Two and a Half

It happened...the girls are officially 2 1/2 (on 2/27).

Gulp.

As I sit here, Juliana is serenading me with a remix version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Mia is picking up puzzle pieces of letters and saying the name of each letter. These aren't babies, they are little girls. To say I am having a hard time with my babies growing up would be an understatement. It's a huge milestone and much more than just my little 2 pound miracles getting older.

For four years all we wanted was a baby, and then we were blessed with two. Everything went far too quickly (in hindsight, mind you, because when I was in the thick of it, it felt more like an eternity), from my short 27 week pregnancy, to their infancy, baby stage, and now toddlerhood. Pretty soon I will have two preschoolers on my hands...two THREE year olds. And it all happened in the blink of an eye.

So where are they at now and what are they doing developmentally? We've just finished all of their assessments: speech, fine-motor, gross-motor, and child development (cognitive, social-emotional, self-help). I don't have all of the results yet, but it appears that Juliana is functioning between the 30-36 month age range for speech, fine-motor, gross-motor, and child-development...uh, which means across the board, she is caught up completely to her actual age and is even ahead in a few areas. Mia is also functioning between the 30-36 month age range in speech, fine-motor, and child development and actually is closer to the 36 month level in most things. The one area Mia continues to be delayed in is gross-motor skills. Her low muscle tone as a result of being born so early has her struggling with things that 2 year olds do, like jumping, going up and down stairs independently, and walking on a beam (I know, I know...how many 2 years walk on a beam on a daily basis). She is at least at the 21 month age range in everything and actually has skills scattered up to the 30 month level. In other words, she is all over the map in her gross-motor skills. Some things she is right on track, others she is a little behind, and still others, she is a lot behind. We are certain she will continue with physical therapy once a week indefinitely. I kinda' feel like she'll be doing this for years to come. As for all of their other services, technically, they should be booted from Early Intervention. We will see what Regional Center has to say as their caseworker makes the final decisions regarding services the girls qualify for AND that the state has funding for...ha, ha, ha. Our transitional IFSP meeting is on 3/23 and we will see what happens.