Oh Stevie.  What a boy!

He started preschool about 5 weeks ago, and – besides the endless amount of colds he has caught along with a wicked ear infection – it’s going really well.  When I drop him off in the morning, he stands and the gate and shouts “BYE!”  Hasn’t shed a tear.  It makes me feel so good that he’s happy to be there.  And to give myself a little boost, he’s always happy to see me when I pick him up too.

He has also started PT and OT in a clinic, and that is going… OK.  Ups and downs.  Some days are horrible and he screams his head off through the entire session.  And then other days are not so bad.  The place he goes is called Play to Learn and it’s run by Glendale Adventist Hospital.  The gym they have there is so awesome.  So many options and so much space to tumble and play.  They also have a fine motor skills room and a feeding room.  Pretty sure the feeding therapist is his favorite.

Since all this has started, I’ve noticed a few little improvements in his skills.

1. He can hold a crayon and tries to color.  A little bit.  I mean, I have to help stabilize his wrist a little, but this is a huge step.  Even if it only lasts about 20 seconds.
2. He can stand up from a kneeling position using no hands.
3. We’ve been working on going up and down stairs for a long time.  There are little bitty improvements.  He is getting slightly braver when it comes to going up. Coming down is a bit harder, but he is making an effort.  He gets the basic idea of holding onto a rail, but it’s a really tough thing to coordinate the hands and feet and bending the knees and balance all at once!  So we keep trying.
4. He is climbing up on the couch and loves to crash into the pillows and stuff.  He’ll stand up and try to run across.  He’s fallen off a couple times, which brought him to tears, but he gets right back up and does it again.
5. He is starting to eat with a spoon.  Again, he needs a little help stabilizing his wrist or  elbow, but he is actually trying to do it.  He ate a whole bowl of applesauce the other day without throwing the spoon on the floor!
6. He is making funny faces when he sees himself in the camera or mirror.  Adorable.
7. He will walk all the way from our apartment to the grocery store.  “All the way” meaning one block.  It takes forever.  But he seems to like it.  And I have arms available to carry stuff, which is great.
8. He is exploring a little more.  Likes to empty my purse.  One time he played with the bowls in the cupboard.  He moves all his books from a basket into his crib.  Or just dumps them all over the floor until he finds the one that he wants.
9. Babbling more.  My favorite is when he says “mee ya, mee ya, mee ya”.  When you say it back, it sounds like “yummy, yummy, yummy”.
10. He points out every truck and bus that passes us and as they drive by, he yells “BYE!” and waves.  He also says “BYE” when he wants me to stop what I’m doing and pay attention to him.  Kind of like he’s telling the laundry or the stove or the computer “Bye, we have things to do!”

I don’t know that he’ll ever be an easy kid, but the more independence he has, (and the more time he spends away from me at preschool) the more we enjoy each other. I mean, he’s pretty cute.