Delayed

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Noah is delayed in his gross motor skills and sometimes it's not so easy at all. Noah has always been delayed but when he started walking at 22 months it became a lot less noticable. Noah can walk; Noah's friends can walk. He must be caught up, right?
Today was our church picnic. Church picnics are great obstacle courses for toddlers. Take a bunch of people and put them on an uneven surface covered with rocks, roots, and leaves. Add obstacles like lawn chairs, coolers, and half full cups of lemonade and set the toddlers loose. I was pleased to notice that Noah was able to walk in the midst of all of this (without falling!). We've really been working on walking in uneven surfaces and avoiding obstacles in OT and if this was a final exam Noah definitely got an A in that area. But then I started to notice other things. I started noticing the 18 month olds who could run across the gravel and roots - all Noah could muster was a drunken walk. I notice the little guy that had just turned one walking up and down the steps into the picnic shelter with only one hand held. Noah can barely manage going up that way, and when going down he needs someone to hold both his hands and another person to guide his hips. I saw the little girl only a few month older than Noah eating an entire chicken drumstick (the one year old had one too, but his dad had to pull off small pieces of chicken). I would be happy to dissect the drumstick if Noah would eat it. He had pureed peaches and pears for lunch, which we fed him before we arrived so that our friends wouldn't be disturbed by the wretching and vomiting. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for the progress that Noah has made. We were told in the NICU to expect a chronic vegetative state, so I can't help but be amazed by him. I manage to avoid thinking about where he should be most of the time, but sometimes it's just there. Sometimes you can't help but noticing.