Clearing Webs

Phin's Ambulators

So Phin's eighteen months old now and dude's still not walking. He didn't crawl until he was about a year old. He was a facial presentation at birth and had torticollis probably as a result of the difficult birth.

I took him to the chiropractor around 12 months for recurrent ear infections. After a couple visits the doc said he didn't think he could do any more to help with the ear infections but his back was aligned a lot better. And whaddya know but that Phin started crawling that week. So his delays may be related to all that birth trauma and whatnot. Or could not be. We're not all that concerned b/c he seems to be developmentally pretty much on target everywhere else. Honestly it seems to be a streak of stubbornness to us. He uses his walker really well, even going to far as to scoot it around when he wants to turn. But we don't want to assume stubbornness and miss something else that might be going on. So at his eighteen month checkup we got a referral to the Elks and he'll be getting an evaluation to see if there's anything going on that might need occupational therapy or if we just need to give him his own time.

The boys are so into the Signing Time video series lately and there's this song, Shine (p12 of the link), that's really touched me as a mom lately. We all go through periods when we wonder if we're doing enough, if we're doing the right things, if we're not seeing certain things or seeing some things that aren't there. Parenting is this huge responsibility and as the cliche says, kids don't come with a handbook. Gid didn't walk until he was fifteen months but he's always been scary smart. Isaac walked at the standard twelve months and is non-stop physically. Now he's pushing three and still can't tell me his colors or shapes. Does he have learning difficulties? Is he color blind? Am I comparing him too much to Gid and expecting some things earlier than he's ready to do them? And Phin's still not walking. He seems okay. With both cases I haven't been worrying but every now and then I wonder if I should be more concerned. I don't want to be impatient, to push their individual time line but I don't want to miss anything that might actually be out of the norm either. The thing is I don't know. I'm an education major. I took developmental psychology. I've worked w/"normal" kids and kids w/exceptional needs. I have the general idea of what "normal" is supposed to look like. What I'm feeling lately is the line from the song, Well maybe I'm too close to see you clearly. I don't want to diagnose things that aren't there but I don't want to be blind, either. So here we are. Phin'll get his assessment and we'll see if there's anything abnormal going on and we'll continue to work w/colors and shapes w/Ike and take things as they come. I'll keep you posted. And they'll do it in their own time.

Check out this walkin' bubba. It's the directional changes that I really like.