Ben's on Track

So Early Childhood Intervention came on Tuesday to assess Ben's progress in verbal, social, and motor skills. The main reason they came was for verbal, but they always do all three when they come. Anyway, they told us what we already knew. Ben is just fine. Praise God.

For social and verbal skills, he scored like a 17 month old. For fine motor, he was a little behind (this includes drawing, etc), but for gross motor, he was way ahead (his baseball skills). For cognitive, he actually scored like a 22 month old. So basically, he is aware of everything and knows a lot for his age, something else we already knew! :) They told us to try to spend more time letting him draw and color to work on his fine motor skills. The problem is right now he has no interest in it. But we'll keep trying. For verbal skills, they told us to make sure Ben is looking at us when we talk to him. They said he is very focused and intense when he's doing something and tends to not look at people. They said that a child's verbal skills develop a lot by seeing your lips move. Very interesting. Anyway, because Ben was a preterm baby, a small delay is expected, so they weren't worried at all. They said that he does animals sounds that a lot of 2 year olds don't do, and they expect him to develop drastically in the next couple of months.

I can't wait! But I also want everything to slow down! Today, he said "hot" and "nose" for the first time. They told me his vocabulary will be expanding daily. Crazy! Since my last blog entry, he also started saying "mo" for remote when he wants to watch his shows, and he uses it adamantly!

He's also started a nightly wrestling routine with his dad. It is priceless. He jumps on Hector like he's trying to pin him. I'll have to get it on video. For such a mellow sweet kid, he's one mean wrestler. Hector has the marks to prove it! :) He's 100% boy, that's for sure!

I'm just as thankful as ever for my awesome men. And I'm extra thankful tonight that our concerns about Ben's development are now layed to rest. To God be the glory!