The Two & A Half Year Check

Today was your two and a half year check up. We arrived in time for our 9:30am appointment and you were in high spirits, smiling in all the right places and being your happy self. I had every reason to believe that we would be in and out, but 2 hours later we were still sat in the health visitors office...

The office had been set up especially for you, it had a red table and chair at just the right height for you. You needed no prompting and sat down confidently and began to inspect the jigsaw puzzle that had been placed on the table for you. There were 3 different shaped fish that needed sorting into the correct places, and you sat there and popped them in as simply as that. You told the health visitor that they were 'fish' and moved onto the next task.

You built a tower of bricks with the tools that were provided to you, and when it got rickety and finally tumbled down you built it up all over again. You placed the beads into the slotted holes provided, and with a little prompting even put them all away again.

Everything was going well until you started to get a little bored... and a little tired. This combination is not the greatest of concoctions and very soon you were just not really in the mood for co-operating.

You started to loose your patience when it came to drawing, even though drawing is a pass time that you usually adore. I guess being in an un-familiar environment and being asked to perform was reason enough for you to not want to play ball. You were drawing your pictures and looking rather pleased of yourself, but you would not draw a circle or copy the line that the health visitor asked of you.

This may be my fault, as although we draw I let you draw what you like, be as creative as you choose, and then we talk about what you have created. I often draw along side you and ask you what you think I have drawn... But drawing circles was not something I thought that would have been asked upon you today. You do draw them, but again... not on demand. The circles you draw come out in your creativity and not when asked to do so. Not yet anyway, and there is so much time for that.

By the time you were asked to match a coloured piece of card with the colour on the sheet beneath, you were far past entertaining. You quite simply just didn't want to play, so you got down from the perch on your table and wandered over to the door. You played with the lock and shouted 'locked' over to me before continuing to fiddle around with it. Of course this then prompted the health visitor to look over at me, and with a slight tilt of her head she asked 'Does he do this often, play with doors?' like all of a sudden it was a concern.

Of course I responded honestly, you have always played with doors. You also play with many other house hold items such as the washing machine and tumble dryer. You always have been naturally inquisitive and certainly sought out things you should other wise leave alone...

Then all of a sudden we were talking about the squint in your right eye that has been brought up on other occasions. I don't know if it is just me... But I have never really noticed this squint they speak of. Daddy says he can see it and has noticed it in the past...But I personally cannot vouch for this. Today they have referred you so we can get this looked at, but after talking to Granny this is something that we have all been probed for and actually.. We didn't have one. We will get it looked at and go from there little man...

Then of course we moved onto the point that I thought would come up, because I knew that your speech would of course come into account. You haven't said as much as other toddlers your age, but being one to not compare you to other children, believing that you will develop in your own time, I admit that I wasn't actually that worried. You say things, you attempt new words and even if you don't get the pronunciation you have still been giving it a go. You have words that you have created for certain things, and I know exactly what you are saying to me. To an outsider they may think that we have both gone bananas, but I understand and repeat the real word back to you. 

You weren't in a very chatty mood so you didn't really say a lot to day at all. You even ignored the health visitor when she asked you to point to your nose, eyes and ears. You could have shown her all of that and more! You could have lifted your shirt and wiggled your belly button under her nose, but you didn't see fit too. 

I do now feel a little worried about your speech, even though really I know you are coming along more all the time. You are getting there in your own time. I will be taking you to some extra supportive groups over the next couple months in the hope I can spur you along that little bit further. I will spend more time drawing circles (train wheels!) and lines (train tracks!) with you. We will get you up to where you should be. 

It never even occurred to me that you could fall behind? You were always reaching your milestones and exceeding them. You rolled over, crawled and walked in a timely fashion, and I always assumed that you would just take everything else in your stride so easily. 

I know that you know so much more than the health visitor saw today, and regardless of what you say, you understand absolutely everything that we say to you. You are absorbing everything and we just need to give you all the time and support that we can. 

And that Leo, is exactly what I intend to do.

We have to go back in 2 months time and repeat the check, and there is the possibility of speech therapy, but to be honest I would rather get you the help you need sooner rather than later.

And... We can do this!