Ooh, something for the baby book!

I know only parents will appreciate this, but Nate pooped in the potty this morning!! It was so exciting! After his bath, I always sit him on the potty, read him his potty book, then he gets off and we look to see if he did anything. I made a HUGE deal out of the poopy in the potty, and he was so proud of himself. I told him he would need to tell daddy what he did, and he practiced by saying "Daddy, I poopied in the potty!" Then later when I actually called Blake and put Nate on the phone, he clammed up.

We're not all-out potty training yet because Nate is not at all ready, but we're just making him more aware of it. I'm really not sure how successful we'll be with potty training--we'll learn a little more about what Nate is capable of next month when we go back to Vanderbilt for testing--but he's starting to get the idea of it and has had a few accidental successes. Enough about poo. :) Have a good day.

Weekend

Yesterday, Nate woke up acting like a rabid animal! I barely recognized him. I was trying to give him breakfast, but he was too busy thrashing about and screaming and acting like a maniac. My best guess is a sore throat because he has some sinus issues going on now. Today it sounded like it had moved to his chest. But it doesn't sound too bad, so we're just giving him Tylenol for his throat and riding it out. We chose to NOT go to soccer yesterday morning to avoid the ultimate in public meltdowns.

After a good nap, he was ready to go see Granna, Pop, and Uncle Lucas in Lexington for lunch and shopping. He walked A LOT in his walker. While everyone else was shopping in Dillards, he just headed out the door and into the mall (with Daddy closely behind, of course). I'd say he walked a good half mile (all the way to Sears, for anyone who knows Fayette Mall) before he was whining "take a break!"

He had a much better time at church this morning than he did last time. It's funny--when parents bring their kids in, the childcare workers ask for their names and what rooms they're usually in, and when they pick them up, they ask what room and what the kid is wearing to find them. When we walk up with Nate, they say, "Hi, Nate. We'll put you in your usual room where everyone knows you!" And as soon as I walk up to pick him up, they just turn around and go get him. :) He's a popular guy there. I think the walker helps him stick out a little. And of course his cheery disposition. (Not!)

Nate has a funny little habit going on now. I've mentioned this before, but it's an all-day thing now. Whenever he drops a toy, or bumps his head, or something falls off the table ... pretty much when ANYTHING happens, Nate reassures everyone with "It's okay. It's okay!" Now he's added, "Sorry. It's okay." He apologizes for everything. This morning he bumped his own head, and looked at me and said, "Sorry! It's okay. It's okay." People are going to think I beat him and he's afraid of me or something. :) But he's learning to self-soothe, and that's better than just crying, so I'll take it.

Many of you know that I'm working on a project to complete my master's degree. I'm trying to give obstetricians more information about spina bifida so when they have to give the diagnosis to parents they don't scare the living crap out of them. I hear so many stories of doctors telling parents their baby will not make it to birth, and if it does it will be brain dead or bedridden or, my favorite, a "vegetable." These people have never seen Nate. Anyway, the project is well underway, and I'm meeting with a committee this week to decide what we're going to do. It's exciting!

That's about all that's going on with us right now. Have a good week!

This week

Let's see, I'll recap some of the highlights of this week.

Wednesday, Blake stayed home from work because of the snow and ice. In the afternoon, he took Nate out to play in the snow. I don't have any snowpants for Nate because we usually don't get too many good snows, so I dressed him in a pair of pajama pants and a pair of water-resistant type pants on over them. I thought it would be fine as long as he didn't just sit in the snow. What did he want to do? Sit in the snow. A half hour after I sent them out, I went out to find Nate having a great time sitting in the snow and throwing it all around, usually in his own face. His pants were soaking wet! I brought him back in (while he screamed "Play in the snow!!!!!!") and his poor little legs were so cold and red. Time to buy snow pants! But he had a terrific time.

I asked Nate if he'd like to try some hot chocolate, which he's never had. Yes! He knows he loves chocolate! Hot chocolate sounded good. So I just made us some instant, poured it in his sippy cup, and let it cool down. He was excited to try it, but recoiled in HORROR when he tasted it! It was hilarious. Nate is a milk and water guy. I guess he's never had a warm drink before either, so that was too weird for him. He gave it one more sip, and he was done.

Yesterday was our experiment with having PT in the afternoon, after nap. Don't you know this stinker WOULD NOT take a nap?! I was so frustrated with him! But he didn't throw one single fit during PT! He does much better in the afternoons.

During PT, Nate is a ... creative problem-solver. That's a nice way of saying it. He can find any shortcut or easier way of doing something. At one point, the PT wanted Nate to walk by himself with just her legs behind him to steady him. So she put a toy in each of his hands and told him to bring the toys to me. First, he dropped the toys and grabbed the table to hold onto to walk to me. She told him, no, you need to take those toys to mama. So he stumbled along a few steps and when he got pretty close, he just threw the toys at me! Ha! I certainly wasn't expecting that, and I don't think I would have thought of doing that myself. He's a smart kid--too smart for his own good sometimes.

Last night I went to play Bunco with some women in the neighborhood, and Nate went to visit Brian, Sunny, and Dakota, whom he LOVES. They said that Nate wanted to play trains (big shocker) and wanted to use their coffee table as the train tunnel. So he got down on the floor trying to decide how to crawl under the table, and after a few tries finally figured out how to crawl under there. Once he was under the table, he got excited, tried to raise up quick, and bumped his head. They had to pull him out. Then he thought he'd be really smart and trick the table by turning around and backing up under it. He was so excited when he got underneath that he tried to raise up and bumped his head again!! Silly boy!

Hippotherapy is cancelled today because they still don't have power. It looks like we got some more snow, so I'm glad we don't have to go anywhere today. Have a good weekend!

RV and Boat Show

Blake hyped Nate up for the RV and Boat Show by telling him there would be boats and that we would see fish. I wasn't so sure there would be fish there, so I thought that was a little dangerous to promise. When we got there, I think Nate was a little confused because he expected the boats to be in water--makes sense. But he did enjoy seeing the boats. In fact, while we were looking at campers, he kept saying "Back to the boats! See the boats!"

Finally we did find a big long tank with about 25 bass in it (where a professional fisherman gave fishing lessons throughout the day). We were able to go right up to the tank, and Nate was at first excited to see the fish. "Wook! Fish! Dare swimmin, swimmin in the water!" But then something about them started scaring him. He was cringing and shuddering, especially when one would swim fast. So we talked about the fish and how they weren't scary and what they were doing. He said, "It's a mama and a daddy and a baby fish! Wook, the baby's swimmin! Ooh, baby fish is very scary! Scary fish! Swimmin fast!" And then a few minutes later ... "Dare wonderful."

I've been slacking on the updates this week. I've been so exhausted that I've just been surviving for the most part. :) I'm almost out of the first trimester, so hopefully I'll get a little energy back here in a few weeks.

There were a few cute things I wanted to get down though.

Sometime last week, Nate was sitting at his train table saying "It's wonderful! It's wonderful!" I don't know where he picked that up, but it sounds funny coming from a 2 year old. Same for what he said a couple days ago when eating something off of Blake's plate: "It's dewicious! Dewicious!" Ha! And Blake told me this morning when he gave Nate his pancakes, Nate said, "It's hot. Be careful!" Then touched them and repeated, "Dare hot, be careful." I think that one might come from once last week when I totally burnt his mouth with some hot peas and he was so upset that he wouldn't eat anymore. I felt terrible. Now he's learned his lesson that you can't trust your parents to not give you food that's too hot!

Nate's PT sessions are getting progressively worse. This time he started his tantrums at the beginning and wouldn't do a thing during the whole session. It's so frustrating to see Nate crying while she continues to make him work (which I don't blame her for--I know that's what she needs to do) and also that it feels like each week that he is so resistant is almost a wasted week of PT. He ages out of early intervention in June, and I'm not sure what kind of therapies he's going to be able to get after that. So I want to make the most of what we have while we have it. I've asked Dee to come in the afternoon this week to see if he acts better after his nap. But in the meantime, I think I've figured out part of the problem. Nate is getting in his 2 year molars! That would explain why he has wanted his paci so much this week and why he has been such a bear. I'll give him a dose of motrin before PT this week. :)

I think we're going to the RV and Boat Show today. We've been pretty much every year when it's been in Louisville since we've been married. I think it's mostly Blake who is the big dork and I just go along. :) We'll see how Nate likes it this year.

1. This morning, Nate coughed and said "Es-snooze Me." (excuse me)

2. A little later I was doing laundry and heard Nate fake laughing for a really long time. I walked in the kitchen to see him looking at his reflection in the refridgerator door, and he said to himself, "You're so funny!"

3. We went out in the snow, and Nate midly enjoyed it.

4. We tried out the walking sticks, and Nate took several steps on his own with them! He didn't like it, but he did it. Not sure if Miss Dee (PT) is going to approve of these walking sticks because of how they fit on his arms, but it would be really neat if he could start walking with them.

5. At a friend's suggestion, a month or so ago I applied for The Littlest Heroes Project. It's a volunteer organization that pairs amazing photographers with "little heroes" who are going through or have been through a tough medical experience. We found out a couple days ago that we were accepted! This photographer is AMAZING. And she's super nice. She'll be "shooting" us on March 26, and it's all free! Now I just have to figure out a good location for our photo shoot. I'm soooo excited about this!

Church this morning

This morning after I dropped Nate off at Sunday School, I walked by the window where I could see in his room. Poor Nate was sitting in the floor with his lip puckered out like he had lost his best friend. :( The teacher had sat him in the floor for just a second to go get some tape to tape his sticker on his shirt better. I don't know if he was sad because I had left him a few seconds before that, or the room was just overwhelming, or what. He kept that lip puckered out--it looked like he was trying hard to not cry. And I probably looked the same way standing out in the hallway! My crazy pregnancy hormones have me a mess. :) Well, the teacher saw him looking upset and took him over to get him interested in a toy, so I figured he'd be fine.

But for the first 10 minutes of church, I was worried about him, so I decided to go back and check on him through the window. Sure enough, he was sitting in the teacher's lap with his lip still puckered out. Poor guy. Then he looked up and SAW ME and started bawling! I thought it was a mirror inside, but I asked someone in the hallway how much they could see, and he said it's tinted but in certain lights they can see people outside. Oops!!! I went in the pick up/drop off area to ask how he was doing, and they said he seemed tired and was tearing up easily. I told them there was a paci in his bag, and the teacher said she was going to go get him a blanket and let him lay down. They said they would flash his number on the screen in the worship service if he continued being upset.

When we picked him up, the teacher said he didn't really want to color or play or even eat his snack (!) and he just sat there in her lap most of the time. I don't know what got into him. But when he saw me, he said, "Hi, Mama! Church fun! Play with bubbles!" Hmmm. Then we went out for lunch, and Nate was a HAM! He was cruising around in his walker and got lots of smiles and head pats and comments about how well he was doing in his walker. :) When we got home he took a very long nap. Hopefully he was just tired and is not coming down with something. He has seemed happy all evening.

Because of his long nap, we didn't get a chance to go to the train show again. Darn. :)

Big Day!

Nate was so excited about today! Since last night, he had been talking about playing soccer, seeing Granna and Pop, and the train show. This morning I asked him if he wanted to go to soccer, and he said, "No. Train show." :) But he went with me anyway, and my parents met us there.

Nate got to try out his new walker at soccer today. He's still pretty wobbly because of the swivel wheels, but he'll get used to it.

Today happened to be "balloon day" at soccer--they have the kids try to keep a balloon up in the air as long as possible without their hands. Well, as many of you know, Nate should not be around latex balloons because people with spina bifida are more prone to a latex allergy. So I pulled Nate off the field for that portion of the class, and thanks to Granna and Pop being there to play with, he didn't get upset about it at all. We were able to go back on the field just in time for the obstacle course!

After lunch and a nap, Nate got a wardrobe change to his train shirt, and we headed downtown to the convention center. Of course, Nate was in HEAVEN at the train show. There were big model trains and small ones, really elaborate set ups and some simple. It was so funny--most of the time there, he was so serious and interested, he barely smiled. He acted like this was his job! :) But his favorite trains were this guy's fairly large trains all set up right on the floor so kids could gather around and get really close. I think he could have sat there all day and been happy.

He got a new engine for his train table--Percy, who he played with for the rest of the day. And he also got his picture taken sitting on Thomas! The photographer also gave each kid a conductor hat, bandana, and wooden train whistle (all for the ridiculous price of $20!!!!). Nate was intensely interested in all of this, but did not feel the need to smile, no matter how much the whole family made fools out of ourselves. But I love the picture anyway, because he looks just like his daddy! There's a picture of Blake as a child with this exact same face! There is no doubt this is Blake's mini-me.

(This is a picture of a picture.)

With our ticket today, we got a handstamp, and we're thinking about going back tomorrow after church. :) I personally had my fill of the train show, but I think Nate could go there every day.

Friday

I haven't had much to report in the way of funny conversations this week, but I'll update on what's going on with Nate.

Wednesday morning, Dee the PT came for her weekly visit. Remember, the previous week she had said no more crawling, and I think we did a great job of increasing Nate's walking in the house. This week Dee was really impressed with how much stronger Nate feels and looks when he's walking holding onto one hand and when she's prompting him to stand on his own. He really is getting much stronger and more stable. He still views standing by himself as a game. I think he could do it for a few seconds, but the instant you let go of him, he collapses on purpose. Not sure how to get over that.

Nate also got a "new" (to him) walker this week. A friend of ours donated it to us since her son started walking independently and no longer needs it. It has front swivel wheels, which will make it easier for him to maneuver on his own when he's out. I don't particularly like using it in the house, because I can see it's going to scratch up our walls and baseboards! So we'll probably have that one in the trunk of the car for using while we're out and use the old one inside. The new one is a little bigger, and it's clean without all the stickers and streamers like his other one. It's kind of "big boy" and I don't really like that! I might need to add a few stickers. :)

As many of you know, Nate has "sensory processing disorder." It's really confusing to explain, but it affects many different areas, including eating/brushing teeth (he is slighly orally defensive), walking (it's like he's afraid to be off the ground), and behavior (he gets overwhelmed easily and "melts" ... even more than most 2 year olds). He has these issues most likely because he was premature. Fortunately, it's something that we can fix, and he's already improved greatly over the last few months with the simple things we're doing to help him process his senses better. The one thing I have not been successful with is "brushing." I have this special little brush, and I'm supposed to brush it over his arms, hands, back, legs, and feet, then do "joint compressions" where I basically squeeze all his joints together. It seems really wierd when I explain it, but he really enjoys it. It calms him down, and it might also help him feel more comfortable standing and walking. The problem is that I'm supposed to do it every 2 hours! All day! For 2-4 weeks. After that, we should see results in his behavior and maybe other areas, and the changes are permanent. The problem is, I cannot keep up with this schedule! I just forget to do it. So starting yesterday, I have set the alarm on my phone for every two hours, and yesterday I did really well. Interestingly, Nate did really well too! I think it helped him. So I really want to keep this up for the 2-4 weeks to see what we can accomplish. I could use some prayers to help me keep up with it!

Speaking of Nate doing well yesterday ... I got up the courage to take him to the grocery store. I haven't taken him by myself in well over a month (ever since the post about him screaming through the store), but yesterday it was just necessary. Before we went in, I told Nate that I expected him to behave himself, and there would be no crying or tantrums in the store. He said okay. Inside, he started to get upset a few times, but when I reminded him of our no-crying agreement, he stopped! I was pleasantly shocked. :) We even had to wait in a long line, and I think Nate handled it better than I did.

This afternoon we have hippotherapy, then tomorrow Granna and Pop are coming to watch Nate play soccer. After that, we're all going to a model train show that is here in Louisville this weekend! Nate is going to FREAK! I've mentioned it and he has asked to go to the "train show" a few times, but I don't think he knows how awesome this is going to be for him. They even have a little train for kids to ride on. I'm sure I'll have pictures to share from that.

Have a nice weekend!

What Nate said today:

I was sitting by him helping him eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he was as usual talking about trains, tracks, engines, etc. I was half paying attention, but I heard him say something new.

Nate: Thomas and Percy. Dare friends.

Me: Huh? They're friends?

Nate: Dare friends. Trains.

What Buster said today:

Buster: Hi! I'm still here! Heart's beating away! Don't worry, mama!

This is a profile view. On the left is the baby tush, and on the right is the baby noggin. Yay! I had a routine OB appointment this morning, and to my surprise, my wonderful OB let me have another ultrasound to see the baby's heartbeat so my mind would be put to ease. I really like this doctor, and I'm glad I have someone I trust because this pregnancy is stressful in many ways. But now that I've seen the heartbeat (twice!) my risk of miscarriage is only like 3%, so that's one worry I'm putting behind me! We talked about the prenatal testing we'll do, and she said she'll deliver me by c-section at 37 weeks, which will be right around August 1.