Lottie at 18 Months

We took Lottie in for her 18 month check up today. She was poked and prodded and stabbed. Once we got into the car, she fell right asleep.

She is 21.5 pounds and 30 inches!

We filled out two questionaires, one for autism and the other for general age appropriate milestones. I remember doing these through Parents as Teachers for Emmaline and they were great. But the ladies would always come with a bag of toys and do the assessments themselves. But me? I have to fill out the questionaires in the waiting room of the clinic.

One of the questions that was asked was if Lottie could dump a clear bottle over to get a cheerio (or other small object) out either with being shown or without. Well, how am I supposed to know that? I don't go around putting cheerios in water bottles. Now, if they were to ask me if Lottie can easily navigate her stroller through a kitchen full of chairs and people without getting stuck? Sure! But I have no clue about the waterbottle thing. So I had to say no.

They also asked about her communication. Out of 6 questions, I was only able to say yes to one of them- does she make her wants known? Yes, and most of the time loudly with much 'patting'.

The problem is that Lottie just doesn't talk. She says 'uh uh uh' all the time and for a while she'd say 'bip' at everything but otherwise, nada. Oh, she can distinguish animals from other things- when she sees an animal she makes a weird sort of scream/growling noise thats hard to describe.

I'm confident she doesn't have hearing problems because I've whispered behind her back, called her from across the room, talked toward one ear more than another, etc. She really can hear just fine. But...

The doctor still wants us to do an audiology appointment. They'll test her hearing. She'll also get an appointment with an early intervention specialist for a thorough evaluation. He was going to refer us to the ENT because he saw some fluid behind her ears but decided to wait on that until after the hearing test was finished. Also. He is taking himself off her case and transferring us to the pediatrician and we are supposed to get an appointment with her in the next few weeks. So- three more appointments.

My thoughts? I am not sure what to think. Sometimes I'm confident that she's just a late talker and she'll come around to it on her own time and people need to stop worrying. But other times I really do worry that there is something wrong. The normal sound babbles that most babies experiment with don't generally happen with her. I'll hear it occasionally and it makes me take note because it sounds weird/different coming from her. Sometimes I wonder if I just didn't read enough to her, or sing enough with her. Or maybe the fluid buildup in her ears is a lot worse than it looks.

I'm not worried... Even if she does present with some difficulty- be it needing help hearing or speech therapy- I'm not in the slightest worried about helping her take care of it. Luckily Matt has some really good benefits so it won't cost us an arm and a leg. And I know that God loves her more than I'm capable and he may have given her a set of trials that we'll have to work through. But although they may be difficult, I'm still not worried. I trust that she'll still grow into an amazing woman with a lot of talents and an amazing strength.

I'll keep everyone updated as we go to our appointments. Hopefully all the appointments mean that there is nothing wrong. Thats every mother's wish ;)