25 January

Over the last week, Max has progressed physically in quite big leaps. He is comfortably crawling, now, though it's a bit ploddy, he's very persistent. He also loves climbing - and as our furniture doesn't lend itself to this very easily, most of the climbing is up me! He'll pull on my trousers/skirt, whether I'm sitting or standing, and pull himself up until standing. He's still very wobbly when he gets vertical, and so there have been several crashes resulting in big crying sessions.








He's also very persistent when it comes to the cats - mostly Bruji. Bruji is a very social cat, who just wants to be where the people are. Max's eyes light up when he sees the cat now, and immediately (if possible) tries to get to wherever Bruji is. Occasionally, the cat has actually (stupidly?) sat down next to Max on the floor. A few days ago, Max got his first scratches from Bruji - two in one day! It hasn't seemed to dampen Max's efforts to get close to him, though.


Max is very verbal at times, though no actual words yet. Lots of consonants - except for 't' and 'm' - so no 'tato' or 'mama' on the horizon - even accidentally. There are huge variations in sounds, all which bode well for speech development. However, he doesn't copy - be it physical things (clapping, facial expressions) or verbal, so obeying instructions may also be an issue.


He is beginning to love his bath at last. He got some great bath toys from his Hrasna (godmother), and just loves them. As he can now sit (hurrah), baths are a bit more fun. But, we still hold him as he can lose balance very easily.


He had another physio appointment, and the physio seemed very pleased with the progress. She explained a bit more about "low muscle tone" to me (which she's diagnosed in his legs & feet). Basically they are extremely relaxed and hyper-flexible. It sounds good (and is if he wants to do gymnastics or dance!), but it actually means he has to work harder to get the muscles working at a proper level. This may be contributing to the 'wobbly-ness' he has when he's standing up. It's not something he'll grow out of; he'll always have it.