Monday, May 19, 2014

WOW! It's been 6 months since I posted....

   So much has happened I don't even know where to begin! I think I will try to go month by month and that should help me remember everything (I hope, lol).
   In December, Mason turned 2 years old. We spent the day together as a family. I fixed a special breakfast while Doug and Mason put together his new birthday present (a work bench). That took most of the morning and I helped after breakfast was done ;). We ordered a pizza for lunch with homemade chocolate cake for dessert and Nana stopped by briefly afterwards. Then he took a nap after all of that and when he got up, we went over to Uncle Mike's to watch "Finding Nemo" (in Unlce Mike's private theater no less!). We (w/ Uncle Mike) took him out to eat at 'Park Lane Tavern' for his birthday dinner. Watched the Christmas lights behind the mall. Dropped off Uncle Mike. With all of that partying and special activities, it was time for bed.  Mason seemed to really enjoy his birthday. It was nice having just the 3 of us for most of his special day (and little did we know we would be adding a new addition to the family before his next birthday...more on that later ;) ).
   In January, my Grandma Cross died. My parents gave me and Mason the opportunity to ride down to Louisiana to go to the funeral. Mason did really well with his first long road trip! Even though the trip was for a sad reason, some of my family got to meet Mason for the first time (a silver lining?)! I got to see some family I haven't seen in over 10 years and meet some little cousins for the first time! It was so nice to catch up and part of me wanted to stay :(, but I have a wonderful husband and 2 cute kitties that made me return.
   In February, not that much happened, mostly just snow and cancelled plans.
   In March, Mason began walking! On March 5th, Mason began trying to walk more than crawl. He started with just 5-10 steps and quickly gained more. We also bought a new Grand Caravan. It is SO nice being a 2 car family again! Now for the big news I eluded to earlier. The day after we bought the new Caravan, we found out that I am PREGNANT! Our new addition is due on November 20th, 2014. It never ceases to amaze me how God works! We had already decided on the Caravan because we were thinking of adding an addition, but had no idea one was already in 'the works'. We also had a Child Find meeting with the local school district for Mason. Busy month for us!
   In April, we hosted an Easter lunch and invited over the Baggetts, one Williams, and my parents. We put Mason in his 'Big Brother' shirt and waited for everyone to notice. One by one it spread like fire. We also texted Pat, Katie, and Mike the news. I had 2 U/S of the baby done and everything looks good. Nice strong heartbeat and plenty of movement.
   In May, we had an eligibility meeting for Mason with the local school district. He was found eligible for SpEd Preschool for the next school year. He will be going to school twice a week for 3 hours a day (so far as we know....we haven't been told the exact details yet). I will add more to May....it's only half through ;).

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Just 2 Week & 2 Days, We Will Have A 2 Year Old!!!

     In just 2 weeks and 2 days Mason will be 2 years old! That seems so crazy to me! In some respects it seems it has been longer than almost 2 years since I became a mommy, but in others it seems so short! We are looking forward to spending his birthday, just the 3 of us.
     Mason continues to work hard at all of his therapy appointments. He has recently started standing by himself for about 10 seconds at a time. Mason as also been using his right hand to try to place objects into his left hand or to help lefty grab them. Lefty has also been trying to help with eating. Ins addition to making progress in both fine and gross motor skills, his speech is also coming along too! He is attempting more words, squealing, and expressing emotions (happy, sad, frustration ,etc.) more. We have recently started working with sign language again to help him express himself easier (at least hopefully).
    I continue to thoroughly enjoy watching Mason's development! He may be a little slower than 'average', but he is working on his own pace and I love how determined he is!


Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Turkeys

     When we went to Frying Pan Farm Park, I strolled Mason from animal to animal. He would point to them, and ask "What's that?" or "What's this?". I would answer him and tell him "pig", "cow", etc. Then we got to the turkeys. Again he pointed and asked "What's that?". I said "That's a turkey". He said "unh eh" (like 'no'). He pointed again, "What's that?" and I again said "They are turkeys.". He said "No!". Then he pointed again and asked "What's that?". This went on a few more times. I finally said "They are still turkeys and let's go look at the sheep.".

Even More Progress :)

      In the last 3 months Mason has made tremendous progress in both fine and gross motor skills. A few days after the last post he began 4 point crawling 100% of the time! YEAH! About the same time as he began crawling, Doug taught him how to give a high 5 with his right hand. Ideally we would love for it to be either hand, BUT this is HUGE for Mason. Except for pointing with his right hand (and occasionally his left), he couldn't do any gestures with his hands. Then about 1.5 weeks ago, I taught him how to clap. We have been working on it for a few months now.  I got him to first clap his right hand to his left arm, then with a little more practice I got him to clap the right hand to his left fist. We kept practicing and now he can clap with the left hand almost open :)!  He is also beginning to clap independently when he wants to.
      In addition to working on his motor skills, we have been taking him to new places and letting him explore his world more. Last month he went with some relatives from the Baggett side of the family and my parents to the National Children's Museum in D.C. He had a blast crawling all over the gym they had in the the 3 and under room. He wasn't a big fan of working with shaving cream though (I don't blame him, it stinks :( ). We will have to try more sensory activities at home to get him used to it. This month he went to Frying Pan Farm Park with some relatives from the Cross side of the family. He enjoyed getting to see the farm animals and riding a carousel for the first time too. We look forward to taking him to the pumpkin patch next month :).
      He has begun to work with his speech therapist too. She has come for only 1 appointment so far, but has given us some info to help Mason. She wants us to work with giving nouns names, sounds, and actions. That's easier said than done since not all nouns have sounds and actions associated with them. She also wants him to use straw cups exclusively to promote development of his mouth muscles. We were already using them in conjunction with soft spout sippy cups, so we just took away the sippy cups. She also complained about some of Mason's electronic toys, saying they were too young when they are not. They are age appropriate and Mason likes playing with them, so they stay :). If Mason fixated on his electronic toys, then we would take away some of them but he doesn't. I firmly believe that a variety of toys is what is best for Mason. He has electronic toys, but he also has wooden toys and other toys that do nothing until Mason does something with them.
      We are so proud of the progress he has made! He works so hard and I'm glad he gets to see the results!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

We Have A 20 Month Old!!!!

     That was my first thought this morning when I realized today's date. In just 4 months we will have a 2 year old! WOW!!!!
     Mason continues to make slow and steady progress. He now can crawl at least 50% of the time in a 4 point crawl position (hands and knees). This is huge for his fine motor development in his left hand and made Miss Kelly (his OT) quite happy! He continues to use his left hand more but still has a lot of work ahead.
     Today he had his re-eval for Early Intervention Services. We got the news that he qualified to get speech services in addition to the occupational services too. This wasn't totally unexpected. I had brought up all of my concerns to his OT and case manager (Miss Angie). He will be receiving speech therapy twice a month in addition to OT twice a month.
     I will end on a happier note. As of the end of July, his physical therapy sessions have been cut to once a week because of his progress :).
   

Friday, May 24, 2013

Just This Week.....

     Mason has made a LOT of progress this week. On Tuesday, I went to get Mason from his crib after his afternoon nap. He was sitting up in his crib barely awake. This was the first time that Mason sat up on his own. YEAH! In the last month and a half, Mason has made so much progress that I have been lucky enough to have a LOT of proud mommy moments :).
     Then while at MiSue and Grandpa's (my parents) house, my mom found him sitting up in their crib after his morning nap on Wednesday. Okay I know what some of you are thinking (including me a little bit and Doug too), that maybe he used the crib to help him sit up. Nope! During PT yesterday, he sat up unassisted :). I saw it! He went from a four point stance (hands and knees) to pushing to a side sit position to a full sitting up position. It's nice to see his hard work paying off ;).
     Then yesterday afternoon, he refused his afternoon nap. I went to get him out of his crib and he was STANDING up! I know we really should have lowered his crib when he started pulling up on the sofa, but he showed NO interest in pulling up in his crib or other places until yesterday. There he was standing up, and of course it would be near the end of the crib with the changing table attached to it. He had popped open the wipes and had one in his hand staring at it. So needless to say we lowered his crib last night and took off the stuff on the top of the changing table. 
     When I put him to bed last night he noticed the lowered mattress right away ;). I sat him down in his crib and he gave me a kinda strange look. He spun himself around while staying in a sitting position, looking all around his crib. He pulled himself up and smiled (maybe a sign of approval?...LOL!). After his normal bit of fussing, he went on to sleep ;).
     

Thursday, April 11, 2013

WOW! Mason is 16 months!

     I can't believe Mason turned 16 months old a few days ago! Seriously?!?! WOW! Time flies, especially when you have a child! The beginning of March, Mason had the stomach bug that lasted off and on for almost 1 week. YUCK! He went for his 15 month check up right after that. It was discovered that he had lost over 1.5 pounds and had fallen off HIS growth curve. His immunizations were put off for 3 weeks since he had just gotten over the stomach bug and he also needed a weight check because of falling off of HIS growth curve. The stomach bug took more of a toll on Mason than just weight loss. He reverted back to mostly rolling instead of commando crawling and taking 100% formula.
     In the weeks that followed, Mason gradually put back on the weight he lost and gained the strength to commando crawl again. Once the opened can of formula was finished, I decided to try giving him straight 100% cold milk. Before the stomach bug, we were doing a gradual reduction in the percentage of formula in each sippy cup and increasing the percentage of milk along with getting him used to the coldness of the milk. For whatever reason, Mason took that first sippy cup of 100% cold milk with no problem and no looking back. When we had tried that before the stomach bug, he flat out refused it.
     At the 3 week follow up he received his immunizations and the weight check showed he had regained the lost weight. So you would assume that was the end of it, he gained back his lost weight. Nope. Like I mentioned ^^^, he had fallen off of HIS growth curve. The doctor plotted the weight gain, he is back on his curve for now, but just barely. He goes back in June for his 18 month well child visit.
     On a side note, I'm getting a little tired of hearing people say not to worry about his growth curve. I guess ignorance is truly bliss because this is very important for 2 reasons. The first reason is for EVERY child, staying on his/ her own growth curve is important for achieving milestones. The second reason is that for a child with CP, EVERY movement is several times harder for them than for a child without CP and delays the progress of achieving milestones. Since a child with CP expends more energy/ calories on 'simple' movements, then the risk for falling off the growth curve is higher and increases the delay in milestone achievement even more.
     I will end on a more positive note ;), we have noticed a substantial gain in Mason using of his left hand (even when the splint isn't on...YEAH!).  It was truly a PROUD mama moment when he instinctively reached to turn off the light switch with his LEFT hand.