Step by Step

Olivia's officially on the move!  We knew she could do it and every day her confidence has been getting increased and she's been getting bolder.  Last week it was playing peek-a-boo around furniture and without realizing it was happening, she was letting go of furniture to clap for herself with excitement.  Once she realized it was "Look no hands", she'd cautiously seat herself on terra firma.  This past weekend Liv started letting go of anyone that she was holding on to start walking towards someone else or something else that she really wanted.

During PT yesterday she was playing at her little table set with a puzzle often just standing there and waving puzzle pieces through the air without leaning on the table or having a hand to steady herself.  She's much steadier than I would have expected, but then I reminded myself she's really been standing for months now so she had all opportunities to work out all her nerves.

The change in scenery by moving all her toys to the unused living room was one of the best decisions ever.  It's a formal playroom now with her little table and chairs, mini rocker and her armchair.  Heck, she's got seating for four if she decides to entertain guests, they just need to be under 4' tall and under 50 lbs to ensure that the weight capacity of the furniture holds up.  We did discover when we tried to liven the place up with some pictures that they cannot be pictures of just Olivia.  She gets upset when she sees a picture of herself and can't get her little hands on it - so instead we've got one of Dr. Ilbawi holding her and it's like she knows that he symbolizes the hospital and intervention because she has absolutely no interest in holding that pic!  Oh well, someday I hope that she'll be happy to have a few pics with him throughout the course of her life since he essentially gave her the gift of life.

So that's it, Olivia's keeping us all enthralled with seeing what each day will bring and how quickly she can destroy a room before she moves on to the next one.