Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Pincer grasp practice

In addition to his teachers working with him at home, we also do a lot of working with him in form of play and exploration. We are currently working on the pincer grasp. He still uses a more immature palmer grasp, so we started with the little rice puffs. I first cut those up into small pieces, but I think they were too small. So we spread some whole ones out and allowed him to explore. I noticed since they are so light and airy, they are quiet. We had to keep tapping the table to show him they were there. Once he found them, it was so cute to see his little hands try to work. He did good. He still tried to use the palmer grasp to feel, but once he found them.....BINGO! He used the pincer grasp to put them in his mouth (or attempted to). One or two made it to his mouth, with the help of big brother. He looked like such a big boy. If you hold him, his head is usually down in his hands, but when he sits in his big boy chair, he sits tall and upright and it's easier for us to keep his hands busy.

He still doesn't want to completely sit up unassisted. Visually impaired babies like the full contact of the entire body against something. Sitting up for them is typically delayed. We work with him on this daily, and he's getting better and sitting up for longer periods of time. He has a terrible habit of just throwing himself, and I mean THROWING himself back when he is done. Hoping the throwing begins to cease and he starts to enjoy the feeling of no contact on the upper body.
I never imagined how weird it would feel to sit up and not feel contact. I can imagine it would feel uneasy and scary and vulnerable. Think about it for a second. I never really understood until I really thought about it, and it makes complete sense.

Here are some pics from his first experience with baby finger food puffs...


Ok, mom. I'm ready. Bring it!


He felt around after Landon tapped the table for a few seconds.



I had to get a picture with both of them, even though Gavin is over Landon breathing down his neck! Landon is the best big brother and is very patient with him and wants to be actively involved. It's a beautiful thing, and I can't wait to see their bond mature.




Now what?
Oh yeah, into the mouth.

Ummm... what flavor are these mom.


Because I've tasted better on my pacifier after it fell on the floor and you obeyed the 5 second rule.

Ummm... no. Digging the sweet potato flavor? Not so much mom. Let's try Apple next.

1 comment:

  1. Landon is such a good brother with Gavin. Just watching the two of them the other day was cute. Landon is very patient with him, and you can just see how much Gavin responds to him. I love my nephews so much!!

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