Doctor's Visit or Play Date?

Last week Thursday was Willa's second appointment with the Special Infant Care Unit at UNC. A select number of previous NICU babies are followed by the SICU team due to the risk of the infants having developmental delays. This visit was a breeze as Willa made fast friends with everyone who examined her. Plus, as alluded to by the blog title...I think some of the specialists hung around our room a bit longer than necessary to play with Willa.

First up was physical therapy. She did notice a slight bit of head tilt but only because she knew to look for it. Also said that Willa is very flexible and asked if Willa sits in a "W". Apparently "W" sitting is bad for the joints and we need to try and correct her to sit cross legged instead. Willa's core is still weak and we were given some "baby sit up" exercises to give Willa some rocking abs. A stronger core will also help her ability in walking and standing.

Next came the nutritionist and the speech therapist. Willa did have a slight gain with her weight now at 17lb 2oz but she is not getting the ideal amount of calories per day. We are hoping drinking Pediasure Peptide will give Willa that needed boost she needs and so far it seems to be working. Speech wanted to go over Willa's language skills, imaginary play, and listening comprehension. Willa passed with flying colors. We were asked if Willa was saying "ga ga ga" and both Daren and I didn't think we had heard those syllables. Willa proved us wrong and promptly repeated "ga ga ga" back to the therapist. We have a genius child.

Here is a video that shows some of the appropriate language skills and imaginary play that is appropriate for a 14 month old. You will also see her sitting incorrectly and us neglecting to correct the behavior.
- uh oh
- hi
- woof woof
- talking on the phone
- taking commands (give the phone to Daddy)