Wow - what a difference a day can make! We decided after such a rough day yesterday that we would take it easy today. We took the kids to the Bounce-n-Play in the morning which gave me some time to work while Emily watched the kids. They had fun playing and were able to ride the small train outside in the parking lot. Reagan even had a snack and ate the popcorn with her left hand! As you can see in the picture she still has to shift her posture since she can't rotate her wrist but look at that pincher grasp! Also, you will notice she is keeping her elbow against her body. It's much easier to get that popcorn to the mouth when the elbow is against the body and that's something she is reminded about constantly and is obviously practicing! AMAZING! Definitely not something she could do so easily last year at this time. After a couple hours at the bounce house we left and took our packed lunches to the hospital to make sure we beat the traffic.
Given I had several back to back conference calls for work today I wasn't able to join the therapy sessions for very long. Cole apparently did very well with Kate and played a few games, played with play doh and rode a plasma scooter.
Reagan had a much better day today and worked hard playing games and doing activities. She was very excited about her zebra-leopard mix. When I joined her session toward the end she was doing a science experiment with sand, baking soda, Kool-Aid and water. Again, it's all about the process. The pouring movement of the measuring cup is very difficult because it requires rotating her wrist. Our hope is that through intensive therapy time like this she will increase her range of motion and build up the muscle so that she will be able to slowly gain more movement and stronger movement. You can also see that stirring is difficult because she has trouble rotating her wrist to grab the spoon and therefore grabs it from the top. If you follow our journey here you probably remember seeing that similar tendency with the golf club when we were in Williamsburg. 
After adding and mixing all the ingredients she was able to sink her hand into the mixture and feel the bubbly sensation and squeeze the oozing sand at the bottom of the bowl. As you can see in the last picture, we are also working on getting her fingers to extend fully. Currently she is unable to individually manipulate any of her fingers or straighten them. You can also see that she shifts her body slightly in order to lift her arm and show you her palm. But you can tell from that smile that she had a lot of fun with this experiment! Although these improvements may seem subtle, they are very significant milestones and her progress is amazing. In the last year she has moved from having what many call a "helper hand" to having a very functional left hand. There are many kids who develop significant medical complications over time due to the way they "accommodate" their movements due to the spasticity of the muscles. Kids with a gate shift, for example, often need hip replacements because the shift in posture wears down the hip bone. These types of body posturing are movements are a focus during our time here in Charlottesville.
I feel so blessed to be able to dedicate this time to her progress and see the results. It's exciting to see her working so hard and getting to an age that she sees that progress and recognizes how much easier the tasks are when she modifies her movements slightly. We have a long way to go before she will be able to pull up jeans and button/zip them. But as we always say, that is why we work hard. Every day we are one day closer and a little stronger.
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