Aviana has always loved to be held by anyone and everyone. Yesterday my mom held her for about an hour and Dave held her for close to two hours. All three of them loved every moment of this. A week ago, she would resist a little until we got comfortable. Now, the transition from her bed to our arms is much smoother.
After watching her yesterday, we realized she desperately needs to be held and we have not been doing it enough. Her entire body relaxed in both of their arms. If she started to cry, Dave would grab her up tight and close to his body and she would stop. Our new goal is to hold her much more. She will then be very relaxed and we will have a much better success rate at asking her to respond to commands. After all, she was in my lap when she responded to me asking her to lift her leg. We realized last night that we have been a little too easy on Aviana lately. We have felt like maybe we should not make her work so hard because of all of the "spitting up" issues. We feel we need to start working her harder now. She is getting too accustomed to lying there.
She is not going to like us at first, but that is fine with us as it is for her own good :o) We are no strangers to her not liking us at first for many things: sleep training, doing away with her bottle, potty training, brushing her teeth, talking, etc. If we hadn’t pushed and persisted in all of these areas, she would have not made any progress.
Starting today, we hope to be able to report more in the area of her following our commands. I even woke up this morning from a dream about her. She was on our bed and moving her legs. Her eyebrows would go into a V, because we were pushing her so hard and she in turn was trying so desperately!!! Guess what, in my dreams she was lifting her legs EVERY time I asked.....she can do this in real life, too. I have every confidence in the world!!
It must be really hard to know which way to go through this; I am so amazed at how well you are doing in continuing to revise your approach in learning what she needs, what is best for her, how to love her, how to help her heal....I can see it in her eyes that she is loving the cuddling...makes so much sense to me. I am praying, loving you all from here and thinking of you daily. (someone you have never met, but I feel connected and care so much about your journey and Aviana's healing.
ReplyDeleteI am still praying for you guys and check daily on your progress. I know she is going to start responding to commands regularly~Avianna sounds like such a fighter. My daughter from Guatemala is the same way. They have a certain fire inside that will serve her well through this tragedy. You guys are doing an amazing job with her, keep being positive! Much love
ReplyDeleteTracy
I love these pictures of Dave and Avi. And you are right, I think Avi will respond to your persistence...maybe even show signs of her little spitfire attitude we are all used to:)
ReplyDeleteHi ho hi ho its off to work she goes! Work it baby Avi and you show your parents whose boss. The book has arived I would love to come and read it to her. I left this message on my current email so if you want to respond go ahead and I'll let you know if I get it. :0)
ReplyDeleteThose pictures speak a thousand words. Beautiful. Still praying for you all, though you don't seem to need it. You are a very strong family and I love to hear that you will push her to fight hard! Go Avi Go! -Renee
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