Sixteen months has been a busy age for Ben. He learned how to crawl up the stairs and pull up to standing. He got his two (top) front teeth. He also started clapping his hands. Seems pretty simple, but for a baby with low muscle tone, it took some time and a lot of work. We're so proud of you, Ben!
(yes, that's Logan playing Star Wars in the background)
On Father's Day, we went to my grandparent's house for a barbecue. We had so much fun! My grandparents have the best backyard. I loved playing in it when I was a child, and I'm so happy that my kids can enjoy playing there too.
Tilly loves running around there
It's perfect for watching birds. . . And visiting with family. . .
Crystal, Jason, & Katelyn
Devin
Nana & Pa
Mom & Dad
Mark & Jason
One of the best features of the backyard is the hill. It has the perfect sized hill for rolling and sledding down in the winter. Logan found a new use for it. . .
It's official, Logan is finished with preschool! Logan graduated from preschool on June 3rd. I'm excited to see what he'll do next, but I'm also sad to see this stage come to an end. Preschool was so much fun! The graduation program was cute. They sang songs and each child recited a nursery rhyme and played a little song on the piano.
Logan and his teacher Ms. Hill
Logan's poem was "Old King Cole." He had it memorized after practicing it a few times. I knew he still needed some motivation to actually perform it though, so I bribed him with a new lego set if he would say it at graduation without being silly. He got a little nervous, but he did great! This was the most he's ever said in front of a crowd, I could tell he really tried. I'm so proud of him!
Graduation 2009 (he was so little!)and Graduation 2010
Logan has learned a ton this year: He knows all of the letters and sounds. He can count to 100 all by himself. He's learning some math. He can read some words like: yes, no, on, off, save, quit (and a bunch of other words that he learned from playing video games) He's learned lots of songs (his favorites are: I've Been Working on the Railroad, Yankee Doodle, and This Old Man) He can clap the syllables in words He's learning rhyming words
Logan's favorites: Star Wars, Legos, Batman, Indiana Jones, Transformers, and playing X-Box. He also LOVES to make up stories. He's constantly saying, "let's talk about a story" and then he'll make up scenarios about his favorite characters and we'll take turns making up a piece of the story. He really gets into his stories and gets so excited. It's funny to throw random stuff into the story. Sometimes he goes with it and other times he'll say, "that's not how it goes" and tell me how it really goes. He cracks me up, he has a great imagination!
Here's a little video clip of Logan's piano solo, Yankee Doodle, if you listen carefully you can make out parts of it. :)
Here is Old King Cole. It's not from the graduation because I didn't get a very good recording of it, so when we got home I had him say it for me again.
Ben is now 15 months old. Where does the time go? He's 30.5 inches tall and 18.3 pounds. That weight apparently puts him in the zero percentile for his age. It's really difficult to pack pounds on this kid. He still will only eat pureed baby foods, which have hardly any calories, and he crawls around all day burning off those calories. Whenever I try to give him chunkier food he gags and sometimes throws up.
The doctor gave me some suggestions on adding more calories to his diet. For example, adding instant breakfast powder to his food or giving him Pediasure. We haven't given him whole milk yet because Logan had an allergic reaction to milk when we switched him from formula to milk. Ben seems to do better on the soy formula, so we are afraid that he might be allergic to milk also.
After trying to add different things to his food, trying to feed him more and having him throw up a bunch because he's either too full or something we gave him didn't agree with him. I've decided to trust my own instincts and just gradually add things and not stress out about it. One thing that Ben's occupational therapist suggested adding to his food is olive oil. Ben doesn't even notice it and it adds quite a bit of calories. Did you know that there are 120 calories in 1 tablespoon of olive oil?
Ben also had his IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) review through the Early Intervention program that he's in. IFSP is where they go over where Ben is at developmentally and set new goals to work on with him. This is what his report said:
Cognitive development: Age level: 8 months Stops activity when told "no" responds to verbal requests
Communication development: Age level: 10 months Imitates simple sounds Looks in appropriate place when asked, "where's the ball?" (note: he does this sometimes, he does better when asked, "where's mommy, daddy, or Logan?"
Social/Emotional development: Age level: 12 months Wants to be near adults (note: loves to be around other kids) Gives toy to adult upon request
Adaptive/Self Help development: Age level: 6 months takes formula from a bottle eats pureed foods tries small bits of solid foods
Gross Motor development: Age level: 9 months Crawls on hands and knees Lowers self to sitting, pulls up to knees
Fine Motor development: Age level: 9 months Uncovers toy seen hidden
Overall all, I think he's doing really well. He's the happiest, sweetest baby and he brings so much joy into our lives! In other news, Ben got Dafo braces (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthoses). It's a brace that helps keep his ankles aligned. Due to his low muscle tone his ankles are really weak and he rolls them in or out instead of standing straight on them. The braces will give him more stability to stand and eventually walk. So far he doesn't mind being in them too much. He's still getting used to crawling in them because his feet are now bigger than he's used to. The shoes have to be a size larger to fit the braces. What Ben is working on now: crawling up stairs and standing. A few of Ben's favorite things:
*Loves playing with his toys and crawling everywhere *Logan-everything he does makes Ben laugh *climbing on and hitting the X-Box (because he knows he's not supposed to do it) *peek-a-boo-he pulls his bib over his face and peeks out from behind it *shaking his head no, sometimes does this like he's dancing *learned to say "mmm" when he's eating, and he can growl *taking baths-loves to splash in the water *music-almost always calms him when he's upset
Ben loves his brother!
On Father's Day, we went to my grandparent's house for a barbecue. We had so much fun! My grandparents have the best backyard. I loved playing in it when I was a child, and I'm so happy that my kids can enjoy playing there too.
It's perfect for watching birds. . .
And visiting with family. . .
One of the best features of the backyard is the hill. It has the perfect sized hill for rolling and sledding down in the winter. Logan found a new use for it. . .
Logan's poem was "Old King Cole." He had it memorized after practicing it a few times. I knew he still needed some motivation to actually perform it though, so I bribed him with a new lego set if he would say it at graduation without being silly. He got a little nervous, but he did great! This was the most he's ever said in front of a crowd, I could tell he really tried. I'm so proud of him!
Logan has learned a ton this year:
Ben is now 15 months old. Where does the time go? He's 30.5 inches tall and 18.3 pounds. That weight apparently puts him in the zero percentile for his age. It's really difficult to pack pounds on this kid. He still will only eat pureed baby foods, which have hardly any calories, and he crawls around all day burning off those calories. Whenever I try to give him chunkier food he gags and sometimes throws up.
In other news, Ben got Dafo braces (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthoses). It's a brace that helps keep his ankles aligned. Due to his low muscle tone his ankles are really weak and he rolls them in or out instead of standing straight on them. The braces will give him more stability to stand and eventually walk. So far he doesn't mind being in them too much. He's still getting used to crawling in them because his feet are now bigger than he's used to. The shoes have to be a size larger to fit the braces.
A few of Ben's favorite things:
