Joel's First Year

Joel was such a beautiful child. He was always so happy. He brought a lot of joy, laughter, and love into our lives. I never felt such happiness until I had him.

Joel's development seemed to be going ok. I didn't realize he was delayed until he was about 5 months along. He was late to roll over. Then late to sit up, crawl, and later he didn't walk until he was almost 16 months old. I had blamed most of his delays on the neglect of his day care. They always put him in the bouncy seat or exersaucer. I never saw him on the floor. When I would drop him off in the morning I would put him on his belly on the floor. I was hoping to give them a hint as to what I needed. I then would talk to his teachers about my concerns. I would often get the 'oh she's just a worrisome first time mom' look. I should have went with my gut. When Joel was 13 months old he came to school with me at Grace. He loved his teacher, as did I. I started to get concerned when he showed no interest in walking as he approached 16 months. All those I spoke with told me not to worry about it. I told myself that if he wasn't walking by 16 months, then I would get ECI involved. Five days short of 16 months I got the flu. I had his daddy bring him lunch. He brought him a happy meal. Joel took his first steps at school...he wanted those french fries.

I don't really remember his speech being delayed but we all used to laugh at his cry. They pterodactyl cry. His cry sounded like what we would assume a pterodactyl would sound like. Very high pitched.

When you are in the middle of things you normally don't see them as red flags. Hind sight is almost always 20/20, you know.