Trip to the Developmental Doc

We went and saw Dr. Kase, our developmental specialist, today.  Since the babies were born premature they have to see a developmental specialist until the age of 3.  For the first year they have to go every 3 months and then every 6 after that.  With preemies they say to deduct the amount of time off of their age that they were born early and that's called their "corrected age".  So since ours were born 2 months early, really they're like 7 1/2 month olds developmentally rather than 9 1/2 month olds.  This gives them time to "catch up" until they're a year old and then they should be on the same level as any other 1 year old. 
Onto the verdict:

Gavin: 10-11 month old
Ava: 8 month old
Brayden: 9 month old

So after asking us a series of questions about what they're all doing (crawling, standing, talking, picking things up, etc) and watching them perform certain tasks he "grades" them and tells us at what age they're performing at.  Since Gavin is now "cruising" along the side of the couch he was put pretty high.  But since Ava has no desire to pull herself up to a standing position she's at an 8 month old level.  He says that she's fine because corrected age she's like a 7 1/2 month old.  All of their weights look good. In fact Joe and I were skeptical about our pediatrician's scales because Gavin wasn't gaining very much weight so we re-weighed them today at Dr. Kase's and we were right!

Gavin: 18 lb 4 oz
Ava: 19 lb 14 oz
Brayden: 20 lb

So the weights were off quite a bit!  Dr. Kase was impressed that they're all sleeping through the night so well (7pm-7am).  We owe it to the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child".  We started practicing his philosophy at about 3 months of age and though it was a lot of work in the beginning it has paid off.  We put them down wide awake for naps and bedtime and they put themselves right to sleep.  In the middle of the night if they wake they've learned how to soothe themselves back to sleep (unless of course Brayden's stuck in a standing position and can't get down)!  Even if they wake early from their naps or in the mornings we've put what we call "quite toys" in their cribs like their glow worms that they can play with until it's time to come out.  Many times they end up going back to sleep during this time!  I have to tell you I read a whole lot of books and this by far was my favorite!

The only things he wants us to work on now is their pincher grasp where they use two fingers to pick up small objects such as cheerios off their highchairs. 

We'll be leaving on Saturday to start our road trip to Myrtle Beach, stopping in Va. Beach to drop the dogs off with my parents.  We're meeting up with some friends on Sunday in Fayetteville, NC and then finishing up at Myrtle Beach until Thursday.  I'll be sure to post when we get back!!!