New Parent Support

Last week Teresa and I had a visit from the New Parent Support Program from the Naval Station here. They sent me an email and when I didn't respond followed up with a phone call. Because I had recently "filled out some paperwork indicating my interest". This was true, but only because their paperwork was crammed in with all the other hundreds of pages of paperwork I had to fill out before I could actually get in to see a doctor (seriously, I had an hour long appointment that was dedicated solely to paperwork).

Anyway, apparently the Navy has a program to 'support' new parents, they have classes and other resources to help people adjust to being parents and such. And they also do home visits. I didn't really have any interest in this program seeing as we've already lasted over a year with Teresa. That's why, you know, I didn't respond to their initial email. But when they called to try to set up a home visit I ended up agreeing to it. Mostly because I'm really bad at telling people no, but also because I was a little interested in the developmental assessment she said she could do for Teresa. And also, we're leaving in less than a month, so I knew I wouldn't have to commit to too many regular appointments.

Of course most days I think that Teresa is so smart, and just the most brilliant baby that's ever walked the face of the earth. But then lots of other days I worry that maybe she's not talking as much as other kids her age, or maybe she's behind in some other way. Then there was that time a few weeks ago that I had myself convinced she was autistic (she's not). But anyway, I think it's pretty normal to worry about comparing your child to others, so I was interested to get an assessment done on her. Especially since it was free, and it's not like we had anything else going on in the middle of the day.

The visit was pretty interesting. We were already doing most of the activities they recommended for T's age, so that part of it was kind of a waste. But, T took an ASQ assessment for a 14-15 month old,(the categories were communication, gross and fine motor skills, problem solving, and personal - social) and I was relieved that she was a little above average for three of the categories, and right on average in the fourth. We have another appointment for next week to do the 16 month assessment, and I don't think she'll do quite as well on that one - some of the questions include whether or not T can say two word sentences and if she can say at least 8 words other than 'mama' and 'dada'. She can't do either of those yet, so I'm not expecting she'll get that done in the next week.

The most interesting part of the visit to me was the fact that it really seemed like the kind of job I could do with my degree. It was all about making sure parents take advantage of the different stages of children's development, and what they can do to tailor activities to age and brain development, etc. Being products of good parenting ourselves, and the fact that we both have degrees in human development and a fair amount of common sense, I don't really think it's a program Marc and I need, but it seems like it would be really good for a lot of new young parents out there.

And, just because I can't make a post without a picture of our girl - here she is waiting patiently for the cookies to cool. This was the only batch we made before she smeared the rest of the dough all over herself and the carpet. Oh, and the chair was there so she wouldn't open to oven door, which she's been doing lately. I didn't realize she could climb up on the chair like that, but I wasn't really surprised when she did.