I think Randy's in trouble with his physical therapist...

As you may know, Randy is not crawling yet. He sits, rolls over, and pivots on his belly. Well he's getting older and has gained an interest in getting things (toys, my cell phone, my laptop, whatever...) that are out of his reach. About a week ago he began rolling to his belly, pivot, reach. If he could not reach it he would roll on his back, regroup, roll on his belly, pivot and reach again. Well....I guess this approach was too slow for him. Now he turns on his back and pushes back off his feet. He will also pivot on his back if necessary.

Sometimes he just pivots on his bottom. He'll grab what he wants and pivot back to his starting point.

Now I'm sure he will get praises for problem solving, but she would much prefer that he move on his tummy instead of his back. The OT and PT explained to me about the importance of Randy strenghtening his trunk. I'll try to explain it to you.

Preemies often have stronger extension muscles (the back of the body) as oppossed to flexor muscles (the front of the body). Flexion is important to so many everyday activities. It strengthens the core muscle which of course makes for a stronger trunk. How many of you used to have strong flat abs in your youth? Me, me, me!!!! Well you should notice that as you have gotten older and/or gotten a little belly, it is harder to do things like get up from a chair. Or get out of a car. This is becasue your core is weaker, thus making movements more difficult.

So when Randy pushes on his back or bum, he is using those extension muscles and not those flexor muscles.

Maybe he will earn some brownie points for sleeping on his knees (almost in the crawling pose).