It's been awhile since I posted an update on Rebekah.  She will be 18 months on Friday.  That is so hard to fathom.  Not only because time just flies by, but because she is so tiny and her motor skills are so delayed that it is hard to believe she is supposed to be a toddler.   She weighs just over 17lbs, is 30 inches "tall" and has 6 teeth.  She actually looks like she is filling out a bit.  Her legs and arms have a little "fluff" and she doesn't look so painfully thin like she did for so long. 

She has a bit of a virus today - low grade fever and vomiting - that just appeared out of nowhere.   I gave her a bath and she is having a good nap now so hopefully she will wake feeling better.

As for her progress, she is in a slow stage right now.  Her developement really does come in spurts.  She will learn two or three new things then nothing new for months.  Just before she starts something new she will temporarily lose the skills she has.  It is a pattern that she has followed several times over now.  As of now,   she sits well and can almost get herself into a sitting position.  When she sits, she uses her legs to spin herself around.  She also has a really long reach, thanks to her incredible flexibility.  She can fold herself in half and reach way out to get what she wants.  When she is on her tummy she rolls and pivots and pushes herself backward a little.  Still no forward motion and no hands and knees for crawling.  She will briefly stand with support but she is not bearing weight on her legs enough.  Part of the problem with both the hands/knees postion and standing is the double whammy of hypotonia and hyper-mobile joints (the extreme flexibility).  This just doesn't give her enoug stability to stay in those positions.  We did get her Hip Helpers (www.hiphelpers.com) and a pair of good walking shoes to support her ankles and they help some, but not enough.  We go see the pediatric orthopedist tomorrow to evaluate and see if she will need some type of orthotics.  I'm pretty certain that she will.  I will be glad to get help to get her standing.  The longer she goes without weight-bearing on her legs the harder it is for the hips to develope properly. 

Aside from physical developement, her cognitive and speech developement is a little delayed but not as much as physical.  At her last evaluation she was about 3-4 months behind on speech and 2-3  months on cognitive, with a few skills that were actually right on target.  She has a few words now - bye-bye (her first word, spoken at 16 months), uh-oh and mama.  She also signs eat, more, drink, mama and daddy.  She understands several more signs and seems to understand alot of what we say to her. 

Sleep has improved - she was waking every 2-3 hours throughout the night but now she has many nights where she sleeps for 5-7 hours before waking to nurse.  We have been praying for this time to come.  The sleep deprivation was really starting to get to me.

DD2 needs some "mama time" now.  I'll go enjoy her while the little one sleeps.