Busy Baby

 

Over the last few weeks, Ayden has changed quite a bit.  One of the differences that has been most notable to us is his mounting frustration with not being mobile enough to do what he wants to do.  As his desire to explore and get to things that are just out of his reach increases, so too does his budding realization that there benefits to doing the types of things his physical therapist has been trying to get him to do.  While it might seem weird to say, Ayden getting frustrated is exactly what needs to happen.  With sitting up, once Ayden realized the upside far exceeded the extra work, he did it without complaint and progressed quickly.  We are hoping for a similar breakthrough with sitting himself up and with crawling.

We might have mentioned before that Ayden is stubborn.  Anytime we try to get him to do something that isn't his idea, he complains (at best) or gets angry (at worst).  On the other hand, if he starts to try something himself, it's perfectly acceptable.  Thus, if we roll him onto his stomach so he can sit himself up, he whines and just returns to his back.  However, if he rolls over and tries to sit up, we can help him without complaint.  So, given that he is wanting to get into more and more things, and to switch from playing with one to another, becoming mobile is starting to become his idea.  This newfound busyness is what will get him over the hump (hopefully sooner rather than later).  To date, his morphing into a very "busy" baby has produced his ability to scoot on his butt while sitting up (backwards only) and to rotate himself around while sitting up.  He is also starting to reach for things to the point that he is almost lunging at them (another indication to me that he's closing in on crawling).

Much of the foregoing is exemplified in this video - going from one toy to another, reaching for things, and getting frustrated (evidenced by his whining, which as you might guess gets old rather quickly).

In addition to movement and exploration, Ayden is now making a lot more sounds than he did a few weeks ago.  He is now talking in sentences.  Those sentences are not in English, but they are sentences.  Instead of the same sound over and over, we are hearing a long series of varying sounds.  I had described this as "babbling" to Dr. K.  She informed me the correct term in term for this is "jargoning."  Who knew?

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Speaking of Dr. K, Allison had a follow-up conversation with her regarding Ayden's cardiology visit.  That conversation had three highlights: (1) the radiologist's conclusion after reading Ayden's x-ray was that what Dr. K was seeing was pleural thickening, not fluid; (2) she ultimately did label Ayden's wall motion as "normal" (!); and (3) she cleared Ayden to move on to a toddler formula - Boost Kids Essentials.

My sats continue to be great! (I like to look at the numbers.)

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As Allison has mentioned, we officially abandoned the morning nap a couple weeks ago.  It took a little while for all of us to adjust, but the change is now ingrained in our routine.  For the most part, Ayden's goes full out all morning (unless he goes for a ride and falls asleep in his car seat).  He then crashes right after his noon feed.  Sometimes, though, he runs out of steam a little early:

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Ayden had multiple visitors over the last week:

Ms. Callie hung out with me one morning.

Grancee stopped by to see me on her way to my second cousin's graduation...

Great Aunt Sherry came to visit for the first time.
I hadn't seen her since my dedication... and before that, the hospital...

  

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His various therapy appointments continue to keep his schedule (and by implication, Allison's) quite packed.  Each week, he has at least two of them.

Physical - He screams, whines, and complains, throughout, but he is picking things up, pretty much in spite of himself.

Occupational - This is much more enjoyable for Ayden, as it feels very similar to his playtime at home.  He is doing well at using various types of handholds and at manipulating objects.  His current assignment is to put a circular object into its corresponding circular hole.

Feeding - As usual, we are making progress, but at a snail's pace.  Yesterday, we went to O'Charley's for lunch.  While we were there, he decided to his spoon to his mouth several times, even after we put some yogurt on it. (Remember, it was his idea, so it was okay.)  He continues to not respond well to artificial feeding scenarios - e.g., randomly sitting him in his high chair and trying to get him to eat something.  Instead, he is most receptive when something is situation appropriate, such as coming inside from the heat and drinking some water (he likes to take a little bit from either his Nuby sippy cup or a water bottle).  His new feeding therapist, Ms. Helen (whom he seems to like), wants him to be in his high chair once a day, preferably when we are eating.  We'll see how that works out, not only for Ayden, but also for us (we have been eating dinner after he goes to bed, so this will be a serious change to our evenings).