Negation

Matthew is enjoying the word "not" these days. He informed us that "Thunder is outside. It is not inside." And when he wanted me to put a cup on my hand, "Mommy's hand is too big. James's hand is not too big. Matthew's hand is not too big."

And although it's not really the same thing, the other day when James looked like he was going to chew on a book, Mattie said, "Not in the mouth, James!" (So far, it's actually very cute when he tells his brother what not to do, because he's clearly just repeating what he's heard us say, and he doesn't have any intent to be obnoxious. But James is no more obedient for Matthew than he is for us!)


[Photo from 6/20]

Here We Go Again

James went for another surgery follow-up appointment today (and weighed in at 21 lbs exactly on their scale). This puts him back on his own growth curve, which is good. The nutritionist calculated that his recent weight gain (since his last appointment) has been about 10 grams a day, which means that he's doing some "catch-up" growth (10-20 grams a day is catching up instead of just staying on the same curve). So, that was all encouraging.

The nurse practitioner still wants to see him doing better than that, though. The nutritionist gave us a sample of Elecare to try. This is the elemental formula that he was on for a while in the NICU; it's very broken down so it's extremely easy to digest. The idea is that having this (as a supplement to the other things he's eating and drinking) might help him absorb more calories and nutrients. It would be great if that works (although it's crazy expensive -- $50/can, which would be a 2-3 day supply if he were drinking it exclusively). She also gave us some other supplements and recommendations to try out.

The nurse practitioner also wants James to see Peds GI again, just to make sure there's not something we're missing. That doctor will make the call on what to do next, and it sounds like there's a possibility that she may want us to start doing the tube feedings at night again, or, if she doesn't recommend that, the surgeon is comfortable taking out the g-tube at the end of the summer. (Guess which option we're rooting for!)

So, in sum, the nutritionist and the surgeon seemed fine with James's progress, but the nurse practitioner was a bit more concerned. We'd certainly like him to be gaining faster, but it seems like he's so happy and active (and as far as we know doing well with his developmental milestones) that he must be getting energy from somewhere!

We also saw the audiologists because James's hearing aids have been having a lot of feedback. The hearing aids tested fine, so it looks like it's the earmolds (the part that goes into his ear). They made a new set of impressions, and it takes a couple weeks for them to arrive. They also had an ENT resident look in his ear because they saw something they thought might be the start of an infection, but the resident said he was pretty sure it was just wax. Poor James Does Not Like having people look or poke in his ears, and he had to have it done multiple times today! (It took two people to hold him down to get the earmolds made.) Fortunately he was very well-behaved even though all of these appointments were scheduled right during what should have been his naptime.

And in other news, after appearing pretty much fully recovered, Stanley seems to have hurt his back again. It's not bad enough that we have to go to the vet, but he's definitely not walking right and we're giving him his pain meds from last time (which help a lot). Poor little guy!

And our desktop computer hard drive appears to have quite suddenly died on us, and it turns out we haven't backed up our photos in about the past year. Ugh! We're hoping a tech wizard can retrieve them (but if not, we still have the majority of them uploaded to Shutterfly or our favorites here on the blog, so it's not a complete loss). In any case, go back up your computer, now. Learn from the error of our ways!

The World According to Mattie Bear

Matthew is just amazing these days with all the connections he's making and new things he's learning. He's saying things like, "I go swimming in the swimming pool tomorrow with Ms. Barbara. See other babies!" (We haven't quite broken the news to him that swimming lessons are over.)

I love (love love) that he has an understanding that things will happen in the future. He's usually really good about stopping something or not getting something if he knows he can do it again "later" or "tomorrow." (Prime candidates for this: playing with the vacuum and playing with the water in the tub.)

He has been addressing James by name more often, which is just adorable. Yesterday he was in their play tent, and said, "Come on in, James!" I was also impressed the other day when James had Mattie's stuffed beagle, and Mattie looked mildly concerned and said, "Mine beagle!" -- but instead of grabbing it away, he picked up another stuffed dog, and gave to to James, who was perfectly happy to trade the beagle for the other dog. (Go Mattie!)

One day at dinner, Mike gave Matthew some honey, and he wanted more -- but Mike told him he had to wait because it was hot (on some biscuits that had just come out of the oven). Matthew thought about this for a minute, and said, "Pooh, owie!" (One of his Winnie the Pooh books is largely about how much Pooh likes honey.) So Mike had to explain to Mattie that Pooh doesn't have a stove, so his honey doesn't get too hot. :)

Our bathroom has a plunger in it (I know, it should be in the garage), and Mattie knows that he's not supposed to touch it because it's very dirty, and that if the toilet breaks, Daddy uses it to fix the toilet. So one evening Mattie was trying to slam the toilet lid on his potty seat, and I told him not to do that because it would break the Elmo potty. Mattie replied that, "Daddy fix it, with that one!" (pointing to the plunger -- I don't think we've ever told him the name for it). Umm, not quite, kiddo!

Somersaults

The boys had fun doing somersaults this evening (with help from us). They take after their mommy! :)

Sunday at the Park with Dewey

Our morning outing to the Arboretum was made much better by running into our friends there!

Stairs and Water Fountains

We actually made it out to the museum this weekend. The boys were very excited about the dinosaurs, but probably their favorite things were 1) climbing up the stairs to the railroad car (again and again), and 2) playing with the water fountain (with a button to push and water to play in, there's nothing better from Matthew's perspective! Well, unless it also had a vacuum...) Good thing those museum folks spent all that time designing great exhibits. :)

They also were excited about the train, but the early train rides were all sold out by the time we got there. Fortunately they weren't too upset to miss it this time.

In the evening they got to see our friends and their twin babies (and play in the sandbox with the babies' older brother), so all in all a fun day!

Front Porch Music

We dropped by a local outdoor music event (Fridays on the Front Porch) this evening. We hadn't really been planning to go, but ended up near campus and thought we'd check it out. It was a nice time, but would have been more fun with friends!

On the Run

After he was "all done" with dinner tonight, James climbed up on my chair, grabbed a couple of bites of sausage off of my plate, and stuffed them in his mouth. Then he grabbed a slice of garlic bread, and proceeded to do laps around the house nibbling on it, with Stanley following close behind. (The top picture here is James offering the bread to Stanley -- who eventually did get it!) Apparently food is better when it's from someone else's plate!

PlayDoh Elmo

Babysitter B had the great idea to help the boys make Elmo out of their playdoh! (The parts are actually from a Mr. Potatohead set, but it worked!)

Twenty-One

Young master James hit 21 lbs on our scale tonight. Still well below the growth charts, but heading in the right direction!

P.S.  One of my favorite new things that James is saying these days is "barbeque sauce"!  (Not that he eats much of it, but he likes the concept -- and sticking his fingers in it.)

P.P.S.  Don't worry -- what looks like a red mark or scrape on the bottom of James's heel in the picture is actually just the tag on his sandal.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Georgia!

Happy birthday to Grandma Georgia! (And happy belated birthday to Aunt Emily!) We hope it's a wonderful day!

It Worked

I didn't manage to get a good picture of James in his new wetsuit, so this one will have to do. :) In the pool, he wore his swim trunks and a t-shirt over it. He was not terribly amused about us putting on his "swimming overalls", but he got used to it pretty quickly.

It did the job -- even though it was a chillier day in the pool, James made it through the whole lesson without shivering! Yay!

(The wetsuit did not stop him from tripping when he was in the pool and getting dunked completely underwater, nor did it stop his feet from going out from under him on the somewhat slippery entry ramp to the pool, causing him to fall on his back in a way that would have had me worried about a concussion if he hadn't somehow caught himself, but he recovered from both of those incidents quickly. I don't think he's going to get to walk into the pool without holding my hand next time, though!)

Graduation, Of Sorts

We had our last session with James's developmental therapist today. She has been a tremendous help, but James is pretty much caught up to his age, so we don't really need her services any more.

We probably would have continued with the once a month visits for a little longer, but they have also changed the way Early Intervention is done here, so we would now have to pay the full cost of these sessions, which used to be covered. If James still needed it, we would have done that, but since he's doing so well, it made this the right time to discontinue. We are fortunate that we are in a position to be able to afford these services if he needs them again, but these changes mean that a lot of babies and families that will need them won't be able to get them because of the cost. And these early interventions truly do have lifelong benefits for these children. (The current NC legislature has decided to balance the budget by cutting services to children and education at both K-12 and university levels, among other programs, while at the same time passing a bill that will allow large companies like Walmart and Home Depot to pay no taxes -- that is, zero dollars -- to the state. It's disgusting.)

In any case, it was great to have one final visit to wrap things up, to get some last pieces of advice, and to say goodbye to K.

[A note on the bottom picture -- Mattie did not draw that perfect circle, but he did do a pretty good effort putting in eyes and a mouth, before he scribbled on it!]

Swimming Success

We went to the lake this afternoon and tried out the boys' new life jackets (Stearns Puddle Jumpers). They're ones that are specially designed for kids to encourage swimming skills, and can let the kids be either on their front or on their back. They worked great, and the boys enjoyed swimming with them! James especially had a great time paddling and kicking. Mattie still wanted someone to hold on to him (which is fine!)

They're supposedly for kids 30 lbs and up, so we were a little concerned that it would be too big for James, but it seemed to work fine. The only thing is that the arm pieces reach just a little past his upper arm, so it's a little more unwieldy for him to bend his elbows.

It's awesome because we don't have to be holding their hands or holding them constantly in the water, so it gives everyone a little more freedom, and although they can put their heads in the water, they won't get dunked in a scary way. Obviously we still stay close and keep an eye on them all the time, but it's more relaxing to know that they have another line of protection.

We were hoping to also give James's new wetsuit a trial run, but he did not want to let us put it on and we figured it wasn't work the fuss for today (over 90 degrees outside!) He did eventually get cold in the water, but we probably were there for about as long as we wanted anyhow.

Happy Father's Day!

We hope all our beloved grandpas, uncles, and fathers out there are having a wonderful day! We love you!

And Happy Father's Day to Mike, the best dad that any little boys could ask for!

Happy Happy Happy

Happy birthday to Uncle Isaac, Auntie Erin, and Auntie Nora!! We hope you all had a great day!

James and Mattie washed our car in honor of the occasion. :)

Four Words

Jamesie said a four-word sentence today: "Mommy, up the stairs." (The other day he said, "Brother, up the stairs", and I think he had another one at dinner involving "more cheese", but I can't remember it any more.) He is moving right along!

BM

Last night Mattie picked up the letter B in the bathtub and said, "Brother starts with B." He continued, "Matthew starts with M." I'm sure he was just repeating things he had heard us say in the past (rather than actually knowing anything about spelling), but I was impressed nonetheless!

This morning Mattie said he wanted to go "on the potty", but then changed his mind when we got into the bathroom. He ran out into the other room, and then ran back in and said, "Poop." I asked him if he wanted to go poop on the potty, and he said yes but acted like he wasn't sure (I think maybe he's a little nervous about it since he hasn't done it before), and then once I had his pajama pants off he said no. So I took off his wet diaper, and told him I'd give him a clean diaper -- and then he wailed because I wouldn't put his wet diaper back on. Sometimes there is no reasoning with a two-year old. :)

His Reputation Precedes Him

We are planning a visit to see my parents later this summer. They have a pool, which is great but also a potential toddler hazard. So the other night Grandma says, "Well, we figured we would either have to close off all the dog doors, or tie up James..." :)

(Yes, she was kidding -- mostly! James is speedy, motivated to escape to the outside, and not yet wise in the ways of self-preservation!)

On the Cuteness of Species

Mike: "Stanley is a dog. What are you?"
Matthew: "Matthew bear!"

(This was not an unreasonable answer, since we call him Mattie-bear all the time!)

Matthew (about his stuffed beagle): "My dog has a tail. My dog has feet. My dog has a name!"
Me: "What is your dog's name?"
Matthew: "Dog!"
 

Three Twos

Our neighbors L & S invited us over for dinner tonight, along with other friends of theirs who also have a two year old. (Actually, he's not going to be two until the fall, but he's already bigger than Mattie and James!)

The boys had a great time playing together! They imitated each other, ran laps through the house, and found the "big ball" (one of those huge exercise balls). They also liked playing with R's old dinosaurs and toy cars. The adults enjoyed themselves, too; it was wonderful company.

We told Mattie that we were going over to Miss Lakshmi's house (I suppose that should be Mrs., but that's harder to say), and he said, "See baby Ellie! Play the piano!" (He thought we were going back to J & Y's!) So we told him that no, baby Ellie wasn't going to be there, that we were going to Blizzy's house. He was pretty happy to see Blizzy-dog, too. :)

Mattie also enjoyed the ice cream for dessert. Lakshmi offered him some and he sat right down and very obediently ate it off the spoon. James, as usual, wouldn't even take a bite. I don't know what that child has against ice cream!

We also had swimming class this morning. Both of them were happy to get into the water, and Mattie did a great job all the way through, including going underwater. Poor Jamesie started shivering when we were only about a third of the way through class, so he and I got out and dried off so he could warm up. He got back in at the end and happily went underwater, too. (So, when we went home I ordered him a baby wetsuit from Ebay -- apparently babies get too cold in the pool often enough that our swimming instructor has a wetsuit brand that she recommends!)

Teach Your Children Well

Mike was playing the "got your nose" game with the boys the other day. Yesterday, Mattie ran into the living room with his fingers and thumb pressed together, and held it up to me. I asked him what he had, and he said, "Daddy nose!" Hahaha!

Less Annoying

We went back to the ear doctor today. This time, we called ahead like with the airlines to see how late he was running (at least one of us is still annoyed about the over two-hour wait last time). They said everything was on time, which meant we waited "only" an hour in the waiting room. The visit with the doctor probably wasn't much longer than last time, but it felt less rushed, which was nice.

The good news is that the eardrops had gotten rid of most of the wax, so he had a better view of James's eardrum; the bad news is that he didn't see the tubes, so James might have to have a new set put in. (The results of his tympanogram -- an eardrum flexibility test they do at the audiology appointments -- suggest that he may still have fluid in his ears, even though it's not an ear infection.) He goes back for another appointment in August and the doctor will make a recommendation then. (I'm sort of hoping that if he has to have new tubes, we can combine that with getting the g-tube out, so there's only one OR trip. But that requires a lot of pieces coming together, so I'm not counting on it.)

In other news, we met another little boy with hearing aids at the playground today! Instant parent bonding. :) It even turned out that we have the same hearing therapist, although they don't see her much any more. It's so uncommon to see kids with hearing aids that it was really nice to chat about our experiences together.

Attention to Detail

Mattie didn't nap today (alas!), but after we gave up on nap time, Mike took him downstairs where he vacuumed with his toy vacuum for about 20 minutes -- including moving the throw rug to vacuum underneath it.  Such attention to detail!  :)

Our fabulous babysitter N is away for a few weeks visiting family, and we miss her already!!  We have hired a temporary sitter who we think will be good (and the boys seem to really like her), but it's not the same.  (Hope your trip is off to a great start, N!)

Jamesie and Mattie have been practicing their kicking in the bathtub -- they'll be all set for their next swim class!