Therapy

So Addison met a new friend last week. It turns out there is yet another side of premies that they don't tell you. Jillian and I thought Addison was doing great. She is smart, and she is physically growing right on track. But premies have a propensity to develop a bit slower in some areas. Last week we had a physical therapist come work with Addison to identify some of the things we can do to help her catch up over the next six months or so. No one tells you how well babies should be tracking objects with their eyes, or how flexible their hamstrings should be, or even how much tummy time they should get. All of these were areas that the therapist identified for us to work on with Addison. So we have a whole regimen of pushups (complete with new bright, musical toys), sit-ups for her core muscles, leg exercises so she will be able to get those little feet in her mouth, hand-eye coordination exercises, and tracking exercises for her to develop eye muscles. I'm sure there are more that I can't think of and Addison loves them all, at least for short periods of time. After only one week, her legs are pretty limber, we catch her clasping her hands together, and she has developed strong neck and arm muscles from tummy time. Her tracking is improving, but I secretly think that some of her deficiency here is due to her rampant curiosity for the world around her. And her therapist now comes once a week to give us new exercises and check Addison's progress.
If any of you have come across any developmental exercises that have worked with your children, please share them!