It seemed to take forever to finally get Bella in to see her primary care doctor and start the process of having her evaluated developmentally. Most of the lengthy delay is due to scheduling issues and enrollment issues with Tricare, and part of it is probably due to having just endured a major surgery and hospitalization with Lilly.
During this time, we have been watching Bella make such amazing gains in so many areas--gross motor, fine motor, language--our concerns about her "delayed development/low intelligence" have been pretty minimal. Mostly, she seems to be delayed socially/emotionally and acts more like a 4 year old than a 5--almost 6--year old much of the time. But even in those areas she is showing progress. So the delay in getting her in to be seen wasn't cause for too much concern. I would just find myself wondering now and then "I wonder how old she really is?" or if folks ask us her age, I sometimes find myself not knowing exactly how to answer.
In any event, it feels good to finally be moving forward in having Bella evaluated. This week, she saw her PCM, began the "catch up" process in her immunizations (we are assuming that none of the vaccinations she is said to have received in China were effective--such was the case with Lilly and it made more sense just to go ahead and start over than to due blood titres to check what immunities might actually be there), had a blood draw, and had a bone age x-ray to determine whether the estimated age assigned to Bella--when she was found abandoned in December of 2009--is accurate.
The bone age testing showed that, while her Chinese birth certificate states that she is currently 5 years and 10 months old (turning 6 in June), her bone age shows that she is roughly 5 years 0 months old. So many factors can play into bone growth, however, making the margin of error for such testing roughly an 18-month range. So the results fall within that margin and there is no compelling reason to attempt to have her birth certificate changed or her age revised. It just means that she will be starting kindergarten a year "late" (but it seems right on time to us!)
Her PCM also gave us a referral to see a developmental pediatrician as well as a pediatric opthalmologist (we are suspicious she may have some vision issues and/or color blindness). Those visits will take place in the next 6-8 weeks or so, and it will be good to have a developmental pediatrician's perspective on her development as well.
In other news, today Bella went to Sunday School with Lilly for the first time and had a great time. She and Lilly have been singing "Praise Ye the Lord, Hallelujah!" all day long together. It's fun to hear Bella say "JEsus" and try to sing the songs!
And I realized after posting my last post about Bella's language learning, that I forgot a dozen or more other English words that she uses regularly...I can't keep up!
So, there you have it. Next hurdle, getting her social security card...
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