End of 2013 Beginning of 2014....Milestones

In my last post (you know that one I posted about 30 seconds ago, haha) I voiced my concerns that Paisley would not be able to reach certain milestones because of the boots/bar. Despite the docs at UNC assuring me she would be able to reach them with only a possible delay I just didn't see how this tiny baby would be able roll, crawl, walk, run like all the other kids her age. Seeing her in the casts had less of an impact on me than the boots and bar did. The sheer weight of them seemed daunting to those little legs and the time frame in which she had to wear them was so restricting, it seemed like she was doomed to be this little baby stuck on her back for months on end.

Plain and simple I was wrong.
I was wrong to think my child could not accomplish something.
I was wrong to put any doubt on her abilities.
I was just plain wrong.

Rolling Over
During a tummy time session Paisley rolled over for the first time about 2 weeks after getting her boot/bar on. She actually figured out that when she was on her belly she just had to twist slightly and the weight from the boot/bar would carry her the rest of the way over onto her back. Going from back to belly took a few more weeks but she eventually figured that out too...and waaaaaay before the average of 4 months. Proud Mommy grin right here!!! :-D

Sitting Up

The next big milestone was sitting up. "They" say your baby should be able to do this by about 4-5months. Paisley was right on track with this. We had had another appointment at UNC by this point and they gave us the OK to knock down her time in the boot/bar from 24-22 hours to 18-22 hours.  So we could leave them off for about and hour or 2 throughout the day. Having more time out of her boots/bar allowed me to see that it was easier for her to have her bar off to sit up by herself. With the bar on her feet had to work together and I saw that it was causing her to lose her balance more easily than normal. Once I removed the bar and let her feet have individual freedom she could sit on her own for quite a long time. I still put a pillow behind her because as most babies do they will just randomly slump over, lol.

Onward we moved and so did Paisley. She got REALLY GOOD at rolling. Like, scary good. She used those boots/bar to her advantage and just rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled. In my last post I talked about an advantage of the bar being that you can locate your child more easily. This is where that comes in to play. Being a stay at home mom I have things that I attempt to get done during the day: laundry, dishes, vacuuming, mopping etc. So I would usually plop Paisley on the floor with a bunch of toys and let her explore as she wished, so I could run upstairs and switch over a few loads of laundry. I can remember one day in particular that I went upstairs, my oldest followed me to "help" but when we came back downstairs it was quiet.  Quiet doesn't exist in my house. 2 large dogs, a 2 year old and an infant = NOISE! So quiet is eerie. Like an idiot I actually called out Paisley's name as if she was going to say, "here I am Mama!!!", but I did get a response. SLAM! went her boots against the hardwood. She had rolled herself across the family room and around the corner of the couch to the other side and was playing with the dog's tail. Sneaky sneaky child.

Fast forward a few more months and few more appointments at UNC, its the end of 2013 and Paisley is down to only having to wear her boots/bar for about 16 hours a day.  Since she is an incredibly good sleeper, averaging about 11-13 hours at night, we usually keep her boot/bar on all night and early morning, but after her morning nap we take them off so she has the rest of the day in freedom. I was obviously overjoyed she could have to boots off for so many hours, but I was also wary. She has always been good about having them taken off and put back on. No fussing, no fighting it, but I wondered what would happen as we gave her more free hours. So far I am happy to report that aside from being your typical squirmy infant she does not fight having the boots put back on. 

Moving forward into the New Year....

Pushing into Sitting Position and Crawling

The next big milestones kind of happened together. It seemed one day she pushed herself into a sitting position and the next day she was belly crawling across the floor. She figured out how to do both without the bar on, but she has now mastered putting herself into a sitting position with the bar on. Belly crawling (using arms to pull herself more than her legs) seems to be easier when she has the boots on because they don't give her any traction, but she's been doing great getting up on her hands and knees and crawling everywhere.

She's been putting herself into a sitting position while in bed

That was a pretty long winded post but I wanted other parents to know that despite my fears, in our case, there was no delay caused by the boots/bar. Paisley has either reached a milestone early or right on time according to "the norm". Next up is pulling herself up on furniture...WHOO HOO!!!!