This video was taken last week (during Jay's visit to Casa Jackson) in the middle of an activity we've been doing for weeks now. Every time I go to Casa Jackson, I prop a handful of the kids up on the mattress in the playroom, read them the Sesame Street board book, "Bubbles, Bubbles!", and then blow bubbles for them and catch bubbles for each child to "Pop!" in turn.
As I mentioned here, Alison has recently begun trying to communicate and interact more. When she arrived at Casa Jackson several weeks ago, she was silent, pensive, and appeared unsettlingly apathetic. Alison is about two years old and weighed just over ten pounds at arrival (in early March). She's (very) slowly but surely gaining weight, and the concerning tremors that accompanied all of her movement before have been fading fast.
There is something "off" about Alison; Sarah, the pediatric PT volunteering at Casa Jackson, and I both agreed on that. Unfortunately, neither of us are doctors, and specialist appointments are hard to come by. Until she has fully recovered from her malnutrition, it is incredibly difficult to tease out what weakness and abnormal movement is related to the malnutrition and what may have pre-dated it. She's incredibly hesitant to reach out and touch anything, despite being very interested and now having the strength and motor ability to do so. She's a "funky" little girl (funky developmentally, that is.
Over the past week and a half, a new Alison has begun to emerge. She is trying so hard to communicate with the few sounds she has; such a welcome change from the complete silence she offered before! In addition to the very soft "puh" sound you see her making in the video (which she began doing as soon as she saw the bubbles!), she now occasionally offers up a little vowel-sound vocalization. Typical of what you may hear from a six or seven month old playing with their voice, but with more intention. She is still hesitant to touch toys, but with some coaxing and hand-over-hand, she can now get past that enough to PLAY for a few minutes at a time, without any help.
Alison is also more engaging with volunteers. Instead of laying in her crib silently and placidly, she now reaches her arms up and does a little wiggle when I approach her crib and speak to her. She display more emotion and frustration when left alone for longer periods of time, and instead of simply sitting back and watching other children play and ignoring the toys put on her lap, she will topple over forwards trying hard to reach someone else's toys that she's got her eye on.
Her motor skills and strength are improving at the same slow pace as her weight. I was able to keep her on her tummy for about five minutes yesterday while (you guessed it!) blowing bubbles. This was by far the longest she's tolerated it, and though it was a real struggle for her to hold herself up with those tiny little arms and weak shoulders, she persisted! She still topples to the front and sides frequently when propped to sit up, but she is now able to lean on one or both arms to hold herself up for a longer period of time before toppling.
Alison is still incredibly far behind "schedule" in all areas of development. She is two years old, but her communication skills are at about a 3-month level; her gross motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills are hovering around the 6-month level; and is somewhere between the 3-6 month level for fine/visual-motor development.
Something as simple and small as a smile, or the slightest effort to put her lips together and make a "puh" sound may seem minute in comparison to the things Alison is "supposed" to do at her age. Her ability to lean on her arms and hold herself up for 15 seconds before toppling over as opposed to 5 seconds may seem negligible in the "grand scheme" of things. But, as I have said a million times and deeply believe, every tiny victory, every scant bit of progress that is fought and won with hard work and persistence by a child who has the deck stacked so high against them, is worth joyously celebrating.
Today, I celebrate Alison.
:)
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