Little Shadow

Loving the playground

I am just totally in love with our little man today. I mean, I always love him, but some days I just stare at him and think I must have done something right to be given such a beautiful gift. He hasn't even been particularly adorable today; he's been a bit naughty and grumpy, but I'm just in awe of him!

Felix has become my little shadow recently. He likes to watch what I am doing and then copy me, which is great fun! He's showing so much interest, that I am making an effort to include him in as many things as I can. Tonight, I was going to be slicing mushrooms for dinner so, before I started, I got a butter knife out for Felix and brought a stool in to the kitchen so he could help me. Straight away, he climbed from the stool up onto the bench, rather than sit on it (he obviously had different ideas to me). He watched me carefully as I started slicing the mushrooms, and then started cutting his own. It took him a little while to work out how to hold the knife so it worked effectively for him, but by the end he had managed to slice up his mushroom into little pieces. He was concentrating so hard, and looked really pleased at the end result! He did a great job.

Yay!!

He has become a lot more aware of what he is/isn't allowed to touch in the kitchen, and we have actually taken the baby gate down because he has been doing so well. If he sees me put the kettle on, or if he goes near the oven, he says (and signs) "hot (ot)". He hangs the teatowels on the oven door, and puts his rubbish in the bin. I have shown him which drawer he is allowed to play in; it has wooden spoons, plastic utensils etc inside. If he tries to open any of the others, or opens the cupboards, I ask him nicely to close them, and 9 times out of 10, he shuts them straight away. Gone are the days of having a little whirlwind in the kitchen, pulling out everything out in sight.

So much concentration

Felix has always loved music and, over the past couple of years, has learnt to do some actions to songs, through repetition. We have always done 'twinkle, twinkle, little star' and similar nursery rhymes, plus some Wiggles songs etc. By seeing them over and over again, he has been able to do them quite well. However, I remember wondering, months ago, when Felix would spontaneously copy actions he saw on kids shows on TV without having to watch them many times.... my guess was 6 or 7 years old. Well...as usual, Felix is throwing all of my preconceptions out of the window. Over the last couple of weeks, he is like a little mirror. If there are actions to a song on Play School or Yo Gabba Gabba, he copies them with great enthusiasm. He is a delight to watch, and we often catch ourselves just staring at him with HUGE grins on our faces.

Those eyes....

Our little man is becoming more and more stubborn and independent, which we're actually really happy about. It means that he is showing his determination to learn to do things for himself, without our help. Although his speech is still developing, he makes it very clear to us if he wants to do something himself, usually by pushing us away. The funniest thing is when he wants us to listen to him... he SHOUTS! He doesn't say a polite "Mum", he yells "MUM, MUM", usually if he is doing something he wants us to watch. His big eyes get wider and wider, and then we're rewarded with his huge grin when we stop what we're doing to watch him. The most exciting thing Felix has done this week is completely eat two of his dinner time meals with a spoon or fork all by himself. It has taken him a really long time to get his coordination right, and to get the spoon to his mouth without the food falling off, but he has made so much progress. We're so proud of him!

That smile still melts me

In the past couple of days, we have started Felix on a gluten free diet and will be keeping his lactose intake to a minimum. We have been trying for some time, to get his bowel issues sorted out. He has had the big ones' like Coeliacs and Hirschprungs ruled out, but there is definitely something that upsets his digestive system. Using probiotics in his food has improved it slightly, but now we're going to investigate things in his diet, starting with gluten. We already know that too much lactose makes him vomit, but he seems to be able to cope with a small amount. It doesn't mean a huge change for Felix as he eats predominantly rice/corn products anyway, but we're hoping to see an improvement. Felix loves eating, so as long as he's still getting food, he's not going to care too much what it is!

The new school term has just begun, which means my frantic schedule of appointments and therapies with Felix is about to begin again. I'm looking forward to watching Felix's development over the next couple of months, and I'm sure we'll have lots of fun along the way!