She’s come so far…

in just 9 months!

(and not just in physical growth. But my, look how much she’s grown & changed!)

Our little one has global developmental delays, but she’s progressing so nicely!

Here are some of the skills she’s learned or improved upon in just 9 months, since the beginning of the school year:

 

(jumping in mud puddles…she discovered this is FUN!)

1. Jumping – Our little girl is a Mexican Chinese jumping bean! She has not only mastered jumping in general, but she can now jump forward & is working hard on jumping backward. Two feet only, as she still doesn’t have the balance to do single foot jumps. But I have no doubt that she’ll get there!

2. Bike Riding – She completely surprised me in March when she jumped on one of her cousin’s bikes and took off pedaling! I knew they worked a lot in therapy on bike riding, but had no idea she was capable of pedaling. I was so very proud! Since then she’s a bike ridin’ fool! All she has in one of those 3 wheeled plastic trike things (barbie trike) and I think she’s in need of a bigger one. We’re looking at getting a 12” bike for her birthday. She’s ready!

3. Language skills have improved dramatically! Still no talking, but she’s trying to make a few sounds. Still only has the /m/ & /b/ sounds for the most part. Occasionally /h/ &  /p/. But her receptive language skills have grown tremendously! She may not be able to express verbally, but she’s very adept at getting her point across. And she totally understands what we tell her. One step directions, no problem! Two steps, 90% accuracy. Working on 3 step…got a ways to go on that one.

4. Handles change so much better. She used to FLIP OUT when we made even minor changes in her routine. Taking a different route home…OMG! Stopping off at the store before heading home…TANTRUM CITY! Now, as long as I explain that we’ll be going a different way or stopping somewhere, she’s usually ok with it. Just a minor whine and a point in the direction we SHOULD be going, and that’s it! Amazing!

 

(showing off her newest creation)

5. Holding a pencil and crayon correctly. Just started doing that since the beginning of school. Still not 100% consistent, but a quick reminder and she’s all there. And she just LOVES drawing, coloring, painting…all of this she would refuse to do just a few months ago as it tired her out & was hard for her. She doesn’t like doing anything that’s hard (most kids don’t). And unfortunately so much is hard for her. But as she gets stronger things get easier and she enjoys doing them more.

I’m so very, very proud of my little girl! She’s working so hard to overcome so many obstacles. It’s a hard road, for both of us. But we’re both learning along the way and we’re both getting stronger. She’s my fighter and she’s going to be just fine!