Justin's Tricks

Randy's mother always asks what Justin's newest "tricks" are, so I thought I would share some of his progress. We had Lucy back today, and she was SO impressed with him. I was excited for her to come so I could show him off!

• He rolls like a CHAMP! It's actually funny sometimes. To go from his stomach to his back, he puts his arms under him and pushes his butt in the air and turns his head opposite the way he wants to go, and then his body just FALLS that way. And he especially likes to do that when his therapists are trying to get him to do some stomach exercises (like reaching and pushing up on his arms.)



• He got his second tooth today! For real, and it's the mate to the one he has, which is even better. This is weird but, Travis has very weirdly shaped toe nails (they kind of curl down) and they are hard to cut, but Justin has very pretty toe nails. I kind of wonder if Justin will end up with the good genetic stuff from each of us that is not affected by the DS and Travis will get all the "bad" stuff. Wouldn't that be odd?



• Justin can sit for about 3-5 mins. His stamina is great, when he's not tired. Otherwise he folds himself in half and cries and pulls his socks off. I know I put is left sock on today at least 25 times. Not even kidding.



• We are working on "supported standing", and he is pushing as he stands. At first it took two of us to keep his feet on the floor, his legs straight, and his head up. If we lost focus, he would pull his legs up and he was just hanging in the air. Very funny!



• Also, we are working on kneeling for crawling. This is SO hard to do when 1) He is tired and 2) The person who is holding him only has 4 limbs (pretty much every person I know!) To do this a person must 1) be on their knees 2) face him away from you 3) use your knees to hold his knees together 4) support his chest with one hand 5) use the other hand to keep both of HIS hands on the ground (you see how you need more than 4 limbs, and they are all in use!) When he is tired he wants to suck his thumb, so he lifts one hand, and we are still holding a lot of his weight, so sometimes we don't notice that one of the hands is not down. And while he prefers his right thumb, his left will do if you take away the right!



• His hand strength is improving. He doesn't hold toys for very long, but the teething is making him WANT something in his mouth, which helps our goals. He would like for me to hold a toy in his mouth FOR him, but I won't, he has to do it himself. And he can transfer a toy from one hand to the other, and sometimes reach across midline for a toy.



• He is eating a bunch! And the people who haven't seen him for a while can tell that he has grown. Today I finished feeding him and he cried and I could tell that he was wanting MORE. We are working on signs, but I got the message without the gesture. Travis has "more" and "all done" down pat, but Justin not so much.

We got word that insurance has a limit of 60 visits per calendar year, which at our current rate will last for 6 months. I am not sure if we want to cut back to extend our insurance, or risk the appeal process to get extra therapy for medical necessity. To me it's no-brainer, but it seems that's what the insurance company has. Just kidding! I am so thankful for insurance, after the bills for heart surgery and for the synegis shot! Yikes!

Justin has been driving his car and he is a very laid-back driver. The material is slick and he slides down until he is like this.

And then Travis took it for a spin: