Where does the time go?

Our local sprayground in Hyde Park.

It's been a long time since I've blogged.  We've been BUSY!  We've had visits from my parents and Britton's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Billy and Britton's mom, Julieann, Caleb and Elijah.  We've visited with my grandparents and my Uncle Ed in Clearwater.  Britton and I both had birthdays. We've gone to graduation parties.

Nathan chilling poolside in Orlando.

Life has been mostly good, though we've had our stressors.  At Nathan's 9 month doctor's appointment, Nathan failed a screening tool to assess child development and his physician told me that she thought that he may have some developmental delay. She recommended that we go to a program that does early intervention.  I was shocked!  I handled it so calmly...until I got out of the office.  By the time I got to daycare (luckily I only have to walk there from the doctor's office) I had completely fallen apart.  Luckily, at daycare they tried to assure me that Nathan was completely normal.

Nathan walking with his walker.

To make a long story short.  I went a little crazy and reviewed everything I had learned in PT school about child development and playful interventions.  We started taking Nathan to Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, getting him to move more in the water. We worked on standing every day and taught him to pull up on the coffee table.  We even took the feet off the table to make it easier. 

Nathan with his daddy and cousins

In 3 weeks, he learned how to scoot on his belly, crawl, pull up, stand own his own with support, clap his hands, find hidden objects, extend his arm to "give" a toy,  push his arms through the sleeves when dressing and drink from a sippy cup (all things he failed on his test).  Did he need a little nudge?  Was he just taking his sweet time?  Five weeks after the 9 month check-up, we went to the Early Steps Program as recommended by Nathan's pediatrician.

He was evaluated by a pediatric occupational therapist and an early childhood intervention specialist for an hour and a half.  They both concluded that he was within the normal range on all 5 developmental categories and that he was absolutely delightful!  (He gave them lots of flirty smiles, I think he was trying to get extra credit.)

Okay, we can now look back on this and laugh.

Nathan is a happy baby!

A REALLY happy baby!  Check out his 6 teeth!

Today, I've been home with Nathan - he was diagnosed with thrush yesterday.  He's taking meds and is already doing better.  The last two pictures were taken today so he is obviously not that sick!