22 Months Old

So much has happened since I last wrote that it is difficult to decide where to start….

Kyan is now 22 months old and changed dramatically in the last 4 months! Our biggest news…….KYAN IS WALKING!! Yep that’s right. Just sort of took off about 2 weeks ago.  He took his first few independent steps when my parents were up visiting in the beginning of May. Since then he would take a few steps towards the couch and that was it. A couple of weeks ago Lauren had been using his toy train to get him motivated to move and it worked! He started walking after it! We sat either side of the lounge room and he continued to walk between us! We were so excited and he could sense that he was accomplishing something huge and kept signing ‘more’ each time he reached one of us! We are so proud of our little man! The next step is trying to teach him (still!) how to fall by bending his legs. He still stays really stiff and falls like a tower, then gets really upset! And how to get up! He is still relying on us to stand up but he is beginning to pull himself up – either using us or furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyan still isn’t crawling but getting around a little bit more. He sort of dives forward into a laying position and rocks side to side, or dives then sits up, then dives and sits up. I’m not sure he will ever crawl. His arms are just so weak and it is taking sooooooooo long for any strength to build up.

Kyan has been accessing physio, speech therapy and OT for the last few months. Every professional we deal with continually tells us what a great little boy he is and how clever he is. We never get tired of hearing this! He has been having physio most weeks and it has helped him. We are still working on developing his arm strength and trying to get him to use his knees. We have borrowed a little physio staircase to use in our house to encourage this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He hasn’t had too much OT. All three therapists work together so if one is covering something than the other doesn’t need to. The system is pretty good actually and the speech therapist sometimes sits in on the physio sessions. The speech therapist is very impressed with Kyan. She told us that Kyan is communicating at a 2 – 2 ½ yr old level! At 21 months he could sign 66 words! We have had to learn Auslan as we go along but have found that there are plenty of aps and support around. He has pretty much replaced all his makaton/BSL signs with Auslan now. He is even combining signs. The other day he signed ‘tv’ + ‘barney’ + ‘on’. We can understand most things he wants/needs and it is very useful! He has really taken to shaking his head ‘no’ which is becoming a bit of a pain! Especially when you are out with him and say “say bye Kyan” and he shakes ‘no’ or in a swimming lesson when the teacher tells him to kick and he says ‘no’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On top of those appointments we are still opting to take him to the chiropractor. I couldn’t recommend it more! It has definitely played a major part in Kyan walking. In fact, he took his first steps the day after chiro! Coincidence? Who knows? All I know is that every time he has an appointment we see a change in him for the better. He still attends musical therapy each Friday too, which he still loves. So he (and Mummy Lauren) has a pretty busy schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming is going well. We are glad we got him into that so quickly. He is going under the water now (he has finally stopped drinking it!) and the next thing we are working on is dropping him in (aarrrgggh!!) and teaching him to turn around and kick back up. It has helped with his muscle strength too. Swimming is ‘my’ thing and I love having that time with Kyan. I am very confident in the water and it is the only thing he does on a Saturday, so therefore we are able to give Mummy Lauren a lie in and spend some quality time together. Everyone wins!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have finally got Kyan using a fork at mealtimes.  It took him ages and we are not sure if it is because of the low muscle tone in his upper body or the fact he can be a lazy boy with two mummies who will do everything for him (my guess is the ‘two mummies’). So one night he decided to pick up his fork, take it to his mouth, and put it back on his tray. We both cheered and clapped like he had done something amazing! (As we all do with our children). He enjoyed that so much that now whenever he uses his fork he puts it back down, looks at us both and claps himself. Meal times have become long as we celebrate each mouthful but we will do whatever we have to to ensure our little boy can eat independently!

We have looked at a few Kindy’s (nursery) for Kyan and decided on one right near our house. The manager was lovely and is going to put an extra staff member in Kyan’s room to assist him. She said she would feel better if he was walking before he started (which he is now!) and we felt the same. Watching him in that room with the other kids, we felt it would be ‘safer’ if he was more independent before we throw him in with a bunch of kids who have been walking for ages! Our biggest concern was that he can’t move away if anyone annoys him. We are aiming to start him at Kindy for two days a week in August when he turns 2. We will see though…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So other than that, life on the Gold Coast has been quite good. We have unlimited year long passes to all 4 theme parks so spend most of our weekends there. Kyan is now a massive Wiggles fan and luckily they do a live show (the characters)  every day at Dreamworld so we go there quite a bit. He loves all of the characters at each of the parks and gets quite a bit of attention from them so it’s pretty good! It is winter at the moment and gets to 20 degrees each day. We can’t complain! Kyan hasn’t been sick once since we moved here! Just a little reminder to us that we have made the right decision…