Yes, the "babies" are 18 months old already! I can't really believe it either. Both are very healthy, but have had some developmental delays common to preemies. I guess I will start with Ava, who is my only baby who is continuing along the growth chart in the average column (UNADJUSTED for prematurity). Ava is developmentally more along the age of 12 months, which means that she is showing about a three month delay (18-12=6-3 (for prematurity)=3months)... She is starting to experiment with standing independently, crawls, cruises along furniture, climbs steps, and, if positioned correctly, comes down steps. Ava eats all sorts of foods and textures and seems to prefer meats that she can finger food. She still prefers purees, but since they are not being offered as much, she is starting to concede to her fate... Recently we added her chair to the kitchen table so she sits with us at meal time and eats right from the table. Ava has had an explosion of vocabulary recently. She likes to copy words, so she can say: buba, bottle, baby, Amy, Ava, Evan, bye bye, night night, milk, more, mama, dada, kay, cracker, up... I am sure I am forgetting some.
Wes is having an explosion of development too right now, unfortunately he has so much to catch up on. He started eating better recently, more like 5-6ounces per feeding, up from 2-3, feedings are still like 4-5 times per day (by feedings, I mean bottles). Wes also gets solid foods twice per day, which are getting better too. He eats best when he is very distracted by a toy, and has accepted some more textured and thicker foods than he had been. Like mashed potatoes and corn. Fruits are his least favorite. He is not finger feeding yet as he continues to gag when food is too chunky... we still offer graham crackers and dissolvable solids when he has an empty tummy.
I guess he has a really big head, somewhere in the 90th percentile for head circumference. He finally broke 18lbs, can't wait for 20 though when I can turn around the darn car seat. Wes hates riding in the car. I hope that turning the seat around will help with that. He spent several hours on Friday's trip screaming, and its not one of the cute types... its very effective, you want to do whatever is necessary to make him stop!
And there is gross motor skills, this is perhaps the most frustrating of all his delays. I asked his therapists to score him, and the results that I have heard so far have him around 7-9 months in development. Gross motor wise he is making really huge gains in the past several months, but he was doing so little then, that gains still put him pretty far behind. Last week he started to army crawl, it is very sporadic, only gets him a foot or so at a time, but when combined with his killer rolling skills, the kid can really get around! His hands also jet out grab everything right now. While this stage is annoying, I am so happy that he is doing it. I worried that he might not do it at all. He is clearly seeing things and motor planning for how he is going to get them. He finally getting some entertainment from the toys that litter my house, and that means that I am spending less of my time entertaining him. He finally sits pretty good, however he lacks the reflexes necessary for catching himself when looses his balance. Unlike Ava, for example, when he starts to fall he falls hard and can't readjust to save the sitting position (although this is a skill that will come). Therefore it is really difficult for us to walk too far away from him when he is sitting. Pillows only do so much. Wes also can't get into or out of sit (at least not gracefully or controlled). It pretty much is falling with style to watch Wes come out of sit right now.
So definitely progress on the developmental front...
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