The Stats

Cora's four year well check was a couple of months ago.  I had heard tales of the horrors of this particular visit from friends with older children.  Folks, I can promise you it lived up to my expectations and then some!  Oy, what a nightmare!

The physical exam was the easy part.  She was excited about wearing the 'dress' (hospital gown), and she actually commented to Dr. Mitchell about how much she loved her dress.  She easily met almost all of her physical and developmental milestones.  She now weighs in at 32 pounds (24th percentile) and 40 inches (55th percentile).  I didn't believe people when they would tell me how tall she is.  But, it looks like she finally is catching up in the height department, at least.

This visit turned out to be incredibly informative as well.  I have had some suspicions for a while that there may be more going on inside Cora's head than in most normal/average kids.  I had noticed some gaps in her development, but I worried that since my background is early childhood education perhaps I was over thinking everything. I know development is continuum not a series of points in time, but I couldn't shake the nagging thought that there was something different going on with her. I noticed from very early on that Cora was extremely sensitive to excessive attention (even positive) and sounds.  The behavior manifests itself in extreme fear or in strange meltdowns.  For example, going into a public restroom has always been upsetting for her.  For a while, I had chalked it up to stubborn-ness in relation to potty training.  But, upon further thought and investigation, I realized that she was extremely fearful of the loud flush toilets and hand-dryers.  I also noticed a strange gap in her fine motor skills.  Most kids at her age are drawing simple pictures.  Cora has yet to draw a picture.  I thought this was due to the fact that she was more of an active girl who really wasn't as interested in slowing down enough to draw or color.  However, I soon noticed that even though she had no problem writing her name with my hand over her hand, she seemed to go limp and get confused if I asked her to write her name on her own.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that she has had a difficult time with most fine motor tasks.  She took longer than most to become proficient at eating with utensils; she never showed interest in dressing and undressing herself and took a long time to become independent at it; opening and closing some doors is still a bit of a challenge for her.  When she was a baby, she was an awesome eater.  She ate every baby food with only one exception.  Yet, suddenly, she became a picky eater.  She would no longer eat the very same foods she would eat in puree form.  There are a few other things that I noticed as well.  When I discussed this with her pediatrician, she confirmed what I had been thinking.  Cora has a mild form of sensory processing disorder.  At some point she may require a bit of occupational therapy to help with her motor skill issues, but at this point, I am doing as much research as I can in order to try to help at home.

It has been an interesting adjustment for us having this diagnosis.  Sensory processing disorder is a relatively new disorder although John and I both exhibit a few of the markers as well.  To be honest, I struggle with it sometimes because I don't know where to draw the line between knowing that I need to push her beyond her stubborn-ness or knowing that this is part of the spd and to take a different approach, proceeding with caution.  The bottom line is that Cora needs to learn to cope in the real world especially with her noise sensitivities, but I also don't want teachers and other adults she comes into contact with left bewildered when she has a meltdown and no one knows why.  But, like I mentioned before, sometimes it is hard to know whether this is Cora being stubborn or Cora having spd. Parenting is hard, no?!

The bright light in all of this is the notion that God has clearly directed me to homeschool.  I have been pretty wishy-washy on the thought of it.  I'm pretty sure that every parent who decides to embark on the adventure of homeschooling faces doubts.  Everyone has reassured me that I will be fine especially considering my background.  But, let me emphasize this, the thought of whipping a class of 22 kindergarteners/English language learners into shape is easy compared to the thought of being solely responsible for the entire educational outcome of my children.  Nevertheless, I am slowly warming up to the possibilities that home-schooling has to offer to my family.

To make this long story even longer, the rest of the appointment was very memorable.  One of the manifestations of Cora's spd is an extreme dislike of things being put on her.  She gets upset if you try to put a mask or a necklace or headphones, etc. on her without her initiation.  So, as you can imagine, the vision and hearing tests were a bit challenging.  She passed both tests, thankfully, but I'm pretty sure the entire medical office building could hear her distress.  We capped it off by getting the remainder of her vaccinations.  You can guess how well that went over.  It's a small price to pay for good health!  Believe me, you won't catch me complaining that she has no more immunizations for a while.  Whew!

All that to say, we are so thankful for our healthy (not so) little girl.  God created her exactly this way, and even though I do not always understand her thoughts and quirks, so to speak, I know that  she has a great purpose in the Kingdom.  Our prayer is that God will give us the wisdom we need to train her up to be the woman He purposed her to be.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14