Jenny has had 3 very emotional days this week that have made it difficult to relax her muscles. Whe she gets emotional, feels pain, is anxious, or feels discomfort- her body will become painfully tense and her joints become unbendable. Her therapies have been hindered and she had to cancell speech therapy due to being overly emotional (I later completed the eating exercises with her that she missed). It has taken constant repositioning and hours of hugging (which I do not mind at all) to get her to calm down. She becomes relaxed if I spoon with her in bed while she listens to love songs. Not a bad therapy if I say so myself.

Her eating is so much better. I gauge her progress by her ability to eat Jello. Two weeks ago she could not keep it in her mouth. Last week, she had some success keeping a few bites in. Yesterday, Jenny wolfed down a bowl in no time. The hospital puree foods are a bit under her level and I have asked permission to give Jenny soft, yet substantial foods. I have also began giving Jenny showers, which she loves. She is only supposed to get 3 a week, but she requests them daily now.

Jenny continues to struggle with pain in her body due to involuntary muscle movements. We all treasure the moments when she appears to be comfortable and happy. Jenny has work well with making sounds recently. She often mouths words she wants to say, and I have noticed (after her mom pointed it out) that Jenny mouths words to songs that she listens to. For some reason, she does best at producing sound following a stimulation like laughing. Unfortunately, the thing that made her laugh the most was when she spit up at me on accident (so she claims).

Jenny is able to sit longer (2-3 hours) in an upright position and her tone in her neck and upper body get better every day. Some parts of her body are becoming more stiff, but we are trying to work out those bugs. She also seems to be getting sore muscles that are being worked in therapy. We had accessability designers and therapists from the rehab come to the house to see what needs done to get Jenny set up to come home. The house looks pretty good, but needs to add a roll-in shower. However, Jenny could come home at pretty much any time, as far as the house goes.

Jenny began showing voluntary neck movement to her right today, which has relieved the pressure on her right ear some. Therapies have focused on strengthening the neck. In just under 2 days, she has also gained more tone in her neck and she is able to sit upright in a bed with litle or no support, when she needed constant support as recent as last week. I took her outside at lunch time and Jenny just relaxed peacefully in the sun and breeze. Since Jenny is aware of her condition at all times, she sees less progress than someone like myself or less frequent visitors. There are wonderful things returning each and every day which add up to bigger improvements as time goes by.