30 Months

Dom is officially 2 and half years old....well, on Friday. Crazy how time keeps flying. Recently, I've been trying to organize all the pics that eventually will make it into the scrapbook....and I've come to realize that he's not a baby anymore. This may come as a shock to you, but I really hadn't noticed...haha. I guess I had just adapted to him growing up, but looking back at his pictures....he was sooo tiny and so helpless...and so dependent...same big smile though.

He kept touching his hair and signing "all gone"

 

Therapy is going well...he's getting there...he can say a few more words. BUT according to several sources he should be putting sentences together now....we're not even close to pairing words yet...but I'll take any small victory. I know it's working, and besides, its only half an hour a week....can't expect too much out of that. We try to do things at home too. Dom doesn't like structure...he's a rebel. But every day, we take time to go over the flashcards and go over signs (sign language) and read books and ask questions. So, I know he understands everything....it's just the talking back that's hard for him. The SLP mentioned the word "Apraxia" to me...and I seriously thought she was talking about medicine. I was about to go off on her..."he's 2...he doesn't need pills yet!!"....But come to find out, it's not a drug LOL. Man, I don't trust people anymore...everywhere I go someone wants to prescribe something....I've become paranoid. Anyways, Apraxia is actually a disorder. She explained it to me this way " When people have apraxia of the arm....and a fly lands on their nose and bothers them...they'll swat it with their hand...it's a reflex. BUT when you ask the same person to touch his nose with the apraxia arm...his brain just can't make the connection (when it comes to command) The neuron connection is not there." So, basically, she thinks his words sometimes come out as a reflex (that's why he'll say them sometimes and then sometimes not) and then when I ask him to repeat them....that's when he struggles. It got me thinking....so I went home and googled the darn disorder. Apparently it's quite common, and kids with this condition are extremely good at motor and thinking skills, and they're rock stars when it comes to tablets and smartphones (I'm not sure of the correlation there....maybe they like the challenge of moving apps around?). Dom is great at these things, but I'm still not convinced it's Apraxia. Because I'll watch him play with his dad and he totally says some words right after Spencer....so either two things...1) he's starting to make the connection between his brain and mouth...slowly but surely  OR 2) it's not apraxia.

Either way, we finally scored for his insurance to pay for a total evaluation at Vandy in late August (I KNOW....it's so far away, but the waiting list can be up to 6 mo long, so we got lucky...we might actually still be here for him to get tested). I'm not sure what the evaluation entails, but the pediatrician told me today it was EVERYTHING. From sleeping patterns, to eating patterns, to speech....and everything in between. I have no idea how long it takes, but I hope Daddy can make it. It would be interesting to watch Dom do it.

stretching

 

Today, he went for his 30 month check up. No shots this time, thank goodness. BUT they did have to take some blood for lead testing. They have to prick his finger and squeeze until they get the blood needed. The nurse basically tackled him...it was quite interesting to see. I thought Dom would freak out, but quite the contrary he was intrigued. She pricked him, and I was waiting for the scream....but nothing happened. He actually saw HER prick HIM and he KEPT watching her as she kept squeezing his poor little finger....he didn't bleed profusely...so she had to do it a bit longer than usual. I thought it was odd that he kept staring at it....weirdo...maybe he'll be in the medical field...he'll be good for that. He does have a big pain tolerance...I'm starting to think this might be correlated to all his speech problems, and sleep problems.

waiting at the doctors

 

He's a tiny guy. I came to find out today, that he's only 28lbs (in clothes and shoes, so really like 25lbs)....meaning that he's only gained 5lbs in the last 18 months (because he was 20lbs at the year mark)....CRAZY. So, he's on the lower part of the percentile chart or whatever....but in his defense....he doesn't eat anything. He started getting really picky at eating right after his 2nd birthday. Hot Dogs were good once, not anymore. Corn dogs were okay, not anymore. He won't even touch broccoli, chicken nuggets, bananas, apples, grapes, potatoes, pasta. It's so weird, I don't know what happened, but it was a great opportunity to clean our fridge of all that processed stuff. You're probably thinking...."well he must just eat junk food...like cookies and stuff"

 

NO! I. HAVE. BECOME. THAT. MOTHER that stopped buying junk food....he doesn't deserve it. It has no nutritional value at all. Cookies do nothing for you but give you saturated fat. Chips we eat sparingly....no cakes, no brownies. He's not a juice guy...so I don't even push it.

I basically let him starve....hey, he's gotta eat sometime. So, basically he starves and then he'll give in and eat fruits, or cereal, or yogurt....or actual dinner...he'll pick at it, but at least he tastes it. This is a battle he will not win. I refuse to have a child that only eats junk food. AND I don't want anybody saying that he doesn't eat sugar- he eats plenty of that- fruit, milk, cereal, yogurt all have tons of sugar....it just also happens to have more nutritional value than junk food. It's the lesser of the two evils.  I figured if that's all he eats, he might as well eat some vitamins while he's at it. And besides, on Sundays I know he eats junk food in nursery because his mouth is heavily dyed...haha. I haven't turned into THAT MOTHER yet- the one that tells the nursery people to not give her child the junk food.

splash park...took a while to get used to

 

ONE thing I have noticed, is that he likes the tart tasting, hard multivitamins from my cupboards....So I give him those as well. who would have thought? He actually won't eat the gummy ones...they have to look like big sweet tarts....whatever works man. I thought he would come up anemic or something...and surprisingly he didn't.....so I must be doing something right. His molars are ALMOST out. I know I keep saying that....he's got one in the bottom back that's just lingering there, so he's sleeping a lot better. The pediatrician did say to give him melatonin when he cant sleep. I might have to ask Spencer about that.

He's pretty average on height, so that's good. But other than that, I got nothing else to report. The pediatrician did mention that he has a LOT of energy for someone that doesn't eat. But I don't think Dom has ever been lethargic....he's always been a little too active for me...TOTAL COFFEY right there. I'm totally content inside doing indoor things....not Dom.

racing cars down the slide