Results:

So, Peanut passed all but one portion of the early intervention screening: when asked "Who do you like to play with?" he thought for a second and responded "toys" - confusing what/who appropriateness, a communication issue. This was enough for them to say he needs to be brought in for a full evaluation, for which there were no open slots until September. (!!) I put our names on the short list, to be called in case of cancellations.

He also flunked a hearing test on his right ear, although whether he truly has hearing damage or simply wasn't responding correctly to the test is up in the air. We've got an appointment with an audiologist in April.

My sister-in-law thinks I still need to take him to an occupational therapist to have him evaluated for sensory integration disorder. Having read up on it, I do think he exhibits some of the signs of hyposensitivity - high pain tolerance, high tolerance of hot/cold extremes, a tendency to throw himself on the floor and crash into objects and people, a preference for rough play. Then again, he's a three-year-old boy. So hard to know whether it's just normal rough-and-tumble behavior or not, and I keep thinking that a hundred years ago they just put kids like him to work out on the farm, made good use of their energy, and wore them out so they had no juice left for troublemaking.

Anyhoo - he is my joy and delight, my wild joyful little free spirit, and I am not troubled by any of these findings, but eager to help him if he needs it.

Meanwhile yesterday, it came rather sluggishly into my head that Deuce is nearly always carrying around a marker or pen-type object. (He gets very attached to whatever he is holding - once he clutched a small wooden dowel for six solid hours, through a trip to the doctor and a two-hour nap.) So, noticing he was holding a crayola, I sat him in my lap, put a pad of paper in front of him, and took the cap off. He proceeded to spend five minutes poking the paper, making various scrawls and dots, babbling happily.

I was impressed by the level of focus he had for a ten-month-old, told MRB about it when he came home and he scoffed, but later when I came into Deuce's room after putting Peanut to bed, MRB related that the baby had just spent ten minutes scribbling with a pencil on a picture of a baby on a diaper box. (His awe at this was palpable.) Maybe Deuce got the artistic gene, although whether we have spawned the next Akiane remains to be seen. It would be nice to have at least one child who shares our obsessions, though.

Face-painting was slow this week, but netted $12. Good tippers. I'm trying to come up with designs inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but so far MRB has not allowed me to make him up like the Mad Hatter. He has been inspired in other ways though, and is now trying to come up with a reason to have an Alice-themed mad tea party. I say who needs a reason?