Ella is very happy lately and making some motor progress. On Friday I took her swimming at the Fernault campus pool. This is a therapeutic pool for special needs kids. It’s great advantages are the temperature — about 90 degree water — and it has a long declining ramp so I can sit comfortably on the ramp with Ella and do exercises. I think Ella gets alot of exercise in the pool. While I don’t do anything very structured with her since I’m not quite sure what to do, she gets very excited and kicks and splashes non-stop. The movement is a good thing in any case. Other motor progress I see is in standing. With her AFO’s on and some back ground music Ella can actually stand with minimal support. She can maintain this position for about 15-20 minutes and then needs a rest. It is so amazing to see her stand like that. She still can’t get herself up to a siting position completely by herself from lying on the floor so I can’t imagine what she would do by herself if she fell but this is a start. Hopefully by the time she is able to stand by herself she’ll be able at least get into a sitting position. Funny how normally developing children move so smoothly and effortlessly from sitting to standing to walking in so a short time span. I barely noticed or remember these stages from raising Gaul. Yet with Ella, each stage seems to last forever and demands a concerted effort that goes on for months. So when she does start doing something — like standing — it seems nothing short of a full-blown miracle.