Early Intervention

We have been struggling with the idea of having Averie evaluated regarding her speech delay, wondering if it would work itself out on its own, but ultimately decided we were doing her a disservice not to explore all the options.


Averie is 20 months old and does not have any real words.  There is lots of baby babble and jibberish (which is beyond adorable), but we knew that she was not where she was supposed to be in that area, and recognized that the sooner we could get help for her, the more likely she was to be successful at catching up.


Yesterday, Kids On The Move (a provider of early intervention services) came to our home for Averie's evaluation.  Averie amazed us by performing different tasks for the therapist that we had never seen her do before!  It figures she would keep all these little skills under lock and key until what she deemed the right moment :P.  However, words were not among those "hidden" talents.


Averie is on target or ahead in every developmental area (gross and fine motor, receptive speech, etc.), except expressive speech.  Because she excels in the other areas and is only delayed in that one, her cumulative delay was found to be 17%.  KOTM requires a percentage of 18% or higher to diagnose a mild delay, but children are not eligible for services until they demonstrate a moderate delay.


It was difficult to pinpoint how I felt when I received that news.  On the one hand, of course I was thrilled that she was meeting or exceeding expectations in every other developmental area, even demonstrating some skills that would typically be well beyond her age.  On the other, I wanted to get the ball rolling with speech therapy as soon as possible.


The plan going forward is to continue working on her speech at home and we have also begun teaching her sign language.  She picked up "more" and "all done" within the first couple days of starting, so I am confident that she will learn more signs and we will be able to communicate with much less frustration all around until her verbal speech develops further.


Averie's pediatrician refers children with speech delays for therapy at 21 months (which will be next week!), so that is on the horizon.  The fact that she is only delayed in one area bodes well for her :).

(Very) Young Love

Averie and our neighbors’ little boy, Ethan, are just totally enthralled with each other.

Whenever they leave the house, Ethan wants to come over and knock on our door.  Whenever we leave the house, Averie reaches for their door.  (We are in condos and our doors are just steps apart).  When the two kids get together to play, it’s usually a tearful goodbye.  It’s really sweet, and I am glad Averie has a friend that she loves to play with so much.

A couple weeks ago, the three of us were at the Plumbs’ house and it was getting time to go.  We told Averie and Ethan to hug goodbye, which they did. 

But Averie decided to go for the whole enchilada with a kiss!  Then, ever the bold one, she came at Ethan, mouth open and tongue out.   

Whoa there, little lady!  Let’s save that for another few years…. Or 20 ;-).

We all had a good laugh over it and thought it would be so funny if they ended up together years later.  At least the parents of the bride and groom would already be great friends!

A belated Father's Day

I stumbled across this yesterday: Why My Husband Deserves Father's Day


First things first, everybody ought to read that. I laughed so hard because it is the absolute epitome of our life together, right down to the diaper bag (although Chris wears our non-flowery diaper bag on his shoulder with pride!).

Second things second, it reminded me I never published the Father’s Day post I wrote. Fail. And it looks like I never wrote a special post for him last year either.  Double fail.

So, without further adieu… *clears throat*

Dear Chris,

Happy Father’s Day to a wonderful husband and father!

I am so happy to have you as my partner in parenting, and I know Averie is equally happy to have you as her daddy.

There is no substitute for the way her eyes light up when she hears your key in the front door. Even if you’ve only been gone for a few minutes, every time you come home is worthy of her running to the door so as soon as you unlock it, she can pull it wide open and show you how happy she is to see you.

I am grateful for how involved you are in Averie’s life, how involved you were even before she arrived. You are a saint for the way you indulged all of my very specific, and sometimes untimely, cravings! Thank you for always being willing to go in to work early so you could leave early and be with me at prenatal appointments.

Last month, I started making a list of all the ways you have shown me I definitely made the right choice (besides the fact that I love you to death!). Here are a few of my favorites:

You always give Averie her bath, even though at the end, you look like you got a bath too from all her splashing!

You change every single diaper wherever we are. I think I can count on one hand the number I have changed since August, so I will definitely miss this “perk” when you find a job!

You do your elephant impression anytime, anywhere, if we need to get a smile out of Averie for pictures. I know you think it’s embarrassing but both of your girls think it’s cute!

You keep the monitor on your side of the bed at night so you can get to Averie before I even realize she’s crying.

You found and washed out the lost sippy cup of milk from last month (ew!) that I would have just tossed out, because I know it must have smelled worse than death.

You come with me to every well-baby visit. I am grateful for your moral support and I love that you hold Averie’s hand when she gets her shots so that she knows you’re there with her.

Thank you for being so loving, so patient, and so fun!  I hope Averie will always have happy memories of the time you two spent together.

I couldn’t have picked a better guy to raise a family with. And Averie just can’t help but try to be like you!

For The First Time

The password-protected post here is the real-deal, nitty-gritty story of the last 10 months. I wrote it primarily for my own memories, because I did not want to ever forget how this experience has changed me (for the better!).

I password-protected it for length (it is approximately 5 pages typed in Word), as well as the fact that I didn't want people who don't know me but randomly stumbled across my blog reading it.

If we know each other in any capacity and you would like to read the rest of the post, feel free to email me at imelda917@gmail.com for the password.

It is emotional and you may cry while reading it, as I did writing it, so be warned :) .

CLICK HERE FOR POST

StorageCraft

Chris' job is already turning out to be better than I originally expected!  Probably just further proof that I should learn to give things a chance before getting upset that it wasn't what I originally hoped for.  Just in his first week there, so many things have happened that make me realize how great an opportunity this is and I can't help but notice the differences between this job and Convergys.


Chris works at a company in Draper called StorageCraft and his new job title is Technical Support Engineer, Level III.  His previous job was a Level II, so this is a step up.  As a TSE III, he handles escalated cases (translation: really difficult and/or angry customers) that come from the lower tiers of support, tries to find problems in the software and then gives that information to the engineering teams so they can fix it.


His first day there, they began training him for a valuable certification.  Extra training and certifications were an empty promise from Convergys that never came through. 


Chris has carpal tunnel in both hands/wrists and had surgery on one side last year.  He argued with Convergys management for months (even after providing a doctor's note) over getting him an ergonomic keyboard that would reduce his pain and ultimately make him more productive because he could work faster.  He never got it in all that time there, yet StorageCraft put the exact keyboard he asked for on his desk within three days of him starting there. 


He has the option to work from home!  Yay!  


They have already provided him with an amazing laptop that he is allowed to use for his personal needs and wants (within reason), which means that's a $1,000+ expense we don't have to worry about covering ourselves anytime soon. 


Once Chris' training is complete and he is skilled enough to go on the on-call rotation, StorageCraft will either provide him with an iPhone (jealous!) or allow him to keep his existing phone, but pay a portion of our bill (yay for subsidized expenses!). 


The medical benefits are a-mazing.  Our deductible is a fraction of what it was at Convergys, co-pays are lower, and the company contributes extra money to an account for us each year that we can use toward those co-pays, etc. which means less out-of-pocket for us!


Chris is paid hourly, instead of salary, which we love because he is eligible for overtime.  In fact, the company encourages it!  Chris was always happy to work overtime at Convergys but it was rarely allowed.  He is happy to have that opportunity at StorageCraft because those extra hours will go a long way toward helping us pay off the debt we've accumulated the past 10 months and rebuilding our savings.


Despite my initial disappointment, I am so happy Chris ended up with this job.  The company really cares about their employees and I know it will be a place where Chris can really be happy and feel like a member of a team.