While on a walk last week we ran into a neighbor who was headed with his little boy to see the firetrucks at the nearby firestation. After lunch today, I took the kids for a walk (T in the wagon) and decided we’d try the same thing.
We came around the corner and saw the doors were closed and the trucks inside. I thought we’d peek at them throught he doors. But as we approached, the doors opened. “Mr. Bobbby” had seen us coming and gave us a great welcome. He led us through the fire station to walk all around the ladder truck. While we did this, another firefighter brought out plastic firehats for both kids. Hallie started out really shy but was chatting a bit by the end. And as we walked home, she really lit up, exclaiming, “Wasn’t that so nice of them to do?” and “I really LIKED Mr. Bobby. He was very friendly!”
We were invited back whenever we’d like another visit. We may try to make it up there on Saturday when they do their biweekly (thanks to continuing water restrictions) washing of the trucks. An unexpected bonus was giving Hallie such a positive experience interacting with a stranger. She’s often reluctant to speak at first in those situations, but I could see a few more episodes like this one being a great way for her to feel comfortable more quickly.
We went ahead and added Hallie to T’s appointment today to ask about a couple of things that have kept coming up with her. Her official weight is now 40 pounds. No wonder she’s such a load to carry!
First, she’s been complaining some days, usually in the morning, of a “bubble” in her throat or her ears. Neither Dr. Bernstein nor Dr. Kartheiser saw anything unusual. Both thought it likely to be post-nasal drip and suggested encouraging her to swallow or drink something.
We talked a lot about constipation and stomach aches. The doctor gave us some good suggestions of high-fiber foods Hallie’s more likely to eat. She guessed that the stomach aches are probably related to the constipation or “situational,” i.e. not wanting to go to school for some reason.
We’ll put more focus on getting her more fluids and more fiber and hope that clears things up.
Travis had an excellent 15-month checkup today. He wasn’t all that happy during it, but he gave his new doctor a few glimpses of his spirit. He weighed in at 27 lbs 7 oz (85th percentile), is 32.5 inches long (85th percentile) and his big head is 50.5 cm (99th percentile, or effectively off the chart). So, other than his head, he’s a pretty proportional guy.
We changed to a different doctor within our practice after Dr. Hewett advocated I give up nursing at 12 months. We were told Dr. Kartheiser was very supportive of breastfeeding. Ironically, it seems Travis weaned himself two days ago–still no interest from him and I haven’t been the least bit engorged after 48 hours without nursing or pumping. We REALLY liked this doctor and will probably continue to see her. She spent a lot of time with us, answered questions thoroughly, and we never felt rushed.
T’s leg continues to get better. He still favors it a lot but he did more crawling today and has even tried to pull himself up a couple times. He hasn’t made it yet, but the fact that he’s trying is great. Dr. Kartheiser said to call if he’s not showing a lot of improvement by 10 days. At this rate, he’ll be completely up and about by then. It was interesting that she said given the description of his injury she’d have thought a 7-10 day recovery period. Each doctor has given an estimate just slightly longer than the amount of time that’s passed when each examined him. I wonder if we were to see someone else next week if they’d say 12-15 days?!
We got some good advice about nutrition. She also recommended two books I’ve requested from the library. I think we’re going to start being a lot firmer and more consistent about serving a family meal and not whatever substitute he (or Hallie) will eat at that particular sitting. It may be tough for a little while but better for all of us in the long run. With Mark gone now for another 4-day run, I may wait to crack down until he’s back. The doc said if T doesn’t eat enough for dinner, definitely don’t give milk in the night or we’ll create a new pattern there. I don’t think I feel like dealing with a hungry toddler in the middle of the night by myself!
We talked a bit about speech milestones. Travis is saying a couple of words now. But he made it clear through his signs and imitations during the visit how much he understands. We’d give the doctor an example of a sign he’ll do and he’d immediately start doing it. She said in her experience “busy boys” just tend to come to be interested in language later and she doesn’t see anything at all to be concerned about with him. It was obvious to her that he’s communicating just fine.
I was also reassured that she thinks by kindergarten the little scar on his lip won’t be noticeable. He fell and bit his lip on his first birthday. I think I’m the only one who even notices it now, but I’m glad it will continue to fade.
T was a sport about getting three shots on top of his leg hurting. Overall it was an excellent visit.
It’s been more than 24 hours since I’ve nursed Travis. I hadn’t really meant to try weaning him all the way yet, but it seems to be happening naturally. Ironically, I think his injury has helped move things along. When he was so uncomfortable, I’d avoid moving him, so he would only nurse on one side. I’m sure that reduced my already tiny milk supply. And he just hasn’t been showing his usual interest in nursing, i.e. lifting up my shirt.
More than once I’ve found myself starting to offer him a chance. But it seems silly to force it if he’s ready to quit, and I know he’s not getting much anyway. This morning after Mark got him up he was happy going right into his booster seat, so I just gave him some milk. And just now I put him down for his nap with no nursing at all. He was wide awake, and after a few stories I just put him in his bed. I honestly didn’t think it would work, but I gave it a shot and I haven’t heard a peep from him.
It may be that at bedtime he’ll want to nurse again. And I’m happy to follow his lead. I’m not sure what will happen with me if he doesn’t show any interest. Since I don’t feel the least bit full after 24 hours, it may be that I’ll be just fine with no more nursing and no pumping.
After so much obsessing in my part a few months ago about how and when to wean him/how to keep nursing longer, it seems a bit anticlimactic. On the one hand it’s bittersweet knowing that this wonderful things is coming to or has come to an end. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s been all that satisfying for either of us recently. I will always treasure the beautiful start it gave to our relationship, and I’m thrilled it lasted as long as it has.
It seems like we’re much closer to having our guy back. Travis has barely complained at all today, even when getting dressed or changed. Several times he’s gotten up on all fours and crawled a little. And he keeps asking me to help him stand. He hasn’t taken any real steps, and he still leans on me a lot. But he’s testing out his left leg and it’s clear he’s feeling an awful lot better. In another day or two I’m sure we’ll be needing to start closing our gates again. I’m so glad!
Leave it to our Hallie to keep things interesting! For the last couple of weeks she’s complained on and off that her panties are too small. Since they didn’t look too small and she wasn’t consistent in her complaints, I never got around to buying any new ones. But at bedtime last night she kept saying she couldn’t get comfortable, and she complained again this morning.
Hallie’s always loved making up words. Sometimes she’ll say they are in another language, often Italian. For example, last night before bed she kept using a made-up word that she told me was “Italian for ‘dental floss’.” So we weren’t all that surprised when at some point this morning she started saying “Caligane!” (pronounced cal-ih-gahn-a, more or less). When we asked what that meant, she said matter-of-factly, “It means your panties are too small!”
We heard a chorus of “caliganes” throughout breakfast. Upon further questioning we learned that this is a word in the language spoken on Planet Hallie. Apparently the word also has another meaning, but Hallie couldn’t remember what it was.
I called Mandy to request a slightly later start to our playdate, and we dashed out to Target for some new panties. We picked out some Strawberry Shortcake ones and Hallie was thrilled. On the way home, I mentioned how she’d want to put them on as soon as we got home. “No, Mommy, I don’t want to put them on now. I just want to open the packages!”
Go figure. I guess the ones she’s got can’t be THAT uncomfortable after all. And we’ll have to see if the new ones even work. Most of the ones she has say size 6. There’s no size 7, so we bought 8s. They are huge! I swear I think I could almost wear them. I think I’ll be going out again to buy some more 6s that haven’t been through dozens of laundry cycles. I’m guessing hers have just shrunk too much.
Travis had some good spells and some bad spells today. He’s definitely still improving, but it’s going slowly. Sometimes we can move him and he doesn’t complain at all. Other times we get awful wails of pain.
T’s moved his left foot a lot more, and Mark just told me he picked his foot up with his hands and moved it near his waist while in Mark’s lap at bedtime. He’s also let me stand him on his right leg. He’ll put his left toes down but really isn’t bearing any weight on that leg yet. So, overall he’s still getting better. But I don’t see him marching around here even in the next couple of days.
We talked to a doctor again today. All they can suggest is another x-ray, and we’d have had to do that at the ER since it’s Sunday. We agreed that unless he seems worse in some way we’ll wait til his 15 month check-up on Tuesday to see how he’s doing. Apparently it’s possible that a hairline fracture wouldn’t show up on an initial x-ray but would a few days later when the healing is visible. But in most cases, they wouldn’t treat that any differently than what we’re doing.
It may be that we’ll never know exactly what he hurt. I’ll ask on Tuesday about long-term effects. And whether another x-ray would be helpful just so we know whether he broke something or not.
T has been just a tremendous sport through all this. And Hallie has been great about entertaining him and giving up some attention. While we wish it had been a lot easier on T (OK, we wish it hadn’t happened!), we also know it could have been worse for him and for all of us.
Hallie was trying lots of tactics to avoid falling asleep this evening. She took a long nap this afternoon, and she’s just not tired. To her credit, she’s not complaining–she’s just still got lots of things on her mind and she’s not ready for the day to end. We capped off her storytime with some sweet, sweet Mommy-daughter hugs and snuggles. At one point Hallie squeezed me and said, while holding me tight, “Mommy, I love you so very much!” Of course I melted!
But, sweet snuggles or no, eventually it was time for lights out. A few minutes later, I heard “Mama! Mama!” When I went back in, Hallie was standing over by her desk. “Mommy, the clock thinks it’s morning!” she announced.
I just had to laugh. We’ve been working with her on looking at the first number of her clock to know when to get up–it has to say 7 on a weekday, and we’re working on 8 on weekends. So, her clock said 8:48 and she figured the clock thought it was morning. I gave her a quick explanation of “am” and “pm” and told her we’d talk more about time tomorrow.
I’ve been waiting and watching for Travis to start using some “real” words, and tonight he shows me he knows at least two–besides “Daddy,” which he’s been using quite frequently and perhaps just a bit too liberally.
Tonight he used “duh duh” for ducks in several different books. And both this afternoon and tonight I’ve heard him say “moo” for “moon.” I’m guessing his words will start coming fast and furious now. He sure does understand a lot and it’s clear he LOVES to communicate.
We also taught him the sign for “happy” this weekend. I’m reading a book called BABY HEARTS by the authors of BABY SIGNS and BABY MINDS. Both of those were fantastic–I read them when Hallie was tiny. I’d been waiting for BABY HEARTS to come out and am flying through it. It focuses on emotions for babies through preschoolers and giving them a solid, healthy foundation. I’m heartened to read that, at least according to these authors, we’ve been doing a lot of things right.
They recommend lots of conversation about emotions, even at this young an age. They give great examples of how valuable signing an emotion like “afraid” or “tired” can be for guys T’s age. We’ve done some of this type of talking with Hallie but can certainly do more. And I’m eager to give T even more ways to help us know what he’s feeling. The reward when he gets his message across is priceless for all of us!
98% of the day you’d never know Travis had an injured leg. As Mark wrote, he’s just been bubbling over. He’s still not willing to stand on his left leg, but we’ve seen him move his foot more. The biggest sign he’s feeling better is that we can sometimes move him now with little or no complaint. Occasionally something will trigger some pitiful wails. And a couple of times I think he forgot he was hurt, tried to crawl, and fell over in pain. But things are much, much better. I’m sure in another couple days he’ll be getting around on his own.
In the meantime, there’s been at least one upside to this. I’ve been loving all my Travis bonding time. Normally he doesn’t sit still very long. But we’ve had hours of fun doing puzzles or “playing” Connect Four or fooling with his trains. He sits in the middle of the playroom, pointing madly and using his signs to tell me what he wants. When I figure it out, I get chortles and million-dollar grins.
Bedtime with T tonight just topped everything off. I’ve never seen him so expressive. Before settling in for stories, all four of us had several fun rounds of “No, brush your OWN teeth!” (Travis takes his toothbrush and reaches up with it to brush one of us. We push the toothbrush back towards him and squeal “No, brush your OWN teeth.” He thinks this is hysterical. He loved it even more when Mark would pretend to brush his own teeth and then spit afterwards. Hallie really got into that action, too.)
Anyway, during stories T was signing for everything and really engaged by all our books. I thought I might be in there until 10, which was fine with me. He was completely cracking me up. At one point he took my baseball cap off me and had a great time playing peek-a-boo and putting on him and on me. He also knows the sign for “happy” now, and used his version of it a lot. I practiced it with him a few times tonight. A few minutes later I absent-mindedly called him “my happy guy,” and he madly rubbed both hands from his belly to his chin. I howled.
While showing no signs of sleepiness, at one point T started lifting my shirt and poking my belly button. He loves to do this, but he was getting really insistent with it. Finally I suggested, “Do you want to nurse?” His grin split his face wide open and he started bouncing up and down. After five minutes of nursing–we’re really so close to being done with that, I think–he let me put him quietly in his bed. He was still awake but happy to be snuggling in. What a super sport of a guy.
