I have no idea how it is Thursday already. And December 1st, too?! Will somebody do my Christmas shopping for me please? I feel like my head is spinning. Literally! This week I learned that the dizziness and extreme fatigue I've been feeling off and on since last summer is due to inner ear damage (??). My inner ear (balance) is not communicating well with my vision, and therefore causing a list of lovely symptoms that interfere with my everyday life. This week has been the worst of it, and I feel like I'm about to lose my mind! I've started vestibular rehab (very similar to what Elijah does, coincidentally), so I'm hoping this will eventually help.
Another disappointing part of the week is that Elijah is not only still pooping his pants frequently, but now he has reverted back to peeing in them, as well. UGH! I don't even have words to express how frustrating this is. I've had people say, "He'll do it when he's ready!" Well, yes, trust me, I understand that, but goodness, he's almost five! That and, he knows how to use the potty. He just chooses not to do so.
Sammy is in love with the Baby Signing Time videos. It is adorable! He asks to watch them constantly by doing the sign for BABY and saying, "BWAA-BWAA," which is his way of singing the baby signing time song. He can do most of the signs on the videos, and thoroughly enjoys watching them. They were always some of Elijah's favorites as a baby, too. In fact, Elijah still enjoys watching them!
A couple quick funnies..
Elijah has been reading like crazy lately. He even gives the tougher words a try. On the yogurt he was eating the other night, he was trying to make sense of "99% fat-free!" His first attempt was: "Ninety-nine dollars February!" :)
One of Elijah's recent hobbies involves watching videos I have recorded over the years of him and Sammy. He will sit at the computer and watch them repeatedly. He loves them! In one of the videos I took while he was in the hospital last summer, I tripped over some of his lines while filming and let a "Crap!" slip out of my mouth. Of course, our smartypants boy picked up on that and has been heard saying that very word in recent days. I've explained that I shouldn't have said it and that I don't want him saying it. The other day he tripped over something and started to cry, then stopped himself, yelled, "CWAP!" and continued crying. THEN, at the dinner table, he said, "So. Mom. What word you said?" I said, "I don't know what you're talking about." I could hear him sounding out the letters under his breath, "Cuh-Cruh-ah-ap," and then he said, "It starts with a C and ends with a P????? With an R and A in the middle????" Oh my goodness, it was so hard not to die laughing! Since then, we have been working on having him say BUMMER instead. So far there's about a 50% success rate. We'll keep working on reversing the damage I've done.
That's about all I've got today. Thanks for checking in!
Showing posts with label signing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label signing. Show all posts
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Where's the snow??
Sam sat outside and looked around like, WHAT IS THIS?
Elijah excitedly pointed out birds to me. Wook, Mom, a BIRD! Thank goodness for this tiny taste of spring. I need spring. We all need spring.
Sammy did his first sign last night! He pushed his bottle away and I said, "Do you want more bottle or are you all done?" and he did the sign for ALL DONE. That was Elijah's first sign, too!
We had some rough patches with Elijah over the weekend. The sass and drama that can come from that boy gets ridiculous at times. Dan and I got to the point where we had a zero tolerance level for whining. If he whined, he went straight to his room. Then, there were other times that I couldn't believe how sweet he was. "Mommy, come snuggle on the couch wif me!" Or a random, "I wuv you, Mom."
Sammy is crawling everywhere and he is even pulling himself to a stand and then trying to stand on his own. He is ready to RUN. We have found him at the bottom of the stairs, looking up, crying because he doesn't know how to climb them yet.
I have been feeling extra vulnerable lately about Elijah's upcoming surgery. The bad thoughts creep in too often, and I don't deal with them very well. I want this surgery to go away. I don't feel ready to face it. I haven't found peace yet, although I'm trying so so hard. Please God, protect our little boy! That's something I say under my breath at least once every five minutes.
Dan starts night/weekend work soon and I'm feeling down about that, too. I want that reality to go away, as well.
I'm hoping spring will improve moods and emotions all-around!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
How is Elijah doing these days?
Communication
We are so thrilled with the improvements in speech Elijah has made over the past few months. Four months ago he said maybe five words. Three months ago he said about 40 words. Now? He says a couple hundred different words. They are "his" version, of course, and Dan and I usually have to translate to others, but this is huge and very exciting. He even said his first two-word phrase the other day! He said, "Bye bye, Dada!"
His speech therapist just re-evaluated him and the results showed that he is basically caught up! I get little tears in my eyes writing those words because his language explosion has come as a huge and very pleasant surprise to us. He does still qualify for speech therapy, though, because he could use some help with saying the beginnings of words and making the words he says a little clearer in general. He is still using some nasal sounds to say some of his words and that goes hand-in-hand with not moving enough air through his mouth. He has improved a lot with this, so we continue to work with him by encouraging him to use whistles and kazoos and to blow air through straws, etc.
His sign language has taken off, too! A few months ago he had maybe two or three regular signs that he used. Now he will sign (or at least try) any word we show him. Amazing!
Gross motor
Elijah is still working hard to walk independently. He uses his walker more willingly now and he cruises along furniture much more comfortably than he did even a few weeks ago. We still don't know the reason for his very low muscle tone and whether or not his tethered spinal cord surgery has been the reason for his recent improvements or if it will help him with his walking. We would like to think that the surgery has helped, but it's hard to say for sure.
The fact that he is steadily getting stronger is a promising sign. He is now climbing stairs like a monkey, and even going back down them on his own. He wasn't even close to climbing stairs a month ago, so this is another huge feat. He crawls around the house like crazy and he even has a funny half crawl/half walk thing he does sometimes. One thing that we noticed an immediate improvement on after his surgery in June was his willingness/ability to reach out of his immediate comfort zone to get things. This is something he refused to do before, but he was doing it freely within a week of his surgery. Releasing that tether must have made certain movements a lot more comfortable for him.
Social
Elijah's social skills are something I have spent a whole lot of time worrying about. Because of all of his hospital time and sick time he spent a lot of the first two years of his life with just us. Until recently, he has not done very well while in large groups of people, or even medium groups of people or small-to-medium groups of people. It's just something he wasn't used to, so it overwhelmed him.
About a year ago we found a daycare for him that we loved (and still love). It's a small home with a handful of kids for him to interact with. He has gone through some periods where he has been pretty uncomfortable at this daycare, even as recently as one month ago. Some days he wouldn't eat any food, or he wouldn't move from one spot, even though he was physically able to, or he would just seem out of sorts and overwhelmed.
We have learned that he is definitely a kid who needs a little nudging to be a part of social situations because without a nudge, he would be content spending the rest of his life with just Dan and me. Sometimes I feel bad for pushing him into situations that he isn't necessarily comfortable with, but ultimately we know this is the best thing for him. As we suspected it would, his daycare setting has given him confidence that Dan and I never could have given him on our own.
In the past few weeks a switch seems to have been flipped (his daycare provider's exact words) and he is a totally new man! He cruises everywhere, he has been eating and sleeping well and he is playing well and interacting with the other kids.
With that said, Elijah still does have a hard time in some social settings. In really large settings, like the Splash Park we went to last weekend, he still tends to get pretty overwhelmed. When he gets to the point of feeling like he isn't comfortable, he tends to stay in one spot (preferably close to me or Dan) and just observe his surroundings.
We are in the midst of his biggest developmental spurt yet--socially, physically and verbally. I cannot describe in words how wonderful this makes me feel. It is amazing!!!
Cardiac
We will be taking Elijah in for a heart check within the next month or so. The plan back in April (which could very well be different next month) was to do a heart cath this fall and open heart surgery (valve replacement) next spring.
Other
Elijah's weight is good. He lingered right around 27 pounds for almost a year, but recently he broke the 28-lb mark, so this is great. His height hasn't moved much within the past year either but we aren't too worried about that right now, especially with the recent genetic testing all coming back normal.
He is slowly getting past some of his texture issues. He is still pretty selective about putting anything with a unique color or texture in his mouth, but luckily there are a lot of foods he willingly eats. Overall, he is a very good eater. I always call him my little dairy man because he is totally head over heels for all dairy foods.
Potty training is on the horizon, but we haven't begun yet. I don't think he is 100% ready at the moment. We will give it a try this fall.
He still loves trucks, trains and his new recent love is airplanes. I don't know how this kid can hear planes as well as he does. It's pretty amazing. We'll be sitting inside with the doors shut and the air conditioner running while watching Thomas the Train and he will smile and do the sign for airplane and say "AAAyyyyyy!" I'll listen closely and sure enough, I'll hear the ever faintest hum of an airplane in the sky about a hundred miles away.
Elijah is still in PT (2x/week), speech (1-2x/week) and OT (1x/week) and we will be continuing this through the fall/winter, and hopefully beyond that as well. His name has been put into the drawing for receiving hippotherapy this fall, so we are hoping he is chosen!
We thank God every night for the health He has bestowed on Elijah this summer. It has been such a welcome, nice reprieve from the illness-ridden fall/winter/spring of 2008-2009. In a few weeks we will check to see if the Pneumovax booster helped to create the antibodies he was lacking during his immunity check in June. Please pray for this!
There is much more I could say about our precious boy, but I'll stop here. He is doing amazingly well in every arena and we are so thrilled about the huge spurt he is going through right now. We just love this little boy to pieces!!
We are so thrilled with the improvements in speech Elijah has made over the past few months. Four months ago he said maybe five words. Three months ago he said about 40 words. Now? He says a couple hundred different words. They are "his" version, of course, and Dan and I usually have to translate to others, but this is huge and very exciting. He even said his first two-word phrase the other day! He said, "Bye bye, Dada!"
His speech therapist just re-evaluated him and the results showed that he is basically caught up! I get little tears in my eyes writing those words because his language explosion has come as a huge and very pleasant surprise to us. He does still qualify for speech therapy, though, because he could use some help with saying the beginnings of words and making the words he says a little clearer in general. He is still using some nasal sounds to say some of his words and that goes hand-in-hand with not moving enough air through his mouth. He has improved a lot with this, so we continue to work with him by encouraging him to use whistles and kazoos and to blow air through straws, etc.
His sign language has taken off, too! A few months ago he had maybe two or three regular signs that he used. Now he will sign (or at least try) any word we show him. Amazing!
Gross motor
Elijah is still working hard to walk independently. He uses his walker more willingly now and he cruises along furniture much more comfortably than he did even a few weeks ago. We still don't know the reason for his very low muscle tone and whether or not his tethered spinal cord surgery has been the reason for his recent improvements or if it will help him with his walking. We would like to think that the surgery has helped, but it's hard to say for sure.
The fact that he is steadily getting stronger is a promising sign. He is now climbing stairs like a monkey, and even going back down them on his own. He wasn't even close to climbing stairs a month ago, so this is another huge feat. He crawls around the house like crazy and he even has a funny half crawl/half walk thing he does sometimes. One thing that we noticed an immediate improvement on after his surgery in June was his willingness/ability to reach out of his immediate comfort zone to get things. This is something he refused to do before, but he was doing it freely within a week of his surgery. Releasing that tether must have made certain movements a lot more comfortable for him.
Social
Elijah's social skills are something I have spent a whole lot of time worrying about. Because of all of his hospital time and sick time he spent a lot of the first two years of his life with just us. Until recently, he has not done very well while in large groups of people, or even medium groups of people or small-to-medium groups of people. It's just something he wasn't used to, so it overwhelmed him.
About a year ago we found a daycare for him that we loved (and still love). It's a small home with a handful of kids for him to interact with. He has gone through some periods where he has been pretty uncomfortable at this daycare, even as recently as one month ago. Some days he wouldn't eat any food, or he wouldn't move from one spot, even though he was physically able to, or he would just seem out of sorts and overwhelmed.
We have learned that he is definitely a kid who needs a little nudging to be a part of social situations because without a nudge, he would be content spending the rest of his life with just Dan and me. Sometimes I feel bad for pushing him into situations that he isn't necessarily comfortable with, but ultimately we know this is the best thing for him. As we suspected it would, his daycare setting has given him confidence that Dan and I never could have given him on our own.
In the past few weeks a switch seems to have been flipped (his daycare provider's exact words) and he is a totally new man! He cruises everywhere, he has been eating and sleeping well and he is playing well and interacting with the other kids.
With that said, Elijah still does have a hard time in some social settings. In really large settings, like the Splash Park we went to last weekend, he still tends to get pretty overwhelmed. When he gets to the point of feeling like he isn't comfortable, he tends to stay in one spot (preferably close to me or Dan) and just observe his surroundings.
We are in the midst of his biggest developmental spurt yet--socially, physically and verbally. I cannot describe in words how wonderful this makes me feel. It is amazing!!!
Cardiac
We will be taking Elijah in for a heart check within the next month or so. The plan back in April (which could very well be different next month) was to do a heart cath this fall and open heart surgery (valve replacement) next spring.
Other
Elijah's weight is good. He lingered right around 27 pounds for almost a year, but recently he broke the 28-lb mark, so this is great. His height hasn't moved much within the past year either but we aren't too worried about that right now, especially with the recent genetic testing all coming back normal.
He is slowly getting past some of his texture issues. He is still pretty selective about putting anything with a unique color or texture in his mouth, but luckily there are a lot of foods he willingly eats. Overall, he is a very good eater. I always call him my little dairy man because he is totally head over heels for all dairy foods.
Potty training is on the horizon, but we haven't begun yet. I don't think he is 100% ready at the moment. We will give it a try this fall.
He still loves trucks, trains and his new recent love is airplanes. I don't know how this kid can hear planes as well as he does. It's pretty amazing. We'll be sitting inside with the doors shut and the air conditioner running while watching Thomas the Train and he will smile and do the sign for airplane and say "AAAyyyyyy!" I'll listen closely and sure enough, I'll hear the ever faintest hum of an airplane in the sky about a hundred miles away.
Elijah is still in PT (2x/week), speech (1-2x/week) and OT (1x/week) and we will be continuing this through the fall/winter, and hopefully beyond that as well. His name has been put into the drawing for receiving hippotherapy this fall, so we are hoping he is chosen!
We thank God every night for the health He has bestowed on Elijah this summer. It has been such a welcome, nice reprieve from the illness-ridden fall/winter/spring of 2008-2009. In a few weeks we will check to see if the Pneumovax booster helped to create the antibodies he was lacking during his immunity check in June. Please pray for this!
There is much more I could say about our precious boy, but I'll stop here. He is doing amazingly well in every arena and we are so thrilled about the huge spurt he is going through right now. We just love this little boy to pieces!!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A couple cute moments to remember
In anticipation of my dad's side of the family's Family Reunion this coming weekend, I was looking through last year's photos from the same reunion and found this beautiful boy..
A couple quick stories from last night..
Elijah was "working" at his work bench outside, sawing things with his "aw," as I sat in a chair on the patio watching him play. He looked up at me suddenly and said, "Dada?" and then he offered me his hand and said, "Ock!" This is translated to: "Where is Daddy? Here, help me walk (ock!) so we can go find him." So I grabbed his hands and helped him walk over to the front door. He peered into the living room and called "Dada?" again, but Dan didn't answer. Elijah said, "Dada? Odge! (garage)" so we headed over to the gate at the edge of the patio so he could peek around into the garage. Dan wasn't there either, so I suggested maybe he was somewhere inside. Elijah told me "ock!" again, so we walked into the house as he continued to call for Dan. I said, "I think he might be in the kitchen!" so Elijah walked quickly toward the kitchen and started to giggle because he was so excited to find Dan. And in standard Elijah fashion, he was so happy upon seeing Dan (even though he had spent most of the day with him) that he erupted into silly excited squeals and giggles.
It was the cutest thing. The communication thing is very new for us, so it is exciting when Elijah tells us who or what he wants. Yesterday's quest for Dan was so sweet. His sweet little voice calling Daddy's name, his unbalanced steps scurrying around, his eagerness to see his daddy..
Then later, after Elijah's bath, I asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and watch a little Thomas the Train on tv before bed. Of course he got excited and started to sign PLEASE repeatedly. To make this sign, you rub the palm of your hand in a circular motion on your chest. So when I picked Elijah up to go downstairs he was still signing please, and then he reached over and signed it on my chest. I guess that must have meant pretty please?
A couple quick stories from last night..
Elijah was "working" at his work bench outside, sawing things with his "aw," as I sat in a chair on the patio watching him play. He looked up at me suddenly and said, "Dada?" and then he offered me his hand and said, "Ock!" This is translated to: "Where is Daddy? Here, help me walk (ock!) so we can go find him." So I grabbed his hands and helped him walk over to the front door. He peered into the living room and called "Dada?" again, but Dan didn't answer. Elijah said, "Dada? Odge! (garage)" so we headed over to the gate at the edge of the patio so he could peek around into the garage. Dan wasn't there either, so I suggested maybe he was somewhere inside. Elijah told me "ock!" again, so we walked into the house as he continued to call for Dan. I said, "I think he might be in the kitchen!" so Elijah walked quickly toward the kitchen and started to giggle because he was so excited to find Dan. And in standard Elijah fashion, he was so happy upon seeing Dan (even though he had spent most of the day with him) that he erupted into silly excited squeals and giggles.
It was the cutest thing. The communication thing is very new for us, so it is exciting when Elijah tells us who or what he wants. Yesterday's quest for Dan was so sweet. His sweet little voice calling Daddy's name, his unbalanced steps scurrying around, his eagerness to see his daddy..
Then later, after Elijah's bath, I asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and watch a little Thomas the Train on tv before bed. Of course he got excited and started to sign PLEASE repeatedly. To make this sign, you rub the palm of your hand in a circular motion on your chest. So when I picked Elijah up to go downstairs he was still signing please, and then he reached over and signed it on my chest. I guess that must have meant pretty please?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Communication is here!
While Dan was taking a picture of Elijah after his first proper bath in a long long time, he got very upset about not being allowed to play with the camera. Look at that face!
I have been meaning to write a post about Elijah's communication explosion in the past few weeks. He is saying and signing so many new things, and it has been very encouraging. He is still having a hard time getting a lot of air to move through his mouth, so he still says only the ends of words and many of them still are very nasal-sounding. He has an appointment with his ENT doctor next Tuesday to rule out palate deformities that could be causing some of these issues.
New signs: please, thank you, cracker, puppy, flower, car, airplane, boat.
New words: bug (he appears to like bugs and he does not get this from Mama), plant, dirt, light, car, cow, dog, walk, stuck, cat, map, mop, cup, slide, chalk, yak and the list goes on.. New words pop up every day.
Ohhhh pizza, I must eat you.
Yesterday I put Elijah in the wagon after dinner so we could go get the mail. It's our little thing we do every evening. When we walk down our driveway and turn to the left, we are heading toward the mailbox. When we turn to the right, we are heading toward the park. So when I turned left last night, he immediately got a grumpy-sad look on his face. He pointed behind him and said, "K0ck!" (I misspelled that on purpose to avoid icky google searches, and yes, that is exactly how he pronounces the word "park," and yes, it is a little weird when people in public stare at you because your child is saying that word repeatedly and very excitedly.) We eventually made it to the park and fulfilled his desire for swings and rocks and slides. Our boy is a true lover of the outdoors, and especially of parks.
We have had a really low-key and normal week, which has been nice! Dan works again this coming weekend, which is very good for our checkbook. Elijah and I have a few fun things planned, including possibly spending our first night at the dropzone this summer! We will see what other adventures lie ahead.
Thanks for checking in on our munchkin. We hope you all are having a great week!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Command V (or control V for windows users)
Last night was a really really good night. I'd like to copy and paste it onto every night for the entire month of April. Elijah did extremely well at PT/speech therapy. There were no tears for the first time in a very long time, he didn't protest anything, he used the walker willingly, he imitated sounds. I couldn't believe it! His therapists asked me where I put the real Elijah. We got home and the three of us had dinner together. There was no screaming and there were no timeouts. After dinner we played, watching a little Veggie Tales, read books, and Elijah went to bed like an angel (nothing new there). It was a good night.
At dinner I gave Elijah a bowl of sliced bananas after he gobbled down his spaghettios, veggies and oranges. I saw him moving his fingers around each other and then pointing at the bananas. He did it a few times before I realized what he was doing. He was doing the sign for BANANA! This is one of the more difficult signs we have taught him, and we haven't actually done the sign in ages, so again, the kid is messing with us big time.
Next Thursday Elijah will get molds taken of his legs and feet for his orthotics. I'm excited to get them made and on his little legs to see how it helps with his walking. He is making such great strides lately. I can practically taste having a child who can walk independently.
We don't have any plans set in stone for our weekend, which is a welcome change of pace for us. Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in on our monkey!
At dinner I gave Elijah a bowl of sliced bananas after he gobbled down his spaghettios, veggies and oranges. I saw him moving his fingers around each other and then pointing at the bananas. He did it a few times before I realized what he was doing. He was doing the sign for BANANA! This is one of the more difficult signs we have taught him, and we haven't actually done the sign in ages, so again, the kid is messing with us big time.
Next Thursday Elijah will get molds taken of his legs and feet for his orthotics. I'm excited to get them made and on his little legs to see how it helps with his walking. He is making such great strides lately. I can practically taste having a child who can walk independently.
We don't have any plans set in stone for our weekend, which is a welcome change of pace for us. Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in on our monkey!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Weekend pics
I have a couple fun things to report tonight. Elijah did the sign for MORE today when Dan was feeding him yogurt, his favorite. YAY! More signs! I came home for lunch to spend some time with him and I walked in the back door very quietly because I knew his OT was here and working with him. He still heard the door and knew it was me coming in, so he squealed endlessly. I don't think he has ever done that before. It made me feel so good. He was so much fun today. Lots of giggling and funny faces and babbling and playing. This is my favorite age so far. I love it. I just sit and watch him and cannot believe what a miracle he is. And so handsome and funny, too!
Dan's mom took me to Kohls tonight and bought me a bunch of new clothes for my birthday, which is on Wednesday. Thank you, Kitty!! I rarely buy new clothes for myself because I always seem to find better ways to spend my money, so this is a huge thing for me. I'm already feeling spoiled and it's not even my birthday yet. By the way, I'm going to be OLD this year. This is the first year I've felt like I'm saying goodbye to my youth. :(
Grizzly bears playing at the zoo. It was a bit unnerving when they ran toward the glass that we were standing right next to at 20 mph.
BIG bear
Mama, can we get a bear?
Cute Jetson, loving everything he saw!
Fishies! Elijah actually started doing the sign for FISH while we were at the zoo. I think the signs are going to start coming quickly now.
Even with his hair cut short, it's still poofy and curly. I love it. It has body!
Dan's mom took me to Kohls tonight and bought me a bunch of new clothes for my birthday, which is on Wednesday. Thank you, Kitty!! I rarely buy new clothes for myself because I always seem to find better ways to spend my money, so this is a huge thing for me. I'm already feeling spoiled and it's not even my birthday yet. By the way, I'm going to be OLD this year. This is the first year I've felt like I'm saying goodbye to my youth. :(
Grizzly bears playing at the zoo. It was a bit unnerving when they ran toward the glass that we were standing right next to at 20 mph.
BIG bear
Mama, can we get a bear?
Cute Jetson, loving everything he saw!
Fishies! Elijah actually started doing the sign for FISH while we were at the zoo. I think the signs are going to start coming quickly now.
Even with his hair cut short, it's still poofy and curly. I love it. It has body!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Growing man
I felt pretty yucky for most of the weekend, so I headed back to the hospital on Sunday. My xray showed no indication of an obstruction being present, so that was good news. Now if only I could start feeling a little bit better. They didn't see a need to keep me there, thankfully, so I'm back at work today. This coming weekend I'm planning on meeting my favorite girls in the world in Okoboji for some much-needed girl time (thanks Julie and Virg for letting us stay at your beautiful house on the lake!), so I'm praying that I feel 100% by then.
Within the past week or two, Elijah has gotten really feisty and assertive. I think he's letting us know who he is as a person and trying to communicate more. We have heard high-pitched screams that we've never heard before and he is not shy about letting us know if he is unhappy about something. Dan and I often find ourselves looking at each other like, What is he doing? What happened to our sweet baby? Although sometimes frustrating, it is fun to see him grow into his own unique little person.
We're still working with him on signing and talking, but he hasn't made a whole lot of progress. He knows the signs for ALL DONE and MILK like a champ, but that's about it. When I ask him to say "Daddy," he usually says, "Ba. Ba." He sometimes says "Mama" correctly. A lot of the time, both words come out as "Mamba" or "Bamba." It's cute because he always looks so proud of himself.
We are making great strides in gross motor development, though! He is still crying his head off when we make him get to a toy on his own, but he will usually scooch over to it through the tears.
In the past week, he has started pointing his finger at things he wants, giggling at the puppies he sees in the neighborhood, chugging his juice/water from his sippy cup (finally!), taking 2-hour naps (finally!) and throwing the food that he doesn't like onto the floor. Every week brings new, fun things. I love it!
Within the past week or two, Elijah has gotten really feisty and assertive. I think he's letting us know who he is as a person and trying to communicate more. We have heard high-pitched screams that we've never heard before and he is not shy about letting us know if he is unhappy about something. Dan and I often find ourselves looking at each other like, What is he doing? What happened to our sweet baby? Although sometimes frustrating, it is fun to see him grow into his own unique little person.
We're still working with him on signing and talking, but he hasn't made a whole lot of progress. He knows the signs for ALL DONE and MILK like a champ, but that's about it. When I ask him to say "Daddy," he usually says, "Ba. Ba." He sometimes says "Mama" correctly. A lot of the time, both words come out as "Mamba" or "Bamba." It's cute because he always looks so proud of himself.
We are making great strides in gross motor development, though! He is still crying his head off when we make him get to a toy on his own, but he will usually scooch over to it through the tears.
In the past week, he has started pointing his finger at things he wants, giggling at the puppies he sees in the neighborhood, chugging his juice/water from his sippy cup (finally!), taking 2-hour naps (finally!) and throwing the food that he doesn't like onto the floor. Every week brings new, fun things. I love it!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Back to the cath lab
We are set for a March 27th heart cath with Dr. Gremmels. This will be Elijah's fourth heart cath! Dr. G will just be checking the pressures in his heart and taking pictures. No actual work will be done this time (we hope), so we probably won't even have to spend the night in the hospital (we hope).
I can't believe we are on the road to surgery. It's a scary road to be on, as we've been dreading this for quite a long time now, but in a way it feels good. Soon surgery #2 will be behind us!
On another note, we are in the process of doing some transitioning from bottles to sippy cups and from baby food to big people food. Elijah seems totally bored with the bottle lately, but he doesn't have the hang of the sippy cup yet. It's a bit frustrating. He will drink his bottle for a few chugs and then he'll start playing with it or he will just chew on the nipple and not drink from it. It takes forever to get a whole bottle into his belly. I guess I'm not entirely sure how this whole transition is supposed to happen. Hopefully Dr. Snook can shed some light at Eli's 1-year well visit next week. When it comes to solid foods, though, he eats like a little piggy. He loves cottage cheese more than anything in the world. If we have the cottage cheese container anywhere in sight while he is eating something else, he totally freaks out and needs the cottage cheese NOW.
We are still working with him on sign language. He doesn't do the signs consistently yet, but for the past two days, he will usually do the sign for "all done" if I say it out loud. Cute! Things are clicking in that sweet head of his! And as for his tummy time, HE STILL WON'T DO IT. Every once in a while he'll roll to his tummy on his own and stay there for a bit, but if we try to help him roll he will usually refuse it. He knows we're trying to make him do work. Smartypants Mr. Leisure! His leg strength is improving ever so slowly. He cannot stand on his own yet. We're getting there! Baby steps.
I can't believe we are on the road to surgery. It's a scary road to be on, as we've been dreading this for quite a long time now, but in a way it feels good. Soon surgery #2 will be behind us!
On another note, we are in the process of doing some transitioning from bottles to sippy cups and from baby food to big people food. Elijah seems totally bored with the bottle lately, but he doesn't have the hang of the sippy cup yet. It's a bit frustrating. He will drink his bottle for a few chugs and then he'll start playing with it or he will just chew on the nipple and not drink from it. It takes forever to get a whole bottle into his belly. I guess I'm not entirely sure how this whole transition is supposed to happen. Hopefully Dr. Snook can shed some light at Eli's 1-year well visit next week. When it comes to solid foods, though, he eats like a little piggy. He loves cottage cheese more than anything in the world. If we have the cottage cheese container anywhere in sight while he is eating something else, he totally freaks out and needs the cottage cheese NOW.
We are still working with him on sign language. He doesn't do the signs consistently yet, but for the past two days, he will usually do the sign for "all done" if I say it out loud. Cute! Things are clicking in that sweet head of his! And as for his tummy time, HE STILL WON'T DO IT. Every once in a while he'll roll to his tummy on his own and stay there for a bit, but if we try to help him roll he will usually refuse it. He knows we're trying to make him do work. Smartypants Mr. Leisure! His leg strength is improving ever so slowly. He cannot stand on his own yet. We're getting there! Baby steps.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
More more more
I know I already posted today, but I have to brag about something, so you have to deal with me one more time. We have been letting Elijah watch Baby Signing Time videos for a few months now. We really want him to learn sign language so we can communicate with him before he can talk. He looooooves the videos. He smiles and giggles and dances and is in total baby heaven every time we let him watch them. So tonight I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and Elijah was sitting in his high chair munching on some Cheerios. I started singing one of his favorite BST songs called More More More. In the middle of singing, I looked over and saw our smartypants boy doing the sign for MORE! I started squealing and clapping and yelling YAY ELIJAH! He looked at me like WHAT MOM?! OF COURSE I CAN DO THIS.
I love it!
I love it!
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