Six Random Updates and Observations

I realize a blog post is supposed to be about only one topic. This post would receive a failing grade by that standard. You've been warned.

1. Last Monday I took Ian with me (Nadia was napping while Paul was working on installing the sump pump) to the Toyota dealership so that I could have an oil change, tire rotation, etc. for my car. Ian had a blast walking around the show room. What fun to go from vehicle to vehicle! It was very different from our usual trip to the park, but I still did walk for an hour.

2. The EleCare arrived today. The good news is that Ian likes it! No NG tube for him! PTL! The bad news is that this stuff is more expensive than I thought it was. These cans are SMALL even though they cost a fortune. I'm hoping after we determine what he's allergic to there will be something else we can give him to drink. We'll see a nutritionist after we get the results from the Allergist. Every time I feed him solid foods he's getting fruit + veggies + baby cereal, but he still lost 6 more ounces in the past 7 days, which means he lost exactly one pound in the past 13 days. He woke up at 5:45 today, and I really think it was because he was hungry since he hadn't kept anything down since his 12pm meal on Sunday. I'm hoping he doesn't wake up as early tomorrow. If he does, I'm thinking we need to make his room darker. We put a bedsheet over his blinds a couple of months ago. Jennifer, how was the food protein allergy diagnosed? I'll ask the Allergist about that tomorrow. Thanks for sharing! What did your daughter drink after she had that diagnosis?

I included this picture (at right) because it cracked me up that Nadia put on her rain boots and Sunday hat with that short outfit. The colors actually did all go together, lol!

3. My mom was suprised when someone asked me at Kohl's last week if Nadia and Ian were twins. When I said "no they're 17 months apart:," the woman said, "you must get that all the time." My mom was even more surprised to hear me say "yes." I wasn't being polite. To prove that point, it happened again today when I went to an Amish market to buy some flowers. I wonder at what age this will stop happening? As a side note, I let Nadia pick out some of the flowers we bought today. She favors yellow and orange ones, whereas I favor pink, purple, and white ones. We had fun planting a few of them together. That was a first for Miss Nadia!

4. My camera arrived today! Thanks for the recommendation, Sheila! I bought a Canon T2i. I read lots of positive reviews of Canon Rebels, and my sister helped me decide which model to get. Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson in handling camera companies. You'd think after my last experience I would have learned to just say NO, NO, NO if they call me the next day. I thought I agreed to an increase of about $40 for an additional (longer lasting) battery, but somehow the bill went up $200 from what the original email had said. I was livid! I called them and they came down $54, which is better than nothing, but I have learned my lesson. I am not sure if this happens with any other types of purchases. I've only had it happen with cameras. Hopefully I won't be buying a camera for many more years so I won't need to put my lesson learned to practice any time soon. I am excited about learning to use my camera, and I still got a better deal than if I had bought it on Amazon. I'm trying to remind myself of that when I get frustrated that I agreed to anything more than what I had originally paid for.

5. It can take a very long time to mow our lawn. Normally if I mow the entire lawn it takes me 75 minutes including the time it takes to get the lawn mower out, fill it with gas, and put it back in the shed. Because we've been getting SO much rain lately I've been mowing every 5 days. I heard on the radio this morning that from March 1 to yesterday we had received 12 inches more than we usually do during that time period which is causing problems for the farmers around here. Due to our trip to MD, it had been 7 days since I had mowed. Yesterday Paul used the weed whacker for the first time this year so that created more stuff to mow. He also removed all the extra hoses (which we used with the extra pumps in our basement), and I hadn't been able to mow around them over the past month. Put all that together and it took me more than twice as long to mow. I mowed last night until it was so dark I couldn't see, and I mowed again this evening. Normally I can mow the whole lawn with one tank of gas, but it took 2.5 tanks of gas this time. I don't think I'll let it get that long again any time soon!

6. Nadia's first dentist appointment was supposed to be tomorrow, but I had to call to reschedule in light of Ian's allergist appointment that's now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Her appointment is now scheduled for Thursday. I told them I am concerned about one of her top front teeth (right in the middle) as a few days ago I noticed it had turned grey in color. They said that probably she fell or ran into something and the nerve died in that tooth. They said it won't cause any problems for the permanent tooth. I wish I had her 3 year old pictures taken before this happened. I'm going to ask them on Thursday if there's anything I can do to restore the color of that tooth. Anyone else have experience with this?

Playgrounds Galore

While we were in Maryland the kids spent time at 5 different playgrounds. We walked to one in my parent's neighborhood twice. The first time we went our trip was cut short by rain. The second time (yesterday) it was very warm and sunny. Paul joined us for that trip, which meant I wasn't pushing the stroller as I usually do when we go to the park. Another time we went to a playground that's a couple minute drive from my parent's house.  Because it rained so often throughout the week, we took the kids to two playlands as well. We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner on Tuesday night and spent a little time at a McDonald's playland (we didn't eat there) another day. Yesterday afternoon we drove to Allen's Pond park (where my sister had taken our last family photo in October) to meet my friend, Joanne, who lives in Annapolis. Unfortunately the park was really crowded, and she didn't think she'd be able to find us so she didn't get out of her car although we were waiting near the entrance for an hour. Bummer. One perk of Paul being with us on Saturday morning was that he could take some pics of Nadia and I swinging together.

We went to Sunday School and church with my parents, came back to their house for lunch, and then started our trek back home. Unfortunately today wasn't a good day for Ian as far as keeping food down. He kept his first meal down (6:30am), but he threw up all over the place while eating at 8:00am. He got my skirt, and I didn't bring a spare one so I had to just clean it the best I could. He was still in his pjs so his Sunday outfit was spared. He kept down his third meal (12:15). The kids stayed awake for the first about 90 minutes of our trip (watching VeggieTales) and then slept for about an hour before watching more VeggieTales for the last 90 minutes of our trip. Ian started to get really fussy so I stopped to buy him some milk. That was a bad idea. He threw up (projectile style) all over the place creating a huge mess in my car. Then when we got home an hour later I tried feeding him solids. That meal didn't stay down either. I am not expecting good news when I weigh him tomorrow. Fruits and veggies don't have as many calories as yogurt and pudding so he's definitely been taking in fewer calories since I started eliminating dairy from his diet. Hopefully the EleCare will arrive tomorrow and we can stop giving him milk in his sippy cup. He was rather fussy today, which was to be expected given he had to be rather hungry since he couldn't keep much down.

I can tell it will be an adjustment for Nadia to go back to just being with Mommy and Ian most of the time. She's my social butterfly! She enjoyed giving hugs and kisses to several people before bed each night. Tonight when I tucked her in, she said "I want to hug my uncles!" She only saw one uncle this week, but I think she was missing hugging my parents and brother good night. Grandma will be coming up in 2 weeks for Ian's surgery.

Maryland Zoo

Nadia's first pair of rainboots!

After spending time on the phone with a couple of allergist offices this morning, the kids and I left to pick Paul up at the hotel he's been at this week. The allergist who has already seen Ian at first said the soonest we could come back was June 18th. I said we'd be calling other allergists as we couldn't wait that long. She said this is their busiest time of year. I made an appointment for May 31 with a CHOP allergist. I picked that date because Ian will be seeing an ENT that same day. The offices were about 30  minutes apart from each other, but they're about 2.5 hours from home so I was grateful to think I could do them on one trip. While we were driving to Baltimore my mom called me to tell me that the allergist Ian had already seen called back and said we could have a 1pm appt today (obviously wouldn't work) or Tuesday afternoon. I have to say it was a tough decision for me. If we waited until May 31st that would save me 5 hours of driving. Paul said I shouldn't let that be the decision maker. The two advantages to going on May 24th are #1 we start the testing process a week sooner and #2 he can be seen by an allergist who has already seen him before rather than switching to a different allergist. So I'll be driving to the Philadelphia area once a week the next 3 weeks -allergist, ENT, and then urological surgery. I need to reschedule Nadia's dentist appointment which is currently scheduled for Tuesday morning. You'd think there wouldn't be any conflict between a 10:00am dentist appointment and a 1:20pm allergist appointment, but it would be cutting it too close since there is a 2.5 hour drive involved.

I was worried about it raining while we were at the zoo as it's been raining on and off every single day this week, but the rain held off while we were there. We spent about 2.5 hours exploring the zoo in Baltimore. You could spend a fortune there if you wanted if you paid to ride the train, carousel, camel, etc. If the kids were older I would have paid for them to ride the camel ($5) and feed the giraffe ($2), but it didn't seem to make sense at this stage. Ian was free, and we received a 50% discount for Nadia, Paul, and I because of our Philadelphia Zoo membership. I think Ian's favorite animals were the giraffes and penguins. He didn't get as excited as he did at the Philly zoo. I think part of that was because some animals (such as the lions) came up right close to the glass at that zoo, which he loved. We had a good time, and I look forward to taking the kids to zoos for many years to come. One thing that Nadia said which cracked me up was while we were looking at the elephants she asked me if we were going to see Goliath. LOL! I tried to explain to her that Goliath (as in the giant who fought David) wouldn't be in a zoo. You never know what a 2 year old will say, ha ha! Nadia loved the tram ride back to the parking lot. That was a highlight for her. Ian was slept through the polar bear exhibit and the tram ride. One disadvantage of going to a zoo on a Friday in May is that the zoo was absolutely swamped with kids there on a field trip. It would have been a little easier for the kids to see the animals if the place wasn't so crowded. We'll have to keep that in mind in the future.

Sitting in a heron's nest

Standing in an oriole's nest

Taken prior to Patches scratching his face. The kids love spinning on this chair!

EleCare

Wednesday night Dr. Williams (psychologist) emailed me back and said that we should go ahead and eliminate dairy from Ian's diet now. He said we should switch to an elemental formula and feed Ian only baby cereal, fruits, and veggies until the allergy testing results are complete. This morning Karen (OT) called back and said basically the same thing although she said if Ian doesn't like the EleCare that we could fade it in (i.e. start out with milk plus EleCare and gradually reduce the amount of milk until it's just EleCare). She said she really didn't think an NG tube would be necessary. She said we can doctor the formula if needed (flavor it in some way). One family she worked with squirted some chocolate syrup in each bottle. She said too much chocolate is better than an NG tube. So today I bought a case (6 cans) of Vanilla EleCare on eBay. Ian seems to like vanilla pudding and yogurt so I hope he'll like vanilla formula. EleCare is much cheaper on Amazon than at the pharmacy if you buy it by the case. However, it's even cheaper on eBay. Even on eBay I paid about twice as much as I've ever paid for a can of formula before. I am not sure how long 6 cans will last. He's not drinking as much milk as he used to, but the directions say 4 scoops for 5 ounces if they're over 12 months old and with formula it was 3 scoops for 6 ounces. I can't believe I'm back to buying formula and my son is 17 months old! This formula is excellent for toddlers like Ian who have EE and GERD and possibly a milk allergy. I tried VERY hard to find a can of EleCare that I could buy here in MD to tie us over until the case arrives at home on Monday. My mom and I called many drug stores (CVS, RiteAid, etc.) plus ones at hospitals - even in Baltimore such as John Hopkins. I also called pediatric GI doctor's offices down here to see if they knew where I could buy some. Paul's mom was also calling pharmacies in PA and doing some research online. She found a website that said there were supposedly two grocery store pharmacies within 5 miles of my parent's house that carried EleCare. They were out of stock. We gave it our best effort that is for sure. A CVS back in PA said they'd order it for us and keep it in stock for us, but it will be much cheaper for me to buy online if I need to keep buying it for Ian. Some insurance companies (all in certain states which have mandated it by law) cover EleCare, but since we don't have any prescription drug coverage I'm not even going to explore that option. I'll stick with eBay if we have to keep buying it for him.

It was really hard to feed Ian today now that I know how painful every bite is for him to swallow. I can't wait until his little esophagus has healed!  I am grateful though that we have finally found the problem although we haven't 100% identified it until the allergy testing is complete. On a happier note, would you believe that Ian slept until 7:55am today! Unbelievable!! It was so hard to get this boy to sleep 10 hours. He seemed programmed to sleep only 9 hours at night, but last night he slept for 12 hours!!! It was so nice to be able to take my shower at 6:30 while both kids were still in bed. I'd be thrilled to have them in bed until 7am as then I'd get up at 6:30 every morning to shower and such before they get up. I usally get Nadia after Ian wakes up, but I went and got her at 7:35 as I figured she had to be awake (I miss the video monitor when we're away from home!). It was probably the first time ever that Nadia was up before Ian. It was certainly the first time ever that Ian slept until almost 8am. What a miracle! I'm praying that he'll keep sleeping in until 7am after we get home. That would be truly wonderful!

Biopsy Results

We received Ian's endoscopy results today. His stomach and duodenum are fine, but his esophagus is very inflamed. You're not supposed to have any eosinophils, but Ian had more than 60 eosinophils per high power field (which she said is a LOT). This means he definitely has more food allergies than just eggs, because we've already eliminated eggs from his diet. We have to return to the allergist to have patch testing done. After we've eliminated from his diet whatever he's allergic to for a few weeks, he has to have another endoscopy. Joys unconfined. Her best guess is that he's allergic to milk because he isn't currently eating any of the other foods which often produce this strong of an allergic reaction (wheat, soy, fish, etc.). If he's allergic to milk we have to put him a very expensive formula. She said it doesn't taste good and some toddlers refuse to drink it. If that happens, he'll have to have an NG tube. She wants us to see a Dietician after we get the results from the Allergist. I will be calling the allergist tomorrow and hopefully we can take Ian back there to start the patch testing next week because we want to stop feeding him whatever he's allergic to ASAP. I'm hoping it's not milk because Ian's diet currently consists of drinking milk plus eating yogurt, pudding, applesauce, baby cereal, and baby food fruits and veggies. A huge percentage of his diet has milk in it. She said it's no wonder he doesn't like to eat. It is painful for anything to go down his esophagus. She said how would I like to eat if I received an electric shock every time I took a bite. Poor guy!!! We stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this morning (prior to getting this phone call) and bought Ian a Magic Bullet food processor. I imagine we'll still work on teaching him to eat table food in the coming months even if he has food allergies.

I put in a call with Karen (OT) and Dr. Williams (feeding team psychologist) to see if I should change the feeding regimine at all while we wait for the allergy results. Hopefully I'll get some guidance tomorrow as it's going to be really hard for me emotionally to force him to eat 6 times a day now that I know how physically painful every bite is for him to swallow. To add insult to injury, he must have done something to my mom's cat while I was on the phone with Paul as the cat retaliated by scratching Ian's forehead (more than once). I am ever so grateful she didn't hurt his eye. The scratches stop at the bottom of his eyebrow. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be taking any pictures of Ian the next few days until his scratches heal, and we're going to be extra careful to keep Ian far, far away from Patches!

On a happier note, would you believe that Ian slept until 7:15 this morning. I was in SHOCK! Way to go, Ian!! That's a new record for him! He slept from 7:45pm to 7:15am! He did cry some around 11:30pm, but still that was a great night.

Losing Weight, Gaining Sleep

I knew I wouldn't be able to weigh Ian today so I weighed him yesterday morning. Two weeks ago Karen had asked me to start weighing Ian every Tuesday morning. Last Tuesday after eating his first meal of the day while only wearing a diaper, he weighed exactly 24 pounds. Yesterday morning under the same conditions he weighed 23 lb 6 oz. I wasn't pleased that he had lost 10 ounces in 6 days. His chucking was worse the first couple of days after the endoscopy, and he didn't eat as much as usual the day of surgery. Hopefully when I weigh him next week he'll be back to 24 lbs. According to the scale I haven't lost more weight recently, but I have lost inches! Yesterday I tried on the capri pants which didn't fit the last time I tried them on (in January), and they fit! I haven't worn them since 2007. YAY! Mowing the lawn every 5 days and taking the kids to the park most days has helped I'm sure.

The last few mornings (aside from Saturday when he was awake from 4:15am onward), Ian has been getting up later and later each day. He went from 6:30 to 6:40 to 6:50 to *drum roll please* 7:00am today! WOOHOO! He did cry a couple of times for a few seconds (at 4:30am and 6:15am for example) but immediately went back to sleep. In fact at 6:15am I went downstairs and turned on the light only to discover he was still sleeping, and turning on the light didn't even wake him up! What makes it even more amazing is that he fell asleep in the car at 7:15, which is earlier than we usually put him to bed. He was awake for a couple of minutes when we transitioned him from the car to my parent's pack and play, but he slept at least 11.5 hours last night! Way to go, Ian! I would absolutely love it if both children were in bed from 8pm to 7am most nights. I've been thrilled with Ian staying in bed until 6:30 and honestly didn't think it would ever get better than that. This has been a very pleasant surprise! My mom was amazed at how Ian just crawled up into my lap around 1:30 and within a few seconds fell asleep on my shoulder for his nap today. Nadia didn't sleep at all in the car on our way to Maryland last night. She wasn't in bed until 10pm. I think we'll have to try going back in the afternoon on Sunday to see if she'll take her nap in the car on the way home.

Daddy is Back!

Taken 5/12/11 at the playground

Although he didn't actually travel anywhere (except to PSU a couple of days last week), we hardly saw Paul at all last week. This meant I couldn't go to choir rehearsal on Wednesday night, I had to mow the lawn after putting the kids to bed at 8pm, etc. He did take care of Nadia for a little on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning (fed her and got her dressed and took her to the babysitter), but I really couldn't have sole responsibility for both kids when Ian was in surgery. It was hard enough sitting by myself in the waiting room at the surgery center. Last time my pastor and  husband were with me when Ian was in surgery. That time they had me hand Ian to the nurse, and I burst into tears. This time the nurse came and took him from my arms, and honestly when she did it I didn't realize she was about to escort him to the OR. This was a blessing though. I am not sure why it was easier, but for whatever reason having him taken from my arms was easier than me handing him over. I had prayed that I wouldn't cry this time, and I didn't. I prayed and read to help the time pass.

Well after one full week of almost no interaction with Paul, today he was able to help some with the kids. This meant I didn't have to wait until 8pm to mow, and it meant I had the luxury of taking a shower this morning without any kids in the bathroom with me. His poster has been printed (twice actually as he accidently had it printed the wrong size yesterday and had to go back today to get it printed again), and he purchased a new sump pump as well as a battery backup for the pump if per chance the power goes off when the pump is needed. He also installed the hooks for a pocket chart calendar I purchased a few weeks ago and have been itching to start using with Nadia. I figure with her birthday coming up next month it's the perfect time to start a daily calendar/weather time. I plan to start using it on a daily basis with her once we return from Maryland next week. I will post a few pictures from the past four days in this post. I will also mention (for the Grandmas) that I added a couple more pictures to Thursday's (17 Month Old) post last night.

Photos from Knoebels!

Ian woke up at 4:15 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got him at 5:50. After he finished his first meal of the day, he slept in his highchair until 7:00am. Hopefully this morning was a fluke as he's been doing SO much better lately. I am not exactly sure what time he's been waking up in the morning. Most mornings he hasn't been crying at all and is sitting in his crib playing with stuffed animals when I open his bedroom door at 6:30am.

Around 6:30 this morning Paul sent his poster to his advisor for her review. He had slept a little on the couch at some point in the night, but he again he got very little sleep. He worked on the revisions she suggested this afternoon and plans to get it printed at Staples tomorrow and also buy and install a new sump pump. I am breathing a BIG sigh of relief.

The kids and I left the house about 10:30 for Knoebels. We spent about 6 hours there with Paul's parents, brother, sister-in-law, Aunt Marlene, nephew, and one of his nieces with her husband and our great nephew. The 12 of us received our free handstamps and had a nice day even though it was cloudy and the high was about 62 degrees. It only rained for a few minutes (around 2:30pm). I love taking my kids to amusement parks! I'll be taking them back there in 11 days for an Early Intervention social. It probably won't be until next year that Ian will really have a lot of fun riding rides, but Nadia definitely loves them - the Kiddie Whip still being her favorite!

I took lots of pictures, but of course many are blurry. I'll post some of my favorites from today. I want to order my new camera this week so that I'll have it before our next trip to Knoebels. Since I posted a picture of Ian sleeping at the breakfast table, I will post one of Nadia doing the same on two mornings ago while she was refusing to eat her dinner from the night before. Who knew that booster seats and highchairs are comfortable to sleep in? LOL!

I fed Ian 3 times before we left for Knoebels this morning. He then went 7 hours without being fed. I only fed him 4 times compared to the 6 feedings I've been doing lately. The good news is that when I fed him at McDonald's this evening, he ate 9.5 ounces for me. That was the most he ever ate in one sitting. He drank milk with his first three feedings this morning, but then he refused to drink from his sippy cup the rest of the day! At first I thought it was because the milk was not warm enough so I added some hot water to it at Knoebels. Then I thought maybe he continued to turn it down because it was watered down. I made a new sippy cup once we got home at 7pm, and he still refused to drink. I am puzzled as he always loves his milk very much.

Nadia with her Great Aunt Marlene

Walking around the park was a big thrill for Ian!

Fire Engine!

This morning the theme for preschool story hour at the library was fire fighters. After the librarian read the children some books and led them in singing a few songs, we headed outside instead of to the craft table, which is usually where story time concludes. An assistant fire chief had brought a fire engine (tanker) to the library! Nadia and Ian both enjoyed exploring the fire engine. They each received a plastic red fire hat and a coloring book. Tomorrow we're supposed to go to Knoebels with Paul's family. I'm hoping the weather cooperates! I doubt Paul will be joining us. He's STILL working on his poster (which he's presenting in 4 days). He didn't get ANY sleep on Monday night (worked in his office at PSU all night), and he only slept for 90 minutes total on Wednesday night. The lack of sleep has caused him to come down with a bad cold. I'll be very grateful when this project is done. I haven't been able to do my usual activities like go to choir rehearsal on Wednesday night because I've been on my own as far as taking care of the kids this week. I'm glad I'm not normally a single parent!

Paul had told me on Sunday that my mother's day gift was that he was taking the family out to eat on Wednesday for dinner. I guess we're skipping that celebration this year. The first priority once Paul is able to do something other than school work is to replace one of the sump pumps. He could have done it several days ago in terms of the water going down, but he hasn't had time. That's the top priority because #1 we're headed to MD on Monday and #2 we've not been able to use our furnace or air conditioner the past 4 weeks. I had hoped that would translate to lower natural gas and electric bills, but thus far that hasn't happened. We did use the gas fireplace some, and it's probably not as efficient. Plus we've been using more electricity than usual in the basement (extra pumps and dehumidifiers). I'm grateful that this didn't happen at a time when it was really hot outside as then I would have really missed not having air conditioning for 4 weeks. We've used our 2 ceiling fans more than ever before, and I've wished we had more of them! Thankfully the house has generally been pretty comfortable without heat or air conditioning.

On Wednesday I tried a new recipe that included chicken, stuffing, green beans, cheese, milk, and cream of chicken soup. The recipe called for broccoli, but I used green beans instead since Paul and I prefer green beans to broccoli. Well Nadia sat at the dinner table for a couple of hours without eating a single bite. She sat there again several hours Thursday morning before she finally ate the small portion I was asking her to eat. She ate it just in time for us to leave for her make-up gymanstics class (she couldn't go to her usual class on Wednesday due to Ian's surgery). Last night I only asked her to eat one green bean and one tiny bite of chicken, and then I said she could pick what she had for dinner (ex. yogurt). I couldn't believe it. She refused to eat one green bean or one bite of chicken. She sat there at the kitchen table for 2 more hours last night, and she sat there for 3 more hours this morning before she finally ate it prior to us going to the library. Because she didn't eat any last night, I insisted she eat 2 green  beans and bites of chicken this morning. Boy can she be stubborn!

I didn't want another battle this evening so I picked up some pizza at the grocery store today. Given I already go through the stress of feeding Ian 5-6 times a day, I really don't enjoy having Nadia also crying at meal times! I will be glad when we're out of this super picky eating stage! In December at the Christmas banquet at church Nadia ate very well - ham, baked corn, etc. Last Saturday at the Girls Night Out dinner she didn't eat anything except for a roll and dessert. Normally I wouldn't have let her eat dessert without eating dinner, but I didn't want to have a battle at a banquet. Ironically they served the ham and baked corn that night as well. Go figure. She eats ham and cheese hot pockets all the time, but that night she told me she doesn't like ham. Her default response is that she doesn't like things - unless it's a dessert. She gladly ate a dessert she hadn't eaten before. We'll keep working to expand those tase buds of hers! Ian still struggles with the texture of applesauce (and it's not even a chunky kind!), but he's doing really well with baby cereal mixed with fruit and veggies (baby food).

17 Months Old!

1. Over the past month I became aware of the size of Ian's receptive vocabulary. His expressive vocabulary is just about nonexistent, although he does babble all the time. He can now follow many commands such as "touch Mommy's nose," "touch Daddy's ear," "go get your firetruck," or "put the kitty in the stroller."

2. He's not pooping as many times a day. I'm not complaining!!

3. He still loves to carry something around all the time although what that might be constantly changes. For awhile this past month it was a small stuffed kitten (the one Nadia named Patches). Sometimes when I get him in the morning he's sitting in his crib playing with a stuffed animal. This week his favorite toy is a small stuffed dog that Aunt Millie gave him for Easter.


4. He's starting to get the hang of sleeping at least 10 hours at night. He's actually slept until 6:30am several mornings in a row! Yay!!!


5. He now has 3 teeth! Part of his 3rd tooth (on the bottom) broke through recently.

6. He still pants a lot. When he's excited (which happens rather frequently), he starts panting and flapping his arms up and down. It cracks us up!

7. Over the past few months he's been really good at putting things on himself - putting on a necklace, hat, backpack, etc. He even attempts to put on his own jacket (although he hasn't succeeded at that yet). His fine motor and spatial skills seem to be advanced.

8. He loves to be chased. Sometimes he grabs a toy from Nadia so that she'll chase him to get it back.

9. Have I mentioned before that Ian throws things? Well he's been doing this for months. When he's done with his sippy cups, he tosses it (which can make a mess if it's not empty). That's just one example. He throws stuff ALL the time. He doesn't seem to comprehend yet that Mommy doesn't like this. Hopefully we can channel his desire to throw things to more appropriate objects like balls.

10. Although he's not talking, he's gotten much better at communicating over the past month. He shakes his head "no." He takes Paul or I by the hand and leads us toward something that he wants. He goes into the kitchen and stands near the microwave and points at it while fussing when he wants milk. He gets a book and then backs up so we'll pick him up and read to him. He walks over to the swing and fusses when he wants me to put him up in the swing.

11. He's consuming about 30 ounces a day of solid food, which is FAR more than he was eating 3 weeks ago. He's eating all different flavors of pudding and yogurt (as long as there aren't little pieces of fruit in it). He's also eating stage 1 or 2 fruits or veggies. The veggies have to be mixed in with something else. Today I mixed in a little cereal with the bananas/sweet potatoes and he didn't gag! That was a first. We're also working on applesauce.

12. He's consuming at most 20 ounces of whole milk a day, which is less than before. I've also cut back on how much cereal I put in his milk.

13. About once a week on average he still throws up somewhere other than his highchair, but now most of the time he only throws up in his highchair. He only wears an average of 2 outfits a day, which is an improvement. He only sabotages my outfit about once a week (that happened this morning). That's a big improvement. Maybe it's time to get the carpets shampooed. :-)


14. Ian absolutely loves to be outside. I think he'd be happy if we spent every waking hour outside. Ian does an excellent job of playing by himself when we're inside. In particular he loves to look at books.


15. Have I mentioned Ian is affectionate? Boy is he ever! If Paul is eating dinner with us, he still puts out his right hand for Daddy to hold while we're eating. He clings so tightly to me at times. Once he scratched Paul he was holding on so tightly! Yesterday after his surgery I didn't know if I was strong enough to break his grip on me. I was just trying to give him a little apple juice, but he did NOT want to let go of me.

16. He has the cutest "roar." Does that count as his first word? I've been trying to get a video of it. Hopefully I'll succeed in the near future! He also makes a "quack" sound for a duck although it's not quite as good as his "roar." He roars all the time when we're at the park. :-)
17. He's wearing size 18 month clothes and size 4 or 5 shoes. His sandals are size 5, and there are only a couple of pairs of size 4 shoes that still fit him. Size 18 month pants are too long, but in terms of pjs, shirts, and shorts - he's wearing size 18 months. He weighs 24 pounds.