Hello all! This week, Abby had some more medical tests. On Saturday, she needed to get bloodwork done, since she hadn't had any bloodwork done yet here in the states. OMG!!! It was HORRIBLE! She has teeny tiny little veins and any time she would squirm at all, they would lose the vein and have to start over! :(
Then today we had Abby's follow-up appointment with the neurologist. So the results are in and...............drumroll please....................Everthing is NORMAL. Abby has a good, healthy brain. She doesn't appear to have a seizure disorder. Apparently, the seizure was a one time fluke. The neurologist said that small children can have a seizure even when there is no seizure disorder...from a fever or from other "triggers". Hooray!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
So Abby had her PT evaluation yesterday. It went pretty well, but he thinks (as do I) that she can definitely benefit from OT. He said she will probably totally catch up to her peers within a very short period of time. Sounds good. :)
The speech therapist and teacher that came on Wednesday were also really nice. The teacher was a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker, which helped in getting a better picture of Abby's verbal skills. It turns out that she's been using quite a few Mandarin phrases/ requests that we did not understand, such as "Pick me up." and "I want to take this." The speech therapist said that Abby's receptive skills are good and she can follow verbal directions in English quite well, but speech therapy will help her to catch up to her peers with her speaking skills.
Emily's also doing great. She had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago and had a great time (though she has decided she would rather try a different activity next school year, instead of dance class). I was sort of sad about this, but for totally selfish reasons. She looked adorable up on that stage. But I won't force her into anything. Right now she seems interested in either karate or gymnastics, so we will likely try one of these out.
I am posting some recent pictures of the girls and Emily's recital (below).
The speech therapist and teacher that came on Wednesday were also really nice. The teacher was a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker, which helped in getting a better picture of Abby's verbal skills. It turns out that she's been using quite a few Mandarin phrases/ requests that we did not understand, such as "Pick me up." and "I want to take this." The speech therapist said that Abby's receptive skills are good and she can follow verbal directions in English quite well, but speech therapy will help her to catch up to her peers with her speaking skills.
Emily's also doing great. She had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago and had a great time (though she has decided she would rather try a different activity next school year, instead of dance class). I was sort of sad about this, but for totally selfish reasons. She looked adorable up on that stage. But I won't force her into anything. Right now she seems interested in either karate or gymnastics, so we will likely try one of these out.
I am posting some recent pictures of the girls and Emily's recital (below).
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Hello everyone! Sorry I’ve been such a slacker with this blog lately, but things have been really busy!!! The jet lag is long gone and we have definitely settled into our routine. I had no idea how much of an adjustment it would be going from a one child family to a two child family. Abby is on the move….ALL THE TIME! :) :) I think I forgot how energetic toddlers are! But things have been great! Emily’s been such a great sister and the sibling jealousy episodes have been few and far between. Emily loves to help with everything and one day pronounced to me “I am sooooo happy. I LOVE having a baby sister in the house!”
As for Abby, she is making incredible gains each day. Yesterday,Abby was evaluated by both a speech therapist and an EI teacher (to get an overall developmental assessment). This afternoon, the physical therapist comes to do his evaluation.
On Tuesday, Abby had her MRI- which went smoothly. She had to be put under general anesthesia, which wasn’t fun (as Abby HATED the I.V. and fought with everything she had), but we made it through. Last night, we got the results back (the neurologist called), and it turns out that her brain looks NORMAL!!!!! The only thing they saw is called benign external hydrocephalus. Basically, there is a little bit of extra fluid in her skull. The neurologist said that this usually resolves on its own by about 2-3 years of age....and that this is no cause for concern/ is fairly common. No intervention necessary. They will just do check ups on her, from time to time. Whew!!! Sometimes kids with this are prone to seizure, but it could be that once this fluid goes away, she will never have another seizure again. Well, I guess we'll have a better idea after the EEG.
As for her progress, I have to laugh…because since requesting her early intervention evaluations 3 weeks ago, Abby has met many of her developmental milestones on fast-forward. By the time the therapy is set up, she might not need it anymore. LOL!
Today Abby (at 21 months):
-Crawls by herself
-Independently moves from lying down to sitting AND sitting to standing
-Has good sitting balance
-Walks by herself (no support), forwards, backwards , side to side, in circles, etc
-multitasks (walks while doing something else…i.e. playing with toy, clapping hands, etc)
-Can bend over (from standing position) to pick up object from floor without losing balance
-Can drink from cup, bottle, straw, sippy cup etc.
-Can feed self finger foods
-Is trying to climb onto furniture
-And when she does fall (which is becoming rarer all the time), she knows how to fall on her butt or knees (appropriately), and can usually even catch herself and regain balance
-pushes rolling objects while standing (doll strollers or play shopping carts, etc)
-Is trying to walk up stairs
It is AMAZING. She has done met YEAR’S worth of milestones in the past few weeks. I am so excited to see what a few more weeks will bring…..maybe cartwheels or headstands? Heehee. :)
As for Abby, she is making incredible gains each day. Yesterday,Abby was evaluated by both a speech therapist and an EI teacher (to get an overall developmental assessment). This afternoon, the physical therapist comes to do his evaluation.
On Tuesday, Abby had her MRI- which went smoothly. She had to be put under general anesthesia, which wasn’t fun (as Abby HATED the I.V. and fought with everything she had), but we made it through. Last night, we got the results back (the neurologist called), and it turns out that her brain looks NORMAL!!!!! The only thing they saw is called benign external hydrocephalus. Basically, there is a little bit of extra fluid in her skull. The neurologist said that this usually resolves on its own by about 2-3 years of age....and that this is no cause for concern/ is fairly common. No intervention necessary. They will just do check ups on her, from time to time. Whew!!! Sometimes kids with this are prone to seizure, but it could be that once this fluid goes away, she will never have another seizure again. Well, I guess we'll have a better idea after the EEG.
As for her progress, I have to laugh…because since requesting her early intervention evaluations 3 weeks ago, Abby has met many of her developmental milestones on fast-forward. By the time the therapy is set up, she might not need it anymore. LOL!
Today Abby (at 21 months):
-Crawls by herself
-Independently moves from lying down to sitting AND sitting to standing
-Has good sitting balance
-Walks by herself (no support), forwards, backwards , side to side, in circles, etc
-multitasks (walks while doing something else…i.e. playing with toy, clapping hands, etc)
-Can bend over (from standing position) to pick up object from floor without losing balance
-Can drink from cup, bottle, straw, sippy cup etc.
-Can feed self finger foods
-Is trying to climb onto furniture
-And when she does fall (which is becoming rarer all the time), she knows how to fall on her butt or knees (appropriately), and can usually even catch herself and regain balance
-pushes rolling objects while standing (doll strollers or play shopping carts, etc)
-Is trying to walk up stairs
It is AMAZING. She has done met YEAR’S worth of milestones in the past few weeks. I am so excited to see what a few more weeks will bring…..maybe cartwheels or headstands? Heehee. :)
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