The Norton Zoo  -

+ 0 - 0 | § ¶The best bath EVER!!

We're at my parent's house in NE PA right now.  It's Alex's first visit here that has lasted more than an hour, so we've been having fun showing Alex off to all the people who've read about him, but never saw him in person.  Anyway, he got pretty messy today between the dogs, the floor, the sweet potatoes, and the hairpieces (more later on that), so we had to give him a bath before he went to bed.  We set everything up in the sink in the kitchen, and Deb (my stepmother) suggested that we give him his rubber ducky to play with.  (This is a ducky that says Alex on it, a gift from Alex's surrogate grandparents.)  We started the bath with the usual crying, but then he got the ducky and started chewing furiously on it.  He actually let me pour water over him and rub his back and clean his feet...for about five minutes.  I even got to take him out of the bath while he was happy.  That NEVER happens.  Rubber ducky, you're the one!  You made bathtime so much less horrible!  (This time, at least.)

Oh, and the hairpiece.  Have you ever seen the hair extensions that you can put on to make it look like you have longer hair or a ponytail?  Well, someone at the gathering had one (i'm not mentioning names), and we figured out that Alex, in his love for animals of all kinds, thought it was hilarious to pull it like he does to the cats and like he did to the two dogs that we there.  It provided a perfect substitute for an actual doggy.  When we get around to posting pictures, you'll see the smile.  The funniest things make good toys for babies!!

+ 0 - 0 | § ¶A little reflux and some reduced eating

Alex has been having a little bit of a problem with reflux the last couple of days. We can tell that this isn't too terribly pleasant for him, and he's subsequently been a bit cranky. He hasn't been as interested in eating either, presumably because of the reflux. We think that the reflux is due to a change in the formulation of his medication. Previously, we had been giving him Prevacid solutabs, which dissolve in a little bit of water, but with the new doctor, she prescribed another form, which appears to need to be dissolved in about 4 ounces of water, and it specifically says not to be used in feeding tubes. We found out why, because it readily clogs the feeding pump, and is an overall pain in the butt to administer. We have since gotten the doctor to prescribe the original formulation again, so we should be able to start that up again soon. Here's hoping that it helps!

+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Visitors galore!

Alex is doing fabulously these days.  He's eating an average of about two ounces of food a day by mouth, and has demonstrated that he really can turn himself over from his belly to his back.  He's also standing really well too, though he can't really transition back and forth or pull himself up at all.  He's also make great strides when it comes to falling asleep.  When he was in the hospital, the only time that we got to spend with him was in a rocking chair, so he learned to fall asleep on our laps being rocked.  Starting about two weeks ago, we started getting him to sleep on our bed next to us, then transferring him to the crip, then about a week ago, directly in the crib.  Now we lay him down, give him his binky and his blanky, and he rolls over and goes to sleep.  We've only had one real test of wills...late last week, he decided that he didn't want to nap, so I spent an hour listening to his complaints as I stood next to the crib, refusing to pick him up.  After a while, he just gave up and rolled over.  (He sleeps on his side.)

He's also learning daily about how to do everything...how to manipulate his PT into giving him back to his Mommy, how to throw toys on the floor in record time, how to chew on the car seat straps before I get him buckled in....it's amazing because you can see his little mind working to figure stuff out.  What fun!