Developmental Update

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
The boys gross motor skills are doing well. Ben stood unaided for about 30seconds the other day. I think he could stand longer, but he gets bored as he hasn't worked out he can walk anywhere yet, and just prefers to sit down and crawl away. Ben is crawling properly, and has been for a while. He walks all around the room holding onto all the furniture and can even climb up onto the 2 step stool near the window to look outside.
Ethan is also very good at walking around the room holding onto the furniture. Ethan has worked out he's bigger and stronger than Ben and he walks into him and pushes him out of the way if Ben is standing where he wants to walk. Ethan can crawl properly, but chooses to commando crawl most of the time. He crawls properly outside on the grass, and sometimes inside. In the last few days, he's crawling properly more and more.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Both boys are getting very good. The boys can pick up quite small objects these days. They are getting better at playing with different toys that require more fine motor skills. They also like to try to turn on lights. Ethan still loves to spin things. Today the boys got their first matchbox cars (Easter present from grandma). Ethan spent ages spinning the tiny wheels with his finger tip. Ethan also loves buttons and will carefully touch buttons with the very tip of his finger and feel the thread and the holes.

EATING
The boys are getting good at feeding them selves finger foods. They enjoy steamed veges and tender meats. They prefer to feed them selves rather than being fed by us, but we are still feeding them at times. They are still on their low allergy diet. We recently tested them on dairy. We've only tried yogurt. Ethan loves it, and doesn't seem to have a problem. Ben doesn't like it very much, but he managed to eat about 2 teaspoons a day for 3 days and then broke out in a rash all over his face. It was just like the one he had when he was a baby before we got him on the special formula. No more dairy for Ben for a while. We will continue to give Ethan yogurt. In the next few weeks will will slowly introduce some different 'moderate allergy' foods and see what happens. Our next appointment with the dietitian is in about one month. Ben is still having some trouble chewing and swallowing, but he's improved a lot lately.

TALKING
Ethan is our quiet boy. Most of the time he's quiet, occasionally he'll say 'mum' or 'yayayaya'. Ben on the other hand is a real chatterbox. He says 'hi' 'hello' 'yeah' 'no' 'dai dai dia' 'dad' 'dadda' 'daddy' 'dud' and 'kitty'. He used to say 'mum', but hasn't said it in months. Yesterday morning the cat walked into the room. Ben looked at her and said 'hello kitty'. Today when the cat was in the room he said 'kitty' about 5times. I don't think he knows what the other words mean, he says the randomly, but I'm sure he knows what kitty means. Both boys love the cats.
Recently, Ben has crawled up to Sal and looked at her and said 'dud'. He's done this a few times..... Tracie thinks it's funny that Ben calls Sal 'dud'. Sal doesn't think so!

UNDERSTANDING SPEECH
Both boys are getting good at understanding what we are saying, and responding appropriately. If we open the gate and call the boys into the kitchen for lunch/dinner they will crawl into the kitchen. If we ask Ben 'Where's the light?' he will look up at the light on the roof. Both boys will look for the kitty if you talk to them about the kitty. If it's time for a bottle and the boys are hungry, and we ask them 'would you like your bottle?' they will start whinging and crying straight away. We're trying to teach them 'bottle'.
Ethan loves to clap. We sing him a song that involves clapping in the middle, and most times he smiles and claps at the right time.