A visit with Early Intervention

Thursday was a big day for Charlie - not only did he have to get his monthly RSV shot in the morning (no fun) but he also had a work out with some nice ladies from the Fairfax County Early Intervention Program. Because Charlie had a Grade III brain bleed in one hemisphere and a Grade IV bleed in the other when he was in the NICU, he qualifies automatically for care through the county EI program, so they came out to evaluate him for therapy. After lots of playing, exercising, etc, they scored his development in various areas. They think he's about 25 percent behind his adjusted age (5 1/2 months) in motor skills and cognitive development, which really isn't so much when you consider what he has been through. They have recommended therapy twice a month; hopefully the waiting list won't be too long and we'll be able to start getting Charlie care soon. In the meantime, we'll have one meeting with a therapist who can teach us some things to work on, so that we can get him started while we wait for our spot with someone who can see him regularly. I would have been great if they had examined him and thought he was perfect, but we're really glad to be starting early with the therapy - hopefully he'll catch up to his adjusted age over time.

In the last couple of weeks, we've gotten Charlie from his basket into the crib. It hasn't been an easy transition - he is so wiggly that the wide open crib space seems to make it harder for him to fall asleep.
But over the past few days, he's been getting more used to it. One of the things the Early Intervention folks recommended was establishing a nighttime routine that we don't vary from, even reading the same book every night. So we're now nebulizing him just before bed and then taking him up to his room and reading him "On the Night You Were Born" (a great book Nana gave him just after he arrived). For the first time, he really seems to be listening to us read, and looking at the pictures, so it's much more fun to read to him than it used to be. After the book, it's time for bed - Aunt Mary and Uncle Don gave us a wonderful Sleep Sheep, so we tuck Charlie in to the sound of ocean waves. Last night, for the first time, we put him to bed while he was still slightly awake, and he settled down and went to sleep without any crying. AND he slept from 9:45 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. Hallelujah! He's a much happier boy when he's getting lots of sleep, and now that we've got him into a more consistent daytime nap schedule as well, the screaming at night has ended for the most part.

Charlie has just started to notice his feet in the past few weeks. He loves them! Who needs toys with feet always in arm's reach! As soon as I put him down on the changing table for a diaper change, up go the feet, sometimes right into his mouth. It's pretty funny to see him all rolled up, a foot in each hand.

Charlie is such a good boy! The ladies that came to evaluate him were really taken by his shy smiles and sweet demeanor. It's so fun to watch his face light up each night when his dad walks through the door - he really recognizes us now, and is very responsive. He's making so many more noises now also - cooing and blowing bubbles and almost laughing.

Here's a picture of a very patient Charlie sitting in his chair on the kitchen floor, waiting for me to be done cooking so we can play.