Thank You Slinky!

Well, we had our first meeting with Deb, our SoonerStart vision specialist, yesterday and it was exciting! We learned some great information on how to adjust Tessa's environment to help stimulate her visual pathways. We'd have never guessed that our greatest moment of joy would come from Tessa's new slinky!

Deb held the slinky in front of a black background right in front of Tessa and she showed more concentration on that slinky than I have ever seen her do before. And within moments, she was reaching out to grab the slinky, and in just a few more moments, was bringing the slinky up to her mouth! I think my exact words were "Are You Kidding Me!" We had never seen her do anything like that, nothing other than her beginning to bring her little hand up to her mouth. Her concentration proved incredible visual stimulation, and then, to witness such progress in her fine motor skills...all in that very moment, was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Thankfully they left the slinky with us since it was such a hit and we have just been amazed watching Tessa have playtime like we've never seen her have before.

Video 1

The first video was while I was watching Tessa in her bouncy seat from behind. I swear I just sat and watched in amazement all evening yesterday. What is really exciting about the first video is how much work she is doing with her right hand. She has such a great hold of the slinky with her left hand and you can just tell she is thinking so hard about grabbing the slinky with her right hand. It is just incredible to watch her work so diligently at it. Opening and closing her little hand and making movements towards the slinky over and over again. I just have to really express that these are all new things for Tessa. For more than 5 months now, time in her bouncy seat was still, relaxed time. For it to, all of the sudden, be transformed into playtime for her just melts my heart.

Video 2

Okay, get ready for it now. In the second video, Tessa is holding the slinky with her right hand and even pulls her hand up and brings the slinky into sight and you can tell she is watching it and seeing it. Then all of the sudden, she looks away for a minute and intentionally grabs the slinky with her left hand...."Are You Kidding Me!" (that's when I get really excited) Ha! Right before my very eyes, she makes such progress between video 1 and video 2. Oh, and not to mention the precious little grin she gives me at the very beginning ~ Fabulous! At the very end of the video you can see how she starts looking up off to her right (and even gives a little grunt). Well, Deb told us that when she is 'light gazing' she is not stimulating any of her visual pathways, so we have started encouraging her, during those moments, to focus back on us or on an object. What it tells me in this video is "Mom, I just worked really hard just now and I need a break!" Well deserved, well deserved!

~Whitney