Love at the Zoo...

 

Celebrating the Small Victories (and Setting Reasonable Goals)

I am realizing that motherhood is all about overcoming the daily hurtles and applauding all progress you see, no matter how small.  In that spirit, I write this entry. 

 

Here are some of the things we can celebrate in our home (young mothers- can you relate?!):

 

Howie eats chicken for lunch!  I read in my Baby Whisperer book (I feel that she is the final authority on all baby-related questions) that if a baby rejects a food, to put it away for a week and then try again.  We did that and... ta-da... he ate it!  He is also enjoying ham on a daily basis.  We may not have a vegetarian afterall. 

 

Food is no longer flinging across the kitchen at mealtime.  Paw-Paw (Howie's grandpa who has been eating with us quite a bit due to my mother being in Boston for 6 weeks) can vouch for us that Howie's table manners were hitting an all-time low as he yelled, threw food, and would not eat at the highchair.  Telling him "No" wasn't working.  So, rather than repeat "No" over and over in my firm voice, I taught him what to do with foods that he does not want on his tray- we put them on the table.  We practiced putting rejected food on the table for about two days, clap our hands together when he does it, and he now understands that we do not fling food or sippy cups onto the floor.  He is eating a lot better and mealtime is actually pleasant.  Whew, dodged that social bullet. 

 

We drink milk from the sippy cup and no longer use the bottles.  Howie refused to drink milk from the sippy cup.  The dietitian encouraged us to go exclusively with milk in the sippy- no more water.  Eventually, he got thirsty enough to drink the milk and now he is comfortable with it.  The transition to no bottles was a breeze after we got past the sippy cup trouble.  We added a CD of quiet music to Howie's bedtime routine in substitution of the bottle.  He really likes his Howie Day (Collide), BNL (Light Up My Room) and Michael Stipe (Into the Sun) and this has eliminated much of the bedtime fussing. 

 

Here are some things we will be working on in the weeks to come:

• Not hitting our friends (Howie understands that this is not okay, but still lacks the impulse control)
• Not playing with the dog bowls on the deck
• Identifying our ears, mouth, nose, etc.
• Making the sign for "All Done" at mealtime 

 

Alarm system

My sister has a new home and although there are alarm consoles all over the house, she has posted my picture to deter criminals "...we put up your school picture to gaurd the house, because what criminal wouldn't stop dead in his tracks after seeing that teacher stare?"

I'm glad that my school picture is being put to good use.

Howie's Walking!

The Pick-Up Game

Recently, Howie has really been into his Tonka Truck.  His new found interest in walking has created some back pain for us, but the Tonka Truck seems like it will be a savior for us after all. 

The game is a big walk around the neighborhood.  He likes to zoom as fast as he can until he gets tired or hears a dog barking.  At these points, he will stop and either acknowledge the dog, "Doggie!" or sit down and collect a few things from the ground.  The collection is a very important part of the experience as he will carefully selected the items he wants in his truck (leaves, sticks, rocks, cicadas).  Occasionally he will reconsider, stop his truck and remove an item or two.  This game is quite exciting, the new found freedom of walking alongside Mommy and Daddy versus relying on them is exhilarating. 

Still Facing Backwards in Life...

By State Law, children need to be at least 20 pounds and one year before their carseats can be facing forward.  Well, at 13 months Howie is still facing the rear and this is why...

He has been riding the lowest curve on the height and weight charts since about 3 months of age.  The pediatrician has us come in for routine weight checks as we watch Howie surf in the 3 percentile.  I have seen a nutritionist to get new ideas on how to add fat and calories to his already restricted diet.  That meeting happened about three weeks ago and it seems to me that he has since consumed more fat than most sumo wrestlers.  We have focused on maintaining good eating habits (i.e. not snacking, offering the nutritionally sound stuff first, making sure Howie isn't "drinking" his diet) and we are working on his table manners to prevent mealtime from becoming playtime. 

The disappointing news is that he acutally lost weight since his May check-up with Dr. Nick.  He is at 18 pounds, 8 ounces.  They can officially term it (and our sweet doctor cringed as he said this) as "Failure to Thrive".  We found ourselves at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a needle in Howie's arm and a lab order sheet with just about everything checked off on it.  They are checking for thyroid issues, Celiac Disease, glucose levels. etc., etc...

Sigh.  Although cognitively, I know that I cannot take this on as my own doing since I have done almost everything I can nutritionally for Howie.  However, I still find myself combating those self-defeating thoughts of not providing and caring for my son as he needs.  Anyone else out there experiencing the same situation?  It seems like everyone's children are above the 100th percentile.  Anyone... anyone?

News Flash

My brother-in-law sent us a link about food allergies.  It's from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/peanut_allergies_may_be_cured For those of you who are not familiar with The Onion, it is a satirical news source, but it is based on real news stories.  Sounds like there is an actual study in progress. 

Yah, We Got a Kid with Allergies

We have entered the world of food allergies.  We recently went to the allergist...

Howie's blood work shows some additional allergy risks.  These are all things that I suspected within my mother's heart, but the skin tests did not show.  The doctor said it was unusual for blook work to show positive results after the skin tests are negative; usually it is the other way around and the skin testing is more sensitive. 
Here are his results :
No risk/ No allergy: Milk
Low risk/Some Sensitivity: Avodcado, Wheat
Moderate risk: Banana, Peas
High risk: Peanut, Egg
Basically, we have to treat Howie with caution around the low risk foods and refrain from giving him any peas, eggs or peanuts at this time as it would most likely result in an anaphylaxis reaction.  We are going to clean out our kitchen to make sure we are nut-free so we don't risk him picking up unwanted food and eating it off the floor, tables, couch, etc. since he is continues to use particles from the floor as a supplemental food intake.  We are also going to continue to be very careful about taking the EpiPen with us wherever we go (we were already getting into the habit of doing this), the doctor cautioned us about responding sooner than later to decrease life-threatening risks. 
The chances of Howie growing out of these allergies has decreased with the new positive results and the doctor doesn't think it is likely given his history of echzema.  We are going to go back in one year to test him again (skin test and blood work) unless something else comes up in the meantime. 

I don't think I have realized the full extent of the challenges involved with this new diagnosis.  At this point, I am extremely cautious about who I leave him with, this applies to both babysitters, my gym childcare and church nursery workers.  Rick and I also consider these allergies when picking restaurants our family goes to.  I cannot fathom sneding him to kindergarten and trusting the school with his life.  Alas, we are just going to take one life stage at a time. 

Howie's Friends

Here is Howie with some of his closest friends.  They enjoy chewing on each other's shoes, chasing each other around the house on hands and knees, climbing over top each other to get to toys and the occassional whack to the face.  Isn't friendship beautiful?

Smiles for Tofu

Recently Howie has been more opinionated about his meals.  He enjoys the things that most babies like such as Goldfish, bagels, milk, cheese cubes and steamed carrots.  But he hesitates for the meat.  When I say "hesitates" I mostly mean that he sees it on his tray, yells some sort of baby profanity and launches it across the kitchen.  So far, the only real source of protein (outside of the milk) that I can get him to eat is Tofu.  He loves the stuff.  Personally, my stomach turns when I chop the stuff up for him, but he cannot get enough of that spongy, white substance that looks like it came from the bottom of the ocean.  Perhaps I have a vegetarian on my hands...

A new adventure...

Howie enjoyed getting into the stream at the park today.  He loved the cold water, mud, and rocks.  Such a boy!

Florida-Or-Bust

We just got back from spending a week on Sanibel Island in Florida.
Here are some pictures of our trip:

The long car ride down (16 hours). We found out that Howie doesn't like to sleep in his car seat like we planned on.

Here is the family.

Howie enjoys the wind through his hair as we stroll along the beach.

Dinners were a challenge as we battled for a seat amongst the other Spring Breakers. The Mucky Duck had a 2 1/2 hour wait!

We do some laundry at the condo to get by. Howie enjoys helping with the laundry.

The Ding Darling (or as I like to say "Ding-Dong-Darling") is a preserve on the island. We find a few gators there and lots of interesting birds.

Howie and Paw Paw enjoy some reading at Great Nana's house.

We visit Great Grandma Sue in her home at Shell Point. She enjoyed seeing the baby.

Shells are good for eating when you've enjoyed enough sand.