What do snaggle teeth, camera lenses, and W-sitting have in common?

As a general rule, I don't post to the blog unless the previous post has at least one comment on it. The previous post has zero comments, yet here I am, posting again. This could be a sign that I am addicted to the blog. You could help me out by leaving a comment.

I have a few pictures and a little bit of time. I just have to do something with it:

Check out this snaggle tooth. The poor girl. Her top teeth are not growing in nicely, straight, or in any kind of order. She is such a cutie, I can get over it.

The highlight of my week was getting a new lens for my camera. While I was on my trip, my lens stopped focusing automatically. It wasn't the END of the world as I know it because I am able to manually focus with my lens and camera. It is just much more difficult to get in-focus shots of moving little people. The lens was 15 years old and not digital, so I didn't feel too bad about getting a new one. It has a wider angle so I can capture pictures like this one of Emma. She isn't really that tall, it is just the lens. :)

And this picture is of Emma. My sweet girl. I recently had her evaluated at the Education Services Department for her speech delay. I have been concerned since she began talking and was relieved to finally have an expert listen to her. The evaluation was a 2 step process with the first meeting to assess whether or not she should even be evaluated. 

At the first meeting, the 2 evaluators asked me general questions about her development and asked about my concerns. The speech therapist played with Emma and evaluated her during play. Emma loved her and talked to her more than I thought she would, being a stranger. They noticed her sitting with her knees bent, feet behind her, in a W pattern (like the picture above). They were very concerned and asked if she always sat like that. Emma has sat in that position pretty much since she started sitting up. Apparently W-sitting is a no-no and there is a lot talk about it being detrimental to physical development. Sitting in that position prohibits trunk movements, delaying crawling and walking in many children. Also, it can delay handedness, because the child does not reach across herself for toys during play, but uses the hand closest to the toy. In any event, if you are interested in learning more about W-sitting, you can Google it. There is a lot of information about it. It is almost impossible to re-program Emma because she is in such a habit of sitting like this. If you see your little ones sitting like this, discourage it early.

The second meeting was this week and Emma passed with flying colors. Passing, meaning she does not qualify for any speech therapy. She went through 2 hours of solid testing, using games to assess her cognitive, social, and communicative development. Some of the questions were really hard, but Emma impressed me with the things she knew, like "Which is bigger, the room or the house?" I haven't taught her that kind of thing. Some of the questions she had NO clue on and I was getting worried. The teacher told me at one point that they had to ask questions until Emma answered 3 wrong in a row. She assured me that Emma was consistently answering questions correctly in the 5 year old age bracket. I knew she was smart, she just has such trouble communicating what is going on in her head.

The program director understood my original concern, but did not think that speech therapy would help. They recommended one on one teaching, memory games, and vocabulary words -- basically homes schooling. I was really grateful for the evaluation. They validated my worries over her development and gave me the next step as I continue to educate Emma.

It is just another day in paradise...