First Adjustment

I admit, I am not that great at working on Xander with his physical development.  I really need to dig out my copy of How to Teach Your Baby to be Physically Superb, read it cover to cover, and run with it.  I think I was just a little too overwhelmed at first.  I read it at the same time I learned about teaching him math and reading and it was way too much to try to figure out how to implement everything at once.

That said, I have been a little concerned that Xander is 8 months isn't crawling yet.  I know a lot of babies don't crawl at that age, but he was rolling over back in February for goodness sakes!  He has been turning circles on his tummy and pushing himself backwards for months.  I really felt like he had hit a plateau in his crawling.  Then a couple of weeks ago I noticed that when I would hold his hands up, he would step with his right foot, but not the left.  When I would bicycle his legs, the left was stiff, and while it would bend, it was a lot more difficult.

Well last Thursday I had a chiro appointment and explained my concerns to the chiro (who is the most amazingly fun, eclectic, interesting gentleman and has been treating our family for years).  I explained it was probably me being a paranoid mom, but I wanted him to take a look.  I am SO glad I did.  Turns out a few of Xander's lower vertebrae were locked up and his left hip was twisted, decreasing nerve impulses to his left leg.  My chiro adjusted him in about 30 seconds and showed me how to massage it to keep it loose.

In the week since the appointment I have noticed huge progress in Xander's movements!  I swear he has made more progress in the last week than in the last month!  He can go from sitting to all fours and back.  He also does this funny little bounce while sitting to scoot himself forward (need to get it on video).  He is pretty good at getting objects he wants and he is so much better at pushing up onto his knees.  He still isn't great at staying on them though, tending to flatten them out like a frog.  He also still mainly goes backwards rather than forwards.

This is where he got "stuck" while I was messing with his mattress.

This is where I found him while I was getting ready for work.  He had started in the middle of the room watching his Sight Words.  He definitely didn't mean to get here since he was still trying to see the movie.  So thankful I have a baby gate on the stairs!