Morgan Month 5

Arriving back in Singapore from Invercargill late on the Monday evening we were delighted to be with Huw, Joelle and Morgan again. Morgan, asleep in his cot, looked a little bigger and his face seemed much rounder. This, it soon emerged, was an optical illusion, the result of his lying flat spread-eagled in his usual “slammed-out” fashion! In fact, he looked his usual delightful self.
Physically there were real signs of change and progress. He responded to an interesting stretching and reaching game quite well and enjoyed seeing his soft toys brought towards him with an outstretched hand from a distance and then reaching to get hold of them when they got near to him. Naturally, there was little co-ordination as yet but he managed to grasp them. However, he has advanced a great deal in handling his chain of rings and holds it with both hands. In addition, he now holds the large clear ball in his gym with ease using both hands. Much of this handling is done as a preliminary to stuffing the object of his desire into his mouth! This is also the case with the fingers of hands held out to him. He now seems to take increasing pleasure in holding fingers and grasping hands and does not always try to transfer them to his mouth. His dexterity with a ball is much greater and this gives him much pleasure in his gym. He adeptly lifts the ball with his feet, raises it above him and then allows it to run down along his tummy so that he is able to hold it next to his face. The suggestion that his brains are in his feet was not received well! What with his increased skill in pushing and knocking at suspended objects, including the ball, the gym is proving a great facilitator for his development.
There are signs that it is now necessary to keep a watchful eye on him. He manages to roll himself half over onto his side in his cot. He also swivels himself around so to lie sideways in his cot so that he can look at the pictures on the wall. He is able to push himself up quite easily and is now starting to look upwards of his own accord. This is very noticeable on his ‘walks’ and he now notices the MRT trains above him as well as the buses on his own level. As always, he is totally engrossed in his surroundings when in unfamiliar places and does not allow himself to be diverted! He is responding a little more to people, such as children in the playground and waitresses in restaurants. Smiles are still hard to come outside the home!
Morgan continues to extend the range of sounds he makes. We soon resumed our ‘conversations’ and he initiated some interesting noises. Introducing the cot companions each morning continues to be a useful ritual, and he seems to take pleasure in each. He continues to enjoy the library books chosen for him and also his own collection. He pays attention to books with large pictures and striking colours. Music and new games continue to be good sources of stimulation.
Morgan is developing well physically and is now longer than the width of his cot so that he is able to push himself against the bars. He is able to roll onto his stomach from his back but sometimes his arm remains wedged beneath him. There is real strength in his legs when he is held in a standing position. In addition he is very flexible and gets great pleasure from his toes – putting them in his mouth as usual. The stretching exercises go down well and he enjoys being in his gym. He now seems to be recognizing people at a distance – at least ten yards away. He is increasingly dextrous in controlling the plastic ball with his feet and his hands.
He reacted particularly well to his first dip in the pool on 15/02/09. Huw and Joelle were very careful with him and he seemed to greatly enjoy it. He made some paddling motions and splashed a bit which he found funny. Sensibly he was quiet about his enjoyment and seemed to stay focused. It was an excellent start. In the morning (23/02/09) he was very active after church. He lay in his cot with only his napkin on and thrashed vigorously, put his toes in his mouth, his fingers up my nose (they were then cleaned!), and was particularly interested and stimulated by the 3-dimensional shapes mobile. He cried when Margaret took it away and was happy to see it come back. In addition he produced quite a continuous range of noises – gurgles, shrieks, calls – that seemed as if he was trying to tell Joelle and the rest of us that he was enjoying himself.
He continues to be very alert. During his walks around the apartment blocks below he looks at everything very closely and has little time for diversions. He seems to like the range of colours and sights in the food court and responds quite well when people talk to him. However, he cried when three little girls attempted to engage his attention in the playground! He gets excited when the lift doors open and enjoys seeing his reflection in the mirror inside. He continues to take a great interest in books and some simple and bright pages as in Peedie, for example, he prefers to others. He now seems more engaged with the objects in his gym and thrashes them around vigorously and managed to switch on the musical one a couple of times. He responds negatively to the pungent smells of spices and pushes them away rather than taking them to his mouth.
Morgan he now stretches to grasp objects. While on his stomach he manoeuvres himself forward to reach for objects leaning on one arm. One morning in this position he managed to pull a ribbon attached to a clothes hanger into his cot. He had obviously been tugging at it over a long period. This, plus his propensity to rapidly strike and grasp spectacles means that one has to be very careful about leaving things within his reach. Anything in the cot is within his ambit as he now able to manoeuvre himself in any direction. In short he is making good physical progress.
This has been most noticeable from his contortions in his cot. A little while ago he was unable to turn himself completely onto his stomach as he could not get one arm from under his body. He has now mastered this and turns over from lying on his stomach to his back and vice versa with ease. In addition, stretching for objects while on his stomach has induced him to start moving laterally. This means that things out of his reach can now come into his orbit through his as yet ungainly efforts to move. However, he has now mastered raising his head and legs at the same time when on his stomach. Getting him to listen to things behind him has led him to turn and even crane his head and this has accelerated his looking above and greatly extended his capacity to look around him. His physical mastery of plastic cups, spoons, and similar objects has improved, and he seems able to grasp and release them much better and bangs away on the table with great gusto. He responded particularly well to a crushable plastic cup - he found the noise it made very stimulating. In these ways Morgan continues to explore his physical world and will respond well to the water when he has the opportunity to do so.
Books continue to attract and even excite him, and he is usually eager for sessions with his picture books. He responds well to the reading, looks closely at and listens hard to the speaker. He usually manages a few yelps and squeals in the reading sessions. Yesterday he responded in a most extraordinary fashion to a zoo book with no text but large and colourful pictures of animals. Each time the page was turned he greeted the new picture by yelping and chortling with glee - I thought he was going to become hoarse! There were some further repeats the day after, notably with some particular pages (as with Booboo on one occasion). It seemed that he had found a new sound and kept trying it out. It was all very amusing and reflected how his noises and “talking” are expanding. At times he does seem to be trying to communicate. There are also signs that he knows his name.
He still seems totally absorbed in his surroundings when outside the home. On our daily walks he is now taking more notice of people he meets, including children. He remains aloof and oblivious of being the centre of attraction when dealing with his ‘public’ on these walks. It was good to see how well he responded to Kelvin and SuMei whom he does not see very often when we had a meal at the Raffles Country Club.