Saturday, February 27, 2010

From Baby Steps to Leaps and Bounds


Two months of the year have gone already, with evidence of this apparent in the change from cool, breezy weather a couple of weeks ago to cloudless skies and hot afternoons that signify the early start of an El Nino summer.

In our little world, much has happened as well. Little A has completed two months of occupational therapy, and in another month we visit his developmental pediatrician again to provide a progress report. Honestly, Big A and I are amazed and proud of how much our son has accomplished over the past two months.

During therapy sessions, Little A was initially uncooperative and had to be forced, with a lot of whining and outright tantrums, to do what was needed. Slowly though, he came around. He now enjoys the therapressure brush protocol, though he sometimes gets annoyed that it disturbs him from playing, and has gone from a hyperactive child who refused to sit still between tasks to one who sits quietly much of the time and plays with one toy while the next activity is being set up. He completes his tasks with minimal prompting and only complains towards the end, when he has tired of the repetition.

At preschool, he has gone from hating the classroom environment (and throwing a long tantrum every schoolday for most of the class period) to walking in happily and sitting down during circle time. He still does not give story time his full attention, but I am hoping that will happen in the next few months.

At home, he has decided that he will no longer spend all his nights in our bed. He makes up his own little bed on the floor with our help, and spends 50% of his nights there. He has stopped trying to climb into the swimming pool at every opportunity and eagerly watches any and all swimmers, pulling at the hands of children in swimwear to show them he wants them to get into the water.

We still have a way to go to get him to speak, but there is time in which to work on this, and thus far time has been telling that further improvements are on the horizon.

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