Asking For Help
I’m inspired to write today because both boys asked me to help them today – without words, of course. They’ve never really done that before – they’ve asked me to do something, like pick them up, or open a door, but today they wanted my help. Lachlan was playing with a jack-in-the-box and couldn’t figure it out, so he gave it to me to show him what to do. Then he did it again when he couldn’t figure out how to shut the lid after it had popped open. Then a few minutes later, I heard Daniel whinging about something and went to see what it was about. He came to me, pulled my hand, and took me to a toy that he couldn’t get to work properly (because it was switched off). They were both very clear about what they wanted, so I’m feeling very happy that they’re starting to want to communicate more. Now we just have to figure out how to get them to use words.
In other news, and I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but Lachlan has figured out how to climb into his cot. He can only do it when the side is down, by stepping onto the rail, then stepping onto the mattress and then flopping over and crashing onto the mattress. He just loves it. He has managed to get out as well – only once – and he landed badly – so he hasn’t really tried again. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer before he gets confident enough to try again, at which point we’ll have to think about moving him to a proper bed. (Something we really don’t want to do for a while!) Another good sign is that as soon as Daniel saw Lachlan climbing into the cot, he raced over to give it a go as well. He’s sometimes quite bold despite the fact that his abilities are more limited. Anyway, he’s a few centimetres shorter than Lachlan so it’s much harder for him and he hasn’t been able to climb it by himself yet. He is, however, climbing on the couches, the outside bench, the coffee table and regular chairs. We still hover over him a little bit because we’re half expecting him to fall, but more often than not he manouvres himself intot he correct position and reverses down safely.
Lachlan has also been able to open doors for a few weeks now. We’ve had to put locks on all our doors to limit where the boys are able to explore. As soon as we moved into this house we installed a deadlock on the front door because the handle just wasn’t safe enough. We’ve already had Lachlan disappear out the front door one day when the deadlock wasn’t latched properly. Luckily May heard him go and was able to catch him quickly.
Oh, and in case I haven’t mentioned it before, Daniel has improved out of sight with his sippy cup skills. We’ve ended up giving him one with a straw so he doesn’t have to tip it to drink, and he’s very good at it. He and Lachlan both drink water and milk with the cups, but they’re still having two bottles of formula a day. We’re going to have to start looking to reduce that, but I’m not sure when or how.
Since I last wrote, we’ve had another private occupational therapy appointment which went very well. Daniel is very confident in the room now, and explores at his leisure. Once he becomes familiar with the apparatus (like the tunnel) he’s very agile and keen he gets to play in it again. He’s still very cautious about new experiences, but they don’t freak him out the way they used to. Having said that, he still freaks out at unfamiliar music.
We’ve also seen the infant development team at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital again and it’s all come out that we’ve sought private care. I think they were a bit put out that we were getting private care and it’s all become a little confusing. They’re a bit worried that we’re going along two diverging paths and will end up more confused about what to do – which is a fair cop. It’s also confusing because we’ve been referred privately to the same people we’re receiving care from publicly. On a positive note, they’re happy with the private occupational therapy we’re getting. We’ve also finally got an appointment for Lachlan to be assessed in April.
