The Results Are In

Dylan had his second evaluation today with two ladies from the Infants & Toddlers program. It was so nice to have a more in depth evaluation. In case you want to know, here are the categories, the developmental age he is at, and the comments they made......

Cognition~23 Mo.~Dylan attends to pictures, places four forms on a board(a puzzle), matched 2 objects w/o being named, and nested 3 out of 4 cups.

Receptive Language~10 Mo.~Dylan responds to his name, understands inhibiting words, understand gestures and commands.

Expressive Language~5 Mo.~Dylan will make vocalizations, but is typically quiet. He did not make any consonant sounds, and he did not babble or jargym.

Social-Emotional~21 Mo.~Dylan plays near other children, approaches young children, shows periods of strong independence, and puts toys away on request.

Self-Care~Feeding 21 Mo./Dressing 22 Mo.~Dylan uses a fork and a spoon to feed himself, drinks from a straw and open cup. He attempts to put shoes on, unzips zippers, washes and dries hands with assistance.

Fine Motor~21 Mo.~Dylan uses 2 hands together, turns pages of a book one at a time, imitates crayon lines in any direction, places pennies in a slot, and stacked 3 blocks.

Gross Motor~23 Mo.~Dylan is able to walk up stairs independently, kick a ball, and jump from a bench.

Here's her Summary Statement.......
Dylan is an adorable 20 month old who was referred due to concerns regarding expressive language. Testing was completed in all areas of development. He demonstrated age appropriate skills in all areas except receptive and expressive language. Dylan was very quiet during the evaluation, and did not respond to some questions on the receptive language portion.

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All in all, Dylan qualifies for the program and is going to start working with one of their Special Educators for his speech. Pretty much everything was expected. It's easy to tell by the silence that Dylan doesn't talk and isn't completely understanding us, which is why we're trying to get the ball rolling. We've made some goals for 6 months from now and have some things to do that should help him want to communicate. I'm just dying to hear him talk. The first time he full out said 'Daddy' I think my heart stopped. I know he'll talk when he has something important to say. For now, he's good at looking adorable.

Big Shoes~Tiny Feet

Being home has me a little out of my element, and I keep forgetting to put the dining table chairs in the kitchen behind the baby gate we have up. Dylan's been dragging them over to the light switches and going to town with them. He has this hilarious fascination with fans. He'll just stare, smile and randomly giggle when he sees one moving. Here he is, testing out our electricity....

Along with light switches, this kid is very into shoes, like most toddlers his age. He's all about my mom's sandals and Andrew's shoelaces. Today he tried to tackle mine. Thanks to the gigantic feet I have, skater-type shoes are usually all I wear. Not exactly compatible footwear for Dylan's tiny toes. Made for some cute pictures though.

Polka Dot BathTubs

I am so happy that Dylan and I were able to get out to Utah this last week. I know Andrew didn't love being left at home all alone, but he was good to encourage me to go. I haven't seen the majority of the family out there in 3 or 4 years, and none of them had met Dylan, so it was a great experience. The little man especially enjoyed Maryann's awesome polka dot bath tub....

We did a ton of cute store/yard sale shopping, and you'll have to check out my other blog for those items, along with photos of Maryann's place(once I make sure she'll let me share them). One of my favorite things was seeing "Singing in the Rain" at the Hale Theatre. I love seeing all the hard work that some of the members of my family put in to those performances. The costumes my aunts create are jaw-dropping, and the walls that my Grandma paints belong in art galleries. I love being a part of such a talented family. Dylan was quite an interesting little man to keep up with, but after the first day or two, he was at home at my aunt's place. Thank goodness for my awesome cousin and the dark room she gave me that made naps and nighttime sleeping possible for him. My mind is still a bit jumbled up from all the flying, but it was worth it!

Horrible Heat, But Great Family

Dylan and I are out in Utah right now visiting both sides of my parents' families. Despite the horrible heat, it's been so much fun. Getting to know cousins I haven't ever met, and others I haven't seen in 10+ years, not to mention catching up with all the aunts and uncles has been incredible. I'm definitely missing my Andrew though. It's going to be so nice to get home and see him. Remind me next time to bring him any time I take off for more than a day or two with family. It was adorable the other day to hear him talking to Dylan on speaker phone, while Dylan just giggled away. I know he's missing his Dad too. Two more days and we'll be home! At least I got some great pictures of Dylan here!