Early Steps Evaluation

Luke had his developmental assessment at Early Steps today, and things went about how his Momma thought they would: Luke is a handsome, independent little man, who has advanced motor skills and needs some extra help with communication.

The summary of his present status with age equivalents:
Gross/Fine Motor Skills: 26 months
Self-Help/Adaptive Skills: 16 months
Social/Emotional Skills: 18 months
Academic/Cognitive: 17 months
Receptive and Expressive Communication: 13 months

They have recommended that he have a comprehensive hearing test done at All Children's here in Sarasota and that he begin speech therapy after that.

hiking at Myakka

Signing "GO!" one of the two new signs Kelsea taught me on the way home (the other way Stop!).

don't get dirty, okay?

Mommy: "Yes, you can play in the backyard, just don't get dirty, okay? We've got to leave in five minutes."

sleepy boys

beach day

Kelsea like to hold my hand when I'm sleeping...

taken by Kelsea

backyard

firetrucks

Luke loves firetrucks - today he got to sit in one while his cousins explored it with Daddy The slightest sound of a siren breaks him out into the biggest smile and trucks in traffic are always pointed out with Ah! SSS!Kelsea does not like firetrucks...this is about as close as she wanted to be to it, aside from occasional protests that we take Luke out of the firetruck because it wasn't safe. Same photo, zoomed in on the face:

Monday: Puppy Hugging & Fishing

Sometimes you just need to hug a puppy! Monday was a drizzly grey day, with nothing going our way, so a trip to Southeastern Guide Dogs was in order! We hugged puppies, kissed puppies, watched them sleep and learned about how all of this was helping to properly socialize them for their big dog job later.

We even helped pick up the toys afterwards and were invited to come back again whenever we like!

In the afternoon things finally cleared up and we went for a short fishing trip with Uncle Rich & Sarah:

haircut

beforeduring (taken by Kelsea)

After!

Luke has a big boy bed!

This weekend Daddy and I worked to take the side off of my crib and make it into a big boy bed. Kelsea documented our progress with these pictures (she took all the ones she's not in)