Way to go, Joshua!

Today Joshua had both Feeding/Speech and Physical Therapy. Part of me thought the feeding appointment might not be necessary, but I wanted the speech therapist to determine whether we needed to meet or not since she is the expert. Joshua ate as long as it was food he was familiar with and that which he wanted to eat. He shooed some food away, but he ate enough so that the therapist could see what was going on. Since 2 months ago when she first evaluated him he has gone from a 7-9 month level to a 12-14 month level. He has made amazing progress over the last 2-3 weeks in particular. Mary Jane gave me a list of recommended foods, servings sizes, and other tips and ideas to guide me in feeding him over the next month until we meet with her again. Joshua pushes stage 3 foods away a lot because he wants table food now. He enjoys self-feeding more, so it looks like the baby food days are nearly over.

Following the Speech Therapy we met with Amanda for Physical Therapy. Amanda had to step out of the room for a minute, so I set the larger tractor on the padded table, turned on the motor, and let it drive across the table. Joshua immediately started cruising after it. Once the tractor reached the end of the table I turned it around to go back to the other end, and Joshua continued to follow it while on his feet. He took about 4-5 steps each way, which was more than he has done at home. He spent a great deal of time on his feet playing, cruising, and even walking behind a push toy in PT. He is not confident enough to stand in mid-air yet, but he's doing really well with his cruising.

Joshua likes to play with tractors a lot in PT. In fact, he can spend an entire session playing with tractors of different sizes. Amanda surprised Joshua with a little tractor to take home. It looks very similar to the ones he plays with in PT. It was so sweet of her to think of him when she saw it and buy it for him.

Another exciting thing today is that Joshua cut tooth number six. He has now filled in the front teeth space.