Devin's Journal

Yesterday two very lovely women visited our home, wheeling giant suitcases full of toys up the driveway, to spend some time with Devin. No, we are not going to be on any of the Nanny shows. No, there are not any modern day Mary Poppins taking over the neighborhood. It was Devin's speech and development evaluation day and it was BIG FUN!

The put puzzles in front of him and he solved them in no time. They gave him a peg board to see if he could figure that out. He did. They gave him blocks and asked him to stack them and to "build a choo choo" and he did. They gave him a baby doll and told him she was hungry and then they gave him a spoon and he pretended to feed her. He then found a bottle and pretended to feed her that. Then he tried to drink from it and shoot me the stink eye because, "Really woman? You mean it when you say no more bottles for me?"

After he played with toys they asked me about other things he can do. Can he go to another room and find something? Can he follow instructions? So I had him go to the kitchen, get the red ball, and give it to Ann. And then I asked him to bring me a diaper and some wipes so I could change him. He did both with not problem because this is the sort of thing Devin does. Yes, he will pitch a fit because I have given him the wrong color of sippy cup (or some other mystery reason) but he will happily do things you ask him to because he looooves to be helpful. At one point he spilled a little milk and started jabbering wildly and pointing and I sort of off handedly said, "It's ok, Dev, just get a towel and wipe it up." So he waddled over to the laundry basket and rummaged around until he found a small hand towel and he took care of the mess.

Apparently, most of those things are a little bit advanced for a 19-month old. They are activities appropriate for a 23 to 25-month old. Sweeeeet.

But remember: this was about his language development as well. The boy doesn't talk much. And now I have an actual measurement to help you understand what I mean when I say this. His expressive language is that of a 9-month old baby. He is a full year delayed on talking.

So, to recap....waaaaay behind on talking but advanced on receptive speech, cognitive understanding, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and social skills (HA! I know. Devin....social?). So he will be getting to do speech therapy once a week until his language is age appropriate at no cost to us. He'll have a single person who will come see him at our house which will help a lot with getting him comfortable with them.

Excels at pointing and stacking but does not want to talk about it.

This Thursday Devin will be undergoing speech and developmental evaluations due to the fact that he's still not talking. The speech therapist will be here in the morning and then we'll have a little bit of a break for Devin to recover from being forced to socialize with a stranger and to take a nap. In the afternoon a woman who specializes in infant development will come and do some further evaluations on him. I expect to see THIS face from him quite a bit.

I am not amused. This is not fun. Furthermore, you suck, mom.

I am excited for this opportunity as much for the promise that we will learn some things that will help my little one along on his path as for the potential hilarity that could ensue given how much Devin LOOOOOVES meeting new people. I think he'd rather have his toenails removed with pliers but mommy is fresh out of pliers so this is how we are going to spend our Thursday.

Wish us luck!

Devin had his 18 month checkup today with Dr. Jain. He is 32.4 inches (50th percentile) and weighs 25 lbs 5.5 oz (41st percentile). He's Mr. Middle O' The Road (which suites his mellow, laid back little self).

Today's focus was, as I expected, on his verbal development (or, rather, his lack thereof). The boy just doesn't talk much and by now he should be. We are not worried about it and neither is Dr. Jain but we are going ahead with having his hearing tested and we were also referred to Alta Regional for a speech evaluation. Cognitively, he seems just fine but we would rather play it safe and get the help he needs (if he needs it) sooner rather than later.

We've also been trying to help our shy little one to come out of his shell a bit. Last weekend I took him back to My Gym. I participated in their test program for babies back when he was teensy and I took him back again about 4 months ago. He hated it. He cried the entire time, tried to climb me like a tree, and ended up melting into a tiny puddle of woe before I carted his sobbing little diapered behind outta there. I was fully expecting more of the same last weekend but he did much better. He only cried once and he (sorta) participated in most of the activities. His favorite things: hiding from everyone in the ball pit and swinging on the Winnie-the-Pooh swing. A huge improvement.

I caught a bit of flack because he's still drinking from a bottle. That's right. I have FAILED weening 101. I also have not cut his hair yet. Do you see a pattern? No? Let me make it clear: all the things that make him seem more baby than toddler or (EEEEEP!) little boy are things to which I find myself reluctant to change. When I look at my little one's messy curls as he clutches his bottle I can imagine that I still have a baby. If I cut those curls off and give him a sippy cup he will suddenly be enrolling for college. See? Simple math.