I feel very lucky. It must have been fate that Dallas and I never moved away from Grand Rapids. We are surrounded by pediatric specialists in every field imaginable. I have met many mom's who have to drive hours to get the kind of care we just drive downtown for. We have a Rehabilitation Hospital 10 minutes away with a whole department and wing dedicated to pediatric therapy. So far our experience with them has been a positive one.
This week has been very busy, but all the appointments and therapy haven't slowed Maddy down one bit, she is still her silly self, always on the move and smiling.
The week started with a Physical Therapy evaluation. We were told Maddy is at about a 7 month developmental level for her gross motor skills. We made a list of lots of things to work on with her, and are working towards her being able to sit with proper posture, crawl and get up from laying down on her own, as well as standing with better balance and less assistance. They recommended Physical Therapy twice a week for her for now. Did I mention the therapist thinks they should use Maddy on their billboards? She is already winning over fans on her first day there!
Today we had a Speech Therapy evaluation and Occupational Therapy evaluation. The speech therapist told us they believe Maddy is having trouble with her speech and eating because of low muscle tone. They believe that her language will develop in time once we work on her muscle tone. They gave us some exercises at home and also suggested learning some baby sign language to help her communicate in the mean time.
The Occupational Therapist also evaluated Maddy at around a 6-10 month range depending on the area, but surprisingly, she did the best in visual-motor skills. They also recommended therapy twice a week, but will dedicate one day a week to feeding therapy to assist Maddy in learning to eat solid foods and drink out of a cup.
Looks like we have a busy summer ahead, but we are very excited to get started! Now we just have to survive a busy weekend of partying to celebrate an itsy bitsy birthday party!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
We Almost Have a Toddler
Maddy turns 1 next week. I know everyone always tells you that is goes by fast, but it's still unbelieveable how fast. A year ago, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl and thinking about how different life was going to be with an infant. Now I sit here thinking about how different life will be with a toddler.
It is the job of a mother to worry, and as my mom and family would tell you, I am excellent at it. There have been many days of worry over the past year, but each and every hour of worry has been worth it. I am the luckiest woman alive to be the mother of such an amazing little girl (I'm not biased at all), and to have such a wonderful and supportive husband. Madelyn is the sweetest and funniest little girl, and she brings so much joy to our lives everyday. It has been so incredible to see her learn so many new things this past year, and accomplish so much. She works hard for each and every new thing she does, and the pride shows on her adorable little smile every time.
Looking a head, we don't know what to expect and we take things day by day. There really aren't a lot of definite answers to most of our questions at this point, but one thing we do know. She will be loved, and she will be happy, of that I am sure.
Madelyn has qualified for Ken-O-Sha, the special education program for our school district. They have a wonderful program which allows a therapist (Occupational, Physical or Speech Therapist) to come to our house once a week to work with Madelyn and to teach us how to work with her to prepare her for school in the future. Now that we have gone through the evaluation process, we will start our weekly therapy with them soon.
This week will be a very busy week for Maddy. Monday we have our first evaluation at the out-patient rehabilitation center. We start with her evaluation for Physical Therapy. On Wednesday, we go back for two more evaluations for Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. Working with a PT through Early Intervention once or twice a month has already made a huge difference and I know more therapy will be so great for her. And to finish the week off, Maddy's Grammy and Grampy are coming all the way from Vermont to celebrate her 1st birthday on Friday, followed by her big birthday bash on Saturday. I am so looking forward to this week in so many ways!
It is the job of a mother to worry, and as my mom and family would tell you, I am excellent at it. There have been many days of worry over the past year, but each and every hour of worry has been worth it. I am the luckiest woman alive to be the mother of such an amazing little girl (I'm not biased at all), and to have such a wonderful and supportive husband. Madelyn is the sweetest and funniest little girl, and she brings so much joy to our lives everyday. It has been so incredible to see her learn so many new things this past year, and accomplish so much. She works hard for each and every new thing she does, and the pride shows on her adorable little smile every time.
Looking a head, we don't know what to expect and we take things day by day. There really aren't a lot of definite answers to most of our questions at this point, but one thing we do know. She will be loved, and she will be happy, of that I am sure.
Madelyn has qualified for Ken-O-Sha, the special education program for our school district. They have a wonderful program which allows a therapist (Occupational, Physical or Speech Therapist) to come to our house once a week to work with Madelyn and to teach us how to work with her to prepare her for school in the future. Now that we have gone through the evaluation process, we will start our weekly therapy with them soon.
This week will be a very busy week for Maddy. Monday we have our first evaluation at the out-patient rehabilitation center. We start with her evaluation for Physical Therapy. On Wednesday, we go back for two more evaluations for Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. Working with a PT through Early Intervention once or twice a month has already made a huge difference and I know more therapy will be so great for her. And to finish the week off, Maddy's Grammy and Grampy are coming all the way from Vermont to celebrate her 1st birthday on Friday, followed by her big birthday bash on Saturday. I am so looking forward to this week in so many ways!
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