Therapies, Evals and Progress

It's been a bit since I updated you guys on Pierce's progress. Since this blog is the only thing of a baby book to his name, I figured it was about time.

Last week, we finally went for a well check. In a lapse of reason, I missed Pierce's 15 month check up (gasp). I blame it on the fact that we had 2 sick visits back to back around that time. Yes, that's my excuse. So I missed 15 months. Then almost missed 18 months (that's what happens when you schedule new therapies and oodles of specialists follow ups around the same time). But last week (and at 19 months) we finally squeezed a visit in.

Here's how he stacked up:
Age: 19 months/ 15 adjusted
Weight: 22 lbs (My child will not cooperate on the scale and tries to roll off. We think he's more in the 24 lb range, but had to record this weight)
Height: 32 inches
Percentile: Weight=15th percentile, Height=25th percentile (Such a blessing!)

We're still significantly delayed in his gross and fine motor skills (sigh), but speech seems to be tracking right along for his corrected age. In fact, some of his speech/cognitive skills are at or ABOVE his REAL (19 months) age. We're convinced he's a genius :)

Speaking of genius, let me just take a moment to brag about some of Pierce's new skills:
-His vocabulary is exploding. Exploding, y'all. He is trying all sorts of sounds. It's funny to hear. Today he attempted "blueberry," which came out more like "boooooo be-be." It was the cutest thing!  His favorite phrase? "Hey baby!" He says this to just about anyone and anything. I couldn't figure out where he was getting it from until...
-the other night I was reading Pierce a familiar book and paused (not intentionally). Immediately Pierce started filling in the words! And then I realized that when he said "little baby," he always stopped to see the baby in the picture and to say "hey baby!" Again, the cutest thing! We will have to get a video of his new tricks soon!
-Pierce has also become good at finding different body parts. He's now up to 6 that he can identify. Today the Early Interventionist told me that the "norm" was 1-2 body parts by 19 months! Again, genius.
-Pierce is getting better and better at sitting. He can now go for about 5 minutes unassisted and about 20, if you give him a little help and breaks every now and then.

Alright, end of the bragging// You can all stop rolling your eyes because I'm that mom.

We've been pretty busy with therapies- we have started at a new clinic here in Charlotte and Pierce LOVES his new therapists. We now see a PT, OT and have a new Early Interventionist/Play Therapist. And we are so, so excited to continue ABM as that is the therapy that has most helped Pierce. Today we learned that our ABM therapist from Asheville will be traveling to Charlotte in January to offer sessions at the clinic we are currently doing our other therapies. How awesome is that?! It means that for the first time, Pierce can do ABM lessons without having to spend hours in the car. I know, I just know, this will help him get even more from each lesson.

How you can pray:
1. Pray for continued improvement with gross/fine motor skills. This area is slow going for us, but we are seeing progress. Pray that all of our daily therapies will help Pierce to progress.
2. Pray for wisdom for Nik and I. As with any parenting situation, there are so many things we are deciding on... therapies, medical interventions, medicines, etc. Please just pray that the Lord would guide us as we go through this.
3. Pray for continued health as we brave (and try to hibernate) this scary RSV season. This year has already been worse than last year, in terms of RSV cases, so we are in for a long winter of hand washing and sanitizing. Pray that Pierce wouldn't pick up any germs while in therapy.

Thank you for walking this journey with us.