I got the best present for my first Mother’s Day. For the first time ever, Sol rolled from his back to his tummy. Granted, the first time he rolled was also while he was in the pool on a raft, but he got it down pat on the ground the next day. He’s now rolling all over the place! Here’s proof that Solly can stretch, tuck, and roll:

Sol’s seventh month was full of just a few doctor’s appointments, lots of therapy appointments, and tons of new experiences. First, the fun stuff – new experiences! He went to his first road race to cheer me on, to his first horse show, his first soccer match to cheer on his cousin Eli, and two trips – one to Nashville by plane and the other to Hilton Head by car. As much as we get out of our almost daily therapy appointments, I believe that introducing him to different environments and people are also doing wonders for his recovery. It seems as though each time we take him somewhere, he comes home with a new trick. For example, when we were in Nashville, we noticed that he was kicking his legs much more than usual and at random intervals, and he was in Hilton Head when he rolled the first time. He’s making such great strides.

Now that we are rolling, in PT and OT, we are now focusing on sitting, rolling to the right (he’s moving just to the left now), and kneeling against a cushion while reaching for toys. All of these actions are to get him to the next major milestones of sitting and crawling. My absolute favorite thing about each of my therapy sessions is there is no “if”, there is only “when” – “We are doing this for when Sol will crawl.” Sol’s therapists are doing such an amazing job with him.

On the medical front, we’ve had a few appointments this past month. Sol is now wearing a helmet for plagiocephaly, or flat head. Because he could only see out of the left side for so many months, he developed a flat spot on the back right side of his head. His plagiocephaly is only “moderate”, but because the flat spot could lead to other vision and feeding issues, I wanted to correct it. We also had x-rays of his hips after one of his therapists expressed concern about hip dysplasia – meaning that his hip could be prone to dislocation, a problem for when he starts to walk. Luckily, the x-rays showed no sign of hip dysplasia and everything looked great. One of Sol’s legs is turned in slightly, however his pediatrician thinks the turn-in is occurring at the knee and will resolve itself when Sol begins to walk.

All in all, a great month. We’ve got a few doctors appointments coming up in the next few weeks – hematology, neurology, and NICU follow up – but other than that, we’re just going to keep on chugging and chip away at milestones.