Moving and Shaking

Rainbow Bright

Eleanor had her Early Intervention assessment two weeks ago and I have been dreading writing a post on it. It is a relevant part of her recovery and a big part of her life right now, but it is so hard to face. Everything is improved since last time, which is great, but because she is six months older, the numbers seem so far off. Our EI specialist wrote out the basic gist of what her full report would be and left it with me. I let Eleanor play with it and kept stuffing it into her toy box during clean up. I did not want to look at it, so now it is a hot mess. 

I pulled it out tonight because a) I'm ready to deal with it and b) the recycling is going this week.

Sorting the recycling. And her diapers, just for good measure.

So here's where my 22 month old toddler stands (sorry, sits - unless she is holding onto furniture):

Gross Motor: 8+ months
Fine Motor: 11+ months
Adaptative (play skills): 12-13+ months
Language (expressive): 15 months
Language (receptive): 18 months
Personal Social: 12-15+ months

It's not the worst, I know that. It's just hard to see that she is on par with a kid born a full year later than her for some things. I thought her gross motor would be further along, and I'm fine with where she is at. Her tumour caused incredible amounts of muscle weakness and then spending 7 months on the flat of her back being pumped full of toxic chemicals did not help her get any stronger. But the fact that her play skills are falling behind is a bit shocking. I feel like that was in my control to help facilitate. I justify it by telling myself that while most parents or caregivers teach their kids to stack blocks and colour with crayons, I was busy injecting enoxaparin and changing the dressing on her central line. Basically, I am trying not to feel bad.

And while I am crying in the corner and licking my wounds, Eleanor has been busy. Very busy indeed. I know they aren't related, but in the past two weeks, Eleanor has had a massive development surge. It's like the lights came on after that assessment and she is growing in all sorts of ways. After 22 months of absolutely no attempt at audible language except "hi" and a few "h" words, she is repeating all kinds of words. She is terrible at it. Totally lousy, but you can hear her trying to say "quack", "duck", "block", "Atia", "Daddy". It's all there, and seemingly out of nowhere. After 22 months of wondering if she was understanding or just stubborn, she is acknowledging simple commands. After a year of only being able to sit and 4 months of army crawling, she is figuring out how to cruise. Again, really bad at it, but everyday gets a little bit better, a little bit stronger, a little bit more confident.

So yeah. It is will be six months until her next assessment and I can't wait. I feel like she has already surpassed so many of these markers that she will be all caught up by April. Can you imagine? Maybe that is overreaching but a girl can dream and a baby can grow and move and shake.

And crawl all over the couch and into the sunset.