Abigail Turns One

I have a feeling this entry is going to be a whopper, since I haven’t written since...September, (insert embarrassed chuckle here). It turns out it is next to impossible to sit down and write when you have young kids. Though I suppose there will always be something pressing, some sort of excuse as to why I did not write down my thoughts that day. I must make writing more of a priority, since my memory rarely serves me right; I really need some way of remembering life in the early stages of parenthood. So here goes my update…

Abigail turned one year on January 6^th. We had a small party for her, and I do mean small. Her guests consisted of Brady, Spencer, Amber, and Me. I didn’t really want to bother with throwing a huge party this time around; it would have been too much work. And it was a good thing I didn’t, let’s just say Abigail’s birthday theme song was, “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.” Folks, she didn’t even enjoy her chocolate birthday cake. Oh well, maybe next birthday.

Abigail’s birthday drama didn’t stop at the party. Her one year checkup brought up some concerns. First off, Abigail had lost weight and was now in the 5^th percentile for her weight. She weighed 17 ½ lbs. at eight months and then weighed 17 lbs. at her one year checkup. The doctor wasn’t as concerned about her actual weight, but more concerned that she wasn’t gaining weight. We went back to her pediatrician twice for weight checkups, (about every four weeks). Both checkups indicated that she had yet to gain weight. So the doctor asked me to keep a record of everything she ate for four weeks, it was very tedious work. A nutritionist from PEIP (Provo Early Intervention Program) visited Abigail and told me she looked very healthy and was getting great variety in her diet and getting adequate calorie intake.  It was after this meeting that we met with Abigail’s pediatrician for a third and final weight checkup, which indicated that she finally gained weight. So at around 14 months of age, she weighed in at 18 lbs. 11 oz.

The other concern that was brought up during Abigail’s one year checkup was that she was behind in her motor gross development. At one year Abigail was not walking, crawling (no form of crawling, not even an army crawl), pulling herself up on furniture, nor rolling from back to tummy. Basically she was sitting all day and pivoting around on her bottom to see where I was, she was quite the unhappy baby at the time. Her pediatrician recommended PEIP for her, which turned out to be a great blessing. I can’t say enough good things about PEIP, they came to our house about 3-4 times each month to work with Abigail. One person in particular, the physical therapist (who works with Abigail the most), was a delight to work with. She taught me ways in which I can help Abigail improve her mobility; one of which included strengthening her core muscles by means of an exercise ball. Abigail has vastly improved her motor skills; she now crawls like a pro, she rolls over from back to tummy, and she is getting better at standing on her feet. For a long time Abigail would raise her feet as soon as they touched the ground, (when I put her in a standing position). The physical therapist thought Abigail may be overly sensitive to touch, especially her feet. So we added regular leg and foot massage into her daily routine, which she really learned to enjoy.  We are now working on getting Abigail to pull herself up into standing position, (alongside furniture). She did pull herself up one time recently, so we are making progress. We are beyond grateful to the people who have worked with Abigail, not only have we seen drastic improvements in Abigail’s motor development skills, we have also seen an improvement in her overall demeanor. She is a much happier girl as her independence grows with each stride. Now that she is mobile she is my little shadow, follows me where ever I go. We love our little princess!

Side Note: Abigail is doing very well in all other areas of development. When PEIP came to our house for an assessment they tested Abigail in all areas of development. She scored very high in her social development, which we weren’t concerned about, but is always comforting to hear. So there hasn’t been any diagnosis for her motor skills development delay. The doctors aren’t in any way linking her motor skills delay with her brain functionality. She is a very healthy girl, who has just hit a minor bump in the road that will surely smooth out. 

Thanks Wendy for taking this adorable pic of Abigail!