As I wrote yesterday, Elijah is on the move!!! He has now ventured all the way around the first floor of our house (aside from the bathroom). This morning he found his way under his exersaucer.
We played peek-a-boo around the couch. 
Elijah likes to open and close doors, so he was happy to discover the play kitchen. 
He ventured down the hallway and found...
...the stairs!! Time to get out the baby gates!
The baby tornado-knocking over chairs and taking names!
When Elijah had his surgery, the neurosurgeon told us that there was a chance that he could be (temporarily) paralyzed on the right side of his body following the surgery or that he may have some weakness on his right side down the road. Thankfully, he came out of surgery just fine, and we haven't noticed any weakness on his right side at all since then. That's why it's so thrilling to watch him explore and get around on his own. He receives services through Early Intervention to monitor his development and to make sure that he stays on track. A physical therapist comes to our house once a week. Now Elijah is also seen by a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) every other week since he has a right visual field defect, or Homonymous Hemianopia, as a result of his tumor. From what we understand, he doesn't see anything in his right visual field of both eyes. He seems to be compensating amazingly well, though, by turning his eyes and head to the right, so it's hard to even tell that he has this issue. The TVI will give us strategies to help him as he becomes even more mobile. I notice that he bumps his head into things on his right side sometimes if he hasn't looked all around to see what's in front of and beside him. If this is the worst of his problems, we really can't complain! We're just thankful that he's happy and healthy and making great strides developmentally! We're also thankful to live in a place that has such great services to help us and Elijah!
When Elijah had his surgery, the neurosurgeon told us that there was a chance that he could be (temporarily) paralyzed on the right side of his body following the surgery or that he may have some weakness on his right side down the road. Thankfully, he came out of surgery just fine, and we haven't noticed any weakness on his right side at all since then. That's why it's so thrilling to watch him explore and get around on his own. He receives services through Early Intervention to monitor his development and to make sure that he stays on track. A physical therapist comes to our house once a week. Now Elijah is also seen by a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) every other week since he has a right visual field defect, or Homonymous Hemianopia, as a result of his tumor. From what we understand, he doesn't see anything in his right visual field of both eyes. He seems to be compensating amazingly well, though, by turning his eyes and head to the right, so it's hard to even tell that he has this issue. The TVI will give us strategies to help him as he becomes even more mobile. I notice that he bumps his head into things on his right side sometimes if he hasn't looked all around to see what's in front of and beside him. If this is the worst of his problems, we really can't complain! We're just thankful that he's happy and healthy and making great strides developmentally! We're also thankful to live in a place that has such great services to help us and Elijah!
