Our little man turned 16 months old a few days ago! Time is flying! It's been quite an eventful summer at home so far for Ty! At the start of summer, we found out that his PT, who we love, had been laid off from the early intervention program (for budgetary reasons). Her new plan was to become a private physical therapist, though she wouldn't be up and running until the end of July. We were in need of a therapy break, so we decided to wait until she went back to work and follow her privately instead. Turns out, NOT focusing on certain skills is exactly what Ty needed to make progress!
First, I found out that what I thought was a delay in self-feeding, was actually picky eating! Not only can Ty feed himself most of his meals with his hands (as long as he likes the foods!), he can feed himself with a spoon too! It's an incredibly messy production at mealtime, but he does great with it. I've learned to hide vegetables in a variety of places, and sneak in "healthy extras" on a graham cracker or with fruit. It's been a fun discovery process!
Next, is the biggest accompslishment of all...HANDS AND KNEES! As I've mentioned several times before, Ty has always HATED being on his hands and knees. He has been army crawling well for 4 months now, and loves to stand, but hated going on his hands and knees. Some kids do skip that kind of crawling and go straight to walking though, so that's what we kind of assumed he'd do. We knew the muscle strength and coordination needed to balance on hands and knees was so important though, so we hoped he'd do it someday! Well, sure enough, without the pressure of PT exercises, Ty actually allowed us to place him on his hands and knees, and he'd hang out there for a few minutes! Two days ago, he pushed himself up to that position, and yesterday he started doing it on command...if we say, "Push up, Ty!" he pushes up to hands and knees like he's been doing it for months! I even heard him screaming at 3am last night, and went in his room to find him pushing up on his hands and knees in his sleep! Little stinker! And today, the third day of all this progress, he actually moved his leg forward in that position...it's only a matter of time before he takes off!
In addition to all of that excitement, he also got his first pair of "Sure Steps" yesterday. They are lightweight, flexible ankle braces that were designed for children with Down syndrome who have low muscle tone. It helps stabalize their ankles to stand and walk properly, but does it in a natural way because they're so flexible. He wears them while he's playing, and we definitely see more stability when he's standing. We'll see how they turn out!
Lastly, Ty got his second set of ear tubes on Thursday. The procedure itself went fine, though he had a little trouble with the anesthesia this time. Once it wore off it was fine, but it really affected his respiratory system for several hours. That was a long day!!! We've already seen signs that he can hear better though, which is awesome. He's added the word "ball" to his vocabulary, which he screamed out at our playgroup today as he pointed to a small red ball that he spotted across the room! He definitely has that athletic influence from his daddy! :) We're hearing other attempts at words here & there too, which is a great sign that the surgery was worth it!
Well, that's about it for this month! Ty may develop on his own timeline, but once he gets on a roll, there's no stopping him!!! :) Have a great weekend!
