E out with a new toy today. I bought her a Kinderbike, b/c I thought she would (eventually) be able to do it. We tried it two different times, about 20 minutes apart. She doesn't really get it yet; she knows to kick her feet out and "walk" them forward, and she knows to sit on the bike seat, but she doesn't know how to do them at the same time. My goal is to start with rolling back and forth, and standing while rocking the bike side to side. I think once the feeling isn't so novel, she'll be able to engage her legs better--right now her inner thighs are too tight for her to move well when she is on the bike.



Her reward for being so patient with me was going to the park. She has to get out of the car (I'll post a vid of that, I keep forgetting) and walk to the park with her crutches. There is a pretty big obstacle from the parking lot to the park, however.

Curbs.

We've been working on going up steps with crutches...SHOWTIME!



She can now navigate a lot of our playground by herself (but one has to stay close in case she falls). E loves to climb, and once we were through the structure and the monkey bars, she wanted to go swing. Here is she trying to get there herself. She is walking on mulch, up a slight hill to the swings.



She can also pump the swing herself to keep moving. Usually she is good at this; today, she really wanted to swing high. Right after this vid, she straightened her legs (and her torso, unfortunately) at the wrong time and nearly fell off the swing (a first).



The last part of our playground trip was the slide. As I've written before, E hasn't been able to stay sitting up while descending a slide--I guess she is so excited she stiffens up. She also does this when she's throwing objects in a sitting position, so we've been working on leaning forward while throwing in ring-sit. I think we are making progress; at the beginning of this slide, she stayed sitting for a little while--more than she ever has.



Great job E!

Extreme Terrain: Grass

It was such a gorgeous summer day yesterday (Father's day)! E and Viv got to play outside. I wish E could be outside more, but it is so draining to supervise her on such tough terrain (grass, uneven surfaces, steps, etc). We are trying to get her to be as independent as possible...cue loftstrands!



Not too bad! Note the weight-bearing preference on the left. Still, at least she's getting it.

E and Viv enjoyed some great swingtime!