3 Years Old

Marco is 3! In some ways he is exactly what I expect a 3 year old to be - stubborn, adventurous, always trying to play with his brothers - in other ways he is so far from typical. In all ways, he is an absolute joy. Though we continue to have fear of the unknown, I’m starting to believe he’s going to be able to live a full, independent life.

Our biggest question: how much does he understand? In most ways he seems like an average 1.5 year old if I had to put an age to his development. But then he’ll surprise us. Like when he sat down and started pointing and saying all the letters of the alphabet, or when he showed us that he not only can count, but recognizes all the numbers. Is he functioning at a 3 year old level but can’t tell us? Only time will tell.

Some Updates:

Physical

Gross Motor

Marco has a solid toddler walk - still using his full body and still a bit unsteady on his feet, but he’s gaining momentum every day and is pretty darn fast when he wants to be… which is all the time. I’d say he’s at 2yr age level for movement. He wears ankle braces, has worn them for about a year now, to help fix his pronated feet and give him more support. When he wears them, he’s very steady. Without them he’s much more likely to fall on his face - but he typically brushes himself off, turns to us for a touch of comfort, then scurries on his way. We’re 80% comfortable with him on the stairs - he’s still likely to get distracted and fall, but he can walk up holding the railing and on the way down he’s very cautious. If we’re not around to hold his hand, he’ll do “bump bump” or as Marco says “buh buh” (sitting down and sliding step by step.) We got him a little trampoline to learn to jump - he’s doing so well on it! He’s a far way from being able to jump on his own, but he’s made such progress and boy does he love it. He’s starting to do somersaults and enjoy more physical play with the boys - all great signs.

Fine Motor

Lot’s to work on here, but hard to pinpoint it. He can use a spoon and fork, but often needs help. He can color, but uses the full hand grip and has no real control. He can pick up shoes, but cant put them on. He can help us pull his pants down/up, but can’t do it on his own. Etc. Our big goals here are independence (eating on his own, getting undressed so he can eventually use the potty, etc.).

Speech:

By far our biggest hurdle to overcome. Marco can communicate pretty well using a combination of signs, word approximations and technology - the basic stuff he needs everyday, we understand - which again gives me hope for an independent future.

When it comes to clear, real words, he only has a handful… eye, bye, hi, nana, mama, up, book.

Then he has endless words that sound nothing like real words, but in context you can kind of figure it out: milk (muh), bath (bah), ball (buh), bump (buh), dog (duh), Luca (caca), Nico (cuco), Marco (buhbko), Yayo (yaya), all the animal sounds like woof (wuh), moo (muh), buck buck (buh buh), it goes on and on. He’ll basically repeat anything we say, but in one syllable consonant vowel combos (muh, buh, mih, duh, etc.)

He also does a bunch of signs that really help us understand him - I want, more, again, help, open, spider, friends, eat, drink, milk, please, yum, wash - the big boys are learning them too, which is great to see!

Finally, we’re getting him an AAC Device (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) - a computer that has big buttons for his most used words that can “speak” for him. He loved the trial version and uses it all the time in Speech Therapy - I think this is going to be a game changer as he gets older to help strangers understand him. Those who won’t understand “ah-wa mmm” as “I want milk”.

In Speech Therapy we’ll be working on two distinct skills:

1) combining words/gestures - aiming for two word “sentences”

2) working on new sounds. He only uses some letters - sounds with T, F, etc. are harder for him. Also, he only does those single syllable combos.

Social:

My Marco’s strength. His social skills and contagious smile will take him so far in life. Everyone loves him, everyone wants to help him and give him so much attention. It’s wonderful to see. He’s behind in social play - still doing completely independent play and hasn’t tried to interact with other kids much like a typical 3 year old would. He loves to play with us or his brothers though. He’ll play pretend, but only when prompted. He really loves building, trains, coloring and music of all kinds. This boy has moves!

Health:

We are SO lucky with his health. We're still doing preventative inhalers once a day and he’s still allergic to eggs, but that’s it! We didn’t have a single overnight stay in the hospital this winter! I’m thinking his lungs are finally developed enough that we can rest easy.

He still has torticollis (head tilt) and after many specialists visits we’ve come to understand that there is nothing we can do about it. He had an MRI and a CAT scan, which showed a fusion in his spinal cord, which is causing the tilt - meaning stretching won’t help it. We were SO lucky with this too - the fusion is just so that it does not block the spinal cord (wont affect his growth, cause pain or require surgery) and the docs all agreed that it has not prevented him from developing. His head shape (protruding forehead, typical for chromosomal differences) is also not a concern after the scans. Doctors were afraid that the shape of his head could indicate portions of the brain being squeezed as he grew, but all good under the hood. Whew!

What’s Next?

Our next big adventures for Marco are full time school (starting with the 2 year olds this September), potty training (thinking this will look much different than it did for our other two boys), and a big boy bed (he’s not trying to climb out of the crib yet, but my gosh he’s heavy!)

Current therapies and doctors

Physical Therapy (1x week)

Occupational Therapy (1x week)

Speech (3x week)

Pulmonology - lungs

Orthotics - sure step ankle support for pronated feet