It Has Come

We knew this day would come.  The day when Hope goes beyond Gabe.  When she, in all her normalness, is able to do something that Gabe struggles with.  At 15 months, Hope has beaten her 8 year old brother.

Gabe knows how to use utensils.  But he has a hard time with using them.  The dexterity, the hand/finger manipulations, and the fine motor strength is tough for him.  He can't just pick up a spoon and scoop peas like you and I do.  Granted he is almost 100% with a spoon now but still has trouble with the scooping of larger items that require weight distribution.  He really has a hard time with forks.  He is better though.  Meat is easy now as it stays on the fork when you stab it.  Pasta though is harder since it slides and requires you to rotate your wrist while stabbing to keep the food on the fork.  Gabe is now learning the fine art of using the side of the fork to cut things.  But that requires a whole new set of learning/teaching muscle groups how to pattern themselves and work together.

Well, Mary and I met and ate dinner together Monday night.  She was helping Hope with her food and while Mary was feeding her, we let her hold on to a fork.  Next thing we know, Hope has stabbed, picked up, and brought to her mouth an entire waffle fry.  We were shocked.  She tries scooping things at home and does pretty well until she attempts to get it to her mouth and then gravity takes over.  But to stab something that big and get it to her mouth...I'm fairly impressed, seeing how she has never had the opportunity to learn this before now.  So we had her do it again, and again, and again....  She was fairly consistent.  I had a video but it isn't working.  I'll try another method it get it on here....