Even though Colin's gross motor skills were at one time slow to develop, it is by the far the area of development that Colin enjoys the most and has really caught up with time. He is really motivated by physical activity and specifically enjoys playing a variety of sport activities. During some activities, Colin's interest level far exceeds other ones and he can play for longer periods of times during these games. However, there are times where Colin will be really excited to start but then quickly loses interest or wants to sit down because of some other factors.
One of these factors affecting Colin is that he has difficulties regulating his body temperature during more extreme temperatures. This was actually something that kept him in the hospital for extra time because he was not able to keep a steady body temperature when he was first born. We find this to be especially challenging in the summer because he does not handle the heat as well. He will be interested in starting an activity, but because of the sun and the temperatures on the beach some days, it is very short lived because he starts to overheat really easily. You can tell this with him because his face gets pretty red but he very rarely sweats. Although he loves the water, he then cools off too quickly and is often shivering shortly after getting in, even on the hottest days.
Colin really loves running, especially when participating in races, but a factor that has resurfaced again is that Colin has anemia. Colin's hemoglobin count (carries iron in your blood) is very low as well as his iron stores are really low. Iron is really important because the oxygen is carried this way throughout your body. Two things that we have noticed with Colin is that he gets dark circles under his eyes when he is anemic and he fatigues much more easily than is normal for him. He often doesn't last as long during physical activity because he tires out and if this is combined with higher temperatures, he definitely loses stamina very quickly. We are working on finding answers to this problem through some tests we have had done recently (celiac test was negative and his thyroid levels were normal). One of these tests is a stool study to see if he is losing blood through his intestines (his reflux may play a role with this). We are just waiting for the results on that one and to see if we need to have a scope done to look more closely.
A few years ago we had tried Colin out in the town soccer league which was great, but his interest level for sustained periods of time was very low. He enjoyed aspects of it but didn't necessarily enjoy having to do specific tasks during the first half hour that was more like a clinic. This year, we enrolled Colin in the developmental soccer through the Special Olympics of NJ because of the timing with the town soccer. Unfortunately, we have now lost 2 weeks due to rain but it has been going pretty well. Colin needs more frequent breaks and often won't participate unless one of us are out there with him. I think part of this has to do with the fact there is a lot going on at the same time.
He also enjoys WATCHING sports just as much as he enjoys playing. I think a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that for much of Colin's life, both Chris and I worked in Athletics so he spent a lot of time at sporting events. Even though my career has changed, Chris works at the local university so we are at his sporting events all of the time.
Earlier this summer, Colin had the opportunity to participate in a golf clinic and he really enjoyed it. We are actually interested in getting him more involved in this in the future. There may be some opportunities through the Special Olympics next fall so it will be fun to get him involved.
Colin has taken a BIG interest in baseball this summer. At first, he was hitting the ball off of the tee independently but then my Dad and Chris started pitching to him. It took some time before he worked out the coordination of all of it but once he did, he's been doing GREAT. I can't seem to get the good moments on camera, but here's a snippet of him hitting the ball. We've been losing a lot of balls over the fence lately!
Colin is pretty fearless and is willing to try most physical activities. He loves climbing on structures at the playground and his strength and speed are really getting better very quickly. It's been a lot of fun to watch!
