Story #7 - Pincher

Grace is a pincher grasp CHAMPION!

She has officially mastered this pincher grasp thing to the point that she's now almost bored with the whole situation...

Hmm, this looks like a good one to grab.

Oh wait, how about this one! The cheerio that's actually mushed in with the avocado!

No problem, DONE!

What Mom, it's no big deal, stop clapping already.

And to prove it, the no-look-mid-yawn pincher grab. Too cool for school.

It's pretty amazing to watch all of this develop.  She's just gotten better and better at it, and now that she's apparently getting over her solid foods strike, she's all about grabbing all kinds of food...even the stuff she drops in her lap or down the side of the chair! She lunges to grab food that I've picked up off of the floor to place in the trash pile...it's crazy! Luckily I'm still quicker than she is.  Give it time...

Today we had chicken with stars for dinner again because they tried turkey with veggies for lunch.  Then we had some avocado, which she actually ATE, and then some blueberries.  Of course, this was all just side dishes to her favorite - the cheerios.

Caleb has been doing this new flailing thing in his high chair at meal time. It really looks like he's trying to maneuver his arms, but can't.  It's honestly concerning me a little bit, just because I feel so bad for him.  I want him to be able to do whatever it is that his mastermind can think up! I hate the thought of him trying to do something but his body not cooperating... 

He's been doing some grabbing of food in his palms and then bringing his whole fist to his mouth, but I havne't seen him actually be able to get the food into his mouth since that first time he did it last week.  It's like he forgot how.  Jessica said that he actually did it once or twice today at lunch time...but I just don't see why he would do it sometimes and others seem so much like he just can't.  It's all very confusing and I can't wait to start therapy to learn some more ways to help him develop these areas! I'm still really confident that once we can start that, he'll really pick things up quickly. He truly seems so smart, it's just like his brain and his body aren't connecting like they should. 

OH- he's been responding to his name!!!!!!!!!!  This is HUGE! It's not always, especially if he's really into playing with something or someone, but if he's just hanging around, and we call his name, he turns almost right away! It literally brings tears to my eyes. This has been such an enormous stress for me, thinking about the reasons why he might not be responding.  So to watch him turn to the sound of my voice calling him is incredible.  My little man has shown me the beauty in these small miracles, and I'm so grateful for that.

Don't ever take it for granted. Those of you who are parents out there- so many of whom have experienced similar challenges with your own little ones.  Be grateful for every milestone met and every amazing new discovery for your babies.  It's truly a miracle. A brilliant work of art.

Apparently Caleb sat up for ten minutes straight today with no spills!!! :)

Boo Bear...contemplating her perpetual lack of teeth...

Caleb spent a substantial amount of time today with his Sophie.  He's cutting his eighth tooth pretty bad right now and he gets MAD if he doesn't have something to chew on!

Lady Bird started shoveling food into her mouth when she got overly bored with the pincher grasp.  She got five cheerios into her mouth at once this evening and almost gave Mommy a heart attack...

Caleb doing his flailing.  It was like he was trying to grab for the spoon to feed himself, but also batting at the spoon to push it away at the same time. He grabs toys fairly well, so I'm not sure what's going on there.  He still isn't using his thumb as much as he should, but he can hone in on a toy and reach for it specifically, so the flailing is odd.

But he still LOVES to eat.  He ate all of his jar food, all of his avocado and blueberries, and most of his cheerios.  We feed it to him after giving him about 15 minutes or so to try himself. But he just gets mad staring at the food, picking it up sometimes and then dropping it, and not getting fed. So, Mama feeds the boy!!! :)