More Teeth

Chronological Age: 15 months
Adjusted Age: 11 months

Truman is currently working on three more teeth on the top. What's weird is that both lateral incisors have broken through, but only one central incisor has broken through. There is no sign at all of the other one. Hopefully it's in there, but lots of preemies have teeth issues and many are missing baby teeth altogether. Fortunately, except for an increased need for braces due to intubation changing the shape of the plalate, most preemies only have trouble with their baby teeth.

In the meantime, I guess he'll have a gap-toothed smile. As a result of the teething, he has definitely racheted up the drooling and tries to bite everything, including us. (Luckily, he hasn't taken to biting while nursing). In a cute teeth anecdote, Truman really likes having his teeth brushed and has started opening his mouth really wide when he sees the toothbrush. We hope he keeps this great habit for his entire life.

He continues to babble "Dada" all day long. Occassionally, we hear a "ca." It seems to be more prevalent around the cats, and Truman's hopeful Mom and Dad think it could be his effort to repeat "cat" which we tell him a lot. I'm fairly certain that's wishful thinking. Unfortunately, "Mama" appears nowhere in sight. In fact, when I say "Mama" to him, he usually responds with "Dada." I really hope the cats don't get a name before I do.

The sleeping through the night pattern appears to have been short-lived. We're back to getting up multiple times a night. Perhaps someday ... a mom can hope, can't she?

We're getting a little more concerned in the eating department. Truman is still refusing most table food and has starting gagging himself to the point of vomiting when we try anything that besides baby crackers, Puffs, hard bread, or similar items, including lumpy pureed foods. There even seems to be some regression in this department, such as mashed potatoes, for example. He's also started coughing to the point of gagging and vomiting a lot more. Besides just the issue of lost calories, we are worried that some oral and sensory issues are starting to manifest in the eating department.

In addition, he just seems to be eating less. Initially, when we introduced solids, he seemed to decrease his milk intake ounce-for-ounce with the solids. Now, for every ounce of solids, he seems to be decreasing his milk intake by more than an ounce. His nutritionist is really pushing three "meals" of solids a day for developmental purposes, and we tried it, but with the increased vomiting and the decrease in overall food volume, we've made the decision to cut back to twice a day and are considering moving back to once a day. We have to pick priorities, and we really thinking packing on the pounds in more important right now than developmental progress in the eating department.

By the way, Truman was a cow for Halloween. I promise to post some photos, but work has been very hectic, and I haven't had a chance to sit down at the computer in our home office and upload any photos. I promise to soon.

I should also let you know that we've made a decision that upon Truman's homecoming anniversary on December 5, we will discontinue posting on this blog and moving to a private blog. We realize there are many anonymous followers of Truman's, but we've decided it's time to let Truman return to the private life of most babies. This blog will remain up as a resource to other parents because we truly appreciated the blogs of other been-there-done-that parents when Truman was in crisis, but we will no longer post here. If you are a friend or family member, please e-mail me or comment on the blog with your e-mail and we will add you to the invite list when the new blog is opened.

--Kara