On Sunday we spent most of the afternoon on the road. We went leaf-peeping, and then enjoyed a stroller walk on the Northern Rail Trail. For Noa, it was mostly about enjoying having the windows rolled down.  The great victory of the day was that Noa agreed to eat a lunch/dinner combo meal (she is generally agreeable to brunch, but has never agreed to lunch/dinner before.) There was a bit of negotiating - Noa won five pushes on her spinning swing. 

In the spring and early summer, Noa enjoyed spending time on her treadmill. She would usually spend about 20 minutes on the treadmill with Daddy.

Later in the summer, Noa shifted her focus to a stationary bike that, until then, she couldn't really reach the pedals on. At first she struggled to turn the pedals smoothly but in recent weeks - with the help of some upbeat music - seemed to get the hang of it.

Noa and Mommy have been doing yoga everyday, in fact it's become a favorite part of the day for Noa. I filmed the whole routine I do with her because it's one that we seem to have created ourselves - a combination of stretches, yoga moves she already knew and moves that I added in response to the kinds of movements Noa seemed to be interested in being able to do (twisting her upper torso, ankle flexibility and opening up her hips.) 

The whole routine takes a little over 20 minutes. The video is in three parts. I've also included a few bonus videos. 

PART ONE - leg stretches
Basic leg stretches (with the alternate leg straight and bent), some hip flexibility, ankle stretches and circles I do a bit of massage mainly on her lower legs and ankles as they tend to get especially tight.)

PART TWO - back and twisting
I for these stretches, I try to focus on getting Noa sit up and twist with her legs in various positions. She really seems to like moves where we have some give and take. Just after these moves, she adds in a few of her own which she does on ocassion. In the past few days she's started to add arm circles (which she likes from APE class with Matt)

The final set of twisting moves are especially challening. While Noa's form may be lacking, she seems to understand what we're going for and she is really commited to the move.

PART THREE - bonus moves
In this first part of this Noa does one of her favorite moves called "Noa is a woo-woo chair." The woo-woo chair is a rocking gaming chair that that allows Noa to rock all the way onto her back. Noa loves it and seems to understand what she needs to do to rock back and forth this way, but can't quite get the momentum going to do the move entirely on her own.

Sorry about the angle for the final set of moves, but these are nice both because they are moves that the two of us do in unison (which she really likes) and because she is able to move from one move to the next smoothly.

TWO BONUS CLIPS
The two clips below show Noa doing Happy Baby (a move that she particularly enjoys) and from this angle you can see what she is doing. Also a different angle on the moves we do in unison. She tends to round her back in the Cobra position, but if I reminder her with with a light touch on the back she does just to relax that.

One of the most exciting developments has been Noa's desire to be independent, to do things, as she says, "self." She will also sign "self" though it oten looks more like "ten." Noa has been very interested in getting around the house by herself.
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Noa likes to go up and down the stairs on her own. She is able to cross from the top of the stairs to (and from the bathroom), and likes us to set up her walker so she can walk from the bathroom to bed (and from bed to the bathroom in the morning.) She is interested in trying to get around on her own, and is doing great with understanding her left and right.

She also now dresses herself (which we know she's done at school for a while, but she hasn't wanted to do at home) and has shown an on and off again interest in wiping herself. Sometimes, if she wants to pull up her pants using both hands, she will lean her head against my chest so she can bend down. 

She also sometimes wants to stand on her own - for example standing up from the potty on her own - but sometimes really wants to walk on her own someplace where there isn't anything secure for her to hold on to. She's been using the walker more at home, though there isn't much space for walking more than one or two steps.