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Monday, April 28, 2008

Have 12 Hands, Will Travel

You know, it is hard enough to keep Tyler out of trouble in my fully baby-proofed house. This weekend, some friends invited us to visit their lake house. There were 4 adults and 3 kids, ages 7, 4 and 19 months. Sound like good odds, don't they?

Tyler kicked my butt.

He had no fear of the pool. He'd walk right down the steps into the cold water. He seemed to know his limits and recognize that he couldn't just step off the edge into the water of the pool or off the dock, but he still falls a lot, so we couldn't trust him not to tumble in. After all, he didn't hesitate to get close to the edge.

He wanted to throw everything into the pool. Drink bottles, plastic furniture, clothes, shoes, everything.

The child is bruised and scraped up from head to toe. Skinned knee, small sores on his feet, scrape on his toe, bruises on his forehead, scab from where I removed splinter from his hand.

And the guest house. First, Tyler threw up chocolate Pediasure all over the light blue carpet. Brian trekked to Wal-Mart for carpet cleaner. It took an entire bottle of Spot Shot to clean the carpet. But that was an accident. I don't blame Tyler for that one. However, the next time I travel, I'm taking cabinet locks. I was standing right beside Tyler brushing my teeth and didn't realized he'd gotten Comet powder cleaner out of the cabinet... and dumped it in the floor. The carpet. You can't use water to clean carpet sprinkled with a powder that contains bleach. I did the best I could with the vacuum. Fifteen minutes later, he was dumping a whole box of snacks in the floor. (We're not talking individually wrapped snacks. We're talking the toddler equivalent of Cheetos.) Back to the vacuum.

On the other hand, our friends' kids were really sweet to Tyler — very patient and eager to share their toys. And our friends seemed to enjoy watching his antics. The lake was beautiful, the weather was really nice, the food was excellent and the company was great.

We had a great time, even though I came home from a "relaxing" trip to the lake with a headache and very tense shoulders. I'm telling you, the kid stresses me out!

But the best part was that Tyler tried two new foods. He ate grilled cheese (really just the crust of a very thin wheat bread and not much cheese, but still!) and he LOVED watermelon. The trick was to give him a big piece with a good edge. Put it on a fork and let him hold the fork and bite off the watermelon. That way he doesn't object to touching it with his hands.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Landscaping with Daddy

My grandmother gave us some hosta about a week ago, and we planted them one evening last week. Brian was digging holes and I was going behind him packing dirt around the plants. Tyler was rolling a water bottle around the driveway. After about five plants, Tyler pushed his stroller right up behind us and plopped into the seat like he was supervising! I ran to grab the camera but found he'd decided to take a more active role:



"Here, Daddy, let me show you how..."

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Belly and Bottom

When I first started this blog in September, I thought it might be too early. After all, I wanted the blog to be about Tyler and he was just turning 1 then. I really wanted to have a place to share the funny stories. He wasn't talking yet, so how much "material" would I have? Well, this is post #107, so I guess he's funnier than I thought or I'm boring you guys to tears!

Over the last few months, I've been amazed as Tyler's personality develops. He is hilarious, even though he barely talks.

For example, we finally got a full-length mirror in our bedroom. I wish Brian had the video camera in hand when Tyler first saw the mirror. Brian says he walked forward and backward, checking out the mirror. And then he started pulling up his t-shirt to check out his belly! Up and down with the t-shirt, up and down.

And yesterday, we were learning body parts. Tyler knows a lot: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, head, bellybutton, hands, fingers, knees, feet, toes. Eyes are the funniest — Tyler will point at one eye and you go on to "Where's your mouth?" Oh, but wait, you forgot the other eye. Tyler goes "anah!" (aka "another") and pokes his finger in the other eye! Well, yesterday, I decided we should learn "bottom" since we're playing with the potty-training. I said, "Where's your bottom?" He looked very confused, so I patted one side of his little diapered butt. Tyler said, "Anah!" and patted the other cheek!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Baby-proof, Schmaybe-proof

Tyler walked up to me this morning carrying an outlet cover. You know, the plastic things you plug into the outlets so kids can't stick fingers, paper, toys, whatever, into the outlets.

And he was carrying the outlet faceplate cover. You know, the thing that keeps kids from sticking their little fingers in beside the outlet and grabbing hot wires.

If that isn't bad enough, I can't find the screw that is supposed to hold the faceplate in place. I have several theories. 1) There never was a screw and we just didn't realize that paint was barely holding the faceplate in place. 2) Tyler threw the screw in the vent right beside the outlet. 3) I need to borrow my uncle's metal detector to see if it beeps when I hold it next to Tyler's stomach. Anyone out there want to share comforting stories about children swallowing objects not meant to be swallowed?

I knew I was a mom...

My friend Jodi has this great list called "I knew I was a Mom when..." on her blog. I might have to start one:

I knew I was a mom when...
1. I found a LEGO in my freezer.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Too Messy for Kisses


You know how messy children get when they are learning to feed themselves? When my sister and her kids were here last month, we got to witness 1-year-old Carolyn covered in yogurt on more than one occasion and we practically dared each other to kiss her. She only got kisses on top of her head. (And only if it wasn't covered in yogurt yet!)

For example, my sister just sent this picture of Carolyn who attempted to feed herself yesterday. I wonder how much she actually ate?

Tyler, of course, doesn't like to get messy because of his sensory issues. We've been trying harder to get him to feed himself because he's becoming more resistant to being fed.

So yesterday afternoon, when he was telling me he was hungry, but he wasn't eating what I offered, I got out some chocolate Jell-O pudding and three spoons — one for each of Tyler's hands and one for me. He licked the Jell-O off a spoon a few times, and then started offering it to me. Then he dumped the Jell-O on the tray (and his belly) and looked at it with disdain.

I decided to smear globs of Jell-O on my lips and ask for kisses. You'd think he was the adult and I was the child. He neatly turned my head and carefully kissed my clean cheek, avoiding all contact with the messy Jell-O! I wonder what he'd think of Carolyn here?!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

OPMS

So, Tyler went for his OPMS on Monday. My mom went with me to the hospital, and thank goodness. She chased him while I consulted with the nurse before and after the procedure.

The OPMS is a basically a video X-ray of the child swallowing. For a full description, click here.

We were greeted by a therapist who said that based on Tyler's history she really doubted this test would show anything and she just wanted to let us know because she hates to expose children to radiation unnecessarily. After going back and forth with her I was almost convinced that this test was unnecessary, but I was scared not to do the test because what if there is something really wrong and this test would show us why Tyler is terrified of food. Maybe something hurts him when he swallows. Maybe ... Well, maybe lots of things.

But the therapist was right. Ty only ate two of the three foods mixed with barium. He ate the puree (yogurt), refused the solid (we tried cereal bars and graham crackers), and he drank the milk. Based on what he did swallow, everything appears fine, anatomically speaking.

I am glad. I really am glad that there isn't something wrong. But there is something wrong, you know. My 18-month-old will only eat the following "normal" foods:

apple
chicken nuggets
fries (regular and sweet potato - fried, not baked)
bacon
crackers
muffins
dried fruits & veggies
garlic bread
cereal bars

So yes, I am relieved the test didn't reveal something that requires surgery. And I do believe that he has sensory integration issues. And I do believe those issues cause problems at the table. But his therapist doesn't think that the sensory issues cause the gagging and throwing up.

So all we can figure is that his chewing skills are still emerging. When he doesn't chew well, then it likely causes him to gag. He's always gagged so easily that throwing up just comes easily as well. (That is what the therapist who conducted the OPMS suggested, and it does kind of make sense.)

So we will proceed with the occupational therapy. He is making progress. And it is easier to get him to try new foods.

However, since the OPMS, we've had a very difficult time spoon-feeding him. I don't know if the OPMS was somewhat traumatic. Actually, it was. Who am I kidding? He was crying and saying "nown, nown, nown" (meaning "down") and I was telling him, "You HAVE to take a bite." and putting food to his lips. It was dark in the room, too. I should've expected that and practiced eating in the dark, but I don't know that it would've helped. And we were all trying to distract him. I'm sure it was overwhelming.

But the therapist was awesome. She was very understanding, patient, supportive and encouraging. She and Tyler's OT have both told me that feeding patients do get better. They work through their issues. It may take a year or so, but he'll learn to eat enough to be healthy and he'll get on with his life. He may never be an adventurous eater, but he'll be healthy.

As I was saying, we've had trouble spoon-feeding Tyler. He's teething. Maybe that is it. In the past, when I've pushed Tyler too much, I've had to regain his trust. Maybe that is it. Or maybe he's reached the stage of toddler independence and he just doesn't want Mama to feed him. So we've been trying to teach him to use a spoon. Friday night, we gave him a cup of yogurt and a spoon. He licked the empty spoon a lot, and chewed on it, too. He put a yogurt-covered spoon in his mouth a few times but he was very unsure about it. He started dipping his finger in the yogurt and licking it clean. This was serious progress, y'all. He had yogurt on his hands for about 20 minutes. He usually freaks out when he gets baby food on his hands and won't take a bite until we wipe his hands clean. He even had it in his eyebrows!



Thursday, April 3, 2008

Some things are just too personal to blog...

But I don't care! Tyler peed in the potty tonight!

He looked at me like I was crazy. (I was jumping up and down while clapping and squealing.) And he pointed at the bathtub very emphatically to let me know he was ready to move on with the evening.

(If you want to know my secret weapon: someone gave Tyler little turtle bath toys that squirt water. I was showing him how the turtle can pee in the potty. The turtle was kinda peeing on Tyler, so that might've had something to do with it. Whatever works...)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A Picture Story Titled "Tyler's Version"

Would you look at this mess?!


I'll just have to clean it up.


This is kinda fun!


Apparently sweeping them off the step doesn't get rid of them...


So I'll have to throw them away one at a time. "Bye-bye, Cheerio!"

If you're interested in my version, this was the third time in a week that I've left an open box of Cheerios out and Tyler has dumped them in the floor. Brian left out a box of Goldfish crackers that met the same fate. Last night — in the time it took me to grab the camera so I could blog about what a half a box of Cheerios looks like — Tyler grabbed the broom and scattered them everywhere. I even found some in the guest bath this morning, and I bet some went under the basement door, too.

New Playroom

Sorry I haven't added any stories in a while. We've been really busy making Tyler an official playroom.

Before: The room had been the catch-all room since we moved in July.



After:



Apparently Tyler prefers the messy look. He redecorated in less than 20 minutes:


But he approves of the armchair: