We've been hearing over the past few months how smart Maxson is... I feel like everyone says your baby is either cute or smart, it's just the thing to say to people. We assumed our therapists were just making those comments to encourage him in his developmental adventure. Since I don't have any other kids or haven't really been around babies....everything he does just seems like the next milestone we can check off the list.
Crawling? Check.
Sitting on his own? Check....
His two therapists last week, Carly and Ilene, asked me if he was cruising (walking along furniture while holding on) yet and if he started bridging (going from one piece of furniture to another that ARE NOT connected). He has not done that yet. He just started cruising along the couch. Whenever he'd lower himself, he'd put down one hand and try to touch the ground before he'd let go...usually ending with a small crash. We were given homework to do with him at home...help him cruise more and learn how to bridge. They said he should have that down within the next 2 months, especially how fast he's learning everything.
A few days later I was hanging up pictures and looked over at Maxson to make sure he wasn't getting into any trouble. He was bridging on his own for the first time. Like everything else he does, I was baffled. I'm always getting praised at the therapist office for Maxson being so advanced and it's obvious we're working with him. I tell them time and time again I don't do anything. I would love to take the praise, but it's all him. I think he secretly takes notes during his appointment and decides to master it by his next appointment. One thing the mentioned that probably helps him is we let him roam around the house as much as possible. He's been in a walker twice for no more than 5 minutes at a time. He hates that thing. He LOVED his jumper, but we wouldn't put him in that for more than an hour a day. He did it for some exercise, but we didn't use it as a baby sitter.
The next day after his first successful side-by-side bridging event, he was holding onto the couch, and decided to bridge to the ottoman BEHIND him. This kid is crazy smart. I started watching him lower himself, and there's no more crash landing either. He does a very impressive squat, that even makes me jealous!! He lowers himself, touches the ground with a flat hand, and pulls himself back up. Knees over toes! Ass to grass! Oh the butt I would have if I could do that! lol!
The day before his appointment (Wednesday), he decided to start climbing furniture. He only raised his arms and attempted to put his foot on the next step. He tried that over and over until he got bored. He has been trying to climb out of his crib for 2 months now. I watch him on the monitor as he holds onto the front railing, step on the bumper, and pulls himself up. He then proceeds to go sideways until he gets to his mobile, which is almost all the way to the side. He holds onto the mobile and climbs up to the side of the crib and just hangs out. A few times I watched him take his ninja turtle pillow (it's not very big, it's Raphael's head) and put it in the corner to use as a booster. It's quite impressive actually. He was doing that better than he was crawling! Of course we lowered his crib, but he still manages to get up there. We'll see how long this lasts before he's knocking on the door to get out!
So Thursday finally arrives, one week later. We take him to his appointment and they put a little activity table in the room to watch how he pulls himself up and lowers himself...to make sure it's controlled and he's not crash landing. Like any other day at home, he crawled to his table, pulled himself up, and lowered himself into his squat, and came back up. Ilene was impressed. He then decided to take it up a notch. He goes up on his tip toes to reach the other side of the table. Then, the over achiever Maxson is, decided to walk around the table, step on a small, hard giraffe toy, and balance himself on that with one foot, while he continued to play. By that moment Ilene is through the roof. (We absolutely love her by the way! We think she's great with him... We love seeing her every week even if it's for 30 minutes.) She says she can't believe what she's seeing and she might have to let him go soon since he's doing stuff that 12-14 month olds are doing. Of course I'm happy he's doing great, but sad to not see Ilene soon in the future! I told her we also play with a ball...we roll it back and forth. Again, she said he shouldn't be doing that yet. So she sat on one side and rolled the ball to him....he picked it up with two hands, licked it (because that's what he does) and sent it back. After all the impressive stunts he was pulling, she wanted to try some weight bearing on his arms. She puts him in a push-up position, but holds his legs. She counts to see how long he hold his weigh on his arms without bending them or lowering himself. Usually, she only counts to ten, but she wanted to see how long he would go. That little turkey decided he would just walk on his hands to a toy. It reminded me of the wheel barrow races! He got to a toy and bent and arm while balancing on the other....that was 30 seconds later. She doesn't expect kids to walk on their hands until at least 12 months. Needless to say, it was a good occupational therapy session...and Maxson was a little show off.
Right after Ilene comes Carly, for physical therapy. I let her know he's bridging now and not crash landing. She asked if he's been attempting to climb and I told her he started that yesterday...just putting his feet up on furniture but can't pull himself up yet. She goes and gets a bench. It's similar to a piano bench, just slightly lower and longer with a blue padding on top, like a seat. He crawled to that darn activity table again, pulled himself up and lowered himself. Carly is already impressed. Such a dramatic improvement from last week without crashing. He then decided to pull himself up again and play, while on his tippy toes. Little show off. He bridged from that to the bench and back and forth. He cruised all up and down the side of that bench like it was nothing. Yet again, he decided to take it a step further....he hopped up onto the bench, like he was going to go head first over it, and kicked his legs like crazy trying to get himself on it. She was now highly impressed. This crazy kid goes back to the activity table and rips off the hippo's head like it was nothing. Carly, Jacob, and myself lost it. We were all laughing so hard. It was a classic "Hulk" moment. It was so effortless. To top it off, he held it up in the air when he was done, like he was a macho caveman waving around the game he just killed. She also decided she doesn't need to see him every week anymore and needs to go to every other week. He's going to fade out of that therapy as well. They both made the comment he's "all boy!" Probably going to have my hands full with this one!
He's starting speech therapy soon so we can get him drinking out of a cup! It doesn't seem hard, but it is when you can't close your mouth on one side. As you can imagine, the liquid just comes flowing right back out. Sippy cups?? Same thing. Straws?? Can't suck up yet, but I do give him water through the bottom of the straw.... I also LOVE the speech therapist! We worked with her while he was in the NICU...trying to teach him how to drink from a bottle! I look forward to working with her very soon. :)
After therapy we went for a walk. We're attempting to do that everyday. We're not perfect so some days get skipped! But it was cloudy and not hot out so it was perfect. Maxson HATES being confined. He hates the carseat. He hates being strapped in a stroller. I always leave him unstrapped. Lately he's been standing up in the stroller. It gives me a heart attack. I set him back down and wait until he does it again. No toy or food distracts him long enough! Well that night he decided to continuously stand! No matter how many times I put him down, he stood right back up!
Of course I took a picture before I thought of something! The front part where the legs go folds up to block it in....and the "seat" can be laid flat. So I decided to make his stroller like a wagon (yes we need to buy a real one....very, very soon!). He loved it! He just sat in there and played the rest of the walk. Of course he has to be unique....he sat sideways and put his feet up! lol.
It was a great day!! I love going and watching him in therapy!! Everything he does I assume is the norm. I love hearing how great he's doing and how ahead he is! He's 9 months old right now....but technically 8 months and 1 week adjusted. They said he's going to be walking very soon because that's the last step. I'm not ready for that! Where did my baby go?? I'm supposed to have a good few months left before I have a toddler running around!
