Sound the trumpets (and lock up your breakables...)!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, toddlers and tweens....



It's finally happened! He's finally done it! My son, just recently 18 months old, has finally taken his first steps!!!



Seriously. I was starting to think I'd have to carry him to his kindergarten teacher, saying, "Good luck and have fun!" and run away cackling maniacally. Not to mention start taking back pain meds in my early 30s.



But he's really, actually, finally done it. And what better time than 12 hours after his first appointment with the physical therapist recommended by his pediatrician?



(I should take a moment here to explain that the PT was not my idea. Our pediatrician -- as good as I think she is -- can be a little nutty sometimes. She started showing concern at his 15-month checkup at his lack of mobility, especially since at that point he still wasn't even "army-crawling" much, or crawling on his hands and knees at all. So she ordered a hip x-ray, a visit from the Help Me Grow -- an early-intervention type organization -- specialist, and a trip to see the physical therapist. Working in a daycare, I've seen some kids start to pull up on furniture and cruise as young as 9 months, and others not walk across the room completely unassisted until the age of 22 months. So I was not concerned in the least, much less worried enough to get professional help with gross motor skills.)

So he had the x-ray, saw the Help Me Grow specialist, and yesterday, his first physical therapy. After it was determined that he probably had a delay because of issues with balance, confidence, and motivation (conclusions we had already reached), Adam took his first few steps at my parents' house after we'dall had dinner with my aunt and uncle from out of town.

After we came back from the restaurant, we were playing with him on the floor and watching him dance-- he's got a little four-legged toy, that has a tabletop with interactive foods; when you push the cookies it sings "One to ten" to a salsa kind of tune. Adam will pull himself up on the table, push the button, then bend his knee, moving his leg up and down, and thus shaking his booty. It's pretty darn cute.

Um. It seems that thought got away from me. Where was I? Oh yes. So we're watching him play and dance, and then he got bored with that so my dad got up and started walking him around the room, holding Adam's hands up for balance. He said, "Let's walk to Tia (my sister -- tia is Spanish for aunt)." And that time, he did actually walk about 2 or 3 of the 6 or 7 steps it took to reach her. I squealed and giggled (or at least, I tried -- I've had no voice for the past 3 days or so).

This morning we had a hard time getting him to repeat it, but when he did, I was still very excited. Still working on performances for my in-laws. We'll try again tomorrow.

But at least I know he's not never going to walk.

Haiku Friday #20: It's Broken

Remember when I
Was berating myself for
Being a bad mom?

Well, it turns out it's
Even worse than all of that.
Wedn'sday the second,

My husband took our
Son to the orthopedic
Doc to check his arm.

At first it was to
Check for any hip problems
Since he's not walking.

But while he was there,
The specialist would check his
Hurt right arm as well.

At the orthopedic center, they took yet another x-ray of his arm and found a healing fracture up near his elbow. So they put a cast on it right then and there. They let him pick out the color he wanted -- he chose kelly green. Apparently he wasn't into the teddy bears or dinosaurs (now, if they'd had a cat pattern...).

Horrible mother that I am, I stayed at work during the whole process -- with all of Adam's illness lately, I'm running out of sick time (the next day, we found out he had roseola as well -- this in addition to already having an ear infection and several molars making their entrance).

So he's still in the sling. He's still trying to crawl on that arm, although with more success and fewer tears and frustration now. And we still don't know what happened, although we now know what's wrong, at least.

The good news? There's nothing wrong with his hips, so as long as he's willing, walking shouldn't be a problem. The nice lady from Help Me Grow came today; she determined that Adam has a gross motor delay, but otherwise he's developing on or ahead of schedule -- especially ahead in the language. No surprises.

Any suggestions for encouraging a child to walk, who is usually content to just sit on the floor with whatever has caught his interest?

Almost Forgot...

It has occurred to me since Friday that Adam's vocabulary is actually larger than what I let on.

I forgot all about these words:

• Chee = Cheese
• Kee = Keys
• Buh (sounds like the 'oo' in 'foot') = Book
• Nah-nah = Night-night
• La-yun = Lion
  

And my mom has also informed me that he says juice, although I've never heard him. And it probably sounds more like /joo/ -- he's not so good with the ending consonants yet. But everything he says is fairly easy to understand, and he uses words (mostly) appropriately. He sometimes sees other animals (dogs, squirrels) and refers to them as "kitty".

Just had to brag. :) Of course, he's still not walking at sixteen months....

Haiku Friday #19: Talk Isn't Cheap

We're in the middle
Of a language explosion
At the Geek household.

Baby Geek, who will
Soon be sixteen months of age,
Now talks up a storm.

They're serious when they tell you that once a kid starts talking, he just doesn't stop. And sometimes it comes at a price: "Yes, that is the door. No, you drank all the juice already."

It seems like Adam learns a new word every few days now. Here's the list so far:

Words:

• KIH-tee = kitty
• Mih = Milk (or sometimes juice)
• Buh = Bread
• LA-ee = Light
• Boo = Blue
• Puh-puh = Purple
• Bah-bah = Bye-bye
• Ha = Hi
  

People:

• Mama (duh)
  
• Dada (duh)
• Mimi = his name for my mom
• Guh = Grandpere (French for grandfather), his name for my dad
  
• Teh = Tia (Spanish for aunt), his name for my sister

Sounds:

• Baa (like bad, without the 'd') = Bang
• Me = Meow
• Yow = Meow (can you tell what his favorite animal is?)
• Hoo hoo hoo = The sound a monkey makes

Signs:

• More (pointing finger into palm)
  
• Finished (palms up, hands cupped slightly, waving back and forth)
  
• "No no" (shaking pointed finger at someone -- he got that from the JCC)

Songs/Rhymes/Games:

• Points finger or taps head to request "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"
• Shakes pointed finger to request "No, No, No, I Will Not Let Them Go" (a Passover song)
• Does all the motions to Patty-Cake
• Does some of the motions for "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Mini Mac" (another JCC song)

Of course, he recognizes more words than he can say -- probably more than we are aware of. So far we only know that he understands family members that he can't pronounce yet, colors, and most of his body parts. He also understands words for his routines: mealtimes, bed, bath, etc.

Anyone out there have children of similar age and developmental stage? What cool stuff is your toddler doing lately?


For more haiku or to play along, visit A Mommy Story.

Haiku Friday #14: Babysteps

Remember this? Yeah,
Forget I said that. Or, you
Could hold me to it --

Starting with today.
I am trying my best to
Take it in small steps.

One day at a time.
Babysteps. Speaking of which,
Someone else is, too.

Taking "baby steps,"
That is. My son is cruising,
Pulling himself up.

Walking with my help.
He thinks he can stand alone,
But has no balance.

But as soon as I
Try to help, he gets annoyed,
And wants to sit down.

Sorry this is a day late, folks. Blogger's finally working for me now, though. Hopefully I won't have anymore internet problems this week....

You remember how I said my son is not interested in crawling, pulling himself up to standing, or walking? Well, apparently he is interested, providing I'm not expecting anything from him.

He got some new toys for Christmas, a few of which are about as big as he is. He'd been trying to pull himself up on them and getting stuck about halfway to standing. Now he's pulling himself up, and cruising a little too (only a few steps -- enough to get from the toy to the couch, or if he puts too much weight on the toy, scooting it across the floor a bit, enough to catch up and stand up straight again).

And the other day, I went in to get him out of bed and he was sitting up in his crib. This morning I found him the same way. Looks like the large muscle toys at the day care are paying off.

I've borrowed the word babysteps and the accompanying concept from the FLYLady. I joined her site in late December, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's the hardest thing in the world to just tell yourself not to worry about everything, to just take it one day at a time.

To learn more about her system for organizing your home and your life once and for all, visit FLYLady's site here.

Toddler Swearing

My son is now 13 months old. I can't even believe how fast he's growing and changing. His communication skills, epecially, are developing rapidly: he says cat, meow, roar, ho ho ho, and uh-oh (ho ho ho as in what Santa says, not a derogatory term for three women down on their luck). He knows a few signs: shaking your finger for no, opening and closing your hand for on and off (although he uses those interchangeably), and he tries to sign more, finished, and stop.

He plays peek-a-boo, either by pulling a blanket over his head, waiting for someone to say, "Where's the baby?" and then pulling it back down for the "peek-a-boo!" part, or using his hands to cover his face and then removing them. He also plays patty-cake -- his favorite part is "Roll it". He even helps a bit when he's having his diaper and clothes changed: he will hold up his legs during diaper changes and he pulls his arms through sleeves, both to put on and take off a shirt.

And recently, he learned how to swear (no, not like Mommy and Daddy do). You know what I'm talking about -- that angry babbling noise toddlers make when they're clearly trying to cuss you out.

He still has no interest in trying to walk, or even trying to crawl on all fours most of the time. He does this army-crawl/scooting thing to get himself from one end of the room to another fairly quickly, just to get to what he wants, and then he stops. And if he decides that it's too far, he won't bother.

Occasionally he's been attempting to lift his belly up, even pulling himself up on the furniture halfway to standing. But the other day I stood him up on the couch and put his sippy cup just out of reach, to see if he would try to cruise. He reached and reached and reached with his arms, but wouldn't so much as budge his feet.

I tried to encourage him, saying "Come on, you can do it!" and trying to help him move his back foot forward. But that just made him madder. He yelled, "Nyigh nyigh nyigh nyigh nyigh nyigh nyigh!" Actually, it almost sounded like he was saying nein over and over (that's German for no, if foreign languages aren't your thing).

I guess my baby's growing up. :)

Still Alive

...even considering this is my first job in a day care setting and I have the plague that just won't end.

At first it wasn't so bad. Yeah, I spent my first weekend with the flu. But I seemed to make it through the rest of my first month at the JCC preschool unscathed.

And then last Monday I woke up with pinkeye. Woohoo. I felt okay other than that, but as the day wore on, I felt pretty tired and my nose was a little stuffy. No biggie; I just figured the abrupt changes in the weather were responsible and I'd be fine after getting some rest.

Ohhhh no. It was a full-blown, knock-me-down, double-whammy cold and sinus infection. Runny nose, stuffy nose, headaches, toothaches, coughing, losing my voice -- all week long. I'm still not 100 percent yet: my voice is still a little raspy, and my nose is still clogged a bit. And of course I bring everything home with me -- my husband, son, and mother all got the cold/sinus infection. Fortunately none of them got the pinkeye.

So I've been trying to get better and still manage to be a mommy. Still haven't quite got it down yet.

Despite Adam sneezing what my husband called "snot rockets" for a few days, he managed to complete some milestones:

• He has two more teeth coming in (he got the bottom front two, oh, around 6 or 7 months, then nothing until a few weeks ago -- the two outside top incisors started coming; now it's the two in the top middle).
• He (maybe?) said his first word, I think: "meow" -- we have cats, both sets of grandparents have a cat, and he loves basically any cat he sees; he gets all excited and squeals usually, but my parents' rather vocal Siamese was meowing last week while Adam was at their house and we heard Adam make a high-pitched kinda "mew".
  
• He's started waving bye-bye, although as yet only to my parents, and he needs a little help to get started, but then you let go of his hand and he does it on his own.
• He's crawling scooting froggy swimming now! He pushes with his hands and feet while still laying on his belly to propel himself forward on the carpet. He's fast, too! I was surprised at how quickly he got from one end of the room to the other, considering he's not actually crawling -- which he can get into the position for, but can't really move from there.

Yay! My baby's growing up. No, I'm not sad. Yes, I'll have to get on that purchasing of the baby gate thing, but I'm proud, and I don't regret anything except that I haven't spent much time cleaning around here yet.