Baby Sitting!

Henry has been working on sitting up, like, for. ev. er. Ok, more accurately, Henry has been working on strengthening his neck and tummy muscles for lots of reasons, not just for sitting. Over the summer we have really been able to see and feel him getting stronger. And as he has been getting stronger, little by little, in teeny tiny increments he has been making progress with being able to sit up on his own. A couple more seconds... a little less wobbling... slowly, slowly... those teeny tiny improvements have added up!

Hooray for Henry! 13 months old

Sitting opens up other possibilities for Henry - He can sit in a park swing! He can sit and play in the sand at the beach or the sandbox at the playground! Yay for more ways to play!

Henry's therapists saw him this week after a 3 week break (while we were on vacay - pictures still coming!). His PT said she can tell he is stronger and more stable. His OT seemed impressed that he was able to reach for toys while sitting. It's always great to hear our therapists and docs say that Henry has made progress, and I know it's thanks in large part to their work with him, especially our PT, Krystyna!

Here's Henry back in April working on kind of a "tripod" sit (meaning that his arms are supposed to be helping support him). You can tell by the blurriness that he was wobbling!

April, 9 months old - Trying to "tripod" sit with the help of his arms. It only lasted as long as it took to snap the picture!

Fast forward to the end of June and here he is sitting with a little help from his PT. Krystyna has one hand on his lower back, and one on his leg. She's not really supporting him, but she is helping him not wiggle so much. I don't have any pics of him trying to sit from April - June because there wasn't really anything to see :\ He could barely sit for a couple of seconds without keeling over, and for those few seconds, he would wobble so much that he'd basically throw himself over! He just wasn't ready. In June, after he got really good at rolling, we started to see progress with sitting. 

Late June, 11 months old - sitting with a little help from his PT

Two weeks later, on his birthday, we tried a little sitting at his Teddy Bear Picnic. At this point, he could hang for maybe 10 or 15 seconds. Still wobbly, but not immediately keeling over :) I do have my hand on him in the picture. (And what a handsome birthday boy!)

Mid July, 12 months old - can sit for 10 or 15 seconds

Then we went to Georgia to visit my parents and we put Henry in a kiddie pool for the first time... and look what happened!! I guess the buoyancy of being in the water helped him out! He was able to sit in there for a few minutes unassisted!

Late July, 12 months old - sitting in the kiddie pool!!

And now here we are mid-August and he can sit for a few minutes even out of the water! Here he is on the beach at Lake Anza here in California. You can even see him reaching for Calvin's toy in the second pic!

August, almost 13 months - Sitting on the beach! Don't mind if I do! 

August, almost 13 months - Sitting on the sand and reaching for Calvin's toy!

Now, at 13 months, I think we can pretty much call it: Henry can sit! 

Ok it's not perfect, but it's awesome. And we're so proud of him!