Yes! Our little itty-bitty guy is two and half short weeks from turning two. I know, we're not sure where the time has gone either. But nevertheless, we're getting ready to celebrate another year of overcoming obstacles, reveling in successes, and looking forward to a bright new year.
Here's just a little of what Max has been up to lately...
Smaller bites!
When we last left you hanging here on the blog our lives were heavily revolved around eating. We've been through some up and down in the eating department since then, but we're coming out on top. After gaining back all of the weight he lost during the wean (only took him 10 days!), he had a period of rapid weight gain where he was gobbling up all of his high-calorie mush. Then the fickle toddler began to emerge and he started to lose interest, he started to get picky, he started to refuse foods, and he started to lose some of the weight he had gained. It was a little disheartening, but we chalked it up to him being a toddler, and a brand new eater. Even now we have days where we have to remind ourselves that he's only been eating for 3 months! Although he's still what you might call 'picky', his food repertoire has widened significantly - he loves crackers, chocolate, almond yogurt, bananas, cereal bars and PB and J sandwiches. His increasing willingness to try new things has found him enjoying oranges, pasta, soup, curry, vegetable tempura, and guacamole. It's safe to say he's got this eating thing in the bag.
Drinking is something we're still working on. His control with thin liquids is becoming much better, and his interest in drinking is piquing (he loves sharing my orange juice in the morning). However, he just isn't drinking enough to satisfy his hydration needs. We can't wean his tube fluids the same way we did his tube calories - you can safely go much longer without nutrients than you can without fluids. When we're confident that his drinking skills are up to the task we will trial him on one day of no tube fluids, which is as long as we can safely go. We'll take his lead, and it will happen when he's ready.
You brush your teeth
People seem to always comment on how many teeth Max has. We suppose it's because he appears much younger than he actually is (coming up on two, he's about the size of your average one year old). He has 14 teeth so far, and two more are working their way in. After that he only needs to teethe his way through his two year molars. Thankfully, he's been a pretty good teether. We've so far put off his first trip to the dentist for fear that his oral aversion and defensiveness might make it a terribly traumatic experience for him. Thankfully, his collection of toothbrushes (there are about 6 of them) is one of his favourite things, and he allows me to brush his teeth twice a day. Hopefully that will make his first dentist visit in the fall a little easier to tolerate.
Med-free!
Max has been on one medicine or another for one reason or another for most of his life. We're happy to say that he's now officially med-free! Life gets simpler all the time.
Another cold bites the dust
Two more, to be exact. After Max's visit to the ER back in September when he got his first cold, we've been a little anxious about him getting sick again. Although we weren't exactly excited about him getting sick, we were happy to make it through two more colds this spring (almost back to back) without a trip to the hospital. The first cold necessitated the use of his puffer to help out his breathing, but he handled the second (milder) cold all on his own. We're so proud of his lungs!
Occupational Therapy
We had been on a waiting list to get Max's therapy transfered over to home care, where he can work on his skills in a familiar and comfortable environment instead of in a clinical setting. We've been set up with a wonderful Occupational Therapist who's come to visit us at home three times now. To Max, he's just made a new friend and he has a blast playing (and flirting) with the OT.
Max is excelling in his fine motor skills, and the way he grasps and uses writing utensils is a step ahead of what most kids his age are doing. The kid loves his crayons! We're super proud of him, of course. Max is still working hard on his gross motor skills and we're getting closer and closer to having a walker. Right now he's a pro at cruising the furniture and riding all over the house on his car or bumble bee. He'll happily bust a move if you put on some music, and he's still a speed-demon when it comes to crawling. He is quite steady at standing independently, but he lacks the confidence to do so, and promptly sits down if he realizes he's standing on his own. He will speed walk around the house if you hold on to his hands, and I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he wants to bust out and go it alone. Like everything else - he'll do it when he's ready.
Moo, Neigh, Baa, Meow, Howwwwl
Max is beginning to try out many new sounds, and is making great strides to catch up with his expressive language skills. He doesn't have many recognizable words yet, but he is frequently trying out new words with their most prominent syllable. Bear, ball, bath, banana, are all different versions of "Baa". He's heading in the right direction! He has, however recently added various animal sounds to his vocabulary (and yes, according to speech therapists, animal sounds count as words). If you ever want to hear the cutest sound ever, ask Max what a horse says. Seriously, the kid is adorable.
Show me a sign
Max may not say a lot of words yet, but he has a fairly robust vocabulary. Since Max has been home we've been watching baby signing time dvd's during some of his long tube-feeding sessions to help pass the time. We've been incorporating the signs into our everyday life since before he was able to sign anything back to us. Now he knows around 75 different ASL signs, and regularly uses about 50 of them without any prompting. They aren't all perfectly formed, but they are clear enough that we can tell what he's signing. While we wait for him to develop his verbal skills it's incredibly helpful for us, and I'm sure empowering for him, to be able to communicate. It's wonderful to know that he wants a banana instead of crackers, that he's searching for his shoes, that he wants to brush his teeth, or what he's wildly pointing at is a dog. Signing with him is one of the most useful things we've done - and the beginnings of a second language never hurts.
Toddler beds, haircuts and other 'big boy' things
Max has been co-sleeping since he came home from the hospital. First in a bassinet next to our bed, and eventually snuggled up next to me in the 'big bed'. When we first came home it was essential for me to be close enough to hear if Max was in any distress at night. It's since become a thing of comfort for both of us. Because Rafael works overnight, Max and I enjoy stretching out in the queen sized bed. Max takes up an impressive amount of space for such a little guy! We enjoy sleeping together at night and have no real plans to give it up just yet. However, we are planning to transition his nap time to his own, soon-to-be big boy bed. Because he's used to sleeping in a bed, and not in a crib, we're going to convert his crib to a toddler bed for his birthday and start moving his nap time to his own room. It might seem like a small step, but it feels like a very big-boy milestone.
When Max was in the NICU he had a few pretty terrible haircuts. The worst of them about a month before he was released. He came home with one side of his head mostly bald. I couldn't wait for that bald patch to grow back in - and it seemed to take forever! Looking at him now, you'd never guess he was the recipient of a NICU haircut. His wild mane of curls has become fitting of his personality. We adore his crazy curls, and we are in no rush to give him his first haircut. And you thought I was going to say he got his first haircut, huh?
Most parents eagerly look forward to getting their toddler out of diapers and onto potty learning. We're no different, but I certainly didn't anticipate Max to take any interest in the bathroom at this point, while he's working so hard on other skills. I know he's not ready for formal potty learning just yet, but he's showing enough interest that he's going to be getting his very own potty for his birthday. He's begun to follow us to the bathroom, pointing and signing "potty". He points to the cats entering the litter box closet and signs "potty". He gets a kick out of sitting on the big potty for fun, and pretending to wipe, and flush, and wash hands - he gets the routine. And most importantly he's begun to tell us when he needs a diaper change by signing "diaper". It's pretty exciting seeing him become more and more self aware.
We're having so much fun with Max and we're marveling at how fast he's changing and growing. He's becoming this wonderful little boy right before our eyes. He's growing up.
No comments:
Post a Comment