Weight: 11.3kg (600gm from Graz discharge weight)
Hello 2011! What a great year it is going to be for us! A year where Tayden has started by eating up a storm for us, he has learnt how to climb stairs (not sure whether that is a good or bad thing!) and even has started sleeping in his own room.
The last one of Tayden being in his room is a big one for us. We have never had him sleep in his own room. In the beginning, he was still too small and we were planning on moving him to his own room once he hit 3 months. However, all the issues and pneumonia etc started just before then, then the continuous hospital visits, the operations, then the gagging after the insertion of the feeding tube and the time just never seemed right. Now, while l was home on shutdown break, we gently arranged the transition from mom and dad’s room to his “big boy” room where all his toys are and he is doing so well! There were a rough couple of days but all in all he is sleeping well and we have now taken his spare cot out of our room. Phew! This is awesome – but does mean that it is further to walk when he wakes up at night or have a nightmare.
Developmental wise, Tayden is doing well. He has learnt how to get on and off of the couch (a big thing for him since he never went on his tummy while he had his tube in), on and off mom and dad’s bed and then up and down the stairs on his own too – this opens a whole new door of mischief for our little man! We are so pleased by all these positive changes, he is adapting well and we are so blessed! He just loves being outside and unfortunately the PE weather didn’t play along for most of the holiday with the wind howling, raining and generally just miserable weather. Thank goodness for Barney!!!
On the food front, he is still very specific about what he will and will not eat but it is not a trainsmash by any means! He is still into his vegetables, pasta and potatoes with gravy, savoury biscuits and nibbles and apple if it is cut really thinly. The only problem is that he refuses to drink milk or his Pediasure at the moment which makes it difficult to get calcium down but he has surprised us by eating his first yoghurt a day or two ago – this after we have been offering him yoghurt diligently for months and months! Way to go Aunty Raleen in getting that one right! Other new foods include rice and jelly. He really is a funny little man – you can offer him jelly or custard but just don’t combine the two, he would touch it! We found this out the hard way.
He is into a non-drinking phase again and although we bought new bottles that seemed to work for a day or two, he is back into 100ml or less per day. We are supplementing it with jelly which he has now taken to in the last week or so but it is worrying that he is still having issues with this.
Talking is still slow for Tayden, although we do have some new words to add to the vocab – door, airplane, water, whoosh, poop, ook (book) and Pooh (as in Winnie the Pooh). We have decided to leave him for another month and see how the talking goes before approaching the speech therapist. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him and he is trying to say new words so perhaps he just needs more time on the vocab front. He is however, getting very frustrated about his lack of ability to communicate his wishes to us and it is heartsore to try and watch our angel trying to get his message across. Most of the time you can sort of guess what he wants or l ask him to show me but when mom is just plain doff he does get really upset. So, one more month and then off to speech therapy we go but we are hoping against hopes it wont be necessary.
I was chatting to Gemma’s mom Debbie yesterday and she was saying how Gemma has also come along in leaps and bounds. They have also not used to tube to feed Gemma since Austria and are looking at taking it out! Wow, it is amazing how different their lives are today than a couple of months ago! See their story on www.preciousgem.weebly.com
It is a week since l wrote the last update (bad mom for not posting it on the blog!) and we are becoming a bit concerned about Tayden and his lack of willingness or interest to eat and drink. Yes, it takes time and yes, things wont happen overnight but you do reach a stage when he should be showing a willingness to taste or try new foods. I haven’t been all that concerned up to this point but it has been brought to my attention rather abruptly that he is flat-lining again on his growth chart. He has not put on any weight or grown in height for 3 months now and l am getting concerned about it. But, literally just having got off the phone from my paed, I have been told not to stress too much as yet – give him another month or two and then take him in for a weigh or measure and general health condition. It is however, recommended that we take him to the dietician to see if she can come up with further combinations of food for him to eat and enjoy which are both healthy and will allow him to enjoy a diet that will encourage growth and development – both physical and brain development. So off to the dietician we go!
Tayden is having a ball being outside – see images below this – and is still happiest outside in his sandpit or in the water!
Thanks to all those still reading and seeing what is new with our little man! He remains a joy to us and surprises us each day with his funny little antics! Some days are more challenging than others, but we remain positive that ALL will work out in the end - look how far we have come already!
Hello 2011! What a great year it is going to be for us! A year where Tayden has started by eating up a storm for us, he has learnt how to climb stairs (not sure whether that is a good or bad thing!) and even has started sleeping in his own room.
The last one of Tayden being in his room is a big one for us. We have never had him sleep in his own room. In the beginning, he was still too small and we were planning on moving him to his own room once he hit 3 months. However, all the issues and pneumonia etc started just before then, then the continuous hospital visits, the operations, then the gagging after the insertion of the feeding tube and the time just never seemed right. Now, while l was home on shutdown break, we gently arranged the transition from mom and dad’s room to his “big boy” room where all his toys are and he is doing so well! There were a rough couple of days but all in all he is sleeping well and we have now taken his spare cot out of our room. Phew! This is awesome – but does mean that it is further to walk when he wakes up at night or have a nightmare.
Developmental wise, Tayden is doing well. He has learnt how to get on and off of the couch (a big thing for him since he never went on his tummy while he had his tube in), on and off mom and dad’s bed and then up and down the stairs on his own too – this opens a whole new door of mischief for our little man! We are so pleased by all these positive changes, he is adapting well and we are so blessed! He just loves being outside and unfortunately the PE weather didn’t play along for most of the holiday with the wind howling, raining and generally just miserable weather. Thank goodness for Barney!!!
On the food front, he is still very specific about what he will and will not eat but it is not a trainsmash by any means! He is still into his vegetables, pasta and potatoes with gravy, savoury biscuits and nibbles and apple if it is cut really thinly. The only problem is that he refuses to drink milk or his Pediasure at the moment which makes it difficult to get calcium down but he has surprised us by eating his first yoghurt a day or two ago – this after we have been offering him yoghurt diligently for months and months! Way to go Aunty Raleen in getting that one right! Other new foods include rice and jelly. He really is a funny little man – you can offer him jelly or custard but just don’t combine the two, he would touch it! We found this out the hard way.
He is into a non-drinking phase again and although we bought new bottles that seemed to work for a day or two, he is back into 100ml or less per day. We are supplementing it with jelly which he has now taken to in the last week or so but it is worrying that he is still having issues with this.
Talking is still slow for Tayden, although we do have some new words to add to the vocab – door, airplane, water, whoosh, poop, ook (book) and Pooh (as in Winnie the Pooh). We have decided to leave him for another month and see how the talking goes before approaching the speech therapist. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him and he is trying to say new words so perhaps he just needs more time on the vocab front. He is however, getting very frustrated about his lack of ability to communicate his wishes to us and it is heartsore to try and watch our angel trying to get his message across. Most of the time you can sort of guess what he wants or l ask him to show me but when mom is just plain doff he does get really upset. So, one more month and then off to speech therapy we go but we are hoping against hopes it wont be necessary.
I was chatting to Gemma’s mom Debbie yesterday and she was saying how Gemma has also come along in leaps and bounds. They have also not used to tube to feed Gemma since Austria and are looking at taking it out! Wow, it is amazing how different their lives are today than a couple of months ago! See their story on www.preciousgem.weebly.com
It is a week since l wrote the last update (bad mom for not posting it on the blog!) and we are becoming a bit concerned about Tayden and his lack of willingness or interest to eat and drink. Yes, it takes time and yes, things wont happen overnight but you do reach a stage when he should be showing a willingness to taste or try new foods. I haven’t been all that concerned up to this point but it has been brought to my attention rather abruptly that he is flat-lining again on his growth chart. He has not put on any weight or grown in height for 3 months now and l am getting concerned about it. But, literally just having got off the phone from my paed, I have been told not to stress too much as yet – give him another month or two and then take him in for a weigh or measure and general health condition. It is however, recommended that we take him to the dietician to see if she can come up with further combinations of food for him to eat and enjoy which are both healthy and will allow him to enjoy a diet that will encourage growth and development – both physical and brain development. So off to the dietician we go!
Tayden is having a ball being outside – see images below this – and is still happiest outside in his sandpit or in the water!
Thanks to all those still reading and seeing what is new with our little man! He remains a joy to us and surprises us each day with his funny little antics! Some days are more challenging than others, but we remain positive that ALL will work out in the end - look how far we have come already!