Monthly survey:
1. How old is baby? He's 18 months and 2 weeks.
2. Stats:
a. Weight: He wouldn't let the nurse weigh him. Before they called us all he wanted to do was play with he scale (we were in the back waiting room). Anyway, he was 30 pounds last week, so we'll go with that.
b. Height: 33 inches.
c. Clothes size: Definitely 2t/24 month. Hoping that will last all summer.
d. Diaper size: Size large for cloth, though in my GMD prefolds I'm going to buy extra large soon. Size 6for sposies, which we use for daycare.
e. Hair color: it's turning more strawberry blonde.
f. Eye color: Finally decided on hazel gray/green.
g. Anything else?
3. Milestones:
a. Teething: Still 18. His gums still seem swollen and he occasionally stuffs things way back there but it doesn't look like the 2 year old molars will be appearing any time soon.
b. Talking: I tried counting them all yesterday, it's 55-60. It can be hard to count because he'll parrot our words a lot too. So if we say to him "Can you say yogurt" and he says "yogurt" that doesn't technicallly count but if he calls it "yogurt" then it does. But it's not like he says 60 words all day long, some of them don't come up very often, or get replaced by newer words that he loves to use and show off. Right now that word is "no-no!!" Also a big change since last month: he says help versus fussing or signing please 90% of the time!
He understands lots of other words thoughs. And it's not like he will come up and ask for an egg or anything. But he will say it if he sees it in his alphabet book. Best thing is fish to him means fishie kisses! So I get those when we read that book!
c. Rolling: He likes to roll around in our bed now.
d. Walking: Walking and running pro now! He's getting really fast!
e. Crawling: He doesn't do it very often anymore.
f. Anything else? He will sing songs on his own, and try to sing with us to ones he knows like "Je La" is Jesus Loves Me.
4. Things he likes:
a. Toys: Grandad recently got him a sandbox, he has a pool, toy lawn mower. He still plays with other toys but honestly, I need to go through them and find some things that are more challenging for him. In the mean time his favorite thing is the broom and vacuum.
b. Books: He loves his alphabet book, his Mickey mouse light and sound book, his trucks book
c. TV Shows: He likes Mickey Mouse.
d. Music: Still loves to sing and dance! Singing can cure about 95% of the crankiness. And now he can reach the pump organ with one hand and actually press the pedal with his foot and make sound come out all on his own. We really need to get a piano/keyboard for him!
5. Things he dislikes: Most foods. He's suddenly got very picky. Tonight was the first night in 2 weeks that dinner wasn't a battle. Mom didn't give him snack so he was pretty hungry I guess. Interesting thing is that it was left overs from Wednesday, which he threw all over the ground. So, I guess time made it tastier? The problem really is that he suddenly has preferences but not a way to express them. If only he could say "Mother, tonight I'm in the mood for chicken, not ham. And the lima beans please!"
6. Sleeping: His bed time is now 8 pm. The problem is that most day care days he needs to get up at 6:30. Well, 7 now that he's not nursing. There have been a few nights when he didn't go to sleep right away and stayed up chatting in the crib and was really tired in the morning. He's in the "almost 2's" room at day care now and they nap on a mat on the floor and apparently he's doing really well with that!
7. Eating: See above. I was right about self-weaning. This Monday he refused to nurse and didn't want much breakfast. I decided to try the "don't offer, don't refuse" route on Tuesday and haven't looked back. He hasn't asked for it at all. For weeks before hand he'd barely nurse in the morning, his only feeding. Honestly, I could have probably weaned him without a problem a few months ago, but I wasn't ready. I'm glad it was so easy!! I hope it is for the next one(s)!!
8. Nicknames: I don't think this section changes ever, let alone monthly, not sure why it's in here!
9. Things we’re looking forward to next month: Warmer weather so enjoying the pool! Both at home and across town. Walks in the morning or evening. Playing in the sand box! Playing outside in general. Maybe a visit with Aunt Cindy in VA Beach.
10. How I like motherhood:
a. Likes: Love it! I love his personality. It's great seeing some of the best of me in him.
b. Dislikes: I wish I had more time with him. Even when I'm not working there's so much to do and I wish I could just sit and play with him more. But then when I try he's in more of an independent play stage so I just end up watching him. It makes me miss my little baby and wonder where the time went! I worry about the future a lot more now. I feel like I always have to think ahead. Things that are so second nature to me clearly aren't to others seeing as how they don't see how it could potentially go wrong. Not only is it exhausting to constantly be thinking like that but also it's frustrating to feel let down by others and/or that they can't do things "right." Doug for example is great with Teddy at home, but he's seldom gone on an errand with him alone (as in only once and that was last month). He just doesn't think ahead to being gone during snack time, needing diapers and entertainment. Trying to do errands without getting in and out of the car a thousand times (pay for gas at the pump, drive through at the bank etc.) The other day I was sick and also had a follow up appointment for Teddy and asked my mom to help. She brought a magazine in and kept checking her cell phone. Yeah....that's not really helping with a toddler in a room full of no-no's!! So basically, I'm reaching a stage where it's becoming a strain on my other relationships more than a strain on me....guesss that's confidence?
Friday, May 25, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Things are looking up
It's no secret the last several months have been ridiculously hard on us. Like just too many things adding up at once. There have been very few days when the three of us have all been happy and healthy at once since Christmas. But especially Teddy with the ear infections. He would just be so fussy and annoyed all day long.
He had tube surgery on May 3rd and literally by later that evening was like a new kid! He was happy and playing by himself. The surgery itself was super fast and easy. Teddy was a little crazy with the effects of anesthesia. I let him nurse and that helped a lot. I think he just needed something comforting while it worked off. By the time we got home it's like he never even had surgery.
The next day I went ahead to work since he was feeling so great and my mom watched him. He felt a little warm before I left but didn't have a fever and had been running around so I thought nothing of it. When I got home my mom said that he had a low fever that afternoon. It seemed like he wasn't feeling near as well 36 hours after the surgery than he was even 12 hours after. I asked my boss about it (I work for the ENT who did the surgery) and they said that it was unlikely a fever that far out from the surgery was related. It of course is possible for him to get another ear infection but he would have had other signs, which he didn't. He slept fine that night.
Saturday during the day he seemed good until 5 pm. He had just had his bath, we were eating dinner and getting ready for church when Doug noticed a rash on his hands, feet and around his mouth. He had been exposed to Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease at daycare, so we knew this was a possibility. We didn't go to church and I called his family doctor on call that evening. I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't anything that he could benefit from having a definite diagnosis earlier than Monday because the office doesn't have Sunday hours. He said given what I said it's probably HFM but even if it's chicken pox, while there would be things we could do to help moreso with that, it would be fine to wait until Monday.
Sunday the rash had spread up his legs and then eventually on his trunk and some on his back. My SIL came over to visit and said she thought it was chicken pox, as did my mother. When Teddy was born I chose to do a delayed vaccination schedule. I just wasn't comfortable with him getting 6 shots at once and in case he had a reaction it would be difficult to access which it was to. Since I was a stay at home mom I had no qualms. When we put him in day care I decided to catch him up because I have to show all of his immunizations anyway and I'm not his only care giver. Well, he's still behind on some things, such has he hasn't had his chicken pox vaccination yet. I honestly wouldn't freak out if he got it. I'm on the fence about it. My grandmother had shingles (a virus that is common in older people who have been previously infected with the chicken pox) and it was terrible for her. He may be 60 before he gets it and who knows if I'll be alive but I'd still like to avoid my "baby" being in that sort of pain. At the same time....people get it and they don't die from it. Though I suppose that could be said for most vaccines these days. Very few people would die of the infections because of our medical standards in a Western nation. But if I can prevent it and much smarter people than me have suggested it's worth doing than I'll defer to them.
Anyway.....we got him checked on Monday. I was at work and my mom brought him. I was supposed to leave in just enough time for the appointment but my mom got there a few minutes early and they took him back right away (probably because it was possible he had chicken pox) and by the time I even left the office he was done. The doctor said it was just a normal viral rash and he could go back to daycare the next day.
The rest of the week was uneventful. Until the weekend. I had been on antibiotics for a sinus infection and still breastfeed once a day. Teddy ended up with a yeast infection and was craaaaanky!
Sunday I ended up with some kind of upset stomach.
Wednesday, May 16th we were in the ER because Teddy dislocated his elbow!! It's called Nursemaid's Elbow and is apparently quite common. It must have happened at daycare though the teacher isn't exactly sure how/when. It commonly happens when a child is holding an adult's hand and then suddenly sits down or stumbles and the adult yanks to balance the child. When I picked him up that afternoon they had said he was really listless after his nap but no fever or any reason why. Same for us that evening. He fussed anytime he moved basically and wouldn't eat but did play a little and we saw him move that arm. He went to sleep no problem at his usual time but woke up at 2:30. He was actually just fussing, not even steady fussing and not crying. But it's my policy to check on him when I know he's not feeling well. It made me very uneasy that I knew he didn't feel well but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. When I got to him he was laying instead of standing. His left arm was sprawled out and his fingers just a bit between the mattress and the crib. He was fussing like his fingers were stuck, but they weren't. He was moving the right side of his body, but not the left. He wailed when I picked him up and his left arm was entirely limp. It really freaked me out. Doug and I both kept trying to get him to move his arm but he wouldn't. Every time we did he cried. He asked to play with a ball and had problems balancing and I was worried there was something neurological going on so we brought out a book but he was able to name things in it so that made us feel better. Finally we saw him move his left arm just a bit so we knew he at least had control over it but simply didn't want to move it because it hurt. All this and getting dressed took about 45 minutes and we headed to the ER. There was very little wait and we were in and out in 2.5 hours! There was a psycho guy next to us though. After getting the elbow back in place he still didn't want to move it so we followed up with an x-ray just to be safe. Everything looked fine and we went home. It took until much later Thursday afternoon for him to really use the arm at all, and even now he still protects it some. Poor baby!!! We got home after 6 am, by the way.
Friday was his follow up appointment with his primary care doctor to check his elbow, everything looked great. It was the second time in 2 hours we were at the office because I woke up that morning with pink eye!! Feeling much better now but it made for a long day to go to the doctor's office twice in one morning and then I had to spend the rest of the morning running quick errands (like cashing a check after running around trying to locate it) and then the pharmacy.
I'll be honest. I thought after getting Teddy's tubes, that it would be a quick fix it and everything would be better. I thought if we could just hold out until then! And then the rash came, and my stomach and the elbow. Earlier in the week I had been talking to a friend and she said that it seemed like we had been through so much! While I totally agree, I've finally made "this too shall pass" be my mantra. So it's been awhile since we've been healthy and able to make it to church....but this too shall pass. I've been a believer for 16 years, I'm firm in my faith, this time span is barely a drop in the bucket compared to that.
So we finally got to church tonight and it was amazing! The sermon was great, and I know so because I actually got to hear the whole entire thing!!!!!!!!!!!! We finally found someone we were able to swap seats with so I could get up as often as needed with Teddy but I only had to take him out twice. Once during song service when he pooped, so I changed his diaper and gave him a snack and once after the sermon because he wanted to be loud during the prayer line. That's right, he played nicely for the whole sermon. I don't expect it to be this way for most days, or even ever again, really but it was so nice!! He can entertain himself at home between various activities and seldom needs/wants me involved but obviously he has a lot more space and can make more noise. But this was really nice. We won't make it tomorrow because we've got a friend's wedding as well as next Saturday but I'm hopeful about next Sunday then. He stayed up 2 hours past his bed time (we've successfully pushed it to 7:30-8 now) and wasn't insane. I'm really just beyond thrilled with this! Also, apparently he is really good at coloring now. Last time I tried with him he could barely put enough pressure on the page to make a color appear and it just annoyed him, so it's been weeks. I'm not sure if it was daycare or my mom...but he got practice in somewhere! He will hold a crayon in both hands. He won't color at the same time, but it will be funny when he figures it out.
Next post will be after his 18 month appointment. I'm not sure why when I scheduled it after his 15 month one they had to make it 2 months after he turns 18 months but whatever. I do know that Friday his weight at the office was 30 pounds, but Thursday at the ER they said 28.1. I wonder which scale is more correct? We'll see how tall he is! He's definitely in 2T stuff now. One day he woke up and his 18 month pants were way too short and it was too cold for shorts so I had to go and buy several pairs of 2t pants for him. I'm worried about the fall/winter! I hope he won't be in 3T by then. Supposedly growth is supposed to slow down but I'll bet you $1,000 he'll be in 3T long before his third birthday. Ideally I'd like it to be next spring. Then these pants I just bought (for the random week of 60 degree weather which has now returned to 80) can last through the fall/winter too.
He had tube surgery on May 3rd and literally by later that evening was like a new kid! He was happy and playing by himself. The surgery itself was super fast and easy. Teddy was a little crazy with the effects of anesthesia. I let him nurse and that helped a lot. I think he just needed something comforting while it worked off. By the time we got home it's like he never even had surgery.
The next day I went ahead to work since he was feeling so great and my mom watched him. He felt a little warm before I left but didn't have a fever and had been running around so I thought nothing of it. When I got home my mom said that he had a low fever that afternoon. It seemed like he wasn't feeling near as well 36 hours after the surgery than he was even 12 hours after. I asked my boss about it (I work for the ENT who did the surgery) and they said that it was unlikely a fever that far out from the surgery was related. It of course is possible for him to get another ear infection but he would have had other signs, which he didn't. He slept fine that night.
Saturday during the day he seemed good until 5 pm. He had just had his bath, we were eating dinner and getting ready for church when Doug noticed a rash on his hands, feet and around his mouth. He had been exposed to Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease at daycare, so we knew this was a possibility. We didn't go to church and I called his family doctor on call that evening. I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't anything that he could benefit from having a definite diagnosis earlier than Monday because the office doesn't have Sunday hours. He said given what I said it's probably HFM but even if it's chicken pox, while there would be things we could do to help moreso with that, it would be fine to wait until Monday.
Sunday the rash had spread up his legs and then eventually on his trunk and some on his back. My SIL came over to visit and said she thought it was chicken pox, as did my mother. When Teddy was born I chose to do a delayed vaccination schedule. I just wasn't comfortable with him getting 6 shots at once and in case he had a reaction it would be difficult to access which it was to. Since I was a stay at home mom I had no qualms. When we put him in day care I decided to catch him up because I have to show all of his immunizations anyway and I'm not his only care giver. Well, he's still behind on some things, such has he hasn't had his chicken pox vaccination yet. I honestly wouldn't freak out if he got it. I'm on the fence about it. My grandmother had shingles (a virus that is common in older people who have been previously infected with the chicken pox) and it was terrible for her. He may be 60 before he gets it and who knows if I'll be alive but I'd still like to avoid my "baby" being in that sort of pain. At the same time....people get it and they don't die from it. Though I suppose that could be said for most vaccines these days. Very few people would die of the infections because of our medical standards in a Western nation. But if I can prevent it and much smarter people than me have suggested it's worth doing than I'll defer to them.
Anyway.....we got him checked on Monday. I was at work and my mom brought him. I was supposed to leave in just enough time for the appointment but my mom got there a few minutes early and they took him back right away (probably because it was possible he had chicken pox) and by the time I even left the office he was done. The doctor said it was just a normal viral rash and he could go back to daycare the next day.
The rest of the week was uneventful. Until the weekend. I had been on antibiotics for a sinus infection and still breastfeed once a day. Teddy ended up with a yeast infection and was craaaaanky!
Sunday I ended up with some kind of upset stomach.
Wednesday, May 16th we were in the ER because Teddy dislocated his elbow!! It's called Nursemaid's Elbow and is apparently quite common. It must have happened at daycare though the teacher isn't exactly sure how/when. It commonly happens when a child is holding an adult's hand and then suddenly sits down or stumbles and the adult yanks to balance the child. When I picked him up that afternoon they had said he was really listless after his nap but no fever or any reason why. Same for us that evening. He fussed anytime he moved basically and wouldn't eat but did play a little and we saw him move that arm. He went to sleep no problem at his usual time but woke up at 2:30. He was actually just fussing, not even steady fussing and not crying. But it's my policy to check on him when I know he's not feeling well. It made me very uneasy that I knew he didn't feel well but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. When I got to him he was laying instead of standing. His left arm was sprawled out and his fingers just a bit between the mattress and the crib. He was fussing like his fingers were stuck, but they weren't. He was moving the right side of his body, but not the left. He wailed when I picked him up and his left arm was entirely limp. It really freaked me out. Doug and I both kept trying to get him to move his arm but he wouldn't. Every time we did he cried. He asked to play with a ball and had problems balancing and I was worried there was something neurological going on so we brought out a book but he was able to name things in it so that made us feel better. Finally we saw him move his left arm just a bit so we knew he at least had control over it but simply didn't want to move it because it hurt. All this and getting dressed took about 45 minutes and we headed to the ER. There was very little wait and we were in and out in 2.5 hours! There was a psycho guy next to us though. After getting the elbow back in place he still didn't want to move it so we followed up with an x-ray just to be safe. Everything looked fine and we went home. It took until much later Thursday afternoon for him to really use the arm at all, and even now he still protects it some. Poor baby!!! We got home after 6 am, by the way.
Friday was his follow up appointment with his primary care doctor to check his elbow, everything looked great. It was the second time in 2 hours we were at the office because I woke up that morning with pink eye!! Feeling much better now but it made for a long day to go to the doctor's office twice in one morning and then I had to spend the rest of the morning running quick errands (like cashing a check after running around trying to locate it) and then the pharmacy.
I'll be honest. I thought after getting Teddy's tubes, that it would be a quick fix it and everything would be better. I thought if we could just hold out until then! And then the rash came, and my stomach and the elbow. Earlier in the week I had been talking to a friend and she said that it seemed like we had been through so much! While I totally agree, I've finally made "this too shall pass" be my mantra. So it's been awhile since we've been healthy and able to make it to church....but this too shall pass. I've been a believer for 16 years, I'm firm in my faith, this time span is barely a drop in the bucket compared to that.
So we finally got to church tonight and it was amazing! The sermon was great, and I know so because I actually got to hear the whole entire thing!!!!!!!!!!!! We finally found someone we were able to swap seats with so I could get up as often as needed with Teddy but I only had to take him out twice. Once during song service when he pooped, so I changed his diaper and gave him a snack and once after the sermon because he wanted to be loud during the prayer line. That's right, he played nicely for the whole sermon. I don't expect it to be this way for most days, or even ever again, really but it was so nice!! He can entertain himself at home between various activities and seldom needs/wants me involved but obviously he has a lot more space and can make more noise. But this was really nice. We won't make it tomorrow because we've got a friend's wedding as well as next Saturday but I'm hopeful about next Sunday then. He stayed up 2 hours past his bed time (we've successfully pushed it to 7:30-8 now) and wasn't insane. I'm really just beyond thrilled with this! Also, apparently he is really good at coloring now. Last time I tried with him he could barely put enough pressure on the page to make a color appear and it just annoyed him, so it's been weeks. I'm not sure if it was daycare or my mom...but he got practice in somewhere! He will hold a crayon in both hands. He won't color at the same time, but it will be funny when he figures it out.
Next post will be after his 18 month appointment. I'm not sure why when I scheduled it after his 15 month one they had to make it 2 months after he turns 18 months but whatever. I do know that Friday his weight at the office was 30 pounds, but Thursday at the ER they said 28.1. I wonder which scale is more correct? We'll see how tall he is! He's definitely in 2T stuff now. One day he woke up and his 18 month pants were way too short and it was too cold for shorts so I had to go and buy several pairs of 2t pants for him. I'm worried about the fall/winter! I hope he won't be in 3T by then. Supposedly growth is supposed to slow down but I'll bet you $1,000 he'll be in 3T long before his third birthday. Ideally I'd like it to be next spring. Then these pants I just bought (for the random week of 60 degree weather which has now returned to 80) can last through the fall/winter too.
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