More little successes

When everything is a little harder to do, each success becomes so important in my eyes. Fine motor skills are such a challenge for Nathan that being able to do the 2-step process of eating with a spoon (spoon into yogurt, then into mouth) a few months ago was a huge accomplishment. The child makes a mess, but he can feed himself.
Gross motor skills have been a challenge too, but lately Nathan is all about climbing into the car and into his own car seat. Two days ago, holding my hands, he walked up 2 of the 4 steps on the school bus. Yesterday he did all four. They are big steps and he needs a lot of support to do this. He got to the top, turned to me, and lifted up his arms. "You don't want to walk back to your seat?" I guess not. He did the hard part, it was done, and then he wanted me to carry him. Today, though, he did the steps, walked back to his seat, and with only one little boost climbed up onto the bus seat and into his car seat! So independent!
He's climbing up into his stroller also. If we're going for a walk I can ask him to climb up and he will... unless he disagrees with the plan about going for a walk. He also will go sit in his stroller to let us know it is time for a walk!
Language and communication also continue to unfold. Nathan and I were playing with cornstarch and water (this is LOTS of messy fun, by the way) and he looked at the messy white mixture all over his skin. "Lotion," he said. Lotion? Wow, yeah, it looks like lotion. And I didn't even know he knew that word!