Andrew Update!

Don't you love these? With him, it usually means something is going on, and this time is no different.

I took Andrew to the pediatrician this week for his 15 month appointment just a week before he turns 17 months, so we're actually getting a lot closer to being on schedule again! When I took him in February for his 12 month visit (at 15 months), she was slightly concerned by the fact that he wasn't walking or talking yet. While he's made some progress toward walking (he'll hold on to just your fingers, and he did stand alone for a minute earlier this week), the fact that he's still not saying any recognizable words has her a little worried. He's still in the window of "normal" for walking, but he's really at the tail end of the normal window for talking. She suggested I call the neurosurgeon to see if this is something that can be traced back to his surgery or not. She was also a little worried that he's not hearing sounds correctly since he really won't mimic anything. His speech is actually quite fascinating. He understands the patterns of speech and how conversations work. He knows how to wait for a response, and then answer back. I also know when he's asking a question, because he'll inflect at the end of his sentence just like we do when we ask a question. The only problem is that he speaks a language that only he understands! When I talked to the surgeon's assistant, she told me that this isn't something that would be caused by his surgery, so she was going to fax an order for speech therapy to Children's Healthcare. (Yet another reason why I'm ecstatic to live where I do.) We have a hearing evaluation set up for Monday the 27th and the speech evaluation the next morning. Thankfully, I don't have to travel into Atlanta for either as they do all of their speech therapy at their clincs. We have one about 15 minutes from us, so that's where we'll go. We are also going into the neurosurgeon at the beginning of June instead of the end of July so he can take a look at Andrew to make sure everything else is OK. Hopefully, he'll be walking by then.