Timmy Tidbits: Walking and Other Adventures

Realizing that a lot happens in two months.  December was fast and furious for us and already feels like a year ago.

Timmy was still scooting and crawling at the beginning of the month but starting to stand more and take a few more steps.  Then one morning - Thursday, December 29, 2011 - to be exact, he just kept on going.  He would take a few steps, fall, get back up, step some more, fall, get back up, step some more...  And before long, he wasn't falling as frequently.  It was just the most amazing thing to watch.  At first he wasn't walking to anybody in particular.  I think he just woke up that morning and decided that would be the day.  But he has always liked stepping with/to Callie, so he started walking to her when she started holding out her arms to him. She has such enthusiasm.  Such a zest for life and for accomplishments, big or small, her own or someone else's.  James likes to say there's no container big enough to hold her exuberance.  I would agree.  I love watching her bounce around with a huge smile on her face over the littlest thing.

On January 4th, we went to the playground over at the high school with the Strattons.  We happened to see them walking by our house and offered to keep them company.  Keeping five kids together with only three free parent hands was an impressive feat, I must say.  That and trying to reason with three three-year-olds who all wanted to hold different hands at different times!

Here's Timmy walking around at the playground.  Yes, the strange noises are all coming from him!

Timmy has also had a few appointments since I last updated.  He saw Dr. Brown again in the middle of December.  Really not much of a weight gain.  We decided to try giving Timmy cyproheptadine, an antihistamine with the side effect of increasing appetite, resulting in weight gain.  Since having the prescription filled, I have not been diligent about giving it to Timmy, I'll be honest, but when I did, I didn't notice any change in his appetite.  Not being a huge fan of drugs and having James on that side of the fence as well, we have discontinued use.  Still not exactly sure what makes Timmy tick as far as food goes.  For instance, he used to love macaroni and cheese and devoured that first bean burrito I gave him.  Now when I give him noodles for lunch, I never know if he's going to empty the bowl into his mouth, his lap or onto the floor.  Burritos have the same fate.  Some get the beans and cheese dug out, some get half eaten, others mostly eaten and some just smashed and covered with water.  He eats when he wants to.  Waffles and pancakes are still pretty favorable.  Maybe that's because breakfast is the first meal and he wakes up hungry after playing with dinner.

Kindra came for another visit on January 3rd.  Her first time getting to see Timmy walking.  She wasn't the least bit surprised as he was pretty close on her previous visit.  It was so much fun to share his new skills with her.  He had also recently started to feed himself cereal with a spoon.  VERY exciting!  But even this sometimes just gets splashed in with few pieces ending up in his mouth.  Kindra and I also discussed other ideas on what Timmy might eat.  Her top suggestion (that I haven't come across yet) is greek yogurt.  Apparently it has cream right on top.  But I think you have to get it at the specialty stores, which I rarely make it to these days.  We did very little with motor exercises.  Timmy is right about where he should be now.  He can even squat down from standing and then return to standing without the use of his hands.  He can walk backward a bit and turn around.  It's so cute to watch him walk around.  Still can't believe my baby is walking!  (He still scoots and crawls on occasion so I'm not crying over missing that phase just yet.)

We also talked about trying to get Timmy to say words now in addition to signing.  He has been pretty mucousy for the past week so I haven't put the PMV on him much but one of the days I had it on him, he actually said, "Bah-bah."  We were reading a Sesame Street book that showed Ernie in a bubble-filled bathtub and I made the sign for bubbles and a popping sound.  He thought it was hilarious and kept signing bubble.  So then I asked him to say it and he said, "bah-bah."  It was such a sweet moment!  He kept closing the book and then turning to find the page.  Doubly sweet because he hasn't been much of a reader.  Trevy, Landon and Callie were all book worms from early on.  Timmy normally makes it about two words into the first page before he closes the book and squirms away.

For awhile, Timmy was really into taking bottles of whole milk with a bit of formula and Hershey's syrup mixed in.  We still try to push the whole milk, but there are, as with everything else, times he just won't take it.  I had a genius moment a couple of weeks ago when I took him grocery shopping with me.  I saw the Hostess Donettes.  Man, I love those things.  But they have something like 55% RDA saturated fat so I was being strong and resisting the sale when it hit me - hey!  These may not be good for me, but they could be GREAT for Timmy!  So I bought two bags.  He ate most of the first one but doesn't seem to care about the second bag as much.  He'll usually take a few bites of his donut and offer me whatever's left, melted chocolate and all.  Food is so appetizing in the hands of toddlers.  =)

Prior to my shopping trip with Timmy, he had another Synagis injection.  I will be so happy when he's finished with them.  So will he.  I could tell something was different the minute we walked into the office.  He became very serious and very wary.  He knew exactly where we were.  He wasn't the least cooperative when I took his clothes off for his monthly weigh-in and, for the first time, fought Unis and me so hard we couldn't get his weight.  We tried the infant scale, but he wriggled like a fish and I was worried he would end up on the floor.  She asked if I knew how to work the scale and if I thought he might let me weigh him if she left the room.  I told her I really didn't think it was her so much that made the difference but just knowing where he was.  We tried the scale that the big kids could stand on but he wouldn't stay on long enough to register a weight over 17 pounds.  I KNOW we're over 17 pounds!  In fact, I'm pretty sure he's over 20 because Unis got about that far with the first scale.  So we went with that for his dosage.  Not fun!

Timmy has also decided to become a big boy and sit at the table.  He no longer wants to sit in his high chair.

He still looks little to me!

But so proud of himself!

He has an appointment to see Dr. Parry next Monday and I'm on pins and needles hoping he'll say that Timmy is looking much bigger now and that we're ready to start working on decannulation once RSV season is over.