Hello, I can stand!

William has been pretty good in the last few months. His heart is going well and Steve Cooper has pushed out out reviews to six monthly!

His eating is still a major issue (or rather a major non-issue!) He has improved to the point of putting non food objects into his mouth at times and at meal times he will happily put a spoon up to his mouth. The moment it has something on it though, it goes nowhere near his face.

He is seeing a speech pathologist on a weekly basis now.

William still does not really speak. He does say 'hello' to anyone and everyone (unless you ask him) He says 'bye-bye', 'mum', 'dad' and 'moo' (the latter in response to the cattle he can see from his window)

The bum shuffle has evolved. When excited, William gets air between bum touches – he actually bounces along. If he is allowed to spend some time outside and manages to slide along on a rough surface, he will wear the seat of his pants out very quickly. Recently when we were on holidays, William was going through a pair of shorts every day for a while with his exploring!

He has been standing up recently though so the days of the bum shuffle could be numbered. At present he will pull himself up and hold on to furniture but will not yet cruise around the place on his feet. He knows that he gets plenty of praise when he stands so sometimes he will sit then stand four or five times in quick succession. After that he gets too puffed.

We recently took a week off to go to Vincentia for a beach holiday. All of the kids loved the beach and swimming. William at first did not really like the sand. We deduced that by the way he would balance on his bottom with both his feet and hands held up in the air while crying. He soon got used to it though but the water was his real love. I would place him on the beach and after a while he would put his feet down and shuffle off towards the water at quite a pace, his bottom leaving a round groove all the way to the waves. He would then sitting in the whitewash absolutely loving the little surges that would hit him. Occasionally he would almost be pushed backwards completely, only saving himself by getting a hand behind him just in time, giggling and laughing the whole time.

He is such a precious little boy.