PT: Week 5, Almost Sitting

We spent a lot of time working on sitting today, but I don’t know that Averi is going to be sitting unassisted by Saturday. Abbi said that she is doing really well, if she’d just stop crying and arching her back so much. It was funny because there was another baby on the next mat over from us and he didn’t cry once during the whole hour. I think he was just rolling his eyes and thinking about how dramatic girls are.

The few times I was able to distract her with a toy and get her to lean forward she did awesome. Once, Abbi was even able to pull her foot away from Averi’s butt without her falling backwards. Her core muscles are strengthening and she is getting much better at catching herself.

Tummy time is still not really happening at all. The interesting thing is that Averi is able to roll over on to her tummy but just chooses not to. If she does, she immediately rolls back over to her back. I always assumed this was because the Mickey button irritated her.

Abbi explained that it is actually from her heart surgery. She has had kiddos with Mickey buttons army crawl across the floor to the point of almost ripping their button out and not be phased by it. Something about having your chest cracked open and sewn back together and not being able to lie on your stomach for an extended period of time causes an aversion to tummy time. Whatever the reason, Averi’s arms are very weak from lack of use.

If you try to keep her on her stomach she will do a nice downward dog yoga pose. Abbi took that as a clue and tried holding Averi’s arms out while she pushed with her legs. Apparently there is nothing wrong with skipping tummy time and going straight to crawling (skipping crawling to walk, however, is a problem). Maybe she will be a little bit happier on her hands and knees.