Breaking News....Bennett Update

Since this blog is supposed to detail Bennett’s progress, I guess it’s time to provide an update. So here you go.

Crawling: Not too much progress here yet. He gets on all fours and rocks like a wild man and has kind of jumped forward a couple of times but still nothing that can be classified as crawling. You can see that he wants to move but just can’t put it all together yet. The physio says this is still a good thing as he’s building strength and confidence. However, for a guy that can’t crawl or walk he manages to get around quite a bit. He’ll roll and sit up, the go on all fours and sit up, push himself backwards and sit up and somehow, all this work gets him across a room.

Pulling Up: This is something we have been working on and now we finally have progress. He can pull himself to his knees on the couch, in the crib, in the tub, etc. quite easily. Once there, he’s confident enough to let go and bounce and balance on his knees. It also looks like (as you can see in the video) he wants to stand.

Walking: Not anywhere close, although he did take a few steps in a walker with his physiotherapist a couple weeks ago.

Language: Bennett had his first appointment with a speech language pathologist. She has evaluated him and determined that his receptive language is where it should be but his expressive is behind. We have lots of sounds but nothing close to words yet. He points at a lot of things and understands most of what we say but no words. I want to hear that little voice so badly it hurts.

Fine Motor Skills: This is another area we are working on. We have been putting a sock on his left hand throughout the day when we eat and for some playtime. He has made progress with his right hand. He feeds himself breakfast quite easily and has used a spoon a little bit. We’re still working on this though with his left.

We have also been getting him to pick up small puffs with each hand and getting him to drop them into a small spice jar. This has been going well. The occupational therapist uses a shape sorter toy every time we go. This is not something Bennett has ever been too interested in. However, if we need to do this, we will. So, we’ve been practicing and he’s made great strides in just a couple days. He can put the shapes in as long as we point out the opening. Hopefully the OT will be impressed.

The next thing is stacking blocks. Bennett loves to knock them down but shows no interest in building. That will be our next project. You know, I wonder if there are “normal” kids out there who don’t like stacking blocks and no one ever cares. However, because a textbook says they should be stacking blocks, Bennett will have to do it whether he likes it or not. That’s one of the downfalls of having people evaluate every little thing I guess.

Sleeping: I’m proud to report that Bennett now naps and sleeps in his crib. He still comes into bed with mommy and daddy sometimes, but for the most part sleeps on his own.

Breaking News: Bennett can correctly identify his toes, belly, nose, mouth and head! It’s funny how he anticipates when I’m going to ask and immediately points to his nose. With his belly, he always lifts his shirt first and points – very cute!