Outstanding Therapy Session
Greetings to everyone, and Happy September!
Xavier had his speech therapy meeting today. He missed it last week; Mom was out of town all week and we decided it was easier to cancel last week's session—it was a hectic enough week even with its cancellation. Today, he demonstrated an explosion of pent-up effort!
Xavier lasted nearly the whole hour at the table before growing bored (usually he makes it :30 minutes). He spoon-fed himself (and swallowed) half a cup of vanilla pudding. He ate (and swallowed) a giant cheese puff. And, to top it all off, he drank through a straw and swallowed! Katie, his OT, had set a goal for him to be sucking through a straw within the next six months. Looks like she will have to reset some goals, PTL!
Robin, the therapist, also noted how well he works things out in his head. It appears Rebecca and I will have to up our game to rise to the challenge of our son. After the issues of the past 22 months, such a challenge is welcome.
Xavier was unusually chatty with Robin today, pointing at things and telling her all about them. Robin noted that Xavier is actively and purposefully mixing his sounds and choosing "words." This excited her perhaps more than the stellar eating demonstration Xavier gave her. He is learning language, something which surprised her a little. It's been two weeks since she last saw him, and his progress—both eating and speech—surprised her. The words he is using are definitely Xavierese, but nonetheless a definite and identifiable use of language skills.
Tonight, Xavier sat in his chair and ate with us adults. Truly, he ate with us (most of the time) instead of playing with his food and cutlery. Rebecca bought some bowls with suction cup bottoms; those suckers don't come up once they are placed—though Xavier tried relentlessly. Once he realized the bowl was not moving, he dug in his spoon and ate another half cup of vanilla pudding. After dropping his spoon for the dog to lick, he continued eating with is hands. To wash it down, he drank from a little juice box sized container. It has a straw through which he sucked down grape juice. The juice was new to him, so he spit out his first few sips while deciding if he liked it. He decided he did like it, but after staining his shirt as a reminder to his parents that we do have bibs and should use them.
15 Month Checkup
Greetings and hello to everyone!
Today, Xavier met with Dr. Abbey to look at his 15 months of progress. It began as a happy time, but ended on a less happy note.
Overall, Xavier is doing very well. He put on more than half a pound since his weight check a month ago. He should be putting on a third to half a pound a month. In the three months we have been focused on getting Xavier's weight up, he has put on about 28 ounces, so he has been meeting that goal.
Dr. Abbey had favorable words about all he saw with Xavier, noting how alert he is and how inquisitive. He watched Xavier study a part to his bottle, then commented how well Xavier was working things out in his head. We discussed eye sight, hearing, motor skills. Even temper tantrums, which, apparently, Xavier is right on schedule for at 15 months (and we've been noting more of the them of late).
Xavier need no longer be on the Neo-Sure formula, but can go to a formula that supplies a more general nutrition, rather than the targeted nutrition of Neo-Sure. Thank You, Jesus! Neo-Sure is $18 a can and lasts two days. The mix we are moving to is $11 a can and has three times the amount of formula as a Neo-Sure can. We are still mixing at 28 calories per ounce, but now we get more ounces per dollar!
Xavier can also start having honey, something Rebecca has being chomping at the bit (so to speak) to introduce him to. She wants him to acclimate to regional pollen.
His heart murmur is still audible, but nothing to worry about.
We also were able to pin down calories per day for him—even a formula to calculate this as he grows. We've been asking for that for months from the "feeding clinic" team. He needs to be getting 630-840 calories per day, which, when not teething, he consumes with margins to spare.
Where it turned more serious, from Xavier's point of view, came at the end of the exam: inoculations and a blood draw. Ouch! (as it turned out, Super Ouch! Super Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Super, Super Ouch!)
It started with a blood draw. I told the nurses it would take more people to hold him down. They thought they had enough. I held Xavier's legs and right arm. A nurse held his left arm and a nurse tried to tap a vein in his left arm. She had a difficult time getting a vein because it kept rolling. Just as she got a tap to go in, Xavier pulled and rolled his arm, and the butterfly needle came right back out.
We flipped him around to go for the right arm. After some work, the vein was tapped, but only one and a half vials were filled. The labs needed four vials. Did I mention the screaming and tearing (and kicking and flailing when he could) going on during all of this?
Well, the choice became try his left arm again, or schedule him at Children's to draw the blood. I decided to go for the left arm again.
A nurse gave his inoculations (one being a flu shot), two in one thigh, one in the other. She left to let me comfort Xavier and feed him a bottle. He thought things were finished. After all, he had his bottle.
The Super, Super Ouch. The nurses came back about :15 minutes later. This time, they brought in a third nurse. One nurse straddled Xavier to keep his legs down while she held his right arm. Another held his left arm in place so he couldn't move it like he did the first time. Tapping the vein took five minutes at least, and only yielded one vial of blood. There was not enough blood for all the labs, but enough for the most important ones. We were done. The nurses admitted he was much stronger than they expected and they should have had the third nurse in from the beginning.
All in all, an excellent exam and confirmation about Xavier's overall health. Here are his stats:
- Height: 28 inches
- Weight: 14 pounds 13.6 ounces
- Head circumference: 45.25 cm
Always, thank you all for your prayers. Today's results, when in context to the previous nearly two years, confirm how awesome is our God!
Xavier Goes to the Beach
Greetings to everyone.
Today, Rebecca dressed Xavier in his swimwear, loaded him into the car and headed for the beach. There is a large park 10 minutes away that has a lake with a nice beach. The sand is not so fine as an ocean beach, but still comfortable on the bare feet. The water is cloudy, partly due to the minerals in the water (it is called Soda Lake after all), and partly because of the lake's popularity: it was filled with kids and people swimming, paddle boating, surfing, etc.
Near the end of the beach with some trees, Rebecca and Xavier set out their blankets, made friends with the Xavier-aged boy on the next blanket over, then headed for the water.
In the water, Xavier practiced his swimming lessons quite unexpectedly. He was sitting in the lake, water to his waist. Mom was a few feet away, deeper into the lake. For some reason, Xavier took concern his mother was too far away and started crawling toward her. The lake bed quickly fell away from his hands and knees, and he was frantically crawl-paddling for mom. Though he was swallowing some lake water, he was not freaked out being so deep in the water and bobbing along not able to touch ground. His swimming lessons paid off in keeping him calm.
It was a fun day for both. Rebecca wants to do a repeat as a family this weekend, bringing a picnic lunch this time.