NICU follow-up

Last Tuesday I read Alicia's complete special ed report and signed away that support. It made me all teary and proud. When those teachers were at the house they said that Alicia was between 21 and 24 months in every area. On the report they actually said that Alicia was at 24 months in every area. Oh. Okay. But I was really proud. I've been working on feeling relieved and thankful.

Today we went to Children's Hospital for our annual NICU follow-up. They do these assessments at their own cost for the benefit of the family and their own research. Alicia was given a formal developmental assessment by an occupational therapist and a once over by a developmental pediatrician. Here's the scoop.

Alicia's age is 25 mo and 17 days actual (by birth date). Her corrected age is 22 mo 3 days (due date). They gave me percentiles for both. Alicia's head measured 18"; Act 9%, Cor 15%. Her height was 33 1/8"; Act 20%, Cor 49%. Her weight with wet diaper was 22.1 lbs; Act <3%, Cor 6%. So, that's my big fat girl. By those numbers, you'd think that she was a rail, but looking at her, I think her peers must be very fat. You know, these are the numbers that simply compare her to other children. They aren't a statement of what she should weigh in order to be healthy. For all my worry, I don't worry about her size. I'm actually bummed that she's growing because I'm in love with her current pair of shoes!

Developmentally, she tested as 21 months for gross motor and 23 months for fine motor and language/thinking/stuff. The gross motor things that she couldn't do were jumping with both feet at the same time (Toby couldn't till he was more than three) and walking on a line forward and backward. On the other scale, I was impressed with a few things Alicia could do. Her drawing was a little better than at the beginning of Dec. She was able to copy the therapist in choosing circles or a straight line. She stacked blocks higher than she was expected to. She was then asked to make a train with the blocks, three blocks next to each other with one extra on top. The therapist pushed them from behind and said, "choo choo." Alicia just stacked all four of hers, but pushed them and said, "choo choo." That was almost my favorite part of the day. Alicia even showed that she could match colors. I didn't know she could do that. She was unable to put a string of beads into a tube. Or string a bead on a cord. She was given two cafeteria coffee cups, one upright and one upside down, and a small bunny. She was asked to put the bunny in the cup; she did. Then to put the bunny on the cup; oops, she put it in. Put the bunny under the cup; she turned the cup over, put the bunny in it and was done. Um, not quite.

So now I suppose I've given away the test. Other parents can cheat now. They'll be going out and buying cafeteria cups and bunnies. Sorry.

The overall assessment of Alicia is that she's right where she should be, on either side of her corrected age. The occupational therapist said that she stops adjusting age when preemies turn 3. I was a little surprised that Alicia's gross motor tested lower than her corrected age, but Josh was the one to remind me that children tend to concentrate on either language or gross motor separately. Of late, Alicia has definitely been choosing language.

We know so many micro preemies who haven't faired so well that I asked how common it is to be developmentally age appropriate. The answer was actually, very common. Good stuff. Alicia is not one in a million. She's perhaps more like, one of a million. Who knew?

And if you didn't know before now, let it be known that there are three left-handed individuals in our house! I am very proud. Thank you for that significant contribution to Josh's chromosomes, Lori. It has really paid off.

My favorite part of the day was this:
Candace came over for lunch. Long ago I taught Toby to say, "My dada works at the BCA. He catches criminals (crinimals) with the computer." Every once in a while I still ask Toby to tell people this. Yes, it's part show. I defend myself by saying that it's also part socialization because it allows Toby to participate in conversations with adults. So I asked Toby to explain this to Candace. She and I then went on to talk a little more about what Josh does. While we were talking, Toby leans on the table and says in a whispery confidential voice, "He's a pretty smart guy." I'd taught him to say that part too, but the fact that he'd reserved it and pulled it out in such a manner was good stuff. I think that Toby's a pretty smart guy too.