I know the tiptoe walking can be a red flag for other things so last summer when she was 2.5 we had the GP refer us to paediatric orthopaeds. They said she's just an idiopathic toe walker and to keep an eye on it and to bring her back 12 months later ( it will be later this summer) to monitor. They said not much can be done at that age as obviously they're too little to keep insisting that they walk on flat feet and they can't be given any exercises to strengthen/stretch.
She is also a W-sitter. It is getting more consistent not less consistent. EVERY time she sits down she wants to sit like that and I am noticing that none of her peers do this.
I watched her ballet class last week and though she is the youngest in the class by about 5-6 months, I couldn't help wondering if there were certain things she was just not managing that others exactly her age might have managed. She absolutely cannot do a hop-skip, for example. She can't manage a knee-bend (plie) at all.
On more fine motor-type stuff, I have begun to notice that her artwork is very wild, still, compared with other little girls at nursery. She can't/won't stay at all within lines when colouring-in. She isn't yet able to draw anything that remotely resembles what it's supposed to (eg a funny-looking person with a head and body and legs... she would just draw a kind of mad scribble instead). I have no idea what is within 'normal' or not!!
When she gets tired, she is constantly falling over (on the spot rather than tripping on stuff, if that makes sense?) and - this is hard to describe - her limbs go sort of like half-cooked spaghetti. It's partly because she is on her tiptoes a lot so she is less stable than if she were on flat feet. But it seems like her legs just sort of give way. Also as if, when she is tired, she just can't stop moving?
I have little to compare her to at close range... I don't know how adept other 3 year olds are at eg catching/throwing a ball. The drawing/colouring thing I have only just noticed any difference as I have seen her little friends colouring in reasonably neatly etc.
She just got a new scooter and is getting the hang of it VERY slowly indeed, she can do the basic scooting action but shows no sign of being able to control it. Other children her age seem to whizz about on the things with ease but I don't know how quickly they got the hang of it. She can do stairs perfectly fine but is wobbly.
She tires fairly easily and isn't a fan of walking at all too far. I can't tell if she gets tired because she doesn't walk often and therefore just isnt' used to it, or if she dislikes walking because it makes her very tired iyswim.
I'm aware this sounds like a horrible sort of checklist and criticism of all the things she can't do! Which it isn't meant to be. In other news (!) she is happy, incredibly verbal, creative, sparky, bright, funny etc etc. I'm just flagging up all these things that are striking me about her physical development as I don't know if they're something I should be concerned about?
And if so, worth a conversation with the GP?
My brother is dyspraxic so I suppose that's something at the back of my mind...
Sorry, this has become a very long ramble!! Any advice hugely appreciated.