Baby Book Post

I'm warning you that this post is for ME. I think there are several reasons why, but I've ended up not doing a very good job of recording Kanyon's milestones. I kept up with stuff the first year, but in most areas, not much happened in the first year and he has done lots of things since then that need to be recorded so I can look back on them. I am not planning on going back to when he was 1, but I am going to record what is going on with him now. The last few months have brought some fun new little things that are encouraging and exciting for his parents!



Physically, the booty scoot continues to be his mode of transportation. One of his PT's said that is THE hardest thing to change because its so efficient. BUT we have been working really really hard on quadraped crawling (regular crawling) for several months. He's SOOOOO close to being able to do it, but he still needs the support of someone helping him balance. He really does a good job even with his left arm and keeping that left hand pretty open. Once the motions clicked (we moved his legs/arms FOR him for a LONG time) he got better and better. Now one of his biggest problems is getting too excited and letting his arms get ahead of his legs. We had decided to do a bit of crawling boot camp and hit it really hard during all of his PT time in hopes of "checking if off our list" though none of us were convinced he would ever CHOOSE to crawl over scooting. Recently though, we've decided to keep working on it, but start doing more standing and stepping kinds of things too since he's lolly gagging a bit with the final steps of crawling. We feel confident that he has what he needs to do it and "gets" the movements so that is great. So, in the next few weeks we will be learning more about helping him stand. He doesn't pull up yet, so we'll start doing things that encourage him and teach him how to do that and will probably spend more time playing in the kneeling position and learning to get there on his own.



Fine motor wise, he's doing better with his left hand even though he still doesn't want/can't grasp things with it. Its really not too functional but he knows its there and is doing more with his arm, so we're hoping the hand will come too. His preferences for "tools" go like this: 1. right hand 2. mouth 3. forget it/left hand depending on who diligent he's feeling! :) With his right hand he's really into throwing (nice) and can do pretty much whatever he wants. He can even put the lid on his bottles and since he's such a fan of spinning things, he can spin the lid and screw it on. Funny stuff. He has been working on stacking blocks and is getting better with that. His pincer grasp is good with his right hand and he can even scribble a little bit with a crayon. Though he prefers to eat the crayon instead. We are always making him do things with his left hand reminding his sweet brain that its there and helping it learn to use it!



The most fun thing lately has been his language development. He has no intentional expressive language (what he says), but is really proving to have even more receptive language (what he understands) that we thought. All kids can understand more than they can say, but his gap seems to be wider as his expressive language is so delayed. I can say "close it" when he opens a cabinet or door and he will close it....and usually throw a mini-fit at the same time. The other day I said, "come here I need to change your diaper, and he stopped where he was and layed down! Most things just kind of happen and I'm like "WOW! He knew what I just said!" This is encouraging because he knows the words have meaning and his brain is doing a good job of processing it. The words will come out eventually. We have taught/are teaching him signs and he picks them up pretty well. He still doesn't use them on his own, we have to tell him to use them, but we're hoping at some point he will use them on his own. Here are the signs he knows when we tell him to "say" them: PLEASE, THANK YOU (not to be confused with blowing a kiss....we've never taught that), DOG, HORSE. We are working on "all done" and "help" is coming soon. When we say "Where's your belly?" He raises up his shirt to show his little belly. When he wants us to pick him up we say "UP" and he holds his arms up.....we sometimes have to wait for the left one, but it makes it. He can gives kisses and has even kind of taught himself to hug. He just lays his head on something or someone and makes a little whining sound. Its funny to me that the 2 things he taught himself were kisses and hugs. He's such a lover. Most times if you ask him Where's Ollie, he will look outside (or wherever he is) and reach. He can also do that some if you ask him where certain people are that he knows. After watching me shake up his bottles for the last year (we add thickener and have to shake it up) he knows what "shake" means. When he's holding something and we tell him to shake it he LOVES IT!! He can sort of play "peek-a-boo". I say "Wheeeeeeeere's Kanyon?!" and he will hold whatever (blanket, shirt, whatever's in his hand) up over his face (it usually DOES NOT cover his face, but he thinks he's hiding, right!?) and then pulls it down when I say "Peek a boo!" One of my most surprising was the other day he was fussing while I was at the sink and I kept telling him over and over "Go put your animals in your barn." After me saying that several times, he scooted over to the fridge and started playing with his fridge farm!! Exactly what I was telling him to do! I was shocked! He is understanding more and more and we are thankful and joyful to watch his little gears turn as he learns about his world.

He LOVES the nursery at church and has had VERY little trouble transitioning into that. He is even up with the bigger, walking kids on the bid kid side of the nursery. After a couple of weeks of crying and lots of love from his teacher Mrs. Patti, he's a nursery champ. He's NEVER cried when I've left him or walked away. He just needs a warm body, not necessarily mine, just a warm body and there are lots of those in the nursery. He keeps up pretty good with his friends, but sometimes gets frustrated when everyone is moving too fast for him and I think its sometimes scary if they're running around him because he's on the ground and it just seems to overwhelm him. He has a toy puppy that he plays with during snack time in the nursery and that suits him just fine! It is so cute to see (they have double sided windows so we can look in) all the kids sitting at the table eating their crackers and Kanyon is right there with them chewing on his puppy!

Speaking of chewing, the next big thing is Eating!!!! Well, in the last month or month and a half, the boy has decided to eat a little food. We have been working on pureed foods for almost a year and just recently he's started accepting more and more bites. I am up to feeding him around 60-65 grams of pureed food 2 times a day (thats about 2 ounces). Over the next 6 weeks we need to work up to 3, maybe 4 times a day. This isn't really enough to be any nutrition, that is still coming from the bottle, but we will gradually increase those amounts as we work our way up. He doesn't seem to be picky as far as taste. He also doesn't really have favorites, its all the same to him. We follow the same protocol the use in therapy and so far he's pretty successful. We don't do baby food, I actually puree whatever food we eat or I make things just for him. Its borderline...no, not borderline, its TOTALLY gross to blend real food, but whatever. His menu would surprise/gag you. Its higher in calories and will hopefully make it easier as we transition up and out of purees. Plus I like having a little control over what is going in him and I like to think I can make my food a little yummier than that nasty ol' baby food! We'll see. We are SOOO proud of him and hoping that he continues. We are taking it VERY VERY slowly, but that's OK! In about 6 weeks we will head back to Dallas for an inpatient stay at Our Children's House. We did that last summer for the bottle. Its better known as EATING CAMP! My Dr. has so far said its Ok for me to go. I will be STAYING in Dallas as opposed to traveling back and forth and I will see an OB every week while I'm there. I will be right next door to Baylor Hospital, so I"ll be in good hands. It is about a 6 week stay, so I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but I know we need it, especially with new baby on the way. Any progress will be a huge help when I'm trying to take care of a newborn. So, that is where we are for now with the feeding.

I think I'll stop this post for now, its getting out of control. And the worst news of all is that I don't have any pictures to post. My computer's brain is full and I need to clean it out. Sorry.