Friday, July 24, 2009

Let Me Hand it to You

When it comes to gross motor skills, Elijah is basically on schedule. He’s walking, running and jumping all over the place. At first glance, he looks like any other 23 month old – something that causes us to rejoice each and every day.

He’s doing so well in his gross motor skills, in fact, that he’s not doing any physical therapy at this time. According to his therapists, Elijah is doing everything he should be doing at this age. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have gross motor delays. He’s doing everything he should be when you take into consideration his vision and fine motor issues, i.e. it’d be hard to climb playground equipment if you can’t really see it; it’d be hard to throw a ball (a gross motor skill) if you can’t hold onto a ball (a fine motor skill).

This brings me to one of Elijah’s biggest challenges: the proper use of his hands.

Looking back, Elijah has always been reluctant to use his hands. He’d prefer to use his feet or let his abs do the work instead of his fingers. Once Elijah could hold up his head, he wasn’t willing to lie down. He’d attempt to sit up without using his hands (do you have any idea how much work that takes?! Go ahead – try it – hold your head off of the ground for a few minutes at a time, you’ll have a six-pack in no time).

Recently Elijah has been using his hands much, much more. If you don’t understand what a struggle it has been for him, you won’t understand how significant this next statement is…
Elijah is picking things up from the floor.

That sentence is profound. We’ve been waiting for so long to see Elijah simply pick something up and now he’s doing it. It may not seem like much, but this has really been a breakthrough. I love seeing him walking around the house with various items. Rings, rattles, towels, a cloth book, his shoe. I even rejoice when he pulls down the curtains…well...maybe not

All I know is that things are changing in Elijahland and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Buddy,

I hear that your gross motor skills are developing just fine. As a racing mechanic, I have ta tell ya that over the years I have learned that gross motor skills are the best!

Everybody knows that gross means big, large, humongous, huge, etc. And of course we all know what motors are. Now to the point; One thing that virtually every racer knows is that a bigger motor will make more horsepower and torque that a small motor.

That's why guys like me have been stuffing the grossest moter we can into the smallest car we can. Gross motor, fine car. What a great combination! Big moter in a little car is the basic creed of every hot-rodder on the planet. Don't ever underrate the value of gross motor skills Elijah.

Not just anyone can cram a giant motor into an engine compatrtment that was intended for a motor half that size and have a finishede product where everything works like it should. It takes a lot of planning, thought, designing, fabricating and adapting. That's where those gross motor skills really pay off big time! So you just keep working and honing those gross motor skills so you'll be able to use them to impress the ladies when the opportunity comes along.

Now that's when the fine motor skills come into play. Ya see, there are a lot of very FINE ladies out there who also understand and appreciate a man who has gross motor skills! Yep! You heard me right little Mechanic! There really are some Fine women who dig us car guys and how we can put those gross motor skills to use. I married one 'bout 43 years ago and she's still FINE!

When we were dating back in the black and white TV days, I had to install a clutch in the only car I owned, an old Studebaker. I was changing this clutch while laying on a concrete platform with the temperature about 10 degrees and the wind was blowing. It was cold out!

I was under the car and this FINE lady was huddled down beside the car handing me tools as I needed them. It was right then and there tht I decided she was a "Keeper"! Ya see, she appreciated my gross motor skills because she wanted to go to the movies with me and we needed the car to get there. Without those skills of mine, she'd probably have found some guy that didn't know a screwdriver from a hammer! Boy was she lucky!

Anyway, the bottom line on all this is you just keep developing those gross motor skills and one day those FINE skills will be there when you need them. Until later, Happy Motoring!

Anonymous said...

Elijah,

This grandma enjoyed babysitting you a couple weeks ago. And yes, you were picking things up! Remember when I asked you to "come here" and you came over and said, "Hmm". Then I gave you a silky green scarf. You liked it and carried it around. This grandma misses you! Love, GramKat

Anonymous said...

Thats awesome news.....good on him. Before you know it he will be into all cupboards, pulling things off the shelf and you will find pots and pans all over the house... ok maybe not that bad, but its all good, and he is doing great :) love Karen Lausted

Lisa said...

Jim, you crack me up. Loved your note to Elijah. Awesome!

Mom and Karen, Thanks for always cheering Elijah (and us) on.

Anonymous said...

wow, that's great!
I just have to say my lil guy has a six pack, lol. he can't sit by himself but he does lift his head and feet at the same time off the ground when he's lying there. He really does have great abs, lol. One of these days it look like he'll sit himself right on up.

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...