My mother-in-law says there's no such thing as too smart. I tend to agree. Here's the deal. Yesterday, the Early Intervention teacher, Emily did her bi-weekly visit (which is going to start being weekly to socialize Gavin more.) She said he did well, and she was impressed that he could make a few animal sounds, and was able to do her shape puzzle quite quickly. When she had him stack blocks (she was happy that he could stack 7 before they fell), he recognized the letter "P" on one of them, and said the letter. So I found a letter on another block (I think it was Q) and asked him what that one was. Emily asked me if he could identify the whole alphabet. I said yes, pretty much. I did forget to tell her that he gets a couple letters confused sometimes, like calling "N" as "Z", but still. I figure that's common. So I picked up another block with a number on it, and asked him what that number was. I told Emily that he could MOSTLY count to 8, with help, but got stuck on that number since it seems to be his favorite! I thought she'd be happy that he's catching up to his actual age, since they stopped adjusting for his prematurity a few months ago. (Btw, his speaking skills have just skyrocketed in the last month, since he really started talking! I still can't understand a lot of what he says, but he says very definite phrases to tell me what he's done, and sometimes what he wants.)
So Emily seemed impressed that he basically knew the alphabet (he can recognize the letters, and can say some of them without repeating them after us.) When she went to leave, she said "I know we've talked about this before, but have you thought any more about having him tested for autism?" I said that no, I had asked a doctor about it a month ago and mentioned her concerns, and they said that no, even though Gavin did do something she had mentioned as a red flag for autism (it was something to do with jumping or dancing or something), they didn't see any indication that he had it. Now, Emily has probably been here for 10 visits or so. NICU follow-up has only seen him 3 times, but each visit is a couple of hours long, so I think he's seem them for about as many hours as Emily has, and they didn't think there was anything to worry about. So she continued "It's not typical, not unheard of, but not typical, for a 2 year old to identify the alphabet and numbers." So we talked for a couple more minutes, then she left.
SO, before, they thought he might have autism because he didn't socialize with us as much sometimes, and wasn't at all interested in imitating us (I suppose there were other reasons too, but those are all I know.) NOW, all he wants to do is talk up a storm, and imitate every sound we make sometimes, and she thinks he may have autism because of that! Yes, he knows the letters, and is quite good at recognizing most of them. But first of all, he's not really 2. If you stop adjusting for prematurity, he'll be 2 1/2 next month. I bet a lot of 2 1/2 year old kids can recognize SOME of the alphabet. He stays home with me, every day. EVERY day. He doesn't go play with other kids (I was hoping to put him in an ECFE class this summer but apparently they don't have the money to do a summer program. I was really disappointed, because I figured I could socialize him that way, since we don't really know people with kids here!) Anyway, what else do we have to do while we're home? He plays, we read, he learns letters. At this age, they're just more shapes. There might be other things that he doesn't know that other kids his age do. I figure it's just more of him focusing on one area of development. He has plenty of time each day to work on letters, so he does, at least a couple of times a day. He's interested in it, so I'm going to teach him.
The alphabet has helped him be interested in talking, so of course I'm going to keep up teaching it to him and working on it with him. Plus, recognizing letters has opened up a WHOLE NEW WORLD to Gavin apparently. He LOVES going to the store and being able to recognize "X" in the exit signs. So it keeps him interested in talking, we really praise him for it, and I figure you can't learn to read until you recognize the letters. He's having fun. Does that make him autistic?
So, can you be too smart for your age? If you're ahead of your peers in something like that, does that automatically make you autistic? Or does it just means he has a parent that spends a lot of time with him working on things, trying desperately to make sure he doesn't fall behind. Apparently my best efforts are not rewarded, if they get people thinking he has autism, instead of just "catching up!"
Maybe he's just a smart boy. He DOES come from quite intelligent families, so why is it hard to believe he could just be learning the alphabet because he gets a lot of praise for it, and it is kind of interesting to him, and maybe he's just smart.
Anyway. Enough of a rant. That's the deal. I mentioned it to Terry, who insisted he didn't think Gavin had autism either, but if his teacher thinks so, I don't know if that's enough to warrant testing him or not, since NOBODY else thinks he does.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
phone calls
About a week ago, Gavin had his first real conversation on the phone. WITH someone on the other line! I was talking to my mother and went to say "Bye", when Gavin started to say "Bye" (he can hear me winding down the conversation and knows when I'm about to hang up by the change in my voice apparently.) So instead of hanging up, I put the phone up to his ear and said to say "Hi." My mother spoke to him and he responded "hi" and then said a couple short sentences, none of which I understood. But he clearly was talking to her. What he used to do, is grab the phone and have "conversations" when the phone wasn't on, but wouldn't speak or anything when anyone was on the other line. But apparently that has changed. Maybe he felt left out that I was talking on the phone, and he wanted to see what the big deal was!
I repeated the experiment the next day with my mother-in-law, and got him to say "hi" and "bye" to her a couple of times, so now he has spoken to each of his grandmas on the phone. YAY!
I repeated the experiment the next day with my mother-in-law, and got him to say "hi" and "bye" to her a couple of times, so now he has spoken to each of his grandmas on the phone. YAY!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
May= Verbal Month (started in late April, but close enough to May!)
Hmmm...where to start? Let's see, I forgot to mention that we haven't been using Gavin's pulse oximeter nightly like we were. We haven't put it on him for over a month, and he seems to be doing fine at night without it. Probably because he comes into our room every night anyway! After Gavin learned that he could climb out of his crib on his own, he started coming into our room to sleep when he'd wake up. We finally switched him to a toddler bed to make it safer at least, when he climbs out. But he's been waking up and coming in with us every night for the last few weeks. Always around the same time of the night (2:30-4:30 am), so I'm not sure what wakes him up at that time each night, but I sure wish he'd sleep in his own room all night at least sometimes!
Ok, now to the fun stuff. Gavin has finally decided he wants to talk. A lot. Which is awesome! But it's taking me a while to catch up to his talking, so I don't understand a fair amount of what he says at this time. But it's coming. His speech is getting more clear, and I'm able to figure out some of it anyway! He decided that he liked the alphabet letters, so wanted to work on those. And street signs (like Stop signs.) I'm not sure which thing started him, but the alphabet interested him enough, so he started saying the letters. He can now say almost all of the letters, although not in order yet. But he just loves singing along to the alphabet song. He can also count to 6, on his own (in order), sometimes says 7, but sometimes just jumps to 8, which is apparently his favorite number. In any case, to quote his Early Intervention teacher, "his speech has just exploded in the last few weeks." He is talking SO MUCH! And he literally didn't say anything before that. Every now and then, a "Mama" or "Dada", but nothing else. By the way, "Dada" has turned into "Daddee", and "Mama" into "Bahbee" for some reason. And he calls himself "Gabee" right now. Guess he's just learning how to say that sound on the end of words. I don't really care--it's cute! Plus, one of these days, "Bahbee" will turn into "Mommy", hopefully!
He started coming up to us and saying "Hey". We both think it's cute, but Terry especially likes it, especially when he did it in the middle of the night (as he was walking up to our bed, trying to climb in it.) He has said "Hey baby" to me a couple of times, which I also think is cute. Some of the stuff he's saying, he is imitating what he's heard us say (like "hey baby"), but other stuff he is making up himself, like he should be at this age. (Stuff like when he said today "I try to read", and when he can use adjectives in conjunction with the noun, like saying "red" in addition to "car", to get "red car".) We're just so pleased with desire to communicate now, and he's doing really pretty well with it!
He had the Baylee test at the NICU follow-up last month, and he came up with being right about where he should be with all of the sections, except for expressive language (talking). That is what he has gotten so much better at in the last few weeks. Besides, his expressive language gets grouped into receptive language (what he understands), and that pulled his score up, so he was only a few months behind on his language skills from where they wanted him to be.
Early Intervention was here last week, and they will be working on that with him this summer, along with sensory stuff with him to see if we can get him farther ahead, and be more tolerant of different sensory experiences (touching different things.) They discussed about whether or not we would be able to pay for preschool in the fall. Really? The kid is only 2! He's not old enough for preschool! Well, I mean, technically he would be, but really? They're trying to take my little boy from me already? Can't they wait until he's 3 1/2-4 at least??? I know we don't HAVE to put him in preschool this fall, so I'm actually not intending to. I figure maybe we can do a couple of ECFE classes like we did last fall, and see if that gets him socialized a little more. Poor kid never gets to play with other kids his age otherwise! (On the other hand, he stays a lot more healthy when he doesn't hang around other kids!)
Anyway, that's enough update for now.
Ok, now to the fun stuff. Gavin has finally decided he wants to talk. A lot. Which is awesome! But it's taking me a while to catch up to his talking, so I don't understand a fair amount of what he says at this time. But it's coming. His speech is getting more clear, and I'm able to figure out some of it anyway! He decided that he liked the alphabet letters, so wanted to work on those. And street signs (like Stop signs.) I'm not sure which thing started him, but the alphabet interested him enough, so he started saying the letters. He can now say almost all of the letters, although not in order yet. But he just loves singing along to the alphabet song. He can also count to 6, on his own (in order), sometimes says 7, but sometimes just jumps to 8, which is apparently his favorite number. In any case, to quote his Early Intervention teacher, "his speech has just exploded in the last few weeks." He is talking SO MUCH! And he literally didn't say anything before that. Every now and then, a "Mama" or "Dada", but nothing else. By the way, "Dada" has turned into "Daddee", and "Mama" into "Bahbee" for some reason. And he calls himself "Gabee" right now. Guess he's just learning how to say that sound on the end of words. I don't really care--it's cute! Plus, one of these days, "Bahbee" will turn into "Mommy", hopefully!
He started coming up to us and saying "Hey". We both think it's cute, but Terry especially likes it, especially when he did it in the middle of the night (as he was walking up to our bed, trying to climb in it.) He has said "Hey baby" to me a couple of times, which I also think is cute. Some of the stuff he's saying, he is imitating what he's heard us say (like "hey baby"), but other stuff he is making up himself, like he should be at this age. (Stuff like when he said today "I try to read", and when he can use adjectives in conjunction with the noun, like saying "red" in addition to "car", to get "red car".) We're just so pleased with desire to communicate now, and he's doing really pretty well with it!
He had the Baylee test at the NICU follow-up last month, and he came up with being right about where he should be with all of the sections, except for expressive language (talking). That is what he has gotten so much better at in the last few weeks. Besides, his expressive language gets grouped into receptive language (what he understands), and that pulled his score up, so he was only a few months behind on his language skills from where they wanted him to be.
Early Intervention was here last week, and they will be working on that with him this summer, along with sensory stuff with him to see if we can get him farther ahead, and be more tolerant of different sensory experiences (touching different things.) They discussed about whether or not we would be able to pay for preschool in the fall. Really? The kid is only 2! He's not old enough for preschool! Well, I mean, technically he would be, but really? They're trying to take my little boy from me already? Can't they wait until he's 3 1/2-4 at least??? I know we don't HAVE to put him in preschool this fall, so I'm actually not intending to. I figure maybe we can do a couple of ECFE classes like we did last fall, and see if that gets him socialized a little more. Poor kid never gets to play with other kids his age otherwise! (On the other hand, he stays a lot more healthy when he doesn't hang around other kids!)
Anyway, that's enough update for now.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
April was a busy month
April started out ok as far as Gavin went, because due to the Miralax he was taking, he started drinking amazingly well. Plus, both he and I were mostly over our nasty colds. THEN, his daddy ended up in the hospital with a burst appendix. Gavin did visit Terry in the hospital a couple of times, but then Terry said it was making him too tired and taking too much out of him to have Gavin visit, SO Gavin stayed home. Which was better for both of them. Terry got more rest, and we didn't have to plan our day and Gavin eating around when we were taking him to the hospital. (It's rough to feed a bottle-fed kid in the hospital with really no place to go sit and feed him!)
Gavin's eating/drinking dropped off. Of course, that could be because after Terry went in the hospital, it was ME making the bottles up for Gavin, and I wasn't giving him extra doses of Miralax that Terry inadvertently had been doing! (We all misunderstood the doctor's directions on dosing until I called to clarify the dose. Turns out, we had been giving Gavin 3-4 times his prescribed daily dose! Hey- it's not our fault that the doctor wrote "1 tsp in 4 oz fluid", and didn't specify that it was only ONCE PER DAY! Barbara, Terry and I ALL thought that it meant in every bottle we gave him. No wonder the kid was drinking so well. He was COMPLETELY cleaned out!)
Anyway, it wasn't easy with Terry being in the hospital, but Gavin did get to spend more time with his Grandma P. She watched him for several hours at a time while I would go to the hospital alone. (Yes, I drove myself, with my broken foot. Didn't have much choice if I wanted to see my husband! The doctor had said I could start putting weight on it a bit at a time, and work my way up to 50% of my weight, so I figured driving must be acceptable too. After checking with the doctor afterwards, he said that yes, that was fine.)
So it has been a lot of work to get Gavin to go back to drinking and eating well. It hasn't really happened yet, but we're trying.
We found a tick on him one morning about a week ago, and brought him and the tick to the doctor to be checked out. The doctor assured us that it looked like a wood tick, which doesn't carry diseases. So I hope she's right. We think the tick got on him from his LONG walk with Grandma P the day before. She had the stroller so she could push Gavin part of the way, and they ended up down by the river, 1 1/2 miles from here. They were gone over 3 hours, and had a good time exploring the river area.
When we were at the doctors appointment, they weighed him and it turned out he had gained about 12 ounces in the last month! YAY! Of course, most of that was in that first week of taking Miralax, and his weight gain has slowed down since then, but still, that's a great amount for him!
On the 27th, we brought Gavin for his 2-year adjusted appointment with the NICU follow-up clinic. I'll try to remember to post actual numbers later, but the long and the short of it is, that he is pretty much caught up with his age in most areas. He is at least between his adjusted and his actual age in everything, EXCEPT expressive language. However, just about a week before the appointment, Gavin started saying a flurry of words, starting with, the alphabet! He absolutely loves saying the letters, and coupled with the few sign language signs we have taught him, he decided he was really interested in talking. Finally. He finally figured out what this talking thing is all about, and that it can get him what he wants. Like when he'll sign and say "Help" (does them together), we help him. Voila! Like magic, he figured out that it was a good thing if he could make his needs known, and now he's picking up new words every day! So even though his expressive language ability only scored as high as a 17 month old kid, he'll be catching up soon I think. Speaking of the alphabet, there are only a few of the letters he can't seem to say yet. He can recognize all but one or two (point to them when asked), and can say all but 8 or so of them. Pretty good considering he just started saying them a week or two ago. No, he doesn't say them in order yet, but he's working on it. And he gets "3" confused with "E", and such, but I'm sure that's normal and will get clear on this eventually. He likes learning the numbers too, and really seems to be happy to tell us when he sees the number "8." Not sure why he focused on that one as being able to tell us first, but he likes it.
Ok, that's a really long post so far. So, I'm done, except to say, that last night, Terry put together Gavin's toddler bed. He did sleep in it for a while (he fell asleep being held on the couch, and then was transferred to the bed), and then climbed out of bed and came in with us, same as he's been doing most nights for the last month. (Think I had forgotten to post that also, that he now regularly climbs out of his crib at night. You can tell that he's pretty impressed that he can do it by himself! Now, with the toddler bed, it's easier, so I don't know if he'll like doing it as well, but it definitely will be safer than climbing over that high rail like he did!)
That's it for now.
Gavin's eating/drinking dropped off. Of course, that could be because after Terry went in the hospital, it was ME making the bottles up for Gavin, and I wasn't giving him extra doses of Miralax that Terry inadvertently had been doing! (We all misunderstood the doctor's directions on dosing until I called to clarify the dose. Turns out, we had been giving Gavin 3-4 times his prescribed daily dose! Hey- it's not our fault that the doctor wrote "1 tsp in 4 oz fluid", and didn't specify that it was only ONCE PER DAY! Barbara, Terry and I ALL thought that it meant in every bottle we gave him. No wonder the kid was drinking so well. He was COMPLETELY cleaned out!)
Anyway, it wasn't easy with Terry being in the hospital, but Gavin did get to spend more time with his Grandma P. She watched him for several hours at a time while I would go to the hospital alone. (Yes, I drove myself, with my broken foot. Didn't have much choice if I wanted to see my husband! The doctor had said I could start putting weight on it a bit at a time, and work my way up to 50% of my weight, so I figured driving must be acceptable too. After checking with the doctor afterwards, he said that yes, that was fine.)
So it has been a lot of work to get Gavin to go back to drinking and eating well. It hasn't really happened yet, but we're trying.
We found a tick on him one morning about a week ago, and brought him and the tick to the doctor to be checked out. The doctor assured us that it looked like a wood tick, which doesn't carry diseases. So I hope she's right. We think the tick got on him from his LONG walk with Grandma P the day before. She had the stroller so she could push Gavin part of the way, and they ended up down by the river, 1 1/2 miles from here. They were gone over 3 hours, and had a good time exploring the river area.
When we were at the doctors appointment, they weighed him and it turned out he had gained about 12 ounces in the last month! YAY! Of course, most of that was in that first week of taking Miralax, and his weight gain has slowed down since then, but still, that's a great amount for him!
On the 27th, we brought Gavin for his 2-year adjusted appointment with the NICU follow-up clinic. I'll try to remember to post actual numbers later, but the long and the short of it is, that he is pretty much caught up with his age in most areas. He is at least between his adjusted and his actual age in everything, EXCEPT expressive language. However, just about a week before the appointment, Gavin started saying a flurry of words, starting with, the alphabet! He absolutely loves saying the letters, and coupled with the few sign language signs we have taught him, he decided he was really interested in talking. Finally. He finally figured out what this talking thing is all about, and that it can get him what he wants. Like when he'll sign and say "Help" (does them together), we help him. Voila! Like magic, he figured out that it was a good thing if he could make his needs known, and now he's picking up new words every day! So even though his expressive language ability only scored as high as a 17 month old kid, he'll be catching up soon I think. Speaking of the alphabet, there are only a few of the letters he can't seem to say yet. He can recognize all but one or two (point to them when asked), and can say all but 8 or so of them. Pretty good considering he just started saying them a week or two ago. No, he doesn't say them in order yet, but he's working on it. And he gets "3" confused with "E", and such, but I'm sure that's normal and will get clear on this eventually. He likes learning the numbers too, and really seems to be happy to tell us when he sees the number "8." Not sure why he focused on that one as being able to tell us first, but he likes it.
Ok, that's a really long post so far. So, I'm done, except to say, that last night, Terry put together Gavin's toddler bed. He did sleep in it for a while (he fell asleep being held on the couch, and then was transferred to the bed), and then climbed out of bed and came in with us, same as he's been doing most nights for the last month. (Think I had forgotten to post that also, that he now regularly climbs out of his crib at night. You can tell that he's pretty impressed that he can do it by himself! Now, with the toddler bed, it's easier, so I don't know if he'll like doing it as well, but it definitely will be safer than climbing over that high rail like he did!)
That's it for now.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sensory Week
Last week apparently was Sensory Week for Gavin. He's had a really bad cold and wasn't drinking his formula all that well, but once he started feeling better, he couldn't get enough! Terry and his mother brought Gavin to Walmart Thursday evening, and bought him a couple Lunchables, which Gavin sampled in the store and on the way home apparently. That by itself, was huge! He normally would eat sandwich meat and sometimes cheese anyway, but he actually tasted the cream from his cookie! AND didn't throw it up! Then Terry made blueberry muffins this weekend (and we make mini muffins for Gavin), and Gavin actually ate 1/2 of one of his mini muffins! I couldn't believe he even tasted it, say nothing about eating that much of one! That soft texture is something he usually can't get past, enough to try the food. But once he decides he likes something, sometimes it's easier for him to try it again, which was the case this weekend.
On Wednesday or Thursday, he was mouthing my eyebrows before nap (something he hasn't done for a long time), so maybe that's what started his desire for sensory exploration last week. I don't know how he was able to push past his fear of soft carbs, but I'm so proud of him for doing it! Come to think of it, he did touch a piece of my bread last Wed or Thurs also. He didn't get it to his mouth, but I guess he figured out it wasn't going to hurt him, so then he was willing to try it in muffin form.
We had started giving him Miralax per doctors order (more to follow on that GI doc appt) earlier in the week, and it does seem to be helping him clear out his system so he can drink more Pediasure/formula mix, etc. Plus, adding in the muffin that he ate (ok, half a muffin, but still!), that's helping him push the food out of his system so there's more room for him to eat and drink more. That happened to him when he got diarrhea from the antibiotic in early summer also, but unfortunately, he just got constipated again and stopped drinking as much after a while. I sure wish a doctor had prescribed Miralax for Gavin a year or so ago! Think of how much more food he could have gotten into him if he had taken that before!
On Wednesday or Thursday, he was mouthing my eyebrows before nap (something he hasn't done for a long time), so maybe that's what started his desire for sensory exploration last week. I don't know how he was able to push past his fear of soft carbs, but I'm so proud of him for doing it! Come to think of it, he did touch a piece of my bread last Wed or Thurs also. He didn't get it to his mouth, but I guess he figured out it wasn't going to hurt him, so then he was willing to try it in muffin form.
We had started giving him Miralax per doctors order (more to follow on that GI doc appt) earlier in the week, and it does seem to be helping him clear out his system so he can drink more Pediasure/formula mix, etc. Plus, adding in the muffin that he ate (ok, half a muffin, but still!), that's helping him push the food out of his system so there's more room for him to eat and drink more. That happened to him when he got diarrhea from the antibiotic in early summer also, but unfortunately, he just got constipated again and stopped drinking as much after a while. I sure wish a doctor had prescribed Miralax for Gavin a year or so ago! Think of how much more food he could have gotten into him if he had taken that before!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I've been slacking off...
Ok, not intentionally. I was carrying Gavin downstairs one night, missed the last step and fell hard on the bottom stair twisting my ankle really hard. Went to the ER, thought it was just a torn tendon. A few days later had it checked again, and I actually broke a bone in my ankle. SO. I'm on crutches for 6 weeks, can't walk on that foot, etc. So my Mother-in-law stayed for a bit longer to help out with watching Gavin.
Early Intervention came yesterday to check-up on Gavin. A Speech Pathologist was with them this time. Of course, Gavin didn't speak one word, or even so much as make a sound for the whole hour they were here. But the Speech lady asked me if he was talking to himself, and I said "As a matter of fact, he is. He seems like he's talking more to himself than he is trying to communicate with us." She actually said that was good, that was what we wanted him to be doing. Really? You'd rather have him talking to himself than anyone else? No idea why, but I'm assuming that means it's a good developmental milestone or something. So I was thrilled that they actually said that he was doing something they wanted him to be doing!
He has been trying to see how much time he can spend outside recently. Kind of hard, since I can't really take him out. But Grandma is usually willing to go out with him. If, however, she dares step foot outside without him, even to let Jasmine out, he whines, and starts crying. He REALLY wants to be outside recently!
We saw the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago. All she focused on the whole visit, was his size. Therefore, she wanted him to get a G-tube to feed him. I refused. She's been bringing this up to me for the last 15-18 months, and I'm sick of hearing it, and it stresses me out, which stresses Gavin out, all of which affect his desire to eat. I told her that I thought he had finally outgrown his reflux and she said that was nice, but we still needed to worry about his eating. I thought it was great that he wasn't really having reflux recently, as I KNOW that affected how much he ate sometimes, but she didn't want to hear that I guess. She told me we could go see a surgeon to discuss a g-tube, or a gastro doctor to see if he had any suggestions, so I told her we could go see the gastro doctor. I actually don't mind seeing one, I just refused to go back to the one we saw for him last year. He was one of those doctors that think he's always right, and we had nothing valuable to contribute apparently.
When the OT from Early Intervention was here yesterday, she asked who was monitoring Gavin's food intake, besides us. I said "nobody is. Just us." She was surprised, which, after I started thinking about it, so was I. The pediatrician monitors his height and weight, but she knows we're not seeing a gastro doc, so why isn't she interested in HOW MUCH he takes in. It just seems like she should have been asking us occasionally how many ounces of Pediasure/formula he was taking in, or how much solid food, or something. OR, made sure we went back to a Gastro doc to discuss it. Like I said, she's been bringing up a G-tube to me for the last 15+ months, (except that 2 weeks ago she said "If Gavin wasn't doing so well with his development and his milestones, we would have had this conversation a long time ago.") WHAT??? We DID have this conversation a long time ago. She started mentioning it at least last January. The ONLY time she didn't bring up a g-tube to me, was the month we started feeding therapy for Gavin. And we haven't been in for monthly check-ups since October (I think) because of all the germs during the winter. But every visit, she mentions it, and she seems to have forgotten that. How many months did I worry, every single day, about her bringing up a g-tube again? I started dreading to go to the appointments because I didn't want to hear it AGAIN. IF I could see that he was falling behind on his development, that would be different. But in any case, I just got way to stressed out about her bringing it up EVERY visit. So then I pressured Gavin into eating even if he didn't want to, and that was because his doctor was stressing me out. Bad cycle. Ok, enough of that.
Gavin recently learned to jump. He LOVES it!!! Also, Terry did a magic show for Gavin one night, where he had a big smiley face made out of that pop-up material (like pop-up tents), where you fold it up, and then with a flick of your hand, it opens. Gavin thought it was great. 2 or 3 nights after that, Gavin performed the same routine (tried to anyway) for Grandma and me. I thought it was outstanding! He even tried to repeat the abra-cadabra type words that Terry said a few days before, and said "Bam!" a couple of times, which is what Terry said when the face would open up. Coupled with that, Gavin was counting down. Granted, he starts with "two" instead of "one", and unless you know that's what he's doing, you wouldn't understand the words, but he definitely is doing his version of counting. It was adorable!
Ok. That's a long enough post for now.
Early Intervention came yesterday to check-up on Gavin. A Speech Pathologist was with them this time. Of course, Gavin didn't speak one word, or even so much as make a sound for the whole hour they were here. But the Speech lady asked me if he was talking to himself, and I said "As a matter of fact, he is. He seems like he's talking more to himself than he is trying to communicate with us." She actually said that was good, that was what we wanted him to be doing. Really? You'd rather have him talking to himself than anyone else? No idea why, but I'm assuming that means it's a good developmental milestone or something. So I was thrilled that they actually said that he was doing something they wanted him to be doing!
He has been trying to see how much time he can spend outside recently. Kind of hard, since I can't really take him out. But Grandma is usually willing to go out with him. If, however, she dares step foot outside without him, even to let Jasmine out, he whines, and starts crying. He REALLY wants to be outside recently!
We saw the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago. All she focused on the whole visit, was his size. Therefore, she wanted him to get a G-tube to feed him. I refused. She's been bringing this up to me for the last 15-18 months, and I'm sick of hearing it, and it stresses me out, which stresses Gavin out, all of which affect his desire to eat. I told her that I thought he had finally outgrown his reflux and she said that was nice, but we still needed to worry about his eating. I thought it was great that he wasn't really having reflux recently, as I KNOW that affected how much he ate sometimes, but she didn't want to hear that I guess. She told me we could go see a surgeon to discuss a g-tube, or a gastro doctor to see if he had any suggestions, so I told her we could go see the gastro doctor. I actually don't mind seeing one, I just refused to go back to the one we saw for him last year. He was one of those doctors that think he's always right, and we had nothing valuable to contribute apparently.
When the OT from Early Intervention was here yesterday, she asked who was monitoring Gavin's food intake, besides us. I said "nobody is. Just us." She was surprised, which, after I started thinking about it, so was I. The pediatrician monitors his height and weight, but she knows we're not seeing a gastro doc, so why isn't she interested in HOW MUCH he takes in. It just seems like she should have been asking us occasionally how many ounces of Pediasure/formula he was taking in, or how much solid food, or something. OR, made sure we went back to a Gastro doc to discuss it. Like I said, she's been bringing up a G-tube to me for the last 15+ months, (except that 2 weeks ago she said "If Gavin wasn't doing so well with his development and his milestones, we would have had this conversation a long time ago.") WHAT??? We DID have this conversation a long time ago. She started mentioning it at least last January. The ONLY time she didn't bring up a g-tube to me, was the month we started feeding therapy for Gavin. And we haven't been in for monthly check-ups since October (I think) because of all the germs during the winter. But every visit, she mentions it, and she seems to have forgotten that. How many months did I worry, every single day, about her bringing up a g-tube again? I started dreading to go to the appointments because I didn't want to hear it AGAIN. IF I could see that he was falling behind on his development, that would be different. But in any case, I just got way to stressed out about her bringing it up EVERY visit. So then I pressured Gavin into eating even if he didn't want to, and that was because his doctor was stressing me out. Bad cycle. Ok, enough of that.
Gavin recently learned to jump. He LOVES it!!! Also, Terry did a magic show for Gavin one night, where he had a big smiley face made out of that pop-up material (like pop-up tents), where you fold it up, and then with a flick of your hand, it opens. Gavin thought it was great. 2 or 3 nights after that, Gavin performed the same routine (tried to anyway) for Grandma and me. I thought it was outstanding! He even tried to repeat the abra-cadabra type words that Terry said a few days before, and said "Bam!" a couple of times, which is what Terry said when the face would open up. Coupled with that, Gavin was counting down. Granted, he starts with "two" instead of "one", and unless you know that's what he's doing, you wouldn't understand the words, but he definitely is doing his version of counting. It was adorable!
Ok. That's a long enough post for now.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
no more crib?
Short little post, because I haven't put anything on here for a while. Gavin learned how to climb out of his crib. He got up Sunday morning, climbed right out before Terry could get in there. He looked at Terry, like "Don't worry, Dad...I got this!" What a big boy he thinks he is!
And, I have to love that the other day before Gavin's bath, even though he didn't apparently have to pee on his toilet, when he got in the bath and had to pee, he grabbed a cup to (try to) pee into!
He's growing up right before my eyes, I guess!
And, I have to love that the other day before Gavin's bath, even though he didn't apparently have to pee on his toilet, when he got in the bath and had to pee, he grabbed a cup to (try to) pee into!
He's growing up right before my eyes, I guess!
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