Rule #140: Angry is the new Awesome

I have been looking forward to Evan's birthday for months. Not because he is getting older, and cuter :) But because he wanted an Angry Birds party!!! I was so excited! (seriously, you would think it was my party....)

I promptly hopped on the Internet to do some research. This was going to be my very first theme party. Evan has never cared or had much of an opinion before, so I could never talk myself into a theme I wasn't even sure he liked. But THIS year, this year it was different. Evan LOVES angry birds, and he's surprisingly good at it. There are a lot of cute crafty ideas out there on the Internet. I picked ones that looked great, but did not require a lot of effort. :)

Evan informed me a few weeks prior to his birthday that he was gong to have "snaps" I was not planning on snaps, so I had to incorporate them into the theme. The snaps became the eggs that the white birds drop and explode! Perfect. Thanks Em for helping my make these quick and easy.

Thanks to Steve and Vanae for helping me make these awesome cupcakes!

Alex was totally on board with an Angry Birds party. He thought the idea of a life sized angry birds course was a great idea. Now that it's done, we both agree that it completed the party, but was a lot more work than expected. It was a lot of work because Alex is a stickler for the details. He hand painted the balls to look like angry birds. Complete with tail feathers and the shadows under their eyes. They looked amazing!!! I am so impressed with my husband. Evan loves them! In addition to the balls he folded, and painted boxes to be the wood, stone and glass bricks from the game. The slingshot itself was probably the easiest part to make. It has withstood a lot of abuse and is still standing!

Evan trying out the slingshot the morning of the party

Alex showing off his skills, and his angry face :)

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate my little man's FOURTH birthday! This is the best he has ever done, with so many people and so many expectations! I was thrilled. Dr. Goldsmith had suggested that we try to lessen the pressure when it came time for presents so we didn't have a repeat of last year. You know, with the tent :) So this year we didn't call everyone over. We didn't have a dozen kids hovering in his space trying to see what he got. We would let the gift giver know he was opening their present and that was it. He would open one or two presents, then run off to the slingshot. After a few throws we were able to call him back over, and open a few more presents. It worked really well. He didn't feel the pressure and stress, was still able to have a great time. It feels good to have a birthday where he isn't crying. (He's cried with presents the past three years) Thank you for your generosity and love.

Here are oodles of pictures of everyone enjoying Alex's hard work!

Mom bought me and Angry birds shirt for the party.

Papa deciding he'd rather play dodge ball instead :)

Look at the JOY on Evan's face! Priceless.

My favorite face of all time! Haha!

 Best action shot ever. Look at Tennysons stance, the black ball flying through the air, the pigs and frogs just waiting to come crashing to the ground! Sweet!

Rule #139: The disorder is in the details.

Evan has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  Now that you know the ending, I’ll explain the details. First, a summary of Evan’s first three years.  

6 - 15 Months
From the time Evan was supposed to hit his first milestones, like rolling over, he was almost always behind and uninterested.  Meghan was concerned, and I was not, as I had heard of such delays and this was my first child.  Her concerns mounted as he neared 15 months and was still behind on many milestones. Not only milestones, but a lack of connection to his surroundings. He seemingly wanted nothing, needed nothing, and did not care if he was alone or with company.  We changed pediatricians after he was not concerned (see Rule #51), our new one referred us to Early Intervention.

15 Months - 3 Years
We met with therapists of Early Intervention at that time, who said Evan was indeed delayed, had no obvious disorder, and qualified for in-home therapy (see Rule #63).  He met with a therapist from then until he was 3 years old.  During that time he made dramatic progress, and he opened up in so many ways, especially speech and communication.

3 Years +
When he was 3 he had a 3 year evaluation by Early Intervention to see if he still qualified for services.  Amazingly and wonderfully, he didn’t.   He did still start in a special needs pre-school at Holbrook Elementary (see Rule #119) that fall because we liked everyone we had worked with through Davis County and we still had concerns about his social interactions, especially with other children.  They did a 6 week observance to see if his learning was impaired socially.  Wonderfully again he did well and did not qualify (see Rule #120).

And so things seemed to be going well.  Until December.  Up ‘til this point Evan was a champion sleeper, sleeping 12 hours every night.  One night Evan woke up terrified, eventually he told us that he was scared of ‘the yellow’ in the corner of his room.  All but one of his walls are a very light yellow.  He was scared of a certain corner, and we put up a pillowcase where he pointed to cover the yellow.  This mollified his fear, but he continued to wake up in the middle of his sleep, usually after midnight, and he would stay wide awake for several hours. He was no longer acting frightened, he was just awake. This has continued month after month to this day.  As you can imagine, it’s quite disruptive to daily life for one or both of us to be awakened so frequently.

After months having no success in bringing his sleep back to normal, our pediatrician referred us to a sleep specialist.  We met with her in March or so, and she was surprised by our story, and did not know what the cause was or what to do.  She seemed to specialize in more obvious problems like airway issues.  We mentioned his developmental issues and she said that kids with autism and other disorders are notoriously bad and sporadic sleepers.  Along this line she referred us to the Children’s Center in Salt Lake, suggesting that treating him behaviorally may help his sleep.  She also gave us a drug to try, which we avoided for a month. We eventually felt like we had run out of options and tried the medication, which did nothing.  

Since the drug didn’t work, and we didn’t want to just try more drugs, we called the Children’s Center.  They are extremely busy, and we had to wait 3 months before our first appointment.

In the interim, Evan had a few months out of school, and he had many play dates with a cousin who is almost a year younger than him.  I noticed that his younger cousin seemed to be quickly outpacing him. My concerns were growing.  Meghan was doing well at normalising Evan’s unusual behaviors, except sleep of course, which is still very disruptive.

Finally just before Evan’s fourth birthday, we met twice with Dr. Goldsmith, a psychologist of the Children’s Center, a few days apart.  We filled out several questionnaires about Evan and talked in depth for several hours.  Evan was there for the first appointment so that he could be observed first hand as well.

He is very knowledgeable on the subject, working primarily with 3-4 year olds, and was careful to listen to everything we had to say and looking at the forms we filled out.  After all was taken in there was no doubt in his mind.  Evan is autistic.  Specifically the new disorder (as of next year) is Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The most current understanding is that many behaviors fall in a general category of autism.  They vary both in severity and individually.  By this I mean that each behavior associated with the spectrum may or may not appear in a given individual on the spectrum.  Aspergers was a specific common grouping of autistic behaviors that is being merged into the spectrum.  So in Evan’s case, he has many behaviors not associated with more severe autism that helped early intervention and the County overlook his autism as simply a delay.  Evan has good eye contact, lets people touch him, talks well and communicates his needs often, among others.  While these are not typical of severe autism, they do not mean he is not on the spectrum but as Dr. Goldsmith said, give him a very good prognosis for being able to overcome his ASD by the end of elementary school.

As stated before, the disorder is in the details.  These are the primary behaviors that are concerning and have given Evan this diagnosis.

1. Sporadic Sleep.  His sleep issues I talked about already.  

2. Hand flapping.  Perhaps you’ve seen Evan excited, when he is, he clasps his hands together and shakes them wildly, his entire body spasming to some degree.  This is not really disruptive, but to the Dr. it was like a red letter ‘A’ on Evan’s forehead.  The fact that he clasps his hands instead of flapping them separately helped this behavior go unnoticed by the County.

3. OCD.  Evan has a number of obsessive behaviors, such as lining up his toys, following lines and wanting things closed.  He is also very repetitive in his speech. Quickly memorizing songs, reciting the lines to his shows, or even mimicking the background noises. Fortunately these are often mild, but they are there.  Dr. Goldsmith said that ASD and OCD are ‘close cousins’ and that almost all kids with ASD show some OCD behaviors.

4. Restricted, Behavior Rigidity. Evan does not like change, and will do things the same over and over again.  The Dr. pointed out that many of us have this to some degree, so the degree is really the focus.  A large majority of Evan’s tantrums and meltdowns are about things not being done the same order or in the order he wants them done in.  In addition to order, he will hyperfocus on a small number of things, and pursue them to the exclusion of all else.  We’ve had good success getting him to change tracks, but he then frequently sticks to the new track.

5. Lack of Narrative Speech.  We thought Evan was good to go in the speech department.  And that’s because Evan does talk in sentences and enunciates well.  He does not however, give narratives or recall past events in typical fashion.  For example, he doesn’t tell us about his day at school.  He can’t go back and think and then communicate “First we did this, then we played that, etc.”  We’re lucky if we can guess at an activity and get him to confirm that he did it.  Also when he does recall things, he’ll again focus in and recite one event using the same words over and over.

6.  Misunderstanding of Social and Emotional Cues.  Evan does not communicate or play well with kids his age.  If it’s a very small group and play is guided by an attentive adult, he can do well.  But he will rarely respond appropriately or at all when spoken to or asked a question by a peer, especially ones he is not already very familiar with. When he doesn’t respond the way they expect they quickly lose interest.  He also seems to lack empathy, when anyone is sad or angry, he will almost always laugh or occasionally meltdown.  There are many details in this category and it’s very concerning to us for his long term happiness that he will have difficulty forming healthy relationships. We know he can and does form relationships. He loves and interacts uniquely with his parents, his brother, grandparents, his cousins etc. All of this is wonderful and we hope that this area will improve throughout his life so that he will be more available to friendships and fulfilling relationships.

7. Bowel Problems.  Evan does not ‘squeeze brown’ in the toilet.  In Evan’s own words he squeezes yellow and brown.  He has been potty trained peeing in a toilet for a long time now.  Meanwhile, I could count the number of times he has stooled in the toilet on my hands.  It seems to cause him discomfort and he has high anxiety over it.  He also goes too long between stooling, often only two times a week, as though he is constipated.  Like sleep this is not something used to diagnose ASD, but is none the less very typical of the spectrum to have physical gut and bowel issues.

The good news is that an official diagnosis opens up many doors for programs and treatment.  Including qualifying for help from the County.  There are many programs available at the Children’s Center in Salt Lake that we hope will further improve Evan’s behavior.  Behavioral treatments seem to be centered around getting into the child’s world on their level through attention and play, and helping them connect and expand.  This comes from us, therapists and our many family member and friends.  Thank you for your prayers and your support.

Rule #138: Play is the work of childhood

My little Grahamster is growing up so fast! I feel like I barely have time to document all that he's doing before he surpasses previous milestones. So it really doesn't help that I've been so late getting his 18 months stats on here. He's nearly 20 months now! Oh well. Someday I'll be on top of it....*fingers crossed 

Weight 22 lbs 15 oz (10%)

Length 33 1/4 in (70%)

OFC 19 1/2 in (85%)

His doctors appointment was very uneventful, which is nice. They gave us the questionnaire to screen for autistic behaviors (they give it to all 18 month old children) Graham, of course, passed with flying colors. But it was a bit of a shock to me to remember what Evan was like at this age, and how differently I would have answered those questions for him. Evan has made such tremendous progress that I sometimes forget where he started.

But this post isn't about Evan, no matter how much I love him and am proud of him. :) It's about my bundle of giggles Graham.

He continues to be a Mama's boy...preferring me to help him with anything and everything. Loves to be on my body whenever he can. He is getting slightly less clingy though. Which is nice to see, it gives me hope for when we have another child someday :) He and Alex have a really darling relationship, and I love to watch it grow stronger every day. He's definitely the fun parent. :)

Graham is finally getting in some teeth! It's about time too. Poor kid has been living life with 6 teeth for ages now. As excited as I am for his teeth, I do hate teething. For the last several months he hasn't wanted to eat. Just drink milk. He asks for it by name, standing next to the fridge. It's darling. It would be even more darling if he would eat other food also. We're still working on that. He eats one good meal a day. But he's growing, so we'll just take what we can get right now.

Graham says over 20 words plus a dozen or so animal sounds. He hasn't added anymore signs to his repertoire, not since he really started talking. He babbles all the live long day, and I can't get enough of it. His imaginary conversations, that he has with himself, Evan or Alex and I, are adorable. He's quite the chatterbox. Yet he still won't say Mom or Dad. Go figure.

Graham has little fear. He climbs on everything, stomps and "jumps" on anything. I think he's going to be the one to break a bone first. (not that I want any of my children to break bones, but if any do...my bet is on Graham) The only thing that makes him nervous is our play set. He used to be fine playing on it, but lately he doesn't want to move his feet, hangs on the the railings, and just generally looks nervous if he has to move. I'm not quite sure what's going on there, maybe now he can see through the slits between the boards and it is unsettling? Who knows.

Graham still loves to read his books. He's starting to develop a love of puzzles. He LOVES loves water, anyway he can get it. Often we find him dumping water all over the bathroom floor....all smiles. He is, not me. We compromise by letting him dump water on the driveway. He also loves bubbles, and chalk.

His favorite show, hands down, is Bob the Builder. He walks up to the TV asking for "Bob? Bob?"

He loves to snuggle with me, but will no longer give me kisses. Now he likes to give head bumps. Crazy kid. Speaking of heads, his shunt appears to be working just fine. He meets with the neurosurgeon next week and we'll go from there. He is really growing into his head, now he just looks like a regular toddler. 

And toddle he does. The boy rarely walks, but more frequently runs, everywhere! He runs like a penguin, on the balls of his feet, and I love it! 

Really I just love practically EVERYTHING about this little man. He brightens my day, makes me feel loved beyond measure and is a constant joy to watch him learn and grow in this world. 

I'm one lucky mommy.

Rule #137: The tassle is worth the hassle

  Evan had his preschool graduation a few weeks ago. They had a darling little program where they sang all the songs they have been learning throughout the school year. Songs about the days of the weeks, and friends and spiders. (itsy bitsy, tired, large, tiny weenie) The kids did a really good job. All the songs had actions, which Evan did not do. And that's okay. I'm just glad he stayed up on the stage.        

Cute little guy getting exciting to see us.

Behind Evan is TyAnn, Evan's little buddy. Her mom said most days she didn't want to go to school, until it was pointed out that Evan was going to be there. Cute!

 

Very rarely he would make a small attempt at the actions. (Which he knows ALL of them I'm told)

 

But most of the time, he just stood like this...and looked around. Mostly smiling. :)

Evan with Miss Jessie. I'm so glad that we get to come back to her next year! They both have a soft spot for each other

Evan with Miss Amanda. I hope she'll forgive me that I didn't actually get her face....but look at his! He loves this woman!

Me and the Little Graduate! I sure love this little man! He blossomed this year, and I'm positive these amazing teachers are to thank for it! Can't wait to come back in the fall!!

Rule #136: Some thoughts just need to be said

There seems to be a rise in home births lately, and it's been on my mind a lot. I have a lot of dear friends and family that have chosen this option. I won't lie, it stresses me out every time. Most of them know I am concerned about the risks, and I usually choose to express myself once, consider them informed and then hope and pray that things go well.

I came across a blog the other day that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. She had a home birth, things did not go perfectly, her baby did not die or have brain damage (which is what I usually see at my work) but her health was in danger after the birth. On her blog she talked about not wanting to be the poster girl for NOT having a home birth. That because of bad luck and some bad choices on the midwives part, her home birth did not go well.

That's it right there.

That is why those of us who are concerned about home births are, well, concerned about home births. You can have a low risk pregnancy and because of bad luck or bad choices from well intentioned midwives, things can go badly. Her life was in danger. I'm glad her child's life wasn't also.

What has stuck with me the most was a statement I've been hearing a lot lately. They are trusting that a woman's body is designed to give birth and that they have faith in that design. Well so do I. It is miraculous what God designed a woman's body to do. To create and grow life, and then to deliver it into the world. That's remarkable. A woman is given so much power to fulfill this destiny. What I disagree with is that you can't be that powerful in a hospital. You can trust in God's plan and have faith that your body was MEANT to do this wonderful thing, in a setting with knowledge, and more importantly, with equipment able to help if heaven help us, things go wrong. The building does not take away your God given power to deliver a child.

Hospitals have come along way to allow women to be in control of their labor experience. You can have your midwife or your doula, your water birth, hypnobirth or birthing ball, you can squat on the floor if that's what gets you through. But they are there. For the unfortunate bad luck moments.

I'm tired of medicine being the bad guy. We should all be grateful. The death rate has gone down for a reason. I firmly believe that God led man to discover modern medicine. That being said, I think people also need to allow their bodies to do what they do more often than trying to control their bodies. Ie: elective inductions for convenience. Inductions for health reasons do not apply, but inducing at 38 weeks is just unnecessary. The chance of having a c-section after elective induction is higher than after spontaneous labor.

I hesitate to post this. I don't want to appear judgemental or create a forum for hateful comments that so often follow such an emotionally charged topic. But it's been on my mind. A lot. The topic of home births is everywhere I look. Because I work so closely with the bad luck/bad choice moments, I felt compelled to say my piece.

I strongly support natural labors of all forms in a hospital. (or epidurals if that's your cup of tea...it is mine) :) While I would prefer all women deliver in a hospital if it is available to them, I understand that is unrealistic. So I would caution this: PLEASE research your midwife. Please make sure she is certified. While she might not have the equipment I would desire, she will have more knowledge, to recognize when the labor is no longer safe for home.

I wish that all babies were born healthy, without incident, in the miraculous way they were designed to be brought into this world. I wish that no one had to experience bad luck when it comes to their child. But most of all, for those that choose to deliver at home, I really really hope that you DON'T get unlucky. My heart breaks at the thought of it. 

Rule #135: Don't pee on Percy

*warning: This is a potty post. If you don't want to hear about the bodily functions of my child, DO NOT proceed. :)

Evan entered a new stage in his life last week. A diaper free stage! *cue trumpets and confetti*

We have been talking to Evan about using the toilet for a long time. I want to say it's been more than 9 months?!? He showed an interest once, and then not again for about 6 months. We didn't put a lot of pressure on him, he gets anxious enough with change as it is, and I was not about to create a complex about the toilet. So we talked, and talked, and showed him is awesome Thomas the train underwear, and talked. Nothing doin'

A few weeks ago I decided it was enough talking. Told him he was wearing underwear and had to use the toilet. He did okay for his first day. About 50% of the time he listened to his body. The other 50%? He went through his entire supply of underwear that day. :) Fully intending to continue with the progress we had made, we did laundry and prepared for another day.

Silly us for thinking we had any say in the matter. Evan woke up REFUSING to put on underwear. Super anxious about it. So back into a diaper he went.

Two weeks later, cute little Sanders came to stay at our house. Cute little Sanders is already potty trained. We took this opportunity of a small body in control to show Evan how it's done. Put him in underwear, "just like Sanders" and off we went. Evan did amazing! The first few days there were a few accidents, but also plenty of stopping on his own to do his business! Hooray! Sanders was a perfect example and he seemed to be the motivation Evan needed.

It's now been less than two weeks and Evan hasn't had an accident of any kind for three days! It feels so nice to have crossed this thresh hold with him. He is still in a pull up at night...oh, I'm sorry, I mean his "nighttime underwear" Evan refuses to wear "pull-ups." Anyway, his nighttime underwear is still soaking wet in the mornings, and I have a feeling they will be for a while. Once that kid sleeps, he is OUT COLD!

I'm proud of my little man for growing up and taking responsibility for his body. He always tells me when he's "squeezing" (his terminology, not mine) that it makes me so happy. And I am so happy!

Here are a few of the funnier moments of potty training my son.

Earlier this week Evan had an accident. We discussed how that made mommy a little disappointed and talked about listening to our bodies. As I was putting on his new underwear, this time of Percy, Evan looks at me and says very seriously, "I don't want to pee on Percy." It cracked me up. I went to work that night and called to say goodnight to Evan. I asked him if he kept Percy dry, to which he replied "Yes, oh...no. I peed on Percy!!" Funny kid.

A few accident free days later we were outside. I asked Evan if he needed to go to the bathroom, to which he always replies no. Then he said he wanted to squeeze on the tree. I told him to go inside and use the toilet. He kept insisting on squeezing on the tree. Pulls down his pants, holds nothing, leans back and pees. The whole time squealing "I'm squeezing yellow on the tree! The tree is getting yellow!!!" Ahh, the luxuries of being three AND a boy. :)

Rule # 134: Ain't no rest for the wicked

Alright, so I don't think anyone in my house is wicked, but no one in my house (save Graham) is getting any rest.

I haven't been blogging lately, for a few reasons. I'll admit it, sometimes I just don't want to. But the main reason this time is because I'm so completely frustrated!!! I didn't want to post about our sleeping troubles until we were well behind them and I could end on a positive note. I've come to realize that it might be a VERY long time before our sleeping troubles are behind us...and I just can't neglect the blog forever!

I've written this post a number of times. I'm just not satisfied. I started going through the nitty gritty of how the troubles started, many nights in detail...but I don't think I want to go there. I DO want to record of this moment in our lives, but I don't think it needs to be that specific.

It all started the first week in December. That's right, THREE months ago! Evan woke up terrified of the "yellow" in the corner of his room. Strange I know, but that is the son I love. A few nights later he woke up scared of "ants" in his room. Both nights, we comforted, reassured, laid next to in his bed, sang songs until he felt safe for us to leave.

The next week he woke up. Not scared, or wet, or hungry or needing anything in particular. He was just up. He talked about how he was scared of the yellow, but I knew that he wasn't. He was just remembering that he was that one time...so he must be again. He was talking about it calmly, with no fear and little emotion. Definitely not scared. He started waking up every. single. night. No longer talking about the yellow or the ants. And he would not go back to sleep. He would be up for hours, bright eyed, ready for the day. It was exhausting. It is exhausting.

Alex and I have tried everything we can think of. We have checked out parenting and sleep books from the library. Those were not a total loss. We did learn some things that we are implementing in our families lives, for the better I'm sure. But it did not help Evan sleep. We've talked to everyone we know. Alex has given Evan a blessing to help him sleep. You name it, I bet we've tried it.

Evan normally doesn't have a problem falling asleep, the trouble seems to be STAYING asleep. I'm just not sure how I can help him there. His preschool teacher has been very concerned for us, researching anything she can to help us get some sleep. She did suggest making a social story for Evan. A social story is something typically used for autistic children. It helps them prepare for social situations and what feelings the might experience, how they can handle certain situations and stresses. For example, going to the shoe store to pick out shoes. Anyway, even though Evan is not autistic, he is very ritualistic. At this point it had been going on for two months. Ms. Jessie wondered if maybe he had forgotten what he was supposed to do if he woke up in the middle of the night.

So, we took pictures of Evan doing his nighttime routine and made a book. Talking about how we get ready for bed, and if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he doesn't need to get mom or dad, or be sad. He just needs to stay in his room and get his blanket, close his eyes and fall back asleep. And when there is light coming through the window, it's daytime and time to get up. Simple stuff. He loves this book! He reads it several times a day. I was hopeful this might help us turn the corner into a better habit.

It worked.

Sort of.

He is still waking up every night. BUT, he no longer demands our presence while he is awake. He will read books to himself, play in his room...or wander the house :( I'm not a big fan of the wandering, but locking the door created more anxiety than it was worth. Eventually he will come up to our room, to be escorted back to his bed and back to sleep. It's great that Alex and I are able to catch a few more zzz's than before, but my child is not. For some reason he's decided that his body no longer needs sleep, and definitely not in big sections of time.

We took him to see his doctor. She looked at his tonsils to see if they were making it difficult to sleep and that's why he was waking, but they looked fine. She talked with us for a long time, trying to determine what was waking him up. Who knows. She suggested we try giving him some melatonin at night, maybe that would help him stay asleep and create a new habit.

We've tried melatonin for a month. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. In the past three months Evan has slept through the night maybe 12 times. 12 times!! The frequency has increased since we started the melatonin, but not consistently enough to be sure that it's working.

His doctor also suggested we call a sleep specialist. I wanted to try the melatonin for a while before making an appointment. I finally called early this week. They can see us in a month. *sigh* If this is still a problem in a month I think I might cry. (And I'm sure it still will be a problem) Alex and I have started a sleep log, so that we will be able to give the specialist an entire months worth of information. I'm not sure what I expect the specialist will be able to do for us...but at least it feels like I'm doing SOMETHING in this hopeless situation.

So there you have it. My three and a half year old went from being the "perfect" sleeper, to this nonsense. I wish I knew how to help him, and not just for me. It can't be good for a little growing body to get so little sleep! Poor kid.

Rule #133: Even the smallest word is still a word

Awhile back my baby was 15 months old. Before he reaches ANOTHER milestone, I want to document what he was like then. (I've been in a blogging funk, which will be explained in a later post....hopefully not another month from now) :)

Graham's 15 month old stats:

Height: 31.5 inches (60%)
Weight: 21 lbs 7 oz (15%)
OFC: 19.25 inches (90%)

He's slowly and steadily growing into his head. I am told that it looks smaller than it used to, by those who do not see him everyday. It's hard for me to judge if his head looks more proportional today vs....yesterday. I'm extremely grateful that we have not had any complications with his shunt. I realize that I'm counting my chickens a little here, he's only had it for 9 months, and a lot can happen in...the rest of his life. But, I'm still grateful for the complication-free 9 months we've had. :)

Did you know that Graham is not a baby anymore? He's not. I don't know when it happened, but when I look at him now, I see a little boy. I can't believe that he's already so big, and can do so much for himself. Or, at least he thinks he can do so much. He really wants to be a big boy and use forks and spoons. He does pretty well with forks, spoons on the other hand.... Well, it's a struggle. He resents being fed by me or Alex though, so sometimes we have to sneak a bite in here or there. And in typical toddler fashion he prefers snacks and grazing to actual sit down meals.

Graham loves books, of any variety. Board books, lift the flap books, hymn books, books on dog breeds...anything that has pages to turn. When he reaches the end of a book he instantly flips it around and starts again. Many a morning are spent reading and re-reading his library.

He also LOVES the sink. He loves to stick his hands in the water, splash around. He also loves to hold a toothbrush under the water and then suck on it. It's not uncommon to find random toothbrushes all over the house. Alex and I have a few extras just for this reason.

While at Graham's doctor appointment Alex and I were asked if he was talking. I replied "yes". Alex looked at me like I was crazy. To his credit, he saved the look until the doctor had stepped out, then he looked at me like I was crazy.

Here's the thing, it's true that Graham will not walk up to me and ask for something. BUT, he will repeat words, often times WHILE he is signing the same word, and pointing at a picture. To me, that's totally talking! Alex disagrees. He doesn't think the doctor was asking if he was capable of saying a word, but if he used it without being prompted. (Alex might write an addendum saying that's not what he meant...) Regardless, I think I'm right. Graham is talking.

Here's what he can say:

Hi/Bye
More
Ball
Woof
Meow
Moo
Shh/Sleep (very similar)
Eat
Hot

Here's what he can sign:

More
Drink
Eat
Hot
Dog (while saying woof)
Cat (while saying meow)
Water
Sleep
Ball

See, he's totally talking. :)

Graham is finally sleeping through the night now...only waking on rare occasions. *Cue Evan's sleep problems to be discussed in a later post* He still takes one great nap during the day, which we are all grateful for.

He is a generally happy baby...oops, I mean kid. :) He loves to be around people, always wants to be in the middle of things. He loves his brother, and Evan loves him right back. That's not to say they don't get mad at each other, of course they do. But the last few months their friendship has really blossomed into something wonderful. They play well together (mostly) and seek each other out throughout the day.

I love this little man and can't imagine a single moment without him. He is such an important part of our family!!

Enjoy a few videos of everyday Graham.