So Proud!

The girls had their one year appointment with the developmental specialist yesterday.  They both once again made me the proudest Momma that I could ever be!!!  Basically what they are looking for is any delay in their motor skills or development.  Keep in mind that they went into our evaluation expecting the girls to perform at an 8 month level, since they are only technically supposed to be 8 months old. 

Since most of the office was on spring break it was very empty.  This worked out perfectly for us.  They put us into a therapy room that mirrored what a small gym would look like for gymnasts.  It has mats on the floor, some climbing toys, balls and all kinds of random toys.  The girls were in heaven! They crawled around on the floor and showed off the fact that they are both part monkey, by climbing onto everything.

Alexis was up first.  She currently weighs 16 pounds 12 ounces and is 26 inches long.  They wanted to make sure that she could roll over on her own so we placed her on her back and within a half second she flipped right over.  They gave her some blocks to pick up to test hand eye coordination.  She picked them right up on cue.  The goal was to have her bang the two blocks together.  Bam!  She did exactly what they wanted her to do.  The therapist rolled a ball on the floor with the intent that she would chase it.  Again, right on cue! She crawled herself right over to the ball and picked it up with the proudest look on her face.  They did about 40-50 other little tests with her that she did just perfectly.  She was so proud of herself and Mom & Dad were as equally proud.  My little peanut scored very well!  They said that her body is very solid and her muscle tone is excellent.  Alexis scored at a 12 month old level!  The therapist as well as the doctor was very impressed with how well she did.

Addison was second, even though she really did most of her showing off during Alexis' testing.  Addison weighs 15 pounds 8 ounces and is 27 inches tall.  Addison also did just about everything right on target.  The therapist rang a bell to get her attention.  She looked at the bell and then the therapist hid the bell under a blanket.  The goal was to get Addison to crawl over to the bell, find it under the blanket, and to ring it herself.  She did it without a second of hesitation.  We learned that Addison is REALLY into playing with balls.  There was a volleyball on the floor that she was completely infatuated with the entire time.  Everything they asked her to do, she was right on top of it.  Addison scored at an 11 month old level!  They were also impressed with her progress given her rough start in life and her extensive bleeding on her brain.  The only negative thing that they said about Addison is that her muscle tone in her legs is a little weak.  They said that if her primary mode of travel is still mainly crawling, that once she starts walking more this should work itself out.  Knowing that we were originally told that Addison would never leave the hospital, she continues to amaze me on a daily basis! Who knew that I could love two little people so much?

Both girls did the same tests with the therapist and I can honestly say that I've never been more proud of my girls than I was yesterday.  I completely expected them to be a little irritable since we had to schedule this testing during their naptime, but both girls had a blast.  They loved crawling around and climbing in the mini gym.  They thoroughly enjoyed playing with all the different toys and were perfect little angels the entire time.  Terry and I had a great time at the appointment as well.  I think we had just as much fun rolling around on the floor and playing as the girls did.  Last night, Terry and I discussed trying to get the girls into an infant gymnastics class since we all loved playing on the mats so much.   We both feel that we have been cooped up in the house for so long that it will be nice to do something normal with the girls for a change.

Both girls do not possess and signs of down syndrome or cerebral palsy which is also excellent news.  We were warned that just because they don't possess any signs right now that doesn't mean than it can't sneak up on us at a later date.  We continue to be cautiously optimistic and very proud of our two miracles!!!