Cordelia got to come with us to Phoebe's PT appointment today. She has been very eager to visit the "doctor playground." I spent a lot of time prepping her and telling her that it was for the kids who needed to do their exercises and that she would need to take turns and ask before she used things. Cordelia is pretty good at entertaining herself, but sometimes she can be very demanding of attention, so I wanted her to know going in that she had to behave herself or I wouldn't take her back. Cordelia can be a little unpredictable with outings, but fortunately did great, though towards the end was wanting me to be more involved with her.
We met the other physical therapist Tiffany today and she was really fun! Cordelia was in charge of introducing Phoebe and telling her about Phoebe's arthritis. Cordelia recites: "Phoebe has arthritis, but not me. I'm not sick. First, she got it in her knee. Then she got it in her other knee. Then she got it in her arm. Then she got it in her eyes and we have to give her eye drops. Phoebe is an arthritis warrior." Tiffany was impressed with her informativeness... hopefully she is developing script/mental schema for understanding what is happening to her sister, and learning to advocate for her.
Phoebe was so excited to be back in the playroom! Yay! She immediately wanted to start to play. One thing that I thought was really impressive was that after she sat on the swing, she got off and went across the room to a toy bin and came back with a plastic turtle. At her first visit, she had played with a turtle on the swing. She remembered!! Cordelia waited patiently for a turn on the swing.
Having big sister there actually inspired Phoebe to be more adventurous (as I had been hoping would be the case!) Cordelia went down the slide in the room. Phoebe has never gone down a slide alone. If she climbs to the top of a slide, she has never mastered sitting down, getting her legs in front of her, and pushing off to go down. This slide also had a pretty straight ladder to the top, which required Phoebe to put all of her weight on one knee to move from rung to rung. I mentioned that getting on a tall step stool in our bathroom at home is hard for Phoebe, because she has to lift her leg high and then put all her weight from leg to leg. But today, Phoebe was eager to try! I was amazed that she even wanted to try, and soon took a video because she wanted to do it again and again! She got better and better each time!
We met the other physical therapist Tiffany today and she was really fun! Cordelia was in charge of introducing Phoebe and telling her about Phoebe's arthritis. Cordelia recites: "Phoebe has arthritis, but not me. I'm not sick. First, she got it in her knee. Then she got it in her other knee. Then she got it in her arm. Then she got it in her eyes and we have to give her eye drops. Phoebe is an arthritis warrior." Tiffany was impressed with her informativeness... hopefully she is developing script/mental schema for understanding what is happening to her sister, and learning to advocate for her.
Phoebe was so excited to be back in the playroom! Yay! She immediately wanted to start to play. One thing that I thought was really impressive was that after she sat on the swing, she got off and went across the room to a toy bin and came back with a plastic turtle. At her first visit, she had played with a turtle on the swing. She remembered!! Cordelia waited patiently for a turn on the swing.
Having big sister there actually inspired Phoebe to be more adventurous (as I had been hoping would be the case!) Cordelia went down the slide in the room. Phoebe has never gone down a slide alone. If she climbs to the top of a slide, she has never mastered sitting down, getting her legs in front of her, and pushing off to go down. This slide also had a pretty straight ladder to the top, which required Phoebe to put all of her weight on one knee to move from rung to rung. I mentioned that getting on a tall step stool in our bathroom at home is hard for Phoebe, because she has to lift her leg high and then put all her weight from leg to leg. But today, Phoebe was eager to try! I was amazed that she even wanted to try, and soon took a video because she wanted to do it again and again! She got better and better each time!
The other new thing Phoebe tried was the trampoline! Look at how much fun this is!
Phoebe asked for a BIG ball to be brought down from the net. She got to roll it all the way down the hall.
Anyway, Tiffany said she thought that Phoebe was doing "fantastic" and that we don't have to go back for PT again for 2 weeks also! We have OT on Monday for her hand, so we'll still be there, but glad that both PT and OT can be bi weekly!
Keep getting stronger, my little bird!!
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