Moving Right Along

James stood up by himself today and walked to the couch! Go, James!

James's hearing therapist was very pleased with all the words he's been saying. (And I think we can add "mama" to the list, which makes me happy! He's been doing "dada" for a while now, and sometimes recently "daddy.")

He also had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon today, and everything looks fine. He weighed in at 18 lbs., 9.9 oz. He is still following his own growth curve, so they're happy with that, although they said we could also add some fiber to his diet (both through food and supplements). We aren't scheduled to go back for another six months, so he'll have his feeding tube in until then. We've been feeding him some through it at night to keep his weight gain up, but we'll try to wean off before the next appointment so we can get rid of it. :)

Mattie's latest word is "toes." :)

Also, we may have to start spelling some words instead of saying them. Mattie was playing in the sink yesterday morning, but I had to get ready to go to work, so I took him away from it. He was not too happy about that. I gave him to babysitter N, and he dragged her back to the bathroom to play more. They were back out in the hallway when I was about to leave, and I made the mistake of asking her, "did he get to wash his hands?" He immediately stopped what he was doing and ran over to me to be picked up, wanting to go back to the sink! (Oops!)

And about that vacuum cleaner picture....Mathew loves (and is perhaps obsessed with) the vacuum cleaner. He visits it in the office every chance he gets. He points and babbles a lot when he is looking at it, but we have no idea what he is saying. He has been given the opportunity to push it when it is running but he is not actually all that eager to get close to the vacuum when it is doing its job.