Developmental Specialist Appointment

The girls were seen by a developmental therapist yesterday to evaluate their physical skills and to see what milestones they are meeting based on their chronological and adjusted age. Their language, speech, gross motor, and fine motor skills were examined. Addison went first and she scored right at her adjusted age on her fine motor skills, she is grabbing on to toys but doesn't do much with them after that. She scored much higher being able to hold up her head in the tummy time position and her muscle tone looked very good. Addison enjoyed playing with the therapist. She was kicking her legs and cooing and smiling at the therapist. She was happy the whole visit, especially after I changed her very dirty diaper that she made while we were in the waiting room. Here is Addison working with the therapist:

Riley was up next and she scored very close to her chronological age in regards to looking people in the eye, tracking movement, and playing with her toys. She is more advanced than Addison in that regard but she scored lower on holding her head up and using her muscles. This just goes to show you their differences. Addison is my busy girl and loves to move around and be active and Riley is the watcher and thinker and she loves to talk to anyone who will listen to her. Here is Riley working with the therapist and a picture of both girls together:

And for the biggest news of all, the girls were weighed in and Addison has always been about 6-8 ounces bigger than her sister. Well apparently Riley wasn't allowing that to happen anymore and she weighed in at 1 ounce bigger than her sister. Riley was 12 pounds 8 ounces and 23 1/2 inches long and Addison was 12 pounds 7 ounces and 24 inches long. Riley's head is also measuring bigger than Addison. So Riley, our little 3 pound 12 ounce little girl is now bigger than her big sister. I guess she has been eating a little more and chubbing up those thighs of hers.

So all in all, both girls are looking fantastic and hitting their milestones right on track. They fall in between their adjusted age and their actual chronological. They will go back to see the therapist again in December. By then, they should be rolling over all the time and spending most of their time on their tummy in play. We were sent home with some exercises to complete and some activities to stimulate their growth. Sara will help us during the day and mommy and daddy will work with the girls when we are home. We will be making a few changes to help correct some small issues, but we know things are going very well our girls that were born at 32 weeks instead of 40 weeks.