CIT update

Shelby blows me away! Adam (our OT) is already adjusting his plan for week one because Shelby is progressing with leftie so quickly. She is over being mad about the cast and is figuring out how to use that left hand. Here is a great video of him working with her on grasping the spoon:
I'll do a more in-depth update later this week....and there are many more videos on our YouTube page if you are interested.

CIT here we go again

We're going to do another three+ weeks of contraint-induced therapy. The cast goes on today. I am excited because I know Shelby is at a critical point right now with leftie where she has a ton of potential to increase its use. Her left arm and shoulder have become much stronger since she began crawling in earnest last fall. I am apprehensive because she is going to hate having this cast put on and I don't like for her to be unhappy. Thinking about Shelby's round of CIT when she was six months old helps remind me how worthwhile this therapy will be though. Before she was casted two years ago, Shelby did not even realize she had a left arm. By the end of the three weeks, she was using leftie to put pacifiers in her mouth. Remember this amazing video:



Payoff like this makes the three difficult weeks so worthwhile, but this skill of using leftie to hold a paci disappeared after the cast came off (because she could more easily use rightie). If you remember from last year, we did constraint therapy a second time but it was a bit of a fiasco. Shelby's friends at school helped her pull the cast off and "free" her early on in the process, and she kept taking the cast off regularly after that. This time around we will do things differently. The cast will not be a bi-valve, so hopefully it will be impossible for houdini girl to remove. We are also drastically increasing her OT and PT schedules for the next three weeks. She will have OT seven days a week, starting tomorrow (sometimes twice a day) and PT two times a week. We are lucky to have an OT who is as excited as we are about CIT and that is willing to work so much with Shelby during this three weeks.

Our main goal here is function. Shelby knows leftie doesn't work like her right arm and hand and has started attempting to intentionally use leftie to help her hold objects, but she struggles a great deal with grasp and release and cannot use leftie to do anything with the object. We'd like to improve this, but are breaking this goal down into increments. For week one, we want Shelby to begin reaching with shoulder flexion (>90 degrees) and to move the shoulder without overcompensating with her trunk and chest. We'll keep you updated....CIT here we go again!

Weekend Trip to Banner Elk

A couple weekends ago, my parents offered us their timeshare in Banner Elk, NC. Trip and I jumped at the chance to get out of town and relax with the kids for a couple days. We rented movies, read books, went to a great Mexican restaurant and enjoyed the resort's indoor pool. This is actually the first time we have gone anywhere by ourselves as a "family of four" and it was lovely.

Harding and Trip about to go tubing at Sugar Mountain (thank goodness for snow machines).

We stopped at our land on the way home for a hike.

Shelby has become really attached to "baby".

New Year, New Bedroom

People say that your bedroom should be a sanctuary....for the past 7 years mine has been the stash-all room to throw things in where we happen to sleep. My mom made Trip and me a beautiful batik quilt for Christmas and it inspired me to organize the bedroom, purchase a bed, and paint the room seafoam blue. Since this photo was taken, Trip has hung curtains and pictures. I feel like we finally have a "grown-up" bedroom, and it is definitely a sanctuary (which can be a problem when the alarm rings at 5:30 a.m.). Huge thanks to my talented mom for the quilt and to dad for helping us paint!

Holiday re-cap

Today we had the unexpected gift of a snow day at home on what was to be the kids and my first day back to school. I've been cleaning out my closet like a mad woman and purging things like black pleather boots that I can't remember ever wearing. I've also been enjoying some extra time with Harding and Shelby and reflecting on our holidays.

I did not take nearly enough photos this Christmas break, but we spent some wonderful time with friends and family, despite my getting a stomach bug (fortunately no one else got it). My brother and Cambridge were here from Richmond and my sister, Grant and Riley were here from Atlanta. This made for some fun times and exceptionally delicious food at my parents' house. I absolutely loved being with them and watching Harding, Shelby and Riley play together. After Christmas, Trip's family from Nacogdoches, Texas came for a visit. Here's the play-by-play with the few pictures I took.

Christmas Eve:

Also known as my birthday. :) My parents and Stephen and Cambridge came over with my grandmother Burney and cooked dinner.

Stephen dancing with Shelby Frances

Turkey frying on Christmas Eve (requisite beer in hand)!

A very excited Harding supervising the turkey frying.

Shelby didn't have the attention span for "Twas the night before Christmas"

Christmas morning:

The kids' haul from Santa (sleeping bags, tent, sheep for Shelby, transformer for H)

Shelby's vision teacher wants her to play with more realistic toys. She must have told Santa because he delivered with this sheep. Mommy and Daddy got her some sheep books to go with it.

MoMo and Bop have their hands full these days with three grandkids!

Morning of the 26th:

Vegging at my parent's house and recovering from Christmas festivities. Chris, Cambridge and I also went to the shoe store because Nana had hooked us up with gift certificates.

Precious picture of Harding and Riley watching cartoons...so excited Riley and her parents will be moving to Asheville pretty soon so we can do more of this!

The 27th:

Trip's grandpa and aunt and uncle drove in from Texas and we all hung out at Trip's parents house. As always, It was greating seeing the Texas Kinnairds. I'd add more pictures of this time, but my sister-in-law Ashlee is busy with new baby Landen and hasn't had time to email them to me. :)

Grandpa and Harding crafting together. Harding enjoys a captive audience, and Grandpa was game.

The 31st:

We spent New Year's Eve at Matt and Ashlee's new house on our land ringing in 2012 and celebrating Matt's 30th birthday with some old friends. It was perfect. I got to do some hiking that afternoon out on the property by myself while the kids napped and Trip was watching football.

New Year's Eve solo hike--perfect for end of year reflection.

New Year's Day:

It was absolutely gorgeous--warm and sunny. Here are Harding and his friend Sofi (and three dogs) running up the driveway at our land.

2012 Y'all!

Love and peace to all of you and a very happy New Year from the Kinnairds!