Since my last post very little has happened on the walking/standing/early intervention front. We had the second evaluation – the one where they evaluate her speaking & social skills. That one felt more grilling than the last; it was like 10,000 questions. Then Ivy had a bunch of ‘tasks’ to complete like putting a small object into a bigger one, shape sorting and pointing to various pictures when asked “Where’s the cat?” or “Where’s your eye?”. It felt kind of like the SAT’s for my child. The therapist was impressed when Ivy got to the shape sorter and started saying “Star” and “Circle” and was able to identify colors. I guess all this kind of stuff is advanced. To me the whole thing was like a real life test of those babycenter milestones. It was kind of annoying, especially when I read the report after. But I’ll get to that in the moment.
We explained that the physical therapist was going to recommend therapy for Ivy and the woman said she would fill out her report and we would hear from our coordinator about setting up a meeting to discuss our therapy program. This was like a month ago. After a few weeks we called the coordinator who said we should be recieving the reports soon and she would be in touch to schedule a meeting. We finally got the letter and reports which seemed really conflicting. Like, the letter said Ivy does NOT qualify for the early intervention program but when I read both therapists reports they said they were going to recommend therapy. So I called for some clarification last week and was told someone would contact me Tuesday. And they did, but I missed the call and when I called back? Voicemail. So I left a message and still haven’t heard back.
In the meantime, Ivy’s still not making any effort to stand or walk. We do the exercise the PT showed us, and she’s getting better at it – and by better I mean less crying when we do it- but she’s still not really standing on her own. Which is really frustrating to me because it means still lugging her and the stroller up and down the steps and all over the place. I’m still trying really hard not to stress but it’s at the point where I’m starting to freak out a little on the inside and blame myself for something I’ve obviously done wrong. And I guess I shouldn’t expect much from early intervention – I mean it is a state run program and I’m sure there are plenty of children that need the services beyond my little girl who won’t walk. But it would at least be nice if they would explain to me what our next steps would be. Like, say seeking out private PT services that (hopefully) our insurance would cover. But this whole not knowing what step is next is killing me.
A Baby Grows in Brooklyn 
I hate it when you want to TALK TO SOMEONE to just ask a few questions about the obviously ridiculous information you’re looking at and you can’t. It makes everything so much harder.
I can’t imagine there is a single thing you did wrong. All kids develop at different rates. I know it’s hard to keep that perspective; I’m guilty of getting wrapped up in it with O’s weight more often than I’d like to admit. She’s doing everything else right – she’ll do this too.