Eleven Months Ago Today...

our baby Joey made his enterance into the world. I am in shock over the fact that we are one month shy of his first birthday. I am slowly forgetting what life was like without Joey and I cannot imagine it. Eleven months ago life certainly did not have as much meaning or purpose.

At eleven months age Joey is still working hard at trying to crawl. He gets up on all fours and rocks and throws himself forward or he inches forward like a little worm. He also likes to do push ups and the downward dog yoga pose. In fact he almost goes into a side sitting position from the downward dog position. He is also gaining better trunk control and I am hopeful that he will be able to sit better independently by his first birthday.

Joey's greatest accomplishments are in the are of eating. Like his mommy and daddy he has a real passion for eating. He loves trying new foods of all consistencies and textures. We recently tried a jar of turkey, rice and vegetable stage 3 baby foods and he did wonderfully. He also tries very hard to self feed. I just love watching him tear apart frozen waffles and frozen mini pancakes, breadsticks and pizza crust. He can sometimes pick up small pieces of cereal and he almost gets it into his mouth. He is certainly motivated to be feeding himself.

Here he is trying a french fry. (I know bad mommy)

The area of development which I believe is going to be most difficult for Joey is speech. He babbles more and more all the time but is still not that "talkative." He is presently going to oral motor therapy once a month. While I am not sure it does anything for him at this point in time, we will stick with it because we want to make sure we are doing everything possible for Joey to assist him in this area of development.

It seems like Joey is constantly being evaluated. It is difficult to see evaluations of Joey placing him at developmental ages lower than he is. I know that it "is what it is." We are doing everything we can for him, and he will do everything he needs to be doing eventually. Although I know this... it does not make it any easier.

I think the hardest of these "evaluations" was the report I recently received from Joey's MRI that was done at the end of October to rule out a tumor as the cause for his nystagmus. The opthamologist handed it to me in an envelope at the end of our appointment last week so I did not get to review it until we got home and I did not get to ask her any questions. The report indicates that "demylelination pattern may be slightly less than expected for a chronologic age of eight months, more similar to a six month chronologic age, based on the appearance fo the anterior limbs of the internal capsules." What the heck does that mean? I googled some of the phrases but was unable to find any helpful information. What I am guessing, and I could be wrong, is that this is why he has developmental delay. Is this issue with chronological age of the brain something that is typical with Down syndrome? The report also states "Of note, the maxillary sinuses appear opacified." Again, what the heck does that mean? Once again a google search was of no assistance. I have so many questions I am, for once, anxious for the visit to the doctor so I can get some more information on this. If anyone knows anything about this I would appreciate the information.