Yesterday, we had two – count ’em, two – therapy appointments. Believe it or not, neither session included a couch and memories of my childhood.
No, we had two different physical therapy appointments for Annalyn. I was actually excited for them since we’ve had the major stroller development.
The first appointment went well until the last 10 minutes. That would be the time when Miss Judy (as we call the therapist) decided to force Annalyn to take a few steps toward me. She even provided a sticker to motivate her. It had Hello Kitty on it.
But strangely enough, after an hour of showing off and playing with the therapy toys, and about two hours past her normal naptime, my sweet, calm daughter was not interested in taking a few more steps.
And she, ahem, let us know about it. Loudly. I’m sure you know what I mean.
So that wasn’t the best end to Therapy Appointment #1. But overall, Miss Judy was appropriately impressed with Annalyn’s progress.
The second appointment was a full evaluation by a state therapy program that we’ve heard great things about. They actually come to your house for therapy sessions, and of course, as a state program, it’s a lot cheaper than the top children’s hospital in our area.
It turns out that I really don’t pay attention to my child. Because if I did? I’m sure I would have known how to answer questions like “How many blocks can she stack?” “Can she follow two consecutive commands?” “Can she match an object to its picture?”
By the end of that appointment, I felt like I didn’t even know what “object” and “picture” even meant anymore!
Thankfully, I didn’t have to reflect long when asked, “Does she share well? Take turns with toys?”
Ummm, not so much.
Anyway, the good news and bad news is that Annalyn does qualify for their services. Good, because I’m anxious (to say the least) for this walking progress to continue. Bad, because the eval confirms that she is, indeed, very far behind in her development.
On the bright side, her cognitive development is above average. As if I needed a test to tell me that!
(C’mon. I’m telling you about how my 20-month-old can’t walk. Let me talk about how smart she is for a second at least!)
Anyway. Therapy Day went well. And in just over a day, I will have the privilege of hearing a legend sing. At least that’s what I’m told. Leroy Van Dyke is known for, among many other things, what Billboard magazine calls “the biggest country single of all time”: Walk on By.
I know it’s going to be a fun concert. But the thing is . . . I don’t actually know this song. I don’t think it’s the same as this Walk on By. And it’s definitely not this Chicago song that I keep thinking of, which apparently does not even share the song’s name.
So this week, from pushing a baby stroller named “Beep Beep” to listening to an 80-something-year-old man sing the Auctioneer Song, walking on by works for me.
My 8 year old son was diagnosed with autism at 3.5 years old. We were asked the same exact questions. They are from the MCHAT questionnaire (it's a screening test for autism). My 20month old step grand-daughter also can't do those things…
Mary, first of all — don't beat yourself up cause you couldn't answer a few dumb questions. You know your child. You know her needs. You know her likes and dislikes. You love her up like the perfect child she is. You are doing the next right thing for her. Period.
And even if it isn't the timeline you'd hoped for, God gave her to you because he knew YOU could handle what she needed.
Thank you for sharing her progresses with us. Your hopes, your fears, your stresses. Thanks for keeping it real and know you make a difference to people by sharing.
And I'm just sayin'…could that baby girl get any more adorable? I want to eat her up!!!!
Hurray for walking!
And go for it- feel really good about how smart she is! It's perfectly normal for a child to excel in one area and then have troubles in others. We all only have so much brain space. I bet Einstein walked REALLY late! :)
And hey- Aiden still can't follow two consecutive commands! :) Katie can, but we're still working on eye contact with Aiden. To each their own issues!
Hooray! I can tell she's smart. Especially verbally (why is that not a surprise?) Eliza has the exact same stroller. It was the first item to motivate her to walk (we tried other wheeled toys before the stroller and she just wasn't interested; then Grandma brought over the stroller one day….). There must be something about the height, positioning, handle bar, etc, that babies love. Or maybe they like it cause they like pushing around their baby dolls.
My SIL is an early childhood specialist and I sometimes ask her what Eliza should be doing right now. I'm sure she uses the same list because I've heard the block stacking one before, but I would never have any idea that stuff was important without her around!
Mary, you are so hysterical. Your writing style cracks me up almost every time I look at your blog! Who counts the blocks as baby stacks them? But thanks for the warning–I'll be sure to count when Linc gets there. :)
This should make you feel better: yesterday I had to stop to think how old Lincoln is when someone asked me. He's not even 6 months yet and already my brain is gone!
PS Annalyn is SO adorably cute. Love the photos, especially the last one: you can tell she's thinking, "Yes, oh yes, I am pushing the cart. I ROCK!"
Yeah, I think only people in "the business" would pay attention to things like that (stacking blocks, etc.). And it's not necessarily a good thing to know about all those milestones in some cases — it can make you hyper-aware of them and paranoid when they don't happen right when you think they should, but all kids are different and have different rates of development in different areas! I think Annalyn's definitely got a lot of kids beat in the area of friendliness! :) And I agree that she's smart too :)
I was asked a lot of those questions at the Parents as Teachers screenings and felt like you did!
Annalyn is a wonderful little girl! I have no worries that she will turn out just fine. :-)
You guys are sweet. :) Thank you.