Who doesn't?
Last week, Kindra was back to work some more with Timmy. I honestly wish I could think ahead to help him progress. When she's here, he responds so quickly to her activities. Seems like he'd already be walking if I were her! But I'm not. But I am doing the best I can to find little snatches of time to work with him. Currently, we are working on placing small objects just far enough away from him that he has to prop himself on one hand and reach out with the other to get them. He's doing really well with it now. Even turns around on his bottom a lot. (I'm sure it would be better if he stretched to the side, but we'll take what we can get from this smart little cookie.)
Crackers work well too. Here was yesterdays exercise.
You can just see him lift his bottom a bit in the second one. I think he really wants to crawl, just not quite sure how to do it. Tummy time isn't really happening much anymore, mostly because he just flops into the frog position and only pushes up on his arms anyway. We'll keep trying but I think he's going to learn to crawl from a sitting position. Still can't quite sit up from a supine position either so there's still a little strength training needed.
His head circumference is actually somewhere below the 25th percentile. Our NICU follow-up nurse, Deanna, came today. She sees Timmy quarterly and said she could tell a big difference, that he looks healthier and his legs have a bit more meat than she remembers. But he's still so small. He can still fit into some 0-3 month clothes and some 3-month, but is mostly in the 3-6 month and 6 month onesies now. Pants are definitely still 0-3 and 3. He just has a tiny waist.
Weight today was 13 lbs. 10 oz. and length was 25 1/4 inches. Both below the 5th percentile. But he does eat really well and hasn't required any oxygen in months. Still the happiest little kid I know. He loves to pull to standing when someone offers their fingers. Not so big on pulling up on furniture or holding on to it if placed near a piece. He definitely has a mind of his own. I really feel that he is doing well. Deanna showed me the growth curves again and, if he maintains, he should be 20 pounds right around his second birthday. Perfect timing for decannulation early next summer! Fingers crossed, praying hard. Lately the older kids have really loved going over to Melissa's to go swimming and it's so hard to see him get so excited and know that we can't take him in. We do put his feet in the water but I'm not willing to take the risk of going further than that. I know some parents feel that they are depriving their child of that part of a normal childhood. I would rather not risk robbing him of his childhood. However, I cannot imagine what it must be like for parents who know that their child will go through life with a tracheostomy. I count my blessings that Timmy will not.
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