Abby update - January 2

Not too much new to report today, other than Abby had a wonderful violin practice! So many fine motor tasks and cognitive tasks are still difficult, but she is able to play several of her early violin songs by memory (and violin requires pretty good fine motor skills!). She often even corrects her tuning when the pitch is slightly off and shows good recognition of major versus minor keys, etc. It's pretty amazing to me that such complex skills are so readily accessible and makes me want to further investigate how her music could be used in her recovery therapy.

As far as the more "gross" motor skills, we put in some basketball practice today. Abby was able to dribble the ball more than 30 times with her right hand (while walking even!) and is also pretty adept with her left hand. She's getting better at many things with her left hand, although she still is hesitant to volunteer it to do many things. The muscles in that arm were severely contracted, but, thanks to her bionic dyna-splint, she now has full extension in that arm, and we've put the splint away. I know she's sleeping better at night without that thing on!

Speaking of sleeping better, I intend to go try that now. Frank was up last night with an upset stomach, and consequently we were up too. He's thankfully much better now, but I'm dragging a little...

Sweet dreams,
-the Linams