At the recommendation of the pediatrician, we set up an early intervention appointment for Nathan, where the state sends child development and physical therapy specialists to evaluate his motor skills, cognitive skills, speech, etc. I wasn't so much worried that he wasn't walking or talking yet, but I was interested to see how they evaluate and if they have suggestions on how we can help him along in his development. I've heard positive things from parents who have gone through the evaluation and therapy sessions with early intervention and figured it couldn't hurt to learn something new. It was fascinating for me to watch them interact with Nathan and have him play with different toys and ask him questions. From one look at Nathan taking steps, the PT said that she thought he had hyper mobile joints which is what's causing him to walk later because he doesn't feel sturdy when he stands. They gave me a few good suggestions about how to get him on his feet more and how to get him to imitate my speech. They were encouraging and didn't make me feel bad if he didn't know certain words. I thought it was a very worthwhile experience and walked away realizing that I can be more intentional in how I play and spend time with him, rather than just watch him play most of the time.
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| At the butterfly museum - Nathan didn't pay any attention to the butterflies though. |
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| He just wanted to play in the ball pit, especially since he wasn't walking yet. |
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| Of course, after seeing Nathan in the ball pit, Jackson wanted to buy a small ball pit for him at home (I can't remember who said he wasn't going to spoil his kids before Nathan was born). My only condition was that I wasn't cleaning up all the balls and the tent :) |
Nathan has officially moved on from Daniel Tiger to random YouTube videos of fruit and vegetable cutting, people playing with toys, etc. And he gets very upset when it's not the video that he wants. Some of these videos are so "dumb" that I seriously hope they don't decrease his IQ.
Playing with trolley and daniel in bath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfDk_X4ohkQ
Walking at the park - first few steps taken on his own!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr48G4opAD0
Our trip to Arizona was really fun when Nathan was happy, and very challenging when he wasn't (which was a majority of the time). It was definitely a learning experience for me. We spent 3 hours at the airport before departing due to weather delays, so he was super fussy at the start of flight until he finally fell asleep. I was getting stressed out and embarrassed when he kept crying and refused to calm down. Of course, when we landed he was all smiles and waving at passengers near us, and I think they forgave us because he's so cute. When he saw gong gong and pao pao he immediately recognized them (yay for Facetime)! But he was only willing to let them hold him if Jackson and I weren't in the room, otherwise he would just cling to us. We had to sometimes hide in the bedroom so he would be normal and play in the living room. After Jackson left, Nathan caught a stomach virus and had a fever, and that made him even more clingy and cranky. I had to throw away the sleep routines and just go with the flow and trust in the Lord for His grace and strength. One by one, we all caught the same stomach bug and so for a week we were just taking turns feeling nauseated and recovering. Thank God it was just a 24-hour bug. Finally, 2-3 days before we were leaving, Nathan warmed up to pao pao enough that he would go to her rather than me. It was so nice to get a break! Just goes to show (again) that I have these "plans" in my head but they almost never work out the way I expect them to!
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| My favorite picture of him and gong gong |
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| At church love feast - day after Nathan was up most of the night throwing up from stomach virus. He started getting a fever during service and took a nap, but was super happy playing with pao pao. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcI2BIHxwEg |
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| Playing with the thermometer - he liked getting his temperature checked by pao pao |
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| Remember Nathan sitting in the same spot a year ago?! He fell in love with crackers since that's all he would / could eat while recovering from the stomach virus. |
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| At the grocery store - Nathan really liked the Easter eggs |
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| Bath time with pao pao - it's been so long! |
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| On the slide for the first time. After we went to the playground once, every time we came out for a walk and he would see the playground in the distance (like so far away we barely noticed it), he'd sit up in his stroller and start pointing to it and letting us know he wants to go. Smart little guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASlwm5_AU7M |
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| When the automatic sprinklers would start each morning, Nathan asks pao pao to bring him outside to play with the water. |
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| Nathan loved going outside for walks with pao pao. During our last few days in Phoenix, he would take pao pao to the garage door or front door, letting her know that he wanted to go out. |
One of the few times when Nathan was actually in a happy mood.
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| Sleeping soundly on the plane ride home - praise God it went as smoothly as it did. He fell asleep in the ergo while we were going through security, which took like 45 minutes. By the time we got to the gate, we only had about 20 minutes before boarding, so we just got some food, changed his clothes and a nice lady helped me carry the car seat from the back of the line to the gate. Nathan was up for the first hour and a half and wanted to walk around and play on the floor (we had the first row), so that was a bit rough. By 7:30 he was tired enough that I held him for 20 minutes or so and he fell asleep. Then I was FREE for the rest of the flight! I really like the early evening flight and giving him his own seat for long trips. Carrying the car seat is tough but it's worth it to get 2 hours when I don't have to have him on my lap. |
I was lol-ing when you wrote that you're hoping the youtube videos don't lower his IQ!!! I know!!! I had to cut Navy off because she was trying to watch them all day and throwing tantrums. That being said, we're having a YouTube themed birthday party for her because of all the videos!!!
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