He's Up!

On the morning of Friday, June 24, at 12 months and 3 weeks old, Ellis stood up on his own! Blanden actually noticed it first. I was helping him get dressed on the floor, when all of a sudden Blanden said, "Ellis is standing up all by himself!" Fortunately, Daddy was still home to see it too.

He is very proud of himself, as he should be. He now pulls up on just about anything he can, especially the train table. What a treat it is to be able to see and reach all those gleaming engines at eye level! Of course, naptime is also quite interesting now. When I first lay him down, he thinks it's a game and pops right back up. He hasn't figured out how to lay himself back down yet, so he ends up crying for help. We usually repeat this about five times, with me coming and going, until it finally takes.

Ellis is running a bit behind normal on his gross-motor-skill development for his age, so his pediatrician recommended an evaluation for early intervention. We were not particularly concerned (Blanden didn't walk until he was 15 months old, though he did crawl and stand up in his crib sooner), but we certainly wouldn't turn down a chance to assist our children either, and we welcomed the opportunity for a more thorough assessment. This morning he was evaluated during a play-based session by a physical therapist, a speech therapist, and a child psychologist (to test cognitive thinking, memory, social interaction, etc.). He is normal in terms of speech development; ahead in terms of fine motor skills, memory, and cognitive thinking, even at the level of a 15-month-old; and, indeed, running a couple of months behind in gross motor skills. The physical therapist thinks it is partly personality-based -- he is such an easygoing, mellow, calm baby, and a bit cautious, so he seems perfectly content where he is. But because he is behind, he qualifies for the program, so a therapist will begin coming to our home twice a month for one hour each to offer suggestions on activities we can do to encourage the use and development of his gross motor skills. Should be interesting.