Thursday, February 4, 2010

What a Day!

Sammie B had her (belated) 15-month appointment with her pediatrician today. Oddly, I wasn't a nervous wreck before this one, probably because we already had the recent neurologist appointment, and I feel like we know where we stand and are doing everything we can with and for Sammie B. So, pretty straightforward appointment - she's 40th percentile for weight, 75th for height (down from 90th, so her growth is sort of evening out I suppose) and 75th for head (also down from 90th). Long and lean.

And, the pediatrician pretty much echoed what the neurologist said (and what we already know) . . . cognitive - great, on target; gross motor - delayed (duh), and we should keep doing what we are doing. One thing that I was happy to hear is that our pediatrician isn't concerned that Sammie B only has three words, she said she looks for 3-4 at a minimum at this age, and that with Sam's low tone, its not surprising that she doesn't have more. So, she said it would be premature (in her opinion) to do speech therapy, which I know B and I are both relieved to hear . . . our lives are so complicated already with THREE appointments each week. Not that we wouldn't add another if we needed to, but happy to not have to for now. When we were leaving, our pediatrician said, "you guys are really doing an incredible job with her." That was so nice, and so wonderful to hear.

Sam did get one shot at the doctor, so she was semi-crabby all day, didn't eat much, and didn't want to take a nap. She finally fell asleep at 3:30 and then slept for two hours.

Only "change" in our routine is that we are supposed to give Sammie B prunes daily, in hopes of combating her constipation problems -- also a low-tone issue. I want to switch to goats milk, and have read great things about it for low-tone/constipated kids, but the doctor doesn't think it would make a difference, and B thinks I'm being hokey. So, maybe we will, maybe we won't. If someone told me I could sprinkle salt in her ears for her tone, I'd do it, right?! So why not give the goats milk a chance?

Our nanny's mom is in the hospital, and we are very worried about her! So, our nanny is taking care of her, and Brian and I are scrambling to make things work on our end. Today we both ended up working from home and "tag teaming" the day. Tomorrow, B is off (thank goodness for furlough days) so we'll be okay, and just hoping for the best for next week, and hoping and wishing for the best for our nanny's mom, who we love!

I'm going to have to work this weekend to make up for the little work that got done today, but I'll survive!

And, to close with a picture . . . it occurred to me tonight that perhaps we could work on standing with ELMO on the TV -- we did this when Sam hated tummy time, and we did it with sitting in the beginning. Why hadn't I thought about it with standing? We (um, I) don't like for Sam to watch much TV, so its a treat when she gets to. . . and tonight we watched an Elmo DVD while standing :o) She got distracted after a bit and wanted to play with her toys, but she did stand for awhile. :o) And stared intently at her favorite red man!



(Our house is a wreck after all of us being home all day).


One thing B and I are both noticing so much lately is how much she's engaged with her toys . . . like ones we didn't think she had any interest in, she's totally into now, and figuring them out, and really just sitting and playing so independently and so intently. It's pretty cute! She's also been so cooperative and great in PT and OT these last few appointments, so we hope we are on a streak!!!

5 comments:

abby said...

I'm biased, of course, but give the goat a try. It really worked wonders for Hallie (who is also low tone): we were admittedly quite desperate when we took this course (read back to late summer/fall 2007 for a bit of what we were going through---and I assure you that we did not blog the half of it). But the goat milk made SUCH a difference for Hallie, whose constipation/delayed gastric emptying/reflux/vomiting etc were intractable. It's much easier to digest than cow's milk, and in this respect is closer to breast milk. And worst comes to worst, you'll have wasted a few dollars (it's a bit more expensive than cow's milk--here I can get a half gallon of farm-fresh goat's milk for 5 dollars, whereas the organic cow stuff is about 3.50).

CP said...

Yay for a good appointment! I hate those shots, never any fun! My son loves Elmo to pieces and I really do not see the attraction- It I have to listen to Elmo's song one more time...UGH! Ha ha, isn't it amazing how quickly a house can get torn apart just by living in it- who would have thought?! Sammie is a sweetheart and you guys really do seem like the best parents she could ask for!

Momttorney said...

Abby, you just get the goat's milk at whole foods, right? I'm going for it. . . though maybe then I'd have to also remove other dairy from her diet (cheese, yogurt, none of which she has a ton of -- not even daily, but occasionally). ?

Andrea said...

Oh man, the smell of goat's milk makes me ill. Which is strange since I love goat cheese!

Seems like a great appointment overall. She doesn't seem like she's too far behind on the physical milestones, so all the hard work must be paying off!

Tilly said...

It's so great that Sammie is standing! I know how overwhelming all of the therapy etc appointments can be, but you are doing a great job:) Our little ones have so much potential. They teach us so much and we don't even know it sometimes:)

Luke has constipation issues also. He has been on Miralax for almost a year. I hate having to give it to him, but nothing else was working. Our Gastro doctor said we could try taking him off it, but it was a nightmare! Hopefully once they "outgrow" the low tone, everything else will work itself out too.

Keep up the great work. Sammie is an angel!!