River's friendly competition when he visited at pediatric physical therapy today - he soars at "over" the hula hoop, but she bested him in crawling "under" and the most "roll overs". Her reward- a vanilla milkshake; River settled for dog biscuits.
According to her therapist, this was one of Pink Girl's best sessions, as far as her being cooperative. It varies considerably session to session and even minute to minute during a session. We hadn't seen her frequently; it's been 3 weeks and weather and illness conspired to keep it to only one visit each month in Dec and January.
Her mom was helping her stretch over a "jelly bean" when we arrived and we positioned River on the mat in front of her so she could reach out and pet him. I think she enjoyed when Amanda hit "the spot" and he did that reflexive back leg scratching. She was eager to demonstrate rolling over for him and was even enticed to roll both directions (one is more difficult for her, so she prefers the easier).
Megan dashed in from the pool to start the session. She had Pink Girl sitting upright on a low bench to brush River. Grasping the soft plastic brush is a challenge for her and she preferred to just pet him. He prefers to sit or lay down, so both Amanda and I help him maintain a stand for this. Pink Girl did put a bit of weight on his back, using him to help her stand upright. This was not the therapist's goal - or ours, but I don't think he was hurt at all; she is a tiny thing. She had along a favorite pink teddy bear today that her mother explained had been in her isolette when she was a newborn ( premie at 26? weeks) and the bear was bigger than her. River kept wanting to play with it. We'll have to bring a stuffed toy of his along next time. We should try to dress him up a bit, too, a bandana at least, as she is always attired in coordinated outfits with cute hair accessories. Maybe that's just done by her mother, but they both might enjoy seeing River accessorized, too.
Standing for her and holding the hoop for River is always a favorite. She likes to mix it up with him doing "over" and "under". He won't always wait for the command. Megan(therapist) got her to show River both crawl/under and crawl/over. She got compliments on her crawl versus River's; he likes to pop up. She really seemed to enjoy showing River her crawling and rolling prowess today.
Next, she did a bit of walking too, some with a walker and they also tried a "cane" (it had a tripod base). The "chase River's tail" scenario works only a little with her. I think the walk to a certain point and rest while he does a trick for you went a little better. There was a distraction when another therapist brought over a little girl in a stroller to see River (she was a bit shy of him), but I think it made Pink Girl want River's attention back on her. She didn't quite make it to the water fountain, so she got to see River have a drink from his bottle, while she was happily slurping down her milkshake.
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