Slightly better on growth

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: 14.5 MONTHS
ADJUSTED AGE: 10.5 MONTHS
CURRENT WEIGHT: 14 LBS, 15.9 OUNCES
CURRENT LENGTH: 26.25 INCHES

The weather finally turned in Dallas which means two things: cooler temperatures and changing leaves (which we love) and RSV season isolation (which we don't like at all). Truman continues to be everywhere all at the same time with crawling and pulling up. He has learned, however, how to get down from pulling up without falling, which is a huge relief for us -- a lot fewer bumps on his head and fewer boo-boos to console. We've also finally installed baby gates to the stairs and the area with the cat box and cat bowls, so that makes him a lot easier to keep up with, too.

He continues to "talk" more and more, and although he is focusing on the same syllables, "da" and "ga," he seems to be using them more every day. Ben says he talks a lot more when I'm around than when it's just the two of them. Hmm ... wonder where he gets that from? With only one word and only two syllables, along with the failure to drink from a cup, hold a bottle, or eat any non-crunchy finger foods, we've been given an Rx to start weekly speech therapy.


Truman is currently working on four teeth across the top. It took some Tylenol and three tries over the course of an hour to get him down to sleep to stay Tuesday night, so I think they are definitely bothering him. However, in the sleep world, he seems to have hit a milestone. He has gone more than a week now without his middle of the night nursing session. Yippee!!


Truman had his annual therapy re-evaluation on Monday. We will get a full report later, but initially Beth said that he has sensory integration disorder / issues. Basically that means that he can't organize all the sensory inputs coming into his brain and thus has trouble paying attention to anything without getting overwhelmed or tries to engage multiple senses at once since he can't figure out how to process one at a time. She is recommending moving therapy to twice a week to work on this (and whatever else the final report shows) to make sure that the sensory issues don't interfere with learning. In the world of micro-preemies, I don't think I even know any who don't have sensory integration disorder. Particularly with micropreemies, when your brain is forced to interact with the world before it's ready, it tends to go a little haywire in the process (thus, the brain bleeds way back in week 1). Although we would love to get a clean report on Truman, we know that's not going to happen, and I am reminded over and over as to how many bullets we have dodged and how fortunate we are to have great resources available, the means (i.e. good insurance) to afford them, and a pediatrician who supports a proactive response. Fortunately, Truman's new insurance will cover unlimited therapy.

Truman had a check-up yesterday, and he has improved to 8 grams of weight gain a day -- slightly better, but not good. We spent some time discussing what could be done to help him grow more, and we concluded that we are really doing all we can and that Truman may continue to struggle for a long time -- or perhaps always -- with growth. It just seems that he has a max volume of food that he takes in, whether in liquid or solid form, and that we all we can do is pack it as full of calories as possible.

Dr. Suterwala was not surprised at all about the sensory integration disorder evaluation by the therapists and gave us a 2007 study out of the UK on 23-25 weekers who are now 6 and they are doing now that they have started school. It talked about some of the sensory-related issues along with other cognitive and motor issues. It's not the most encouraging of studies, but we want to be informed because now we are entering into uncharted areas beyond just whether milestones are being hit, but how they are being hit and behaviors, habits, delays that are not visible to or seem normal to the untrained eye. Because of the evaluation from Truman's therapists and our discussions, Dr. Suterwala has written orders for two occupational therapy sessions a week, one physical therapy session per week, and one speech therapy session a week.

And the first word is ...

"Dada."

We've heard "ga" and "da" and "de" for several days now. But yesterday, after hearing many, many intentional strings of "dada," we decided he has officially said his first word.

A visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Ben went out of town, so Truman and I took advantage of some special one-on-one time for a trip to the Dallas Arboretum for Fall Blooms. By the time we left, he was filthy and is certain to have eaten a few mouthfuls of grass, hay, and marigolds, but he was a trooper for a good two hours. And, today we discovered another sharp edge of tooth coming in on the top. I also think I see another two that about to break through the gums.
"I like pumpkins!"
"Orange is a great color. Did you see how it matches the writing on my Halloween onesie?"
"Ok, Mama. I'm getting bored with the same shot."
"Enough already!"
"Can I eat this? It's really pretty."

A few of my favorite things

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: 14 MONTHS
ADJUSTED AGE: 10 MONTHS

My Favorite things:

10. Getting my two teeth brushed. (I like to help).

9. Trying to sneak up the stairs. (I got halfway up the other day before they caught me. I keep overhearing plans to block access, but there's an issue with the construction of our stairs and baby gates. I'm hoping they don't figure out how to solve it).

8. Banging things and banging on things, especially my parents' faces. (Daddy; my therapist, Beth; and I worked a lot on this one, and I'm starting to get better at playing with things rather just eating them).

7. Those cool flower-shaped Air Fresheners from Bath & Body Works (or at least they were until my parents took them out of the outlets).

6. The basket of magazines beside my mama's bathtub. (I like to rip the covers off and eat them).

5. Gerber Puffs and Organic crunching blocks. (I would live on them if they let me).

4. Seeing my mama right when she comes into my room when I'm hungry at night. (I really give her a big smile like I haven't seen her in a week).

3. Electrical Cords (particularly the big tangle under the computer desk).

2. Saying "Da." (Yes, I finally have a regular consonant sounds. Sometimes I say "ga" as well).**

And ...
1. Chasing my kitty, Flora (particularly when my mama shuts all three of us in the master bedroom hall where Flora can't hide).


** My hearing evaluation went OK. I failed in one ear, by my Daddy says that doctors think it was because I had a cold, and I like to squirm. We'll be scheduling the speech evaluation soon, but mama has a new job and new insurance, and that's slowing things down some.

My Least Favorite things:

1. Green Beans (You've seen the evidence).

2. Having to be still for diaper changes. (My parents actually use that cruel strap on the changing table).

3. The nose sucker when I'm sick. (I actually like it and think it tickles otherwise).

4. Having to sit still for my pre-bed book. (I would rather eat it and crawl away with it).

5. My car seat. (How would like having your whole body strapped down to something with the backseat of the car as your only view?)

6. Having to finish a bottle if I'm eating when my mama gets home from work. (Who wants to eat when you can play with someone you haven't seen in hours?)

7. Being quiet in church. (I haven't succeeded at this one yet. There's just too much to talk about in church, and everyone has paper).

That's it. I'm a pretty happy baby, so my list of un-favorites is shorter. I wanted to put a lot more on my list of favorites, but my mama made me pick just 10.

Love,
Truman

P.S. Mornings are another one of my favorites, but my Daddy wouldn't let me put in on the list. He's working on me to move that one to my least favorite list.