Bear Crawls

Kevin has made some progress this week. He started doing the "bear crawl," and he seems to enjoy doing it. He does it all the time. I got a video of Kevin doing his bear crawl, and Andrea playing along, too. Admittedly, he was a bit whiny the day I filmed this, but it was still cute. :))

Andrea loves it when I take out the camera now. She always wants to take silly pictures and videos so she can see herself. She requested a picture of herself bear crawling. Here it is. :))

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As I said, Kevin was a bit whiny and cuddly that night, and he did something that surprised me. He's not usually interested in stuffed animals or dolls. However, he crawled up to the couch and pulled down Andrea's Dora doll. (Of course, she wasn't paying attention, or he'd never have gotten away with this!) Then, he sat holding the Dora, playing with her dress and hair, and murmuring to her.

Soon, he laid himself down next to her, and had a little nap with Dora! Too cute!

A Weekend With the Kids

With Daddy gone for the annual ski trip this weekend, the kids have been especially attached to Mommy this weekend.

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Andrea has been really cute. She misses Daddy SO much. She keeps asking when he's coming home, and being extra snuggly and lovey with me. Last night, when I put her to bed, she made me promise that I wouldn't go away, and that I would stay and take care of her! She is also constantly after me to do the tings that Daddy does with her: play computer games, do gymnastics, do the midget toss, etc.

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Kevin has been his usual self, meaning, a STINKER. That is my new nickname for him: "Stinker," or sometimes, "Monster." He may be delayed in some areas, but his attitude is definitely heading toward the Terrible Twos! He still has the bad habit of throwing things from his tray when he's tired of eating. Today, I took his breakfast away after he "dropped" the first thing. He still had one last bite of food he was chewing, so he put his hand in his mouth, pulled out some of the chewed up food, and threw it at the wall--SPLAT! Gross! When I scolded him and started to clean it, he laughed, and did it again. MONSTER!

Then, at lunch time, I was making something in the oven that needed to be flipped. As soon as I opened the oven door, he came running in on hands and knees. I had a flipper in one hand, a pan in the other, and I was trying to shoo him away. He laughed at me! He thought it was a game! Then, when I yelled because I didn't want him to get hurt, Andrea came running in and said, "Stop being mean to him! Stop yelling at Kevin! You're being bad to Kevin!" This is funny because Andrea is usually the one yelling at him, so she's probably repeating what I've said to her a zillion times. They're three and one, and they're already banding together against the parents! Actually, I was happy to see Andrea defending her little brother.

Kevin also gets into everything (cupboard locks are constantly on) because he is incredibly curious. He drives Andrea crazy because he crawls after her everywhere, and he tries to tickle her feet all the time! His other difficulty is staying still (when WE want him to); I have never seen a child crawl so fast! Kevin RUNS on his hands and knees! The worst times are clothing and diaper changes; I usually end up chasing him down the hall, crying, "Naked baby on the loose! Naked baby on the loose!"

Still, Kevin is a lovable little guy, and very cuddly with the people he knows and loves best. Who can resist his toothy grin? The other night, I was filming some videos of him (I'll post those after) and he wanted to grab my camera. I was holding it, but he was pressing the button, and snapping pictures of himself. Every time the camera flashed, he laughed like crazy. I'm posting all the pictures here because they made me laugh so much!

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Kevin's really been into blocks lately, and he recently discovered Andrea's set of Pooh-bear Mega Blocks. (Isn't it great when toys get used by both kids?) I was surprised by how well he puts things together, and how long he can spend quietly amusing himself. He's very focused, too; I can barely get his attention when he's playing.

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As far as Kevin's gross motor skills, there's been some small improvements. He likes to play in high-kneeling position, and he'll walk on his knees with a toy. He pulls himself up to standing once in a while. We've even gotten him to take a few steps with his walking toys (but he always cries--he doesn't like it). His communication skills are still a work in progress. Today, he said "Map" and "Bac-ac" (Backpack) when we were playing a Dora game, so that was good. I got a video of Kevin and I doing our songs and sounds practice last night. It's long, but it gives you an idea of where he's at (and he's just too cute!).

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Andrea still loves singing and music, too. Last night, she started singing the cutest little song about Peter, James, and Jesus out on the water. I know she learned this one at daycare (it's Christian--they do a brief church service each morning). I just thought she was so sweet singing this little song to herself, so I asked her to do it on video for me. Of course she was glad to, and then we had to watch it about 50 times!

One more video of Andrea singing. They were learning "Skinnamarink" for Valentine's Day at daycare. She doesn't have it quite right yet, but I just love her ending ("Say it one more time!").

Meeting with Children First: Update

Last night, three people from Children First, who have been working with/assessing Kevin, came to share their initial reports with us: the primary partner (in charge of Kevin's file), the speech therapist, and the physiotherapist. Basically, their observations and concerns mirror my own. Here's a summary of what they said:


Speech Therapist's Report
"At the present time, Kevin has delays in all aspects of communication. He is not yet producing the typical repertoire of vowel and consonant sounds. . . . Kevin occasionally responds to his name, and follows some simple one-step directions. . . . . More information around Kevin's hearing acuity . . . is needed."


"Need: To provide support around developing Kevin's overall communication skills, in particular, prelanguage skills." In other words, she can't really help him until he starts making more consonant/word sounds. She is also anxious to get the results of his hearing re-test.


Physiotherapist's Report
"Kevin is delayed in the acquisition of his motor milestones. This is no doubt related to his low tone and lack of endurance of his muscles, which limits his opportunities for practicing movement to build strength and learn skills. Kevin demonstrates low tone throughout his body, evidenced by his sitting posture, inability to maintain upright positions, and difficulty reaching with arms. It is unclear at this time what the cause of the low tone and muscle fatigue is."


"Recommendations: . . . the need for further medical investigations . . . to identify the reason for his muscle fatigue and low muscle tone. . . . . We will focus on increasing strength and tone to enhance motor function; however, it is unknown how effective this will be without knowing the underlying cause of these issues."


Where we go from here:
Kevin will be going for his 18-month check-up/immunizations the week of February 15th (our doctor is away until then). Our Primary Partner from Children First is going to come to the appointment. She is going to present the reports to my doctor, and briefly explain our concerns. She will also suggest further medical investigations (blood work, developmental specialists) are needed for Kevin. Our P.P. is also going to request that Kevin be sent to a new pediatrician, as the one we currently have is not taking our concerns about Kevin seriously. (For example, he said Kevin is "perfectly normal" just because Kevin reached for a cookie! Plus, he's only seen Kevin 3 times, for about 5 minutes each.)


I am anxious to discover the "underlying causes" of Kevin's delays. How can we help him, if we're not even sure what's wrong?


However, I don't want you to get the idea that Children First only focuses on what's wrong. They also had plenty of positive things to say about Kevin: he's curious, has a good attention span, plays well one-on-one with adults, interacts well with others at daycare, and is starting to build some good basic skills now: animal sounds, crawling, pulling up to/playing in high kneeling position; stacking blocks; taking things in and out of containers; nodding and shaking his head; waving hello and good-bye; etc. Plus, they always talk about how cute and friendly he is with them. He is always happy to see his "friends" from Children First. :))