Athena's 18 month appointment

Unfortunately, this is not a happy post. Sigh.

Yesterday was Athena's 18 month appointment, she actually turned 18 months on Tuesday. Not very good news.

First, we've got growing issues again. Her height is remaining pretty consistent - she grew 3/4 of an inch in 3 months putting her at 31.75". Her weight not so good - she only gained an ounce in the same amount of time (putting her at 21 lbs 15 oz) which drops her back down to the 10th percentile for weight (she was about the 25th percentile at 15 months).

Our pediatrician also has us fill out a developmental questionnaire, and she is not meeting her milestones either. She is behind not only in the physical developments, which we were already sort of aware of with all the physical therapy, but also in the speech department.

So we have lots of new plans for her:

• Keep her on one Pediasure shake a day to make sure she is getting nutrition. However, she is not allowed to substitute a bottle/sippy for more than one meal - the rest of the time she either eats solids or goes hungry.
• A weight/height check in one month to see how she is doing. This will be an appointment with the doctor, not the nurse, so we can also discuss how the therapies worked out.
• A continuation with the physical therapy we have been doing.
• A trip to the neurologist to make sure that there is no underlying program. I'm currently waiting for the scheduler to get back to me on that one.
• A referral to Help Me Grow. For those of you that are not from Ohio, Help Me Grow is a state-funded early intervention program. They will do an evaluation of her and recommend other programs/therapies that we should do.

I will keep you updated. Unfortunately she's been a bit of a grump lately (she was up every hour on the hour last night) so this is the best pic I have.