Developmental

Yesterday, we had our semi-annual developmental appointment at Children's National Medical Center. We see a doctor there who has provided us lots of wonderful advice over the last 2 years on how to help Charlie excel and how to deal with some of his "issues". I know we're lucky to have her as a resource, and considering she bills more per hour than most attorneys I know, she's clearly highly regarded in child development. Here's the thing, though - she's a realist. She tells it like it is, and focuses on all the things that could be better or more advanced or easier. This is her job. But as a parent, my job is to be Charlie's advocate, cheerleader, supporter, and proud parent. My role isn't a great match with her role. I value her opinion and trust her judgement, but her assessments aren't so fun to hear. But we always learn something - or some things. On that note...
Charlie's been having more temper tantrums lately. His emotions are so close to the surface - he goes from happy/laughing/crazy excited to screaming/tears/red-faced anger in such a short time. It's hard to see him get so upset, but we're working on a) ignoring the fits, or b) in the circumstances where he's lashing out, helping him understand the consequences of bad behavior (hitting, mostly) with time outs. Both Monday and Tuesday nights, I was greeted with what appeared to be a very excited child who then quickly dissolved into angry raging. Monday night, the fits lasted for close to a half hour. It was frustrating and disheartening, and we talked with Dr. Glass about it in our appointment on Wed. She suggested that we make the "coming home" experience a very quiet, uneventful one. It's hard for me, b/c I don't get to see him in the mornings and by the time i get home, I'm so excited to see him and want to run over and give him a big ol' squeeze. But she said some of his fits may have to do with his not coping well with transitions, and I should try to come in quietly and just sit down and play or quietly acknowledge him without disturbing what he was doing. So tonight, wonderful Pamela (who George briefed on the new plan this morning) had Charlie in the kitchen having a snack and listening to music when I came in. I put down my things and didn't make a big deal of arriving, and my happy boy came over and gave me a hug and wanted to be picked up. It was a much better homecoming than the screaming and running away from earlier in the week! It may have just been a fluke - he's had an all around great day today, from being the best behaved kid in his Pathways to Preschool class this morning to being an angel at the grocery store with me tonight - but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we have another tool in our belt to help him.
Dr. Glass also suggested we try to get a speech pathologist on board to help Charlie. She agreed with our speech therapist that he's showing some signs of apraxia, as evidenced by his limited range of sounds (I happen to think his range of sounds is anything but limited, but we'll see after we spend the weekend writing down every sound we hear him make and fax them to her...). So we'll look into that. At this point, I'll do about anything to help him with the frustration that comes with not being able to tell us what he's trying to say!
There's a 10 episode series starting tonight on Discovery Health called NICU It follows families through their experience with prematurity, and I'm really interested to see how NICU life is portrayed. I'll have my kleenex box close at hand, but since a cause we support and believe in, the March of Dimes, is involved, I'm expecting a very fair, real portrayal. Hopefully it won't disappoint.