Sitting Pretty

Clare sat independently for about a minute today! Big hooray!

Clare's therapist has been working hard with Clare on sitting, and Shawn and I have continued this work outside of therapy. We bought Clare a Bumbo seat (not to be confused with the Bumble, Jamie's favorite character from the "Rudolph" movie) which she loves. The Bumbo supports her snugly so she can sit up and play the way she wants to play without having to use all her energy for trunk control. We have noticed that, probably due to her low muscle tone, Clare cannot usually work on two things at once. Take eating - she cannot hold herself up in the high chair and then concentrate on using her mouth muscles to eat. So she eats in her bouncey seat. Same with sitting - she either sits in the Bumbo or we support her ourselves while she plays. It allows Clare to play at her age level so she continues to develop cognitively. Of course, we still focus on her sitting minus the Bumbo, but it's a great support for her. It's been awesome to use so we can play together as a family without Clare having to lay there.

However, today, she sat without support for what seemed like an eternity (and most likely was only a minute!) and played with her Fisher Price aquarium bowl with Jamie. She didn't even seem to realize that I had taken my hands away (I had been supporting her hips). I was so excited!

For more information on the Bumbo seat, go to www.bumboseat.com.