It's been a while...

I know, I know...

Since the last post, we have yet to get to the lab and do the blood test. It is not that we have purposed to put it off, but rather just run out of time. It has to be done at the beginning of the week (as the blood is only good for so long) and we need to contact Children's Hospital before going in - needless to say - we have not done it yet. Looks like it will happen in the first week of September after our holidays.

New things... Karter has started to grab at his feet and reach out at times for objects that hang and move. He is still reaching for objects beside him while he is lying on his back. The awareness of his hands is starting, but we still have a long way to go. We are continuing to push him to spend time on his tummy so as to strengthen that shoulder gait and thus improve his accuracy when using his hands. He is still chatting lots with his sounds and at times is mimicking what we say to him. This has been really fun for us. He loves his peek a boo games and lights up when Paige enters the room. He has started to get a little fussy when left alone in a room - this is a pretty typical things for kids to do when they develop an awareness of people and their surroundings. So we are thankful for that milestone as well.

In the past few months it has become quite apparent that Karter at times has difficulty focusing on a task or on someone who is trying to get his attention. Our thought was that it was not that he cannot hear them, but rather that he was either not interested or just plain ignoring. There have been times when we are working on tracking objects that I have noticed he loses focus or will not follow in certain areas. We are waiting on a referral to see the pediatric opthamologist. After an appointment today with his IDP consultant(after playing some games), I wonder if there may be some vision challenges. He can see, there is not doubt in my mind about that, however I wonder if what he sees is clear. When we play with him up close, he focuses really well and attends quite well. When there is someone in the distance, his focus is not so tight. So I am going to look into that this week. We have waited on Children's for a referral for over two months now, so I may look into something local with a bit of a shorter wait list. Karter did have a vision test at 6 months, and at that point they did say that his vision was fine, but that they wanted to re-look at it in the future. So we will see.

Also, the IDP consultant told me about a new pediatric chiropractor in town that specializes in children with special abilities(he does take all patients, children and adults). I have been a firm believer in chiropractors ever since I was cured from chronic headaches and migraines and Karter was curred from his colic at 6 weeks old. This chiropractor does a full body scan to see where the stress points are and then works with the patient to fix those areas. There have been children in the Child Development Centre who have speech issues, mobility issues like Karter, bowel issues etc and they have seen rapid changes in their development with some minor adjustments. I am interested in checking it out. I plan to make an appointment for the upcoming weeks.

We leave for a week of holidays with my parents and brother and his family on Friday. We are going to the Oregon Coast. We are really looking forward to this time away. It will be the first time we have been away in a year and we look forward to spending time as a family and just having some down time.