I know I already posted about Ty today but as he had his PT session this afternoon, I thought it would be easier just to type a quick posting before I forget what his therapist said.

She observed the following:

*Feet seem very tight.  He curls his toes continually and it is tough to get him to straighten them. 

He has done this for a long time.  Could it be a cerebral palsy warning sign?  Possibly but it could also be (a) a preemie hyper tension issue or (b) learned behavior.  Something to watch.  Apparently the calf muscles affect the toes so if the calves were tight he could curl his toes.

* When on his tummy, he seems to support his weight with his left side.  He doesn’t reach for toys with his left hand while on his tummy because he is using that arm to support his weight.  Hmmmm….didn’t notice that until today.

*When holding his bottle, he grasps it with his left hand but curls his right hand in a fist and supports it.  I can work with him to grasp with both hands but in a few minutes he goes right back to curling the right hand.  What is odd about this is that he uses both hands and he does not do this with toys…only the bottle.  Learned behavior or an early sign of something else?  I know other preemies that are in hand splints for CP but why would he only be exhibiting this curling behavior with his bottle? 

*Therapist was noticing his head shaking.  This one is certainely a dilemma.  For a long time now Ty has been shaking his head back and forth as if he is saying "No".  I have posted about this before.  I can narrow it down to about two things.  One being social behavoir and/or response to stimulation.  He rarely does it when he is playing alone.  99% of the time, he shakes his head when he is trying to interact and play.  Sometimes he will do it when you are playing with him and he is involved with a toy though and that suggests to me that it could be a stimulation issue.  It caught the therapist’s attention and she noticed that he can be distracted away from the head shaking (I have noticed this as well).  Neither of us know if this is learned behavior, immature social response, or ????????

*Ty is very active:)!  She thinks this will be to his benefit because he is in perpetual motion.

*His motions are rigid and not fluid.  He still has swiping motions with his arms when he is grasping or reaching for things. 

*He hyper extends a lot still.  (Stretching out and stiffening as opposed to curling up).  He doesn’t arch his back unnaturally like some babies do but he does tend to stiffen as oppossed to curl up.  This goes back to being a preemie and skipping all the education he would have received on muscle control had he had the uterus as a play gym for the 3rd trimester:).

*Eyes still crossing.  You will see this in some of his pictures this week.  The Dr. told me it would take about 6 weeks for this to stop as he has to build up these muscles.  Hopefully that is the case.  His eyes have seemed to cross more in the last few days though so I am hoping that this is not a bad sign of another eye surgery in our future.

*If you stand him on his feet, majority of the time he wants to jump.  Is this because he is just always moving or because he doesn’t want to stand and support his weight?

While this list may seem a bit concerning, all these issues may be simply micro preemie complications that he will out grow and not a sign of long term issues.  I do know one thing.  Ty and his daddy and mommy are all 3 pretty determined people and irregardless of what our obstacles are, I think we will find a way:)