It's all about perspective

Nurse Betty came back this week to see Brian, I mean Blair, and she brought her buddy Ms. Occupational Therapist along this time. She was very excited to see how much progress the Boog has made since her last visit. They did another assessment, and Blair is still about two months behind a full-term 8 month old baby, but right where she should be based on her adjusted age (born two months prematurely = six months adjusted).

She was on the slow side - but still in the OK range - in two areas...figuring out a way to get a toy that's out of reach and rolling over. She does roll over - both from back to tummy and tummy to back - just not quite as much as she should. Both therapists felt she would get there in time, however.

And as for the problem solving (getting to a toy that's out of reach), when they did this test, Blair looked at the toy they strategically positioned just out of her little arm's reach, grunted once, looked at me and saw that I wasn't going to help her as I normally would, and turned her head to the other side and found a toy well within her reach. Now, to me, she seemed to have solved the problem beautifully. The problem, however, is that she solved it as I would have solved it...she took the lazy way out. :) "Yeah, it might be fun to play with that toy. But playing with that toy would require me to work a little. This toy, however, is right here, so I'll just play with it instead!"

So Brian and I were instructed not to give in to Blair's every grunt and fuss...we're to make her "work" for things a little more. Fine - we'll do that, but if you ask me, we have a very smart Boog amongst us. I'd be willing to bet that most full-term babies her age wouldn't be smart enough to look for another toy rather than work to get the ones out of reach. They'd just lay there and wiggle and squirm and fuss and focus on just that one toy. I guess it's all in how you look at it.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention what I know you're dying to know...Nurse Betty didn't say one single inappropriate thing this time - she even complimented me on my hair (don't know why, it looked awful)! Now after they left, I'm sure she and her OT buddy went on and on about Blair's hot daddy, but that's perfectly OK with me. :)