Tuesday, December 22, 2009

6 Month Checkup says he's good at "everything"

Last Friday Jonah went for his 6 month developmental assessment at Children's Hospital. They schedule based on when he should have been born, he's actually 7.5 months old now (can you believe it?!?). He had basic height/weight/head circumfrence checks by the nurse and a physical by the doctor. But, new this time, he met with Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. He was assessed on the Bayley score, where they try to have him do basic skills and give points based on that, ultimately giving us an "age equivalent". It was a looong appointment at nearly 3 hours long (have you ever tried to keep a 7 month old happy/awake/not hungry for 3 hours? not easy!). But, in the end, they gave us Jonah's very first report card, pronouncing him good at "everything!!". His motor skills are at 7 months for gross muscles and 8 months for fine muscles, great since we were aiming for 6 months! His mental scale is at 7 months and his expressive (talking) score is 7 months as well.

The only place he ended up being below his adjusted age was receptive (understanding) at 5 months 10 days. I wasn't aware but many babies "recognize" several words by this point. The speech therapist tried to yell "no" at Jonah and he didn't respond. Not surprising since I don't tell him no, until he learns to crawl, what can he really do that's naughty? She called his name and he responded, but only when there wasn't other distractions like a toy. She tried "up" and "bye"...no response. So, we'll start working on that, but she said she wasn't really concerned since he did so well everywhere else, she knows he'll catch up and doesn't recommend any additional help or therapy. They told us to make an appointment for when he's one year old and just keep doing what we're doing.


Other than that, we're just enjoying life. I'm off work this week of Christmas but will be back working full time in January. My mother-in-law is super-sweet and continued to watch Jonah 2x of week all the way through last week but will be taking the rest of the winter off, its a long cold drive out here each day and the roads are not always the best.

Jonah continues to be an absolutely amazing baby. I absolutely love this age! I started saying that about three months ago, he is alert and likes to play peek-a-boo, he sits up and giggles uncontrolably when I tickle him. He sleeps through the night :) He's amazing...now if only he napped for longer than a half hour at a time....gotta run! Here's a photo I snapped the day after our six month developmental appointment, he's ready for Christmas!