Creepster

I was telling Marissa last week about a park in the community next to us that has a swing for Taylor and a swing for her. I should know better not to say such a thing unless a trip to see it for herself is imminent. For one reason or another we didn't get there until yesterday. It always bothers me that a trip to the park is always for Marissa and there's never anything for Taylor. But this park, just around the corner in Cranston, has a swing for special needs children. Thank you Chantel for telling me about it, we finally made it!

To say Marissa was thrilled to be able to give her sister a push and then swing right beside her is an understatement. It will be forever known by Marissa as the-park-that-has-a-swing-for-taylor-and-a-swing-for-me. I love it. What a joy to see both my girls swinging side by side at the park!

While Taylor enjoyed her very own swing, Marissa enjoyed her usual park fun...

We got to try out something new today with Taylor. We got a "Creepster" on loan from Pace. One of the kids from Pace has a very handy grandfather who made a couple of them for Pace. It may be a knock-off but you'd be hard-pressed to tell it apart from the real deal.

The Creepster Crawler assists children with crawling when this activity cannot be achieved independently. Instead of a caregiver (or two) trying to support the child’s arms, legs, head and trunk, the Creepster Crawler does this with a seven-point harness. This frees the caregiver to encourage the child to crawl. Crawling is an important step in development. When a child is on his/her hands and knees, the arm and leg joints, muscles and connective tissues receive feedback (proprioceptive feedback) to let the brain know where the body is in space which helps stabilize the joints. Crawling also helps to build muscles in the arms, legs and trunk. It is also the precursor to walking since you move your arms and legs with the same pattern as you do for walking.

The Creepster Crawler is used on a smooth surface at home, inside or outside, to promote independence, work on muscle strengthening and training. It’s also a great therapy tool as well. The Creepster Crawler can support the child on his/her hands and knees while the therapist/caregiver works on encouraging the child to reach for objects, weight-shifting and increasing head control.

When Shar arrived today for her session with Taylor and showed me the contraption, I thought to myself there's no way Taylor's going to be happy in that. She hasn't been happy doing anything on her tummy since the g-tube went in. But Supergirl proved me wrong once again, I love it when she does that! There was a teeny tiny bit of resistance from her as we got her strapped in, but once she felt secure, she didn't seem to mind it too much at all! She put a little bit of weight through her arms from time to time, and through her legs too. No pushing forward with them though, that will indeed take time. The main thing I think it's going to do for her is help her head control, it's very hard work to keep her head up while she's in the Creepster. She did a great job of keeping it up today, but she did take breaks and rested her head on the floor until she had enough energy back to lift it up again. What a girl!

Marissa slept over at Granny's last night after Sunday dinner, so I enjoyed a nice quiet house just me and Taylor all afternoon. When Mom brought Marissa back, she had her craft-of-the-day in tow. The cutest little wooden spoon puppets ever! Does the dollar store realize just how much happiness they offer?!!!!

Happy Monday everyone!