Valentine's Day, Developmental Specialists, and First Words

As you know, Friday was our date with the developmental specialist. This is a doctor that we had to promise we would take the twins to see in order for them to be released from the NICU. We have been to see this doctor (actually we see the NP and then the doctor comes in if there's something "wrong") four times in a year. The first time I went to the office, Harper wasn't eating and they are the ones who classified her as "failure to thrive" and got the ball rolling on getting Harper some much needed help. The second time we went to their office, both kids got a great report and we didn't even see the doctor (Harper was eating and growing by then). The third time we went, Tony came with me and we saw the doctor because Harper's head was "alarmingly large". When we went to see the developmental specialist on Friday, we ended up seeing the doctor- UGH.  First, let's do the run down and you can see how the kids are growing and stacking up:

Jack:
Gross Motor Skills- 12 months
Cognitive Skills- 13 months
Receptive Language- 10 months
Fine Motor Skills- 13 1/2 months

Weight- 20 lbs (25-50% chronologic age)
Length- 28 3/4 inches (5%)
Head Circumference- 47 1/2cm (75-90%)


Jack did great with his evaluation and played with all the toys. The NP did give the kids a couple of things that we were surprised to see like crayons (how were they supposed to know to color with crayons? We would never give them crayons because they would just try and eat them). Jack's shining moment was figuring out how to retrieve a red block from behind a piece of plexi-glass.


Harper:
Gross Motor Skills- 12 months
Cognitive Skills- 12 months
Receptive Language- 11 1/2 months
Fine Motor Skills- 12 months
Expressive Language- 11 months

Weight- 16 lbs, 12 oz. (5-10% chronologic age- woo hoo!!)
Length- 27 1/4 inches (5-10% adjusted age)
Head Circumference 95% (chronologic age)

Harper also did great with her evaluation and playing. Her shining moment was when the NP pulled out a piece of paper with four different black and white pictures on it. She asked Harper "where is the dog" and Harper pointed to the dog immediately; she then followed up with "where is the shoe" and Harper was quick to point that out too.

Here's where the appointment went down the drain: Harper's head is still big- very big- for her age. The doctor is worried that she might have hydrocephalus despite the fact that she has no symptoms aside from a large noggin', and despite the fact that literally EVERY person that is genetically a Collett that I can recall meeting also seems to have a giant head (no offense Colletts, I'm just trying to prove a point here). So, we are now on "soft spot watch" to see if Harper's soft spot starts bulging and if her head is still growing so this rapidly in August, then we'll be referred for a CT scan (which involves putting her under to get the scan- we are not a fan of this idea).  The other thing that the doctor is worried about is that Harper is not going to do well when we try to wean her off of her bottles. She said that it's taken Harper so long to grow that she's worried she won't eat enough calories without her bottles and will start losing weight. This thought had crossed my mind when the pediatrician told us not to worry about her bottle eating anymore and told us to focus instead on her table food selections. Hearing the specialist say that she's worried about Harper's potential lack of calories in the future made me want to cry. I feel like we have worried about what that girl has eaten since the moment she took her first breath; we were just getting used to the idea that we wouldn't have to monitor every little thing she eats, but now I feel like we're going to have to go back to writing down how much she eats and calculating calories (something that I think will make me go insane). Please pray that the weaning process goes smoothly and we don't have to take drastic measures (thankfully we have until the end of April to get that done).

Needless to say, Tony and I were both exhausted when we left the doctor's on Friday (the appointment was at 2 and we got home at 5). We didn't have big plans for Valentine's Day, but Nana watched the kids so we could get away and have a nice dinner.  At dinner Tony and I decided that the specialist's opinion was just one opinion and we would continue on as we have been and if we see a drop in Harper's weight, then we'll worry. It took a good friend telling me, "Melissa, remember that a specialist's job is to find the problems- doom and gloom is their business." That helped me remember that this is just a cautionary take on our kids, and not gospel truth for their future.

Saturday brought a much better day and a great surprise- Jack said his first word! The kids were eating and I was encouraging them to sign "more" to request more food instead of whining. Harper has been signing "more" for quite awhile, but Jack has recently started doing this as well. I was pleasantly surprised on Saturday when Jack looked at me and signed "more" and said "Ma"- his attempt at the word "more". I requested he do this more as the day went on (to make sure it wasn't just a fluke) and he  repeated the sign along with saying "Ma". I was so proud and so excited for my little guy who was still in the NICU at this time last year trying to gain enough weight to be able to come home. Who would've guessed he'd be walking (he took his first steps on Thursday!) and talking just a year later.

Harper is still working on her language, but her walking is getting much better. She's starting to navigate around roadblocks on the floor as she's walking to her destination. She's also being much more adventurous and trying to stand from a sitting position. We are beyond blessed to have such high functioning little preemies and, despite some frustration, it was nice to have the kids evaluated and to be able to see that our kids are making progress. I'll end with a picture of these two curled up for a nap today- can't get much sweeter than those two.