First Texas ECI Visit:: "Uniquely flexible"

Yesterday was our first visit with our new case manager through Early Childhood Intervention. This is like what Jeanette with Infant-Toddler did with us back in Manhattan. Two ladies came and caught up on the life of Ellie. Melissa will be the one meeting with us weekly (for starters) and then Kelly, a RN, came and did a nursing evaluation. She got all the stats on Ellie. Drum roll please....Ellie weighed 16 lbs. 15 oz. (30th percentile for her adjusted age; 3rd percentile on the real growth chart) - so that's about a pound and a half gain from her 9 month check two months ago. Her length was 68 cm = 26.77 inches (50th percentile for adjusted; 3rd percentile for real growth chart); head circumference was 46 cm (95th percentile for adjusted; 70th percentile on the real growth chart)

They asked a lot of questions about what Ellie's doing these days, which to be honest is a lot now compared to before! They also caught up and did the 6 month evaluation and the DAYC (which is the screening they use here). They looked at the areas of: communication, cognitive, motor, social emotional and adaptive/self help. So based on what they observed and asked, Ellie's charting as follows (remember she's 11 months real age, between 8-9 months adjusted): adaptive= 13 months; cognitive= 9 months; fine and gross motor= 7 month; language (expressive/receptive)= 8 month; Personal/social=10 months. So as you can see there are some areas where there is a delay (to be expected), but some areas where she's ahead.

I really don't get hung up on where Ellie's ratings fall, even every full-term kiddo is different developmentally! However, I really do enjoy these types of services for the educational component and so I can look for things to help her development. They watched her crawl and noticed that her feet turn in a little bit. They also just watched her when she goes from laying, to sitting, and then to pulling up on her knees and the quote of the day was, "Ellie is uniquely flexible!" So funny, I had kindof thought she might be double jointed because seriously she can touch her wrists behind her back with her arms straight....and she does sit in the cheerleader/hurdler pose quite often. But yeah, Ellie apparently has some flexibility! Too bad her parents don't anymore! Now, that I think about it, remember "tripod"...Ellie's been testing her flexibility from very early on! They both recommended a consult with OT/PT to just take a look at her hips/feet. Sounds good to me! She also, with her prematurity, is a high risk for her vision and hearing, so they're going to follow up with that as well (which we already also have been through our pediatrician). Oh, and they're also going to have a nutrition consult to help me with Ellie's nutrition intake goals. I really liked Melissa and am looking forward to her coming back next week to see what the little Miss Ellie is up to next!

Here's a pic of daddy and squeaky clean Ellie.....so happy together!