18 Months!

18 months old just in time for the holidays! These shots were taken a few days late for the occasion but close enough to count.

Milo - 19 December 2009

Maddy - 19 December 2009

Unfortunately, it has only gotten more difficult to photograph Maddy and this was the best I could do. It was either the shot above or this one....

Or this one...

I think I made the best choice best on the available selection of photos.

In other news, the monthly Mr. Bear photos will become a thing of the past with this post. We had originally planned to cut them to once every six months after M&M turned one year old, but at the time they were still making big jumps in growth. It's fair to say things have slowed down since then. The kids are definitely getting bigger, but the month-to-month growth just isn't that dramatic anymore. I'll still be doing blog updates (with pictures) regularly, but the bear pictures will be bumped to once every six months.

And speaking of growth and development, the kids had a couple of big assessments in the last couple weeks. Overall, everything looks good. As of early this week, Milo weighed in at 19 lbs 8 ozs and was 30.5 inches tall. Maddy came in at 21 lbs 9 ozs and 31.5 inches tall.

Milo & Maddy at the Alta Bates Follow-Up Clinic - 15 December 2009

Developmentally, the babies are basically on track for their corrected age (which is about 14 months) with some exceptions. They are behind bit on their expressive language and their gross motor skills in particular, but they have been making some good strides of late. They can both walk now, but not really well enough to call them "walkers" -- they still crawl plenty but their walking is coming along quickly. Both babies will be receiving some additional physical therapy, which has proven very helpful already. Milo remains in the high-risk category for cerebral palsy, due to high muscle tone in his legs, low muscle tone in his mouth (partly why he sticks his tongue out so much), and of course the fact that he had a grade III IVH at birth. The good news is that if he is diagnosed with CP, it appears very likely that he will fall in the mild category. For example, he might have trouble using scissors or kicking a ball -- it's tough to say exactly how it might manifest and we won't know until he's at a stage where it will be noticeable.

In other developments - at long last, the babies are getting ready to make the transition out of the infant room at daycare to join the other pre-toddlers.

Have a great holiday!