The Klopp Quads: NICU Follow-up Evaluation

How's everyone's January? We are finally getting "real" January weather- hitting below 0 temps, snow, etc. I don't mind so much but I am looking forward to Florida, not going to lie! The girls have been doing well except they have been waking up at night a lot lately. Normally, they just cry for a couple minutes and go back to bed on their own.

The main news is the results from the NICU evaluation. Each girl had one caregiver and one therapist running the tests. Sofia was with her grandma (Dan's mom), Madeline was with Dan and Josie was with me. I wish I could say they all tested well, but no! With all the other NICU follow-ups, Sofia has never tested well and the other two did better. This time, Sofia did a great job! (ehhh, and Josie and Madeline not so much.) When I was with Josie, it was just apparent she just didn't want to cooperate. She was not comfortable. Dan told me Madeline was cooperative until a certain point, but then the therapist would want a toy back, which would push her over the edge.
The sections included: cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, receptive language and expressive language. None of the girls did that well with gross motor but all three were past the point of cooperation at that point (this was the last part of the test). I can't say this for sure, but I think they would have scored better if the therapists watched them play at home or open gym.
One funny tidbit from Madeline's test: one of the fine motor tests was putting Cheerios in a little film canister. She totally ignored directions and would stuff all the Cheerios in her mouth! So the therapist would get more Cheerios out... but Madeline would stuff them all in her mouth again! This went on for a while, until I finally said "You know, she's just going to keep eating them- she's really hungry apparently!" Needless to say, she did NOT pass that test! The test has to use little objects that aren't choking hazards so we couldn't use different small objects. That test was towards the end and hitting lunch time- luckily I brought lunch so they could eat while we waited for results. Here's how the girls did.... ("Normal" is scoring between 85 and 115)

Madeline-
Weight- 23 lbs 9 oz (10th percentile on the regular chart- as opposed to the preemie adjusted chart)
Height- 32 1/2 inches (25th percentile)
Head- 18 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Cognitive Score- 95 (age equivalence 24 months)
Motor Score- 91 (fine motor 21 months, gross motor 22 months)
Language Score- 94 ( expressive language 21 months, receptive language 24 months)

Madeline, just reading a book.

Josephine-
Weight- 22 lbs 1 oz (under the 5th percentile)
Height- 31.5 inches (under 5th percentile)
Head- 18 1/2 inches (25th percentile)
Cognitive Score- 95 (age equivalence 24 months)
Motor Score- 97 (fine motor 26 months, gross motor 20 months)
Language Score- 94 (expressive 22 months, receptive 23 months)

A new thing Josie does with her mouth.

Sofia-
Weight- 20 lbs 15 ounces (under 5th percentile) *this would mean she gained more than a pound in the last month so I think either the weight was wrong at her 2 yr appointment, or wrong at the NICU. I would be happy if she really is almost 21 lbs, though!!
Height 31 1/2 inches (under 5th percentile)
Head- 18 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Cognitive Score- 100 (25 months)
Motor Score- 100 (Fine motor 28 months, gross motor 20 months)
Language Score- 115 (expressive 29 months, receptive 31 months)


Sofia putting the eyes on Mrs. Potato Head.

We truly believe Madeline and Josie are at least as skilled in fine motor, verbal and cognition as Sofia, so we just see Sofia as representing them all. I think we're caught up to their real age! (except size... Maddie is the only one "caught up"-kinda- in that department.) We'll work on those gross motor skills, though! All three girls showed no red flags, even if all the numbers were accurate. We don't have to go back until they're 4 1/2 years old for an IQ/school readiness test.

Here are some pictures! The snowy ones are from New Years Eve weekend up north.