Those of you who had a chance to watch the xmas slide show may have noticed one major noteworthy event that bears repeating. In fact, in my mind it warrants splashing across the front page of the newspaper and shouting from the rooftops!**EDEN IS SITTING!!!!!!!!!!!!
She has made slow and steady steps toward being able to do this, including bearing more and more weight on her arms, learning to pull her knees up under her, and prop sitting for very short periods of time. She has also been spending a lot of time, by choice, playing at her bench, which has really helped to strengthen her trunk, as well as her learning to bear weight on her arms with her knees under her for longer periods of time. (The bench is our equipment of choice right now, and highly recommended if you have a kiddo with abilities similar to Eden's.)
It's been a gradual process, but over the holidays she has finally gotten to a point where I can say it's a milestone ACHIEVED! She is pushing herself up to a sitting position, and maintaining it for a few minutes at a time. She is even starting to lift one or both hands to play her toys, as well as using her arms to scoot forward and backward while staying upright.
While I LOVE the new camera that Daddy bought me for Christmas (Thanks John!), this gift from Eden takes the cake and is better than anything I could have asked for. I am so proud of her.Next steps are four point crawling, bench sitting, and pulling to stand, all milestones I was not sure she would EVER achieve, but now feel confident will happen over the next year.
Look out 2009, here we come!

**I know it is a W-Sit, but we'll take function over form any day! That said, we have to be careful to keep her adductor muscles stretched out really good, and will encourage other sitting positions often (so long as they don't interfere with her ability to be independent and play).








