I continue to feel better! This last week I put on 0.8lbs. I’m still 3.2lbs below my pregnancy weight but I’m pleased with the trajectory of my weight gain now.
I gained 0.8 lbs this week! I’m so glad I’m feeling better, there wasn’t much room to feel worse.
PS: I changed the y-axis on this graph so it can be used for the next 24 weeks. Last week’s was too limiting.
The other day we were at the dinner table finishing eating and I told Eli I loved him. He responded by blowing me a kiss. Best thing ever!
One of Eli’s bookshelves is on top of his dresser. I was holding him up to it to pick out a book. In an effort to help him talk, I pointed to the spine of a book and said “book”. I did this three more times to three other books. There were about 25 books. When I was done Eli pointed to the EXACT SAME four books. He didn’t try to say anything, but he paused in between each point the same way I did. I wasn’t pointing to special books, I’m really impressed he remembered all four!
Andy was putting Eli to bed and Eli indicated that he wanted some milk. Andy said ok and the two of them started walking down the hall. Andy headed to the kitchen and Eli entered the living room, which we use as his play room. There were toys all over the floor. Andy started telling Eli that it wasn’t playtime and there were just out here to get milk. Eli ignored Andy and seemed to be looking for a toy. Before Andy could do anything, Eli reached down and picked up his sippy cup of milk from dinner. Then he took his cup and headed back to this bedroom, ignoring all the toys.
When Eli wants something he grabs my (or Andy’s) finger and tugs me towards what he wants. If I resist he makes a noise of frustration, lets go of that finger and grabs one on my other hand. When we do go with him (which is almost all the time), he will place our hand directly on whatever he wants, in the fashion that he thinks it should fit. He’s nearly broken my fingers a few times shoving them into the handle on the fridge door.
Eli is fascinated by brushing teeth. He’ll patiently watch me brush my teeth. Then he’ll hold his mouth open while I brush his teeth (for the amount of time it takes to sing the alphabet song, we’re suppose to sing it twice through but that’s too long right now). When we’re done he wants to hold the toothbrush and pretend to brush his teeth. At the end of the day I usually have to search the living room for the toothbrush he spent much of the morning playing with.
Eli is learning how to flush the toilet and is getting an idea about how grown-ups use the toilet and toilet paper and all that. One day I heard Andy and Eli in the bathroom and Andy was saying “push! push! harder!”. I was quite confused until I heard the toilet flush and Andy cheer for Eli. You do have to push the handle pretty hard when you’re a little kid!
Eli loves getting kissed and thinks it very funny. If I come at him with an exaggerated kissy face he will smile real big and slowly lean towards me. Once I kiss him he pulls away and giggles in delight. This is pretty awesome 
This is not what one’s weight should look like when one is pregnant 
Eli and I met with an Early Intervention Specialist today to talk about his speech delay. She gave him a brief evaluation. He scored one standard deviation below the mean in the area of communication. The cut-off for participating in this program (offered by the public schools) was 1.5 std dev below the mean. So, she confirmed that he has a speech delay, but it’s not bad enough to get help from her program right now.
She gave me some tips to help him talk. A lot of things she mentioned that she saw I was doing already – getting down on his level to talk to him, talking a lot, reading, identifying objects, etc. It was validating to have the specialist note that I was doing great things to help him. She suggested I change one thing, though. I currently talk to Eli in full sentences with proper (to the extent that I care) grammar. I will say to him “It’s time to go, Eli. Let’s put on your shoes”. He understands and obeys me (he’ll find his shoes and sit down for me to put them on). But even though he understands the full sentence, it’s too many words for him to repeat. She recommends I say “Go! Shoes!” instead. She acknowledged that this will feel like a step backwards since he understands the full sentence, but saying fewer word will help him focus on words to repeat.
She also recommended that we push him a little more to talk. For example, if it’s snack time I’ll ask him “cracker?”, wait 5-10 seconds hoping he repeats it back, I repeat “cracker?”, repeat the short wait, and then give him the cracker while saying “cracker”. Thankfully, she acknowledged that I’m not expected to do this all day long because it would be exhausting and frustrating. She recommended that I pick two times during the day to really focus on his speech, and then just relax and play the rest of the day.
The evaluation was a brief questionnaire. She said that if I wanted I could request the full evaluation. I don’t think that’s necessary, I think the questionnaire accurately represented Eli’s abilities. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Andy about this yet so there might be another evaluation. The specialist recommended that we work on the things she suggested and reevaluate in four months. I told her four months was too long and I’d be more comfortable with two months. She was fine with that and told me I could call her for another evaluation whenever I wanted. That (2 months) might be our plan of action. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Andy yet (he’s working but I wanted to blog about this as soon as possible so I didn’t forget the details). We still have the option of a speech therapist at Mayo if we’re not comfortable working on our own and waiting.
The questionnaire covered the other four areas of development. Eli got the maximum score possible in gross motor and fine motor skills and scored smack dab in the middle of normal for problem solving and personal/social.
Eli has his first ear infection
He felt feverish Monday evening and had a really hard time sleeping. He’d appear comfortable in my arms, but when I put him in bed he’d toss and turn as if he couldn’t get comfortable. Once he did fall asleep it would only last about 45 minutes and he’d cry. As I watched him whimper and squirm in his crib I could tell he was in pain but didn’t know where or what. We gave him acetaminophen and ibuprofen every six hours (staggered, so he’d get something every three hours). His temperature was around 101.4.
He did not get any better on Tuesday. Sitting on my lap was the only thing he wanted to do. We watched four episodes of Sesame Street. His temp peaked at 102.6. It was a really rough day. Neither of us had slept for more than 45 minutes at a stretch. He wouldn’t nap in his crib, but I did get him to sleep for a little over an hour in my arms in my bed.
I called the nurse line and we went over all kinds of illness indicators. It was decided that as long as Eli was drinking something, he didn’t have to be seen immediately. But if the fever persisted for 24 hours, then I’d call back. Eli did not eat breakfast or lunch, but would take the occasional sip of milk. He finally ate a snack in the afternoon.
Eli perked up a lot when his Daddy came home and he even ate some dinner. Bedtime was really rough, though. He was so tired and seemed to want to sleep but couldn’t get comfortable. He woke up twice, early in the night and then slept through until the morning.
When I got Eli out of his crib he seemed to be in a much happier mood. I noticed a spot of slightly bloody fluid on his bed sheet and couldn’t figure out what it was from. I took his temp and it was 100.6. A fever counts as anything higher than 100.4. I really debated if I should call the nurse or not. He technically had a fever for more than 24 hours, but it was significantly lower and he was acting way happier.
I decided to call. She said that since it was technically a fever that we should come in. I thought this was going to be a waste of our time, but after being stuck in the house all day yesterday I liked the excuse of going out. And our health care provider (HCP) was available! We saw her, I told her everything that was wrong and she looked in his ears. His left ear was just fine, his right ear got an immediate “oh yeah, this is an ear infection”.
There is a membrane over the ear drum. When you get an ear infection, the infection builds up in the ear on the inside side of this membrane. All the puss and fluid and gunk pushes on the membrane, similar to a pimple. It’s this pushing that hurts. It particularity hurts when you lay down, which is why Eli had such a hard time sleeping. If the pressure builds up enough, it pops the membrane. Like popping a pimple, all the puss and stuff drains out. Sometime in the night, Eli’s membrane perforated (popped). That explains the little bit of bloody fluid I found. This is why he was in such a better mood this morning. The infection is still there, but the pain was gone.
We got a ten day course of antibiotics, and the assurance that his fever should be gone in 2-3 days. Ear infections are not contagious. I asked HCP about his lack of ear tugging (the typical sign that a baby has an ear infection). That’s one of the things the nurse on the phone asked me, and that’s one of the things I watched out for yesterday. Eli never tugged on his ear. HCP said that some kids don’t do that. If Eli turns out to be one of those kids, we’ll have to use the unexplained fever and discomfort while laying down as an ear infection indicator. I’m hoping we don’t have many more of these, not sleeping is just too hard on me!
Eli’s fever has come back up a little bit and he still isn’t very interested in eating, but his behavior is far closer to normal than it was yesterday.
On a completely unrelated note: Eli’s first appointment with the Early Intervention Speech Specialist Lady (I have no idea what her title is) is Monday. The appointment will consist of me and the specialist lady filling out a form about Eli, his presence isn’t even required.
I picked Eli up from the gym’s childcare today and the lady asked me “Do you have issues or do we?”.
I paused for a moment, not really sure how to answer that.
Thankfully, before I had a chance to tell her all about my issues, she pointed to Eli’s feet and enunciated “His shoes. Do you have his shoes or do we?”
Eli and I spent the last day of 2011 at my parent’s house celebrating my dad’s birthday. Eli gave kisses for the first time! He was playing with my brother and then gave him a kiss (first with his pacifier in his mouth, later without it)! This was delightful to watch! Eli has been blowing kisses for a while, but this was the first time he gave a real one. I was a little surprised that my brother was the recipient of Eli’s first kiss. Later that day I reminded Eli who wakes up with him in the middle of the night, and I got a kiss, too! I encouraged him to give Daddy a kiss, but all he got was a lick on the cheek.
While at my parent’s house, my family made a bunch of bags to keep in our cars and give to the homeless as we see them. I got the idea from my friend Sarah who got the idea from this blog. We filled 21 bags for about $170! I have a bunch in my car and am looking forward to an opportunity to bless someone with them.
We decided not to go out last night. I’m still having first trimester pregnancy funk and it was Andy’s first day back in the clinical world, so we took it easy. Unfortunately, Eli woke up coughing so bad he threw up. And then I threw up, too. It’s easier to kneel over a toilet on New Year’s Eve when it’s the result of overindulgence at a party, than the result of a fetus that doesn’t know morning sickness is suppose to be confined to the first trimester.
Andy let me sleep in this morning, and he got up with Eli. Which means Eli started 2012 with a chocolate chip cookie and a banana dipped in peanut butter. He says that this year is going to be awesome!
At Eli’s 12 month well-baby visit our health care provider asked if he was talking yet. He wasn’t and we weren’t worried. At his 15 month well-baby visit she asked us how many words he was saying and we reported back just one – banana. We weren’t worried yet but decided that if he wasn’t talking by 18 months that we’d come back in and see what’s going on.
Since then I’ve paid close attention to what Eli says. Banana is the only word he consistently says, and says correctly (by that I mean he says in it in the proper context). He has said “Mama” and “Dada” correctly, but only rarely. I’d guess about once a week, maybe less than that. Those syllables are used in his babbling, but not as words directed to us. One time he opened up the Belly Button Book to the page where the hippopotamus says “Belly Button” and Eli said, clear as day, “Belly Button!” Andy swears that one time, as he was feeding Eli lasagna, Eli said “Lasagna.” But these are all one-time things and don’t really count. He should have a vocabulary of six words right now. Many of his friends say about 20 words.
Eli can understand just about everything I say. If I ask him where his shoes are, he’ll bring them to me. If I say that it’s time to go, he’ll walk to the stairs. He can point to many of his body parts (hair, ears, eyes, teeth, belly button, feet) and to mine (where is Mama’s hair?). He consistently and correctly uses five baby signs (hungry, thirsty, all done, milk, more). When he’s in a good mood, he’ll sing with Andy, and can repeat back “lalalala”, “mamamama,” “dadadada,” “memememe,” and many other sounds. I’m not worried about his hearing, motor skills, comprehension or intellect. But he still only says one word.
Eli won’t be 18 months old until the middle of January, but Andy wanted to go to this visit with us and isn’t available in January, so we scheduled a visit with our health care provider (here after referred to as HCP) this morning. We told her all about what Eli can and can’t do. She interacted with him a little bit.
HCP said there were two treatment routes we could go. The local public schools have a state funded Early Intervention Program for situations like this. Someone comes to our house, we talk, they evaluate Eli and give us homework. They come back as needed. Or we could see a speech therapist at Mayo. Same thing about evaluating Eli, giving us homework and we come back as needed. I asked which was better, the program or a speech therapist. HCP said they were both very good options, it was a matter of which we’d prefer. She said she’d give us a referral to audiology if we were concerned about his hearing, but she didn’t think there was a problem there and I agree.
Andy and I decided we’re going to use the Early Intervention Program. If we don’t see improvement in a month or two then we’ll see an audiologist, get the all clear from them, and then see a speech therapist.
This is not the way I expected the appointment to end. I expected HCP to tell me there wasn’t a problem yet and that we should just wait and see over the next few months. I expected her to tell me we’d revisit this at his 2 year well baby visit. I was prepared to tell her six months was too long for me and how about I come back in three months to see how he’s doing. She never said anything like that. I explained my concerns and she offered treatment options. However, she did tell me that she doesn’t think this will be a problem for his future. She was confident that by the time he is three years old he’ll be talking just like all his peers and I’ll be asking her how to get him to be quiet. She did not appear concerned at all … but she didn’t offer “wait and see” as an option either.
Andy believes that if this had been a normal “well baby” visit that HCP would have been more likely to offer a “wait and see” option, but since this was appointment was scheduled specifically to address Eli’s lack of talking, that’s why she gave us treatment options. Andy also believes that younger health care providers (as ours is) are more likely to refer patients to a specialist than older providers. He also believes that nurse practitioners (as ours is) are more likely to refer patients than MDs. He doesn’t have a problem with us pursuing treatment options, but he believes that had our situation been just a little different, it still would have been responsible doctoring to just wait and see.
Since we were there, HCP asked us about the other areas of Eli’s life. We filled out another development review sheet. This one was a little different from the ones we’ve done at other visits but still pretty limiting, so we continue to take it with a grain of salt. This review reported that Eli has the gross motor skills of a 2 ½ year old, the self-help skills and fine motor skills of a 2 year old, and the social skills of an 18 month old. And he’s only 17.32 months old! The review sheet had his language skills at 12 months, but I don’t think that’s accurate. His babbles are much more intricate than that of a 12 month old. He changes the pitch of his babble when he’s asking for something (like we change the pitch at the end of question). He certainly communicates far better than the average 12 month old, but the review is focused on language, not communication. I’m really glad we’ve decided to do something about this now. He might just need a month or two to figure out how much easier communicating is when you talk, but I feel better about the situation knowing that I’m doing everything I can to help him.
Eli’s growth is awesome, all of his numbers are just where we want them to be!
17.32 months:
Weight: 10.88 kg (24 lbs), 28th percentile
Length: 80 cm (2 ft, 7.5 in), 35th percentile
Head Circumference: 47 cm (18.5 in), 31st percentile
