I can’t believe it is already February! I meant to post at the end of last month but somehow time just slipped away. Overall, Finn has had a great month. He continues to slowly progress. His commando crawling is quite refined now and he is constantly trying to pull himself up on everything. One of his favorite games – when a bathroom door is open – is to quickly commando crawl into the bathroom and pull himself up on the bath tub. All the while he says “ba ba ba” (which we think is his attempt at saying “bath”). It is a little nerve-wracking for us, especially since he is a bit unsteady and the one bathroom has a tile floor and tub. But we certainly admire his drive and abilities!
At the end of last month, Finn was evaluated again at Children’s Hospital according to the Bayley Developmental Assessment test. Unfortunately, he still scored extremely low in terms of his gross motor skills. In other areas of development he was only slightly behind and within the “normal” range. That was encouraging news to us! His developmental pediatrician was also very optimistic in terms of Finn’s future ambulatory skills. He told us that he believes that Finn will walk someday, and he even went so far as to suggest he thought he would walk by the time he turns two! We were very happy to hear that optimism and positive outlook.
Below is a list that I shared with both his developmental pediatrician at Children’s and our family pediatrician. It is a good summary of Finn’s current skills and abilities.
Finn’s Fantastic Accomplishments:
Gross Motor
- transitions from prone or supine on the floor into sitting position and back down
- reaches, pivots, and leans in sitting position
- prevents self from falling over by extending arms
- rocks on hands and knees, and extends one arm to reach an object
- commando crawls
- crawls in creeper or quadruped position when pushing a book on the floor
- crawls up and over cushions and pillows on hands and knees
- stands/plays at the couch or other low table for extended periods of time
- lifts one foot at a time and shifts weight between feet when standing at couch
- does “downward dog”
- pulls himself up to the couch, bathtub, beds, activity tables, coffee table, and even the sliding glass door!
- attempts to climb up onto couch and other low furniture
- attempts to walk forward when prompted and hands are held
Fine Motor
- eats many different kinds of foods and even feeds himself
- uses pincer grasp and can chew and swallow nickel-sized pieces of food
- can pick up objects as small as peas and teething tablets
- attempts to use a spoon to feed himself
- throws a ball repeatedly
- presses buttons on toys and turns light switches on and off
- attempts to stack blocks and other toys
- attempts to put shapes in a shape sorter
- attempts to turn pages in book
Social/Cognitive/Language
- claps, waves bye, plays peek-a-boo, gives kisses, and attempts to play pat-a-cake
- points at everything!
- occasionally uses some signs: more, outside, milk, all done
- occasionally says: mama, dada, la (light), buh (book), and ba (ball)
- will point out different objects in books
- plays with many different toys and objects – including rolling wheeled vehicles
- makes special “cute” noises when playing with stuffed animals (especially bears) and dolls
- clearly demonstrates pleasure and displeasure
- sleeps in own bed through the night (most of the time)
- continues to be very social, loving, and motivated!
I’ll try to get some new pictures up at the end of this month. Thank you all so very much as always for your on-going prayers and support. We still need them! 
