ugh.

so candy and marie from the montgomery county infants and toddlers program came over this morning to assess nate's eligibility for early intervention services. yes, i said candy. this is the visit we've been waiting for since june, when we found out that natey was a little behind in things. candy is the special educator and marie is the physical therapist. i'm not going to go into all the wondrous educational things they had in their big bag of tricks to test natey's development, or how they took note of all the minute details and nuances in natey's behavior while not appearing to do anything more than play with the adorable baby. i'll just get down to the brass tacks, okay? to be eligible for the completely FREE early intervention services the county offers (i was just telling my friend that the fact that this is available makes me feel like i live in another country -- another cool country, and i'm not talking about weather), the child must be experiencing at least a 25% developmental delay in one of the five major developmental areas. nate's physical development, as far as gross motor skills, was assessed to be on par with a 12-month-old. his speech and language development was assessed to be at an 8-month-old's level.

yup. he's eligible, all right. SIGH.

these women were so caring and patient and loving and were really impressed with natey's abilities in other areas, and made me feel like it was just a matter of time before he was completely on track with his age group. thank god. it's not going to be easy -- we're really going to have to work with him on this -- but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. i can't imagine how i would deal with a more serious developmental problem. seriously, i am the most impatient person i know, and while i'd like to think i'd be able to offer the utmost patience and support needed to help a child with serious delays, i have to be honest with myself. it would take all my energy to stay focused and keep my impatience and frustration in check. i think it might be impossible. am i totally horrible for admitting that?

what happens now is that we set up a schedule of visits (4x a month) for the special educator to come and work on his speech and the physical therapist to come work on his walking. we've got a list of goals and expectations to work toward, and a reassessment will be made in 6 months to see how he's doing. man, 6 months sounds like a long fucking time, doesn't it? but it will be here before we know it, as all time flies when you're having fun and raising children. heh. it's cool, though. we're gonna do this and get through it just fine. you know, i think he's just lazy like his old mom. that's okay, though. we're gonna do this together, nate! in 6 months i'm going to be begging you to sit down and shut up. heh. mom's never happy, is she?