Saturday, September 24, 2011

A Solution

Upon Selah’s discharge from her skull reconstructive surgery, we were told that Selah is not allowed to have any unsupervised play because we must protect her head from hitting anything AT ALL.  For 2 full months, Selah’s skull must be protected from any bumps, bonks, and bruises.  There are plates and screws to keep everything in place, but the same as one would treat a broken arm or leg without a cast, it must be protected. 

Since they don’t want Selah to wear a helmet, WE are the protectors of Selah’s head.  What a challenging responsibility, especially considering Selah is becoming a toddler.  She’s crawling everywhere, pulling up on things, trying to stand independently, and doing one of those funky “crawls” with her bootie in the air and her legs straight, kind of like a walk/crawl. 

The only completely “safe” we had for Selah was in the car (strapped into her car seat) or in her jumperoo/exersaucer contraption.  Ever since Selah’s been mobile, she’s not a big fan of being confined…anywhere. 

It’s challenging, to say the least, to do everyday things such as use the restroom, take a shower, cook, etc. because someone must always have eyes on Selah AND be within arm’s reach in order to protect her skull in the event that she falls backward or bangs it against something. 

Selah’s occupational therapist suggested we get an inflatable baby pool to use as a safe play yard, since Selah rebelled against the pack-n-play and revolted against the plastic baby gate play yard.  I thought this was a great idea, so after I searched for a while online, I decided to go with a large inflatable pool that also has an inflatable floor!  That way, Selah will be ultra safe when she’s in it (without water, of course), so even if she throws herself back, she will land on a cushy floor.

I also decided to order some of those plastic play balls to toss into the dry pool play yard, you know, so Selah could pretend she’s at the McDonald’s ball pit without getting all the germs.  (Do they still have ball pits?!?!)

The whole shebang arrived yesterday.  Yeehaw!  Lovin’ it!

Selah 11 months 012
Selah has now mastered holding two objects (one in each hand) and banging them together!  Obtaining this skill earned Selah a discharge from her occupational therapy!

Selah 11 months 015
Bang, bang, bang.
Selah 11 months 029
Selah 11 months 035
Selah 11 months 036
I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better of these last two photos, so I decided to include them both. Smile

So, if you’re looking for an inexpensive, effective, and fun way to contain your toddler, consider getting an inflatable pool and some balls!  So far, so good.

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