In Physical Therapy, we are working with Seth on walking behind a push toy. Today, I tracked down Jace's old HABA push cart and pulled it out for Seth to play with. He was so excited...you would have thought it was Christmas morning . He was beyond thrilled to get something new (to him) to climb on and play with. Of course, as soon as his siblings noticed, that was over with...they took it over. They were kind enough, however, to let him join them...as long as he pushed them all over the house and they rode in style. They totally took advantage of his big brother/big sister adoration. Kids are manipulative!
Yes, they used their 15 month old brother as transportation. You could say he definitely got a good long therapy session in today, because he literally spent the better part of an hour pushing Jace all over the great room and into and out of the kitchen. He was pretty thrilled about it most of the time, and looked very proud of himself. You know, when he wasn't too busy struggling to push a cart full of 40 pounds of 4 year old boy around.
And, oh yeah, Seth turned 15 months old yesterday. Time flies, huh? The little baby that had everyone so stressed out is no more...he jumped from the 15th percentile in weight at 12 months of age to the 40th percentile this month. Score! And that's actually taking into account his real age, not his adjusted age. That percentile is much higher. He's also above the 97th percentile in height for his actual age, which is not surprising, considering his brother and sister, who are pretty darn tall. Seth seems to be following in their footsteps...he has gained 5 pounds since he turned one, and he's jumped about three shoe sizes. He now wears a 5 1/2. His hands are really big, too...he was patting some baby on the head the other day and his hand was as big as her whole head. I'm thinking pro basketball.
'He's so funny these days. He is incredibly bossy, and has pointing imperiously at himself and then at what he wants down pat. It's hilarious, adorable, and annoying, as he has decided gestures are way easier than words. He's capable of saying about 13-15 words, but only on his terms. He sits silently in speech and just wants to play around, but when his early steps coordinator was at the house the other day and I mentioned in passing, with Seth sitting about 15 feet away, that he had been a handful in therapy and wouldn't even say "ball" a word he's been able to say since he was 9 months old. We were laughing about it when Seth looked up, crawled over, grabbed a ball, pointed at it in an educational manner, and said "Ball?"
He's can be a little infuriating, if you can't tell. He heard us talking in conversational tones from 15 feet away, understood what we were talking about, and found the object and named it, and we weren't even talking to him. Yeah, he hears okay.
When we were in St. Augustine last month, we were sitting with a friend from the deaf magnet school in our area. A lecture was going on, and we were sitting on the floor so Seth could play. She kept signing to him, mostly because most of the kids she works with sign, and she hasn't seem him much since his activation. He was staring at her like she was crazy, as he has yet to bother paying attention to any signs at all. She asked how he's hearing, and I didn't really answer her, as we were trying to be quiet since someone was speaking. He kept getting into her purse and digging around, and I leaned over and whispered to him "Seth, give that pen back to her!" I said it out of habit...I didn't think he would understand what I said since I was whispering and there was background noise. But he looked at me, picked up the pen, and handed it over to her like it was no big deal. She kind of stared at me for a minute, and then said "Huh. He really does hear well, doesn't he?"
It was really exciting because not only did Seth listen, he followed a complex direction (Give the pen back to her) where he had to identify an object and a person other than me, and then do what I said. I love seeing him do things like that, when there was a time when we didn't even know if he'd ever be aware of sounds, much less comprehend them so easily.
He's just a funny, loving, sweet little boy. Considering that when he turned one he wasn't even crawling, he is improving physically at a rapid pace, which his therapist and I love seeing. Now that he's starting to catch up physically and is doing so well with his hearing and has not been sick recently, it feels like we can take a breath and just enjoy him for a little while. Of course there will always be challenges, but right now, for all intents and purposes, Seth is a very typical, happy, healthy little boy. I love saying that...it's something I never thought I'd get to say about him.
Of course, we'll have challenges ahead, and there is a ton of work to come to keep him trucking along at this pace, but right now, watching him push his big brother all over the house, laughing and babbling and smiling, it feels like sweet, sweet success. No matter how Seth does from here on out...listening, talking, walking...we're winning. He is the greatest gift, and I thank God for him about a thousand times a day.
