Musings at 12 months

The twins turned one on August 29. But their due date was November 5. I have always thought of their real age as their corrected age. Probably because it helps me rationalize Drake's motor delays and Lucy's small size. But now that it is past November 5, they are officially one, delays and littleness be damned.

Drake is a big boy. He is now 22 lbs, 31 inches. He is rolling well from front to back, both to the right and left, though he prefers to roll to the left. He has just started to roll from back to front, but he always rolls to the right, and often doesn't make it quite all the way to his tummy. He is making great progress with sitting. He can prop sit for several minutes and is starting to reach for things from this position, without falling over. He will also lift both arms off the ground, sit straight up, and hold that position for several seconds. We are really trying to work on strengthing his trunk, which has low tone. But now that he can roll so well from his stomach, he doesn't want to spend any time there.

As anyone who has a child with CP will tell you, it's so frustrating to not know what he will be able to do in the future. With typically developing children, you have milestones that are more or less predictable: sitting at 6 months, crawling by 9 months, walking around a year. But children with special needs don't get milestones because even if they have the same diagnosis, they often progress at very different rates and in very different ways. I, of course, made my own milestones for Drake: sitting by 12 months, crawling by 18 months, walking by 2 years. I chose these ages from things I have read and from my own hopes for him. But now he is 12 months and not really sitting. And I can't imagine him crawling 6 months from now. It's a lesson in patience, I guess, among other things. I am very happy he continues to progress, even if it's slow to come. And I try to focus on all the things he does well, such as eating! He loves to eat and is eating most finger foods with little to no problems. It isn't beautiful watching him scoop up food from his tray, but he almost always gets it to his mouth, and chews and swallows like a champ.

Lucy is a little girl. She is 16 lbs, 28 inches. But, man, she is all over the place. She is crawling like a mad woman, pulls to stand on everything, and cruises furniture. She walks on her tippy toes (I think she wants to be taller!). She doesn't seem interested in walking forward though, she likes to side step. She won't hold your hands and walk with you, for instance. But, that doesn't surprise me really. She is Miss Independent. She likes to do things on her terms. Like eating. She doesn't like to eat. Or rather, she likes to eat, but only the things she wants. Like Pirate Booty and graham crackers. And occasionally, cantaloupe. That's about it.

I love watching her master new skills each day. It's hard to watch her progress so quickly, while Drake progresses so slowly. But I am so proud of all she does. And I think it's great for Drake to have her to watch and learn. He loves to watch her move around.