Jake's World

Jake is one amazing little boy that continues to suprise us each and every day!!  He works at his own pace and he works HARD!!  He may not have reached his milestones at the same rate as a "typical" child, but it makes each and every little thing he does, that much more meaningful!! 

His 1st responsive smile was 12/18/03, but he started to consistently smile when he was 4 1/2 months old! 

     His 1st giggle was 5 1/2 months! 

Jake was first introduced to solid foods when he was 6 months old.  Within 2 weeks he really had the hang of it!  Check out the video!! 

 

At 3 1/2 years old he still loves to eat!  He eats everything we eat (in puree form) from pb & j sandwiches to steak & potato dinners!

Jake's 1st roll from his back to his side was when he was 7 months old!  He was working hard in PT at the time....

     BUT check out the smile after PT!

Jake LOVES to suck his thumb!!!  He first found it when he was around 6 months old, but he was finally able to suck his thumb while sitting up when he was 7 1/2 months old!

   6 months                                       7 1/2 months  

Jake started swatting at toys above his head when he was 8 months old!

   

At 9 months he opened his hands slightly when I clapped them together for the first time! (Before this, his fists were always clenched tightly around his thumbs)

I started putting Jake's hands on his bottle (making him hold it) when he was 5 months old.  Hard work paid off because at 9 months, he held his small bottle for the 1st time by himself!!  Check out the video - it really shows him doing it by himself!!

                            

Then, because he's such a champ, he signed for "bottle" for the 1st time on 7/22/04 - just over 10 months old!!!

 

Jake signed for "more" and "eat" when he was almost 14 months old.  His signs were few and far between back then. Over the past several months, he has been signing for "eat" and "drink" pretty consistently!!!  It's so nice to know he is communicating!!!  There are still times when he's very upset and we have to play the guessing game (is he thirsty, hungry, tired, etc), BUT......he has come a long way!!  We are soooooooooo proud of him! 

Jake rolled from his belly to his back for the first time on 11/19/04 - just over 14 months old!!  I don't have a video of him rolling, but I couldn't resist adding a few pictures from PT & OT at that time!

   

Jake clapped his hands on command for the first time on 12/8/04 - just before he was 15 months old - too cute!!  It's not clapping like you would think (no sounds are made), but he clearly brought his hands together 2 times with a smile on his face!! He knew exactly what he was doing!!  I know I have a video somewhere - I just have to find it!!  He only claps once in a while, so every time is like the first - we get so excited and cheer for him and he LOVES every minute of it!!

Jake started doing this crazy sit-ups for the first time in August of 2007.  What a workout!!!

In Septemeber of 2007, Jake discovered a favorite toy! It's the first toy he ever truly played with by himself.  It's a vibrating snake and he absolutely loves it!  It's the first toy he's ever felt for and grabbed and held onto it with his hands.  Now (feb 08), he plays even more with it - he actually grabs and squeezes it with his hands, and then he'll pick it up and pull it towards his chest.  It usually makes him giggle - it's really cute! 

    

    

 

MORE TO COME WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME!!!