A fresh opinion!

We finally got to meet our new ECI coordinator (catch all therapist), Melissa. We REALLY like Melissa! I think she is going to push Ian which really is saying that she is going to push me to push Ian, if that makes sense. It was a very productive meeting. I didn't expect her to do much w/ him this 1st time b/c I know she needed to observe where he is developmentally so I let her do that while interjecting information about his recent activities.

Our old coordinator passed along the info about Ian's famous "du". Seems like he uses this word for just about anything. Melissa asked me if he could possibly be saying "that" & I told her it never crossed my mind. Now I wonder if he is just calling everything "that". He does say a couple of words outside of mama & dada. I also told her the Gabi situation. She does all the talking for the them. When she wants water, she signs it & the other 2 also get it b/c I automatically offer it to them. This is completely normal in the multiples world & unfortunately there isn't anything we can really do to change this. She is the official spokesperson.

Now, if there isn't any movement forward by the time he hits 18 months, we will begin speech therapy. Fine by me. What ever help they are willing to give us, we are willing to accept.

Melissa was pretty happy w/ where Ian is developmentally, even stating that if they were to assess him today for services, he would likely not qualify. Even w/ the delayed walking, it isn't of concern until they are 18 mths old. She said he is on the low end of normal but still hitting milestones in the allotted time. YAY IAN! That's my boy! Persistent but pleasant. Another thing she mentioned...he was very willing to play w/ her, not holding back. That's my babies. They really don't have stranger anxiety if you are on their turf. Seriously. None. They will seek you out & sit in your lap. No joke.

The plan is to continue to see him twice a month & PT once a month. Sonia, our PT, is coming w/ another PT to assess his ankle strength for braces. Until then he is w/o shoes for most of the day. In the late afternoon, I put shoes on him. I have to say that I have already noticed a difference in his balance in the past 2 days. This boy is soooo close to walking. I have a good feeling about things.

We have a follow up appt w/ his neurologist on the 22nd. Todd normally takes Ian to all his neurology appts since he is familiar w/ the docs b/c he is the one that stayed in the hossy w/ Ian. This appt happens to fall on a Saturday so we are going to get 1 set of the grandparents to watch the girls while we take Ian down to see Dr. Brown. I need to go this time in order to pass along the info that the PT said. It will be a good trip for the 3 of us.

Gotta share the latest news on feeding. I have begun to introduce the spoon to the kids. No. Not like for the 1st time ever. I mean where they get to actually use it to shovel food in their mouths. We do it every morning w/ yogurt. Hell, you can't get too dirty w/ yogurt, right? It is thick enough to stay on the spoon & yummy enough for the kids to want to get it in their mouths. Of the 3, Ian is the best at getting it all in his mouth & is most often the least dirty. I tried to get the girls w/ the spoon in their hand but these were the best I could get.