4 Month Developmental Assessment

We have so much to be thankful for!! Yesterday, November 15, Elijah had his 4 month developmental assessment done! He is actually going to be 5 months in 9 days... so we were hoping he would be anywhere in the 4-5 month range for developmental skills! Not only was he NOT behind in any areas... he was actually AHEAD in almost all of them... or right where he should be! He's doing fantastic! Just in the last coupe weeks we were noticing more signs of his ability to see. Little things would excite us so much: just the fact that he'd track a toy we'd wave in front of him or reach out for our faces and toys we offered to him was amazing! The specialist came to our house and did a lot of tests and assessments on him to track his developmental skills. She tested him in 5 areas- and boy did Elijah show off! :-) Gross motor, Fine motor, Cognitive, Language, and Social/Emotional.

Gross Motor he continues to excel. He's currently doing things in the 6 month range- the next thing we hope to see is pushing himself up when laying on his tummy (A step to getting in position to crawl) And then be able to sit unsupported! He holds his head up great, loves to stand and use his muscles, he rolls both ways and all around on the ground!
Fine Motor skills surprised both the specialist and me. She warned me that this would be the area he could potentially be behind in due to his vision loss. For example: he has to be able to see an object in order to show off fine motor skills of picking it up. Well... he's doing better than we even imagined! She offered him a plain green cube (with no light or sound) and he actually grabbed it and picked it up! He also was able to see Kix cereal in front of him... raked it with his fingers, then grabbed it and tried to eat it! He is able to pick up a spoon that is offered to him. These are just the few of the tests she did with him and he was great! He ranked in the 5-6 month range for fine motor skills.
Cognitive skills are also advanced. For example he can turn head and follow a person or voice he hears. Coo or react when talked to,  reaching towards an object to grasp and explore it. He ranges in the 5-6 month range.
Language skills are right on track at 5 months- making all sorts of sounds and coo-ing and ooh-ing. Showing expressions such as angry noises when he's upset, and starting to giggle when he's happy.
He reacts to familiar voices and when his mommy and daddy talk to him.
Social/Emotional skills are also right on track at 5 months. He smiles and turns toward the sound of his mommy and daddy. He also seeks comfort from a familiar adult (mommy or daddy) when others are holding him.

Just wanted to share the findings from this assessment! We're so happy and excited at how well he is doing at compensating for any vision loss (however much he has we're not exactly sure!). He's right on track for where he should be at this age and is showing no signs of delay as of now! We're overjoyed with God's goodness to us. We will continue to track his development skills every couple months to make sure he doesn't start to have any delays as he gets older! The specialist was pleased at how we he's doing and is excited to keep working with Elijah.

Also: yesterday was a big day because Elijah got to try out a sippy cup with water for the first time! At first he wasn't sure what to think... of the cup or the water! :) He chewed on it for a while.. but then got the concept of drinking to get water out. He was able to hold it well and I got a few pics of his first experience with the cup. For those of you who are wondering- We're in no hurry to get him drinking out of it regularly because he's not even 5 months old yet- but the pediatrician had mentioned just offering him sips of water every once in a while to get used to using a cup so when he's 6 months old he can start using it more! And so far- he likes it!

Showing off how well he can grasp the handles and hold on the cup like a big boy!

Trying out the water... hmm... not sure what to think :-)