Finn is soooo close to crawling . . . but just not quite there yet. He gets up on all fours and scoots backwards, rocks back and forth, and a couple of times I've actually seen him move one knee forward. He's able to pivot in a full circle on his tummy in both directions. I asked Eun today during PT if his not crawling yet is musculature or cognitive. The thing is, he really doesn't have muscle tone issues - he never has. And yet he's still "delayed" in motor development (although I'm starting to wonder about this "delayed" label - yeah, delayed for neurotypical, perhaps, but
not delayed on the timeline for Ds development; why are our kids continually gauged against typical kids anyway?) So I guess I've started to wonder if it's cognitive delays that are holding him back. She said that with him, she thinks it's really a question of motivation, especially with the crawling. Firstly, he's got siblings catering to him all the time, bringing him toys and such to his heart's desire, so there's really no motivation there for him to go after something himself. Also, he is a proficient roller now, and really uses that as a means of getting from here to there, which he's perfectly happy to do. And it's funny, too, because Joey was a roller - he would literally roll from room to room, and because of that, he didn't crawl until he was well past 10 months old. I guess he just didn't see a reason to crawl when he was already getting around just fine by rolling. So maybe Finn is like Joey in that way.
She also said that crawling takes quite a bit of coordination (is that cognitive?), and that's something Finn needs to master as well. So she showed me some things to do to help him learn the skill of crawling, including this one, fashioning a sort of sling out of a towel or blanket and supporting his torso in a crawling position, just enough for him to get the hang of it:
He seemed to enjoy it. It seems kind of funny to me to teach a baby to crawl. I mean, it's one of those things I always just took for granted with my other kids - they'll eventually do it when they're ready, and that was that.
9 comments:
Mardi Gras beads! That's what got Kayla motivated to crawl LOL
Clara was stuck in the almost crawling stage for more than two months. Every visit to the OT and PT began with the question "Is she crawling yet?" as that was the focus of our sessions with them. Then, a couple of week ago, she decided it was time to go and took off after a toy that was out of her reach. Now she will crawl over obstacles (including her brother) to get what she wants.
He is just too stinkin' cute! Look at that smile. How can you stand it?
I wish someone had shown US that trick! We just broke our backs and then Georgia never crawled! She just started scooting and then walked!
And we are the opposite. Rainer is not crawling yet, but all the other stuff he just picks up I am always shocked I didn't have to SHOW hiM! ;)
It sounds like Finn has made huge progress in motor skills and looks to me like he has motivation to move. Look at that grin!
Sean did a whole lot of rolling, army crawling (like lightening fast) and even pulling to stand/cruising before he got the motor planning for hands/knees crawling figured out. It does take a lot of strength and coordination.
Ditto the bead necklaces. (Michelle gave us that trick as well when we were trying to motivate Kailey and it worked great). Crinkly, shiny wrapping paper also was a winner. But Kailey rocked on hands and knees for a million years. She learned to roll from room to room really early and just preferred to stick with what worked. Then she got stuck on her crawling and didn't want to be bothered with walking. As soon as she decided to do both things, she just did them. She is not a kid that wastes any time at the "trying" stage. Maybe Finn will just surprise you by skipping the "trying" as well.
What a beautiful smile! I think the timeline thing for me is more of the order of learning and I ignore the when of it. Wonderful and exciting!
Ruby is doing the same thing.She will get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth but isn't going forward yet.I can't wait till Finn and Ruby take off crawling:)Ruby's PT has been practicing the army crawling with her,she said learning the arm movements helps to get them to learn they have to move there arms forward for off the belly crawling.
Sooo cute! I remember using that trick. We used towels though. A blanket would have saved me some backaches for sure!
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