Development

Can you believe it's the end of October already?!?!?!?
Tuesday found us at the pediatrician for Christian's 3 yr old checkup and next round of immunization shots.
In his usual fashion, he was a calm cooperative boy when the medical student did his evaluation.  The poor doctor gets him after he's wound up, loudly chattering and grabbing my face to pull it toward him for my attention.  She is SO patient and we just talk louder, otherwise the usual two hour appointment would probably last four hours.

She did a developmental assessment to evaluate how much he has progressed since being with me and what needs work.  She was trying to get him to do some actions and say certain words and to my frustration he wouldn't cooperate, but instead wanted to run around the room and climb up and down from the exam table.  The doctor needed to see if he could jump and get his feet off the floor.  She demonstrated for him, but he wasn't buying into it.  Then the medical student and I started jumping, telling him it was a game, trying to coax him into action.  The look on his face was hysterical!  He was looking at all of us like we had lost our minds and I'm sure it did look like that :)  With no results, she moved on to ask me some questions and when we ignored him, he started hopping around the room like a rabbit and then wouldn't stop.  Wouldn't you know it.

She asked if he could turn the knob on the door. At first he couldn't get a grip because he was on his tiptoes and his hand is almost too small, but he managed to get it opened. Then THAT became a game, opening and closing the door. Then he opened the door, took one glance back, and disappeared down the hall. The medical student looked at me and said, "don't worry, he's just outside the door," like he was trying to reassure me.  I chuckled and said, "oh no, he's down the hall by now." That guy jumped up so fast, dashed out the door, and seconds later Christian came barreling back into the room.  I was exhausted by now.  For some reason, when he goes to the doctor's office, he acts like he's been pumped full of sugar or something.

So after several other "tests" the doctor had him do, and asking me alot of questions, she gave me the rundown on the status of his development to date.  His writing skills are still behind; doesn't hold the pencil with correct form and doesn't mimick the action when you draw a line, circle or X.  His language, as expected, still needs to improve but he should be farther along than he is right now.  Due to the lack of proper nutrition in the orphanage, his physical coordination is behind, but the doctor assured me with more time it will improve to normal levels.  Because of his delayed language pronunciation, his maturity level is still behind, but has improved.  So this area just needs more time too. Everything else was good!

He got his last round of immunization shots, so he's caught up and won't need the last group until he turns four.  Because our appointment was at 2:30, he didn't get a nap, so he finally crashed toward the end of the appointment.  The nurse gave him the two shots while he was still asleep, but of course they woke him up.  Later that night he was fine as well as the following day.  But this morning I noticed that the leg where he got the shots was really swollen, like 1/3 the size bigger than the other leg.  Uuummm, not so sure that's a normal thing.  I called the nurse this morning, told her about his leg and that he doesn't have a fever.  She said some swelling is normal and maybe the nurse hit the muscle just right to cause additional swelling.  As long as he doesn't have a fever, she said he's fine, but if anything changes tomorrow, I'm supposed to call back and they need to see him.  Tonight at bathtime his leg looked a little less swollen, so I hope that's true and not just wishful thinking on my part.

So we have been working on pronouncing words more clearly and deliberately.  I also need to put away his trucks and try to get him to do more coloring, drawing and writing to improve those small motor skills. So far the language he's been cooperative but the reduction of truck playing isn't going as easy :)  I signed him up for swimming lessons again to help strengthen his legs and am considering a six week/2 hr/once a week soccer camp, but haven't made a final decision.  The cost is a little high for me right now, so I might wait for the January session and then swimming will be over.  Now that the weather's going to be getting colder, he won't be able to play outside at school as much, and I want to keep him active.  Heck, I need to get more active.....maybe they'd let me run around with him at soccer :)

So in six months we will have another evaluation with the pediatrician and I pray it's moving in the right direction.
~Amy