First year of Pre-K!

Michael had his routine Neuro check up this week. It was pretty quick. And since Michael HATES being confined in the small rooms, he got to hang out with Daddy in the waiting room while I talked with the doctors :) He hasn't gained much weight in the past year so there is no reason to raise the dosage of his meds. He still isn't speaking or understanding when we speak to him (that we know of) but he is learning and progressing. We all know he won't cooperate for an EEG so we are not even going to bother. They said that normally at 2 years seizure free they would do an EEG and see if we could wean off any meds but if we can't get an accurate EEG I don't see the point. We are just going to see how he is developmentally in 6 months and see about doing one then, or waiting a little longer. We aren't worried since he is doing so well with the meds he has.

Michael LOVES blue patterns. It's obsessive. As soon as he was out of the stroller he was face down kissing the blue :) Then he ran his laps around the chairs. 

So Michael and I probably have Rotavirus or something similar. I'm no longer allowing Matt to change any messy diapers because I don't want to risk him getting it again. Michael is now only drinking pedialite and rice milk. He can eat anything he wants but we're supposed to keep it small and frequent. We did a little shopping today for new antibaterical hand soap, sanitizers and wipes. We are no longer even using a trash can for his diapers. I just bag them and take them outside immediately. I want this sickness gone! :)

We got some good park time in today, even though it was chilly.

But I don't want to go home yet.... ;)

Michael and I have the sickness that will never go away. He is handling it like a champ... most days :)

Bath is a guaranteed way to make him happy. Unless, of course, he jumps out when you least expect it and slips on the floor. Then he is a bit of a grouch.







Today was picture day at school. His school does it twice a year. They made it way too complicated this time around. In the fall the children sat on a chair. Michael understands he has to sit (and stay) at least for a little while on chairs. Today they wanted the kids to pose. They had them stand on a box and then put one foot up on another box. Then they were supposed to hold a big 2012 block. Haha, yea right. We tried to just have him sit on the box but it was only about 6 inches from the floor so he kept standing up and walking away. We also had a photographer who did not want to bend and work with us. They are supposed to take 2 pictures. One of each pose. That was all she was willing to attempt. Michael doesn't even notice the camera until a picture or two have been taken and he sees the flash and hears the clicking. The photographer in the fall would fake flash Michael until he noticed then took great pictures. The woman today was clearly annoyed with Michael. Right before Michael was another little boy in his class who was even less cooperative. The class picture was comical :) There were four kids there today and I don't think there is a single picture with all of them looking. Two little boys were miserable during the whole process. Michael kept moving to the bottom step when he was supposed to be on the second. The only girl in the class kept turning sideways. But everyone was very patient and we enjoyed that part of picture day :) We will probably try pictures at Sears or somewhere local this spring. Elizabeth would like a pretty Easter dress and wants Michael dressed up in a suit (which we have never done). Sometimes the photography studios aren't any more patient than the woman at the school was today.

We have been REALLY hoping to make it to the Epilepsy Walk in DC this year. It falls on Elizabeth's spring break. We might even take an extra day or two to enjoy the area (if we can convince Liz to miss a day of school!) But we just found out that Matt has training for the month of March. It MIGHT end in time for us to get there. Hopefully we find out this week and then I'll commit to booking hotels and planning the trip out. We'd love to drive over to Virginia beach too. Michael loves the sand and Liz could comb the beach for shells and rocks for hours!

Being a sick Mommy is never any fun :(  But when Michael gets sick too its just awful! I've had a cold for days. Michael has been teething for a week or so but been fairly manageable. Last night at about 330am Michael woke up crying. Matt put him back to sleep and we wrote it off as a random event. He then woke up 2 more times before he finally got sick. We brought him to bed with us and he got sick again. After a nice bath (at 5am!) he finally passed out in bed with us til about 7am when we had to get up for Elizabeth. He got sick one more time before 8am. Its now 11am and he hasn't ate or drank much but he is doing okay. We gave him his meds and thankfully he hasn't gotten sick since then. All he wants to do is lay with us. Thankfully Matt has the day off so I can still get some much needed rest. We also feel horrible because we have family visiting and now we can't do much.

Matt and Michael with Matt's Grandmother

We did get to go out to dinner on Saturday though. Michael did alright. It's always hit or miss. We never know how he will behave during the wait to be seated. Or if he'll eat anything. Or if he'll sit quietly while we eat. I know every parent of a toddler deals with the exact same things at restaurants, so that makes us feel a little better :) Olive Garden has a great entry way with ramps on each side so Michael enjoyed going up and down them while we sat outside for 30 minutes. He LOVED eating salad with me and ate most of his potatoes but wouldn't touch his spaghetti. He had fun putting everyone's straws into Matt's drink. I'm sure Matt enjoyed his strawberry daiquiri with a little chocolate milk and lemonade. :)

Olive Garden

So to ease his teething we have resorted to using Chewy tubes... or toothbrushes and 1/4 teaspoons. Whatever can fit back there :)  We LOVE chewy tubes. His therapists introduced them to him about a year ago. He was mouthing EVERYTHING but once he got a tube he learned to chew on it instead of something inappropriate. Now we only need to use them when he is teething. Regular teething rings don't work on molars so these are amazing!

He prefers the 'P' and the 'T' we have. The 'Q' can't get to his molars



Taking a step back

We decided to take a step back and put Michael back in a high chair in hopes of taking a step forward in self feeding. Michael hasn't been in a high chair or booster seat in well over a year. He eats fantastic at the table, using his fingers to pick food up off his plate. We assist him with anything with a spoon. He just wasn't "getting it" when it came to self spoon feeding. If we were all at the table then he would wait for us to feed him or just ignore the bowl and spoon. If we left the table in hopes that he would feed himself when he got hungry enough, he would just leave the table too.

Today I went out and bought a cheap high chair as an experiment. We hoped that by him being more secure in a chair, tray right in front of him, no escape (!! :) ) then maybe he would attempt the fork or spoon. We were surprised at the results!

We only plan on using it during meals that require a fork or spoon. He can still sit in a normal chair at the table when he eats sandwiches and finger food. We're hoping it won't take too long for him to really get the hang of it!

Playing with the box the high chair came in was almost as exciting as eating with a fork!