Cankles

Today, my post is about cankles

Sophie has been on her own schedule for meeting milestones. She was late to roll over and crawl. She's always struggled with food textures and was exclusively breastfed for almost a year because of that. I LOVE Sophie's pediatrician. She has been such a good listener and has that perfect balance of caution and reassurance without being over the type like another certain physician I work with (wink wink to my coworkers haha!).

At Sophie's appointment for her 15 month well-child check this month, the Doctor asked about her milestones. Sophie isn't saying 3-5 words consistently, is not walking, and still has problems with texture and other table foods. That combination and my 'first time mother' concern led to today! We had an evaluation with a program called Early Intervention.

We met with a physical therapist, a speech therapist, and occupational therapist, and an RN. They talked to use and watched Sophie get around and play. They asked A LOT of questions... some about things I didn't think about: like what kind of babble-sounds she is making, and if she rolls her ankles when she walks. The said that she qualifies for the service (which is free or low cost based on a sliding scale for income).

The physical therapist was concerned with the strength in her legs, especially her ankles (as was her physician). They said that her muscle tone and ligaments are very loose in her ankles, which they often see with late crawlers. Her recommendation for us was to wear tennis shoes ALOT to see if that will help with her ankles. She said the next step would be to get some ankle/foot orthotics to help give her extra support and strengthen her ankles. She said that her upper body strength will improve as she continues to pull up on furniture and move around. She said it's great we caught it early because if not the loose ligaments would eventually affect her knees then hips and she would have an onset of severe arthritis by the time she was 30!!

The speech therapist said that her baby-babbles are all very reassuring and she is making repatative sounds and associating certain sounds with objects and people.

The occupational therapist said that she chews appropriately so she thinks that she is just a little 'stubborn' about eating table foods. She wants to give us some tips and help us to get her eating better. She said her fine motor skills are great though.

They take all the questions we answered and what they've seen and put it in a certain program that gives them scrores in each area and an overall developmental age based on the questions. Sophie is about 5 months behind developmentally. I was actually surprised but they said as soon as she walks that bumps her up a couple months. Part of me feels inadequate as a mother because I think what should I/could I have done. The other part of me knows that each child has their own schedule and most kids 'catch up' to each other later on.

The ladies that evaluated Sophie were so nice! I was completely impressed and really appreciate this service that they offer. I have heard about it but always had a picture of these inner-city neglected children and kids with disabilities using this government program. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they help all kinds of kids from infant to 3yr olds. They typically come out montly and give us tips and other exercises to work on with Sophie. She is evaluated every 3-6 months and services are dropped when they feel she is where she needs to be.

So, even though Sophie hates shoes (and socks - she is her mother's girl) we've been wearing them today. (P.S. Nike athletic shoes, DI, $3) It's been funny to watch her - she's been kicking the fireplace and furniture, trying to untie them, and acting like they're SOOOO heavy. Excuse the pjs - we WERE dressed but then she peed through her diaper...

This is that funny smile I keep telling ya about ... the squinty eyes and big teeth smile. I love this girl, she is so dang sweet and spending my days with her are the best!