Finn has made it to his 13th month of life and so far it is proving to be a lucky one! In the last couple of weeks he has made some very nice progress. Although Finn is still struggling with low muscle tone and difficulty balancing, his ability to transition to and from different large motor positions is improving. For example, he can now not only go from sitting into a lying down position, but he can also get himself into a sitting position from lying down. For months we had been helping him do this and now he can do it on his own. But, by far his biggest accomplishment as of late is his new found ability to “inch-worm crawl!” He basically pulls himself across the floor with his front arms and even gets up on his knees every once and a while too. This is awesome in our book! We are working on helping him do this with a coordinated right-side/left-side movement of his arms and legs as well, and we are also continuing to try to help him get into a quadruped (or hands and knees) position. We are also trying to help him learn to pull up and stand and play at the couch or an “activity table.” He is able to bear weight on his legs, but has trouble balancing in that upright position. The good news is that he wants to do these things and seems determined. Hopefully, very soon his body will catch up with his mind’s desire. Motivation is a huge part of success!
As for other areas of development, his fine motor skills do seem to be improving a little as well. He is still working on perfecting his pincher grasp, but part of the time he does seem to have it down and can actually grab small items between his index finger and thumb. Finn still isn’t “speaking” or communicating with signs, but he continues to babble. “Da” is still his favorite sound to make. We are hoping that soon he will identify it with “daddy.” We consulted with a speech therapist and she gave us some exercises to do with him to encourage language development. We’ll go back again in 3 months to meet with her again. We have increased the amount of physical therapy he does now to once a week. Hopefully, as he gains increased muscle tone and physical ability, his speech will also develop.
Two of the highlights of the past month have been that Finn can eat very small pieces of bread and cheese! We are so happy that he will know the pleasure of eating such yummy things. Also, the other day at a store he rode around the “plastic car” part of a shopping cart. He held on to the steering wheel and even honked the little toy horn. He thought he was so cool! It was great!
Please continue to keep Finn in your thoughts and prayers. He still has a long way to go and it is often painful to see how far behind he is as compared to other kids his age, but we hold on to hope and the belief that he can overcome his challenges. We try to focus on the accomplishments he has made and remind ourselves that he is on his own timeline and journey. He remains a beautiful, inquisitive, and happy little being.
