Learning Signs

Here’s an update about Harris. It’s been a little while so I thought I would catch everyone up.

At Harris’s 15 month appointment in September, there was concern about his lack of speech. We were referred to the First Steps program for an evaluation. In October, the First Steps people sent out two independent evaluators to look at Harris. They did perform a total assessment of his skills, not just speech. They pretty much told us what we already knew so there were no big surprises there. His gross motor, fine motor, and cognitive skills all scored great. Adaptive was hit a little because I said that he was a picky eater. I talked w/ them later and explained that I thought I was a bit hard on him since my interpretation of picky is based on what I eat. He eats veggies, fruits, diary, and pasta/rice/bread well, but he doesn't seem to like meat. Really meat is the only thing he doesn't seem to go for much. It’s been getting better these days since I’ve realized the power of ketchup and other sauces to help him enjoy them more. Anyways he was scored low on the communication and social. They explained that the social scoring is tied in with the communication, so poor scores on communication will bring down the social area as well. They explained that it's just the way the test is setup and doesn't mean Harris does not like other people or kids.

It was explained to me that doctors are mostly concerned with asking the number of words a child speaks when the First Steps evaluators were more concerned with the sounds that he was using. They said that he had a lack of a lot of constant sounds like g, k, p that they should be hearing but he's not doing. He also wasn't use gestures to get his point across. Fussing and crying was his main form of communication.

We selected to work with a speech therapist since we were most concerned about speech and not really his overall development. Our therapist’s name is Peggy and we have had two sessions with her. She gave me a list of signs to begin using with Harris. The hope is that by using signs, any frustration he feels by a lack of communication may be relieved. Peggy has been using the “please” and “more” sign during therapy. Harris has really picked up the “more” sign since I’ve used this quite a bit at home. We also have a version of “all done” which we were using before starting the program and Harris uses that one as well.

Harris really has been trying to mimic words lately. It’s almost been like an explosion of sounds that have been coming from him in just a week or so. We do read to him a lot more, try to get him to point to objects in a book, and repeat ourselves constantly. I would say Harris knows about 7 words now and they consist of the following:
dadda, baba, baby, okay, go, again, all done.

He’s been quite fun lately since he’s mimicking and signing more. He loves to play patty cake and to be tickled when we “put it in the oven for baby and me.”

Here’s a link to a movie with Harris signing “more” for dessert.
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=M2U00210.flv

Here’s some pictures of Harris from this morning.





Banana peels must taste pretty gross.

Harris is signing "more."

"Hello?....Hello?.....Don't you hate when your banana drops your calls?!"

24 Week Growth Ultrasound of Tiny Baby (TB)

On Thursday, we had the 24 week ultrasound to check out the baby's growth and development. The baby was moving quite a bit, but the tech knew how to work fast to capture the images that she needed. The organs that she was able to see all look good. The heart had four chambers and was beating regularly at 149 beats/minute. The spine was good along with all the other skeletal features. The stomach, kidneys, and bladder were all present and in good position. The cerebellum was seen and had the appropriate size and shape. After making all the necessary measurements, TB's weight was estimated to be 1 lb 9 oz.

There really were not that many pictures for us to take, but she did try to get a few of the face. Since TB is so skinny at this point, she said they don't show up that great on the ultrasound. When we have the 36 week ultrasound and the baby has more body fat, she will try to get a better image of the face for us.

I had been leaving the decision of finding out the sex to Brian since I felt like I had pushed him into finding out with Harris. He decided not to find out the sex of the baby this time. When I realized that he was serious about waiting until the birth, I thought I was going to cry. I managed to hold it together though. I know it will make the birth more exciting, but it's still hard for me to wait. Because we didn't want to know the sex, the tech never even looked to find out. So now I can't even probe her later to find out :(

We were both very happy to hear that everything looks healthy and normal. It's a great relief and definitely helps us sleep at night.

Here is one picture of the face and a chart that shows the measurements:

Harris Update

Harris has been doing very well the last two days. The day after the fall, he awake and was walking around that morning. Today seemed even better and the slight limp that he had was gone. I can get shoes on him just fine and walking in those doesn't seem to cause him pain or trouble either. Kids recover quickly and we are very glad things were not any more serious than what they were.

Our 1st ER Trip

On Tuesday afternoon Harris fell about two steps from the landing of the basement steps. I’ve been letting him walk up steps for some time and he occasionally walks down them. He has been getting so heavy to carry these days and since I’m pregnant it has been a great strain on my back to carry him too much. We use gates on the stairs when they are not in use to control where he is in the house and to make sure we are there when he’s on them.

After he fell I comforted him and looked at his face to check for boo-boos. I didn’t see him fall so I thought he just smacked his face. I just saw him right before on the landing and then laying on the floor crying. He then sat on my lap while we watched a Barney video. After the video was over I set him down and noticed that he didn’t want to walk on his right leg. He was acting very fussy too. It was time for a bottle so I carried him upstairs and watched him as I made his bottle. He usually does this impatience dance while I make it and then toddles after me to come and get it. When I made the bottle he just sat at my feet and cried. When I walked away, he started to crawl after me. I gave him the bottle and laid him on the floor so I could examine his leg. I didn’t see anything unusual but I thought his ankle may be slightly swollen. It was nothing much but just a slight chance.

I called the pediatrician and described what he was doing. I said that he could bear weight with the leg but that he didn’t want to walk on hit. They said it was still possible for him to bear weight but for a fracture to be present. They were closing in 20 minutes so I was referred to the Dupont ER to have him x-rayed.

I paged Brian and he called me back right away. We arrived at the hospital at 4:30. In the lobby of the hospital ER, there was a kid’s toy w/ beads and all sorts of pegs. It was at table heighth and he stood up to play with it. He was still limping but didn’t seem to let it stop him from playing. Then I started second guessing myself wondering if a trip to the ER was necessary. It’s just so hard with a child since he can’t tell me what hurts or how much. Anyways, we were admitted about a half hour after our arrival.

After being looked at by the Physician’s assistant, the x-ray machine was brought to the room. Apparently you don’t have to go to them, they come to you. Since I’m pregnant Brian had to hold Harris while I stepped out of the room. In the hallway it sounded awful. Our son hates to be restrained in any manner. Even as a baby, he did not like being confined to our laps. It had to be on his own terms. The x-rays lasted about 5 minutes and he screamed the whole time. I’m sure it was very hard for Brian but I’m glad he was there to be with Harris.

The x-ray didn’t show any breaks. Harris was given ibuprofen and then we waited to see the doctor. The doctor arrived and Harris seemed to be afraid of him. Sometimes strange men scare Harris, but we had a male nurse and Harris didn’t seem bothered by him at all. It must be on an individual basis that Harris makes his judgments. The doctor wanted to watch Harris as he walked, but Harris didn’t want to cooperate. He cried but did do a nice squat in front of the doctor. He could stand but still preferred to crawl. The doctor seemed to be looking for a hip injury since the x-ray didn’t show a break. Harris was moving his hips just fine so that didn’t seem to be the case. We were advised to treat him w/ ibuprofen and monitor his walking. If he was still not walking on the leg in 2-3 days, then to follow up with the pediatrician. At that time, he may need to be reexamined and have another x-ray performed.

We were discharged at 6:30 and left to get some dinner. We brought pizza home which is Harris's favorite and he ate very well since he was so hungry. Brian got him ready in his pjs then we spent the rest of the evening watching him play. He still was favoring the right leg. When Brian gave him his evening bottle, he was pushing on Harris to see where it hurt. Brian realized that the pain is in his foot and not his leg or ankle.

I’ve never realized how much guilt parents could carry around until I became a mother. Sometimes the silliest things would send me into deep waves of guilt that I couldn’t shake. I’ve learned that guilt is an exhausting emotion, but it’s so hard to stop from feeling at times. Yesterday was one of those days. I think of myself as a sensible person especially for a woman. I know that kids take tumbles and no matter how much you try to always be there, things happen. Even knowing that, it’s hard not to feel guilt.

I’m sure that all day today I’ll be watching Harris and his movements closely. I’m curious what the day will bring and how Harris will deal with everything.

Halloween

Harris was a Little Devil this year for Halloween. We only went to 3 houses last night. The first was my parents and the next two were neighbors of ours. Harris just wanted to run around but not really get the candy. We went for a walk and put Harris in the wagon that evening because I thought he might like seeing the other kids. The night was beautiful and Harris seemed to have a good time. He really enjoy pulling the candy out of his bucket and then putting it back in. Then he started throwing it out of the wagon and we decided to head back home.



The little tail was so cute. I love the way it swings back and forth when he walks or runs.

This past Saturday we also went Trick or Treating at Chain O Lakes in Albion. The campers decorate the campsites and pass out candy. It was only an hour long event but Harris got so much candy! The campsites are so close to one another that you don't have to walk very far to see a lot of people. My sister and her family only live about a mile from Chain O Lakes, so we were joined by our niece Kayla and our nephew Hunter.


One of my favorite Halloween cartoons is the Garfield Halloween. I found it this year on DVD and decided to purchase it. I let Harris watch it and he loved a few parts. Harris thinks it's so funny when people make a vomiting or spitting sound. There's a couple of parts in the Halloween special where Garfield does that and Harris just cracks up every time. I video taped it for you to see.

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/hellokittyjodi/?action=view&current=M2U00205.flv