We’re in Borneo for the end of the year, spending time with Heather’s extended family, and her Mum in particular. A good time to think about all of Jai’s achievements this year..

The big one, of course, is that Jai transitioned from crawling, to using his walker, to now, where he can walk maybe 10 metres or even longer without any help! He still gets down on all fours and crawls for a while or rests, which is never an issue in Melbourne, thank God! (I read in a post from the PMG awareness Facebook group in the US that one family got kicked out of a mall, because their child needed to crawl for awhile to take a rest! I’m thankful that, so far, there’s been very little overt prejudice against Jai).

As well as getting around more easily, Jai’s started developing his own agency in other ways.. telling us non verbally when he wants to go out the backyard, or for a stroller walk (meaning visit the playground), or eat crackers or cookies, or to read a book.

He’s playing with a much wider variety of things — cars and vehicles and stones still, but also musical books and toys, more recently also playing with animals and dinosaurs. Also playing with me and Uma, instead of just bedside us. He shows preference for some favourite pages in books by kissing them - often tractors and trucks, a favourite striped fish in one of his books.

He made the step to childcare and quite enjoys it, without too much separation anxiety. He has also become comfortable with Jimena, our wonderful part time nanny.

I’ve started trying to teach him some key word signs, and he attempts to sign some words.. “more”, “again”, “train”, “dummy” (for sleep), though mostly using his own personal signs. He seems ready for learning more signing, and even (fingers crossed) starting to learn iPad communication next year..

I’m looking forward to the start of another year of progress... happy new year, everyone!