Well this week brought several things I have been slow to write up. Lets start with Tuesday's horseback riding. We took 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Years, then the cold weather extended it one more week. This was definitely the longest break we have taken since we started last April. I know that riding is good for Ayden Jane and she loves it so it is a therapy we never considered dropping, but this week my support for it flew through the roof! Ayden Jane came home from therapy and was a crazy woman. I mean that in a good way. She was all over the house, climbing, playing with Noah and Mckenna and chattering up a storm. It was like she suddenly felt GREAT and just could not use her body enough. She kept on rocking and rolling for an hour and a half beyond her usual bed time and then slept very sound for the night.

Wednesday brought physical therapy. Now we have basically had the same length break from PT because we took the two weeks over Christmas and then did a 90 eval where we mostly just chatted. This means this was the first time Jen worked with Ayden Jane since that crazy language spurt... She was very excited that she feels AJ is beginning to combine the motor portion she was great with and the language piece into complicated activities. For example, she had her doing activities like going from seated on a stool to stand in a saucer which was challenging to balance in to reach for puzzle pieces. Then she had to place the pieces in the puzzle while still standing in the wobbly saucer. Now, AJ likes puzzles, but matching where they go, having the patience to twist them and make them fit and have part of her brain working hard to keep her balanced has been an over load in the past. Wed. she did it all and was talking with Jen about the puzzle at the same time.

Now for the 'bad' news. We have seen AJ sort of cycle through the same challenges. Currently we are finding that the OT portion needs to come to the fore front. When Ayden Jane was tiny she had some issues with texture. She had a period where she did not like to touch things with her hands and then went through a time where she just wanted to rub everything all over herself. The hands seem to be the main point of tactile defensiveness. Even when tiny, she would want to touch something so she would rub her feet on it first and then move to her hands. Jen was working on drawing lines. Line down. Line across. She was also trying to get Ayden Jane to cut with scissors. Mostly, she found that Ayden Jane did not want to grasp tightly and really did not like the pressure needed to cut. When Jen went hand over hand with her she really resisted. I told Jen how Ayden Jane does not like to hold hands either. She has to work up to high five... You can see this because when she holds your hand she will grasp your finger, but as soon as you put some pressure back she will pull away and tell you "I don't like". (Not good in parking lots) As for high five, she will reach and not touch the first time. Then tap a little... eventually it is a good hit. Every time she has to work up to it. You can just see in her face that she wants to, she just.... Jen's words, time to desensitize those hands again.

Great stuff, just always a reminder that there are growing pains. One area improves, there is likely another that is 'not connecting' like it needs to. Jen is so amazing at getting them all to come together and work it out.