Today Joshua saw a developmental pediatrician (and accompanying med student). She was very very nice. I was a little worried about how it would go because Josh missed his morning nap and I thought he might be grumpy. But he was in good spirits and quite cooperative. And so flirty. Very cute.
She had him play with blocks, a large ring, a ball, and a sugar pellet. This last was to check on his pincer action. She also had him reaching and rolling.
Her assessment was that his fine motor skills were at about a 9 month level, his gross motor skills are in the 7 month range, and his verbal skills are at about a 6 month level. She says that because though he makes noises, he doesn’t put vowel and consonant sounds together yet.
She thought that speech therapy will definitely be needed, and that the Child Special Services program will be good for him. She was also glad that we have been seeing audiology, since of course good hearing is important for good speech. I am doubly glad we have some experience with baby sign language and expect we may use it more extensively with Joshua than we have with the other two.
She was very encouraging with the sleeping and eating stuff, which I appreciated very much.
At the end she weighed him and measured his head. I was so pleased to see his head come in at 47cm, the same as the pediatrician measured a month ago and 1cm less than Genetics measured it at several months ago. His weight, however, was 16lbs 14oz in a diaper, several ounces less than he weighed a month ago. Does make some sense, since he has been more active, not taking in a lot of solids yet, and apparently breastfed babies often do sort of plateau in weight around this age. But I would have preferred to see a clear weight gain since last month.
So eating continues to be an important issue. And I was so encouraged to see him get excited about food today!! Granted, soup is a liquid, but it is something. A big step in the right direction, as far as I’m concerned.
She had a great insight into Joshua’s congestion. She suggested that maybe Joshua has trouble managing his secretions and that is what is causing it. He has never drooled, but maybe instead of falling out his lips, extra spit falls back down his throat? And he just doesn’t have the control to handle it. And you know what.. since we’ve been working him out with the feeding, his congestion is less. Hm!
Unless we have any concerns in the meantime, Josh will go back when he’s 18-24 months old. I am hopeful we’ll have all kinds of progress to show off 
