The week has been a bit of a blur. Henry discovered the dogs' and cats' water bowl.
And, he opened some more presents that came in. That was fun.On Friday, we had a nice visit with Shirley (PT) who continues to be impressed by Henry. Henry dismounted from his Hippo mobile in her presence. Cuyler (OT specializing in feeding) visited an hour or so later. We had made an appointment with her about a month ago when Henry was having texture problems. Those problems have pretty much resolved. She gave us some additional ideas for introducing foods and thought that we could push his diet a bit more and offer him non-dairy/non-soy table foods here and there (when the texture is appropriate).
On Saturday, Jeff, Henry, and I went to the Desert Museum, which was nice. It was a beautiful day. The lizards were out in full force, which made Jeff's day. Since we have moved here, he has been fascinated by lizards. We got to see the mountain lions who were pacing around. And, Henry did a lot of people watching. A few people stopped to say hello to him. We were pleased that we got to show him off.
We left the Desert Museum around 12:30PM to make it back to the house for a 1PM appointment. Around 1PM, we got a call from "Doreen" who said that the person that we were going to interview had to leave for Mexico to return to her sick husband and could she take the appointment instead. She said that she was in her 40s, had raised three kids, and was looking for employment. I figured what the heck and told her to stop by. She seemed like a nice person and Henry seemed to like her, but as Jeff said after she left, it would be hard to find a person less stable to take care of our child. Highlights: (1) She has three kids, but the middle child, 12, lives with her husband who is able to provide "a more stable environment" for him than she could, (2) The youngest, 4, was given up for adoption 2 years ago to her pastor, and (3) After informing her that we will be doing background checks before letting someone take care of our son, she let us know that she has to take some classes, which she hasn't yet completed, because she broke three ribs of her former boyfriend (father of her youngest) when he severed her jaw. Oh my.
These are pictures of Henry in "Bad Idea Baby" mode on Sunday night. Why go to bed when there is a perfectly good dishwasher to try to climb in? And, wow, look at these dog bowls!
We had a fantastic visit with Joyce and Holly (two of Henry's primary nurses from the NICU) on Sunday morning at Tohono Chul Park. It was wonderful seeing them, certainly the highlight of our week. We hadn't seen them since leaving the NICU back in mid-August...quite a long wait for people who have meant so much to us. Henry studied them intently. After we ate, Henry had fun sitting on Joyce’s lap and gave Holly a big kiss on the cheek. Joyce gave him some textured blocks, which is great because he is currently very into textures. Holly gave him his first Tonka truck. We had a wonderful time and hopefully will see them again soon (not waiting 9 months in-between visits).
At Grammy and Grandpa's house, Henry was given his first horse. It's a bit softer and safer than my first horse that had the exposed springs on it. He had Grammy push it up and down for him. And he used his legs to kick the sides of the horse. The toy was clearly a hit! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!Monday was Veronica’s last day with us. She has moved to Texas. We were sad to see her go. Henry adores her. Having been quite unsuccessful in our current nanny search, we realize how lucky we were to find Veronica in January. Henry fell asleep before she left, so she didn't really get a chance to give him a proper goodbye. She left shortly after 2PM. We didn't do the prolonged goodbye thing, which was probably best. My eyes were misting up as it was, and so were hers.
Dorsett visited on Monday, and Selah visited on Tuesday. Dorsett would like to continue to work with Henry on occasion. Given his rough start, he is still an "at-risk" child. She really loves working with him, and I think that she finds him a fascinating case study. She referred to his progress thus far as "historic." I do love hearing Henry talked about in such terms. There are some people who believe in neuroplasticity, and I certainly hope that such a guiding principle is true. Basically, neuroplasticity is the idea that the brain can remap itself based on experience. There are other people who say that neuroplasticity is limited and when one has a micropreemie, it isn't a question of "Will there be brain damage?", it is a question of "How much brain damage will there be?" The latter folks, not surprisingly, think that therapy is generally a waste of time. As near as I can tell, the research on long-term effects from therapy is fairly limited. One study found no effects, but I can find detailed descriptions on how "therapy" was defined. Obviously, therapy can take many shapes and forms. And, we have attributed at least five positive major changes to his team of early intervention specialists.
Our visit with Selah was cut a little short on Tuesday, owing to our dogs running off on their own. When we put them in the backyard, they are normally fine with just sitting under the patio. But Marley, our troublemaker, has recently decided to be an explorer. And Roger follows her without a thought. They have both been in the doghouse this week (so to speak).
Since Tuesday, Henry has been going to his grandparents’ house in the morning while I teach. Dorsett visited Henry at my parents’ house on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, we had a nanny interview with Alicia and her 11-month old daughter Corrina. The interview was fine. If Alicia took the position, Corrina would be coming with her. Corrina was a pistol. Very cute. It was the first time that had met a baby (outside the NICU). She wasn’t shy. She actually scared Henry a little bit. He was nervous watching her tromp around his territory. We have been debating the merits have having one-on-one care for him vs. being around another child. We haven't decided yet.
Today, Henry had a good time at my parents' house. He did manage, however, to turn off my mom's computer in the middle of a critical analysis, which I don't think pleased my mom too much. I arrived at my parents' house around 3:50PM to pick him up. I was famished because I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I found some ginger snaps. Henry decided to try one. I monitored him closely, because he has really strong jaws and can snap the rock solid Gerber teething biscuits effortlessly. He doesn't know how to swallow large textures though. Anyway, he loved, loved, loved the ginger snap. I only had to fish a large piece out of his mouth once. For the most part, he gummed the cookie well and ate tiny pieces that I had broken off for him (once he had moistened the whole thing down).
I'm leaving a lot out. At some point this week, Henry discovered how to zerbert our (and his own) arms. I often zerbert his tummy during diaper changes, which makes him laugh. Now, he can return the favor. He has been spending a lot of time looking through his books. Books are very important to him these days. He has been more bold on his sitting. He lets go of whatever he is holding onto and lowers himself down with his legs (not always perfectly controlled, but pretty darn good). He has been ripping up his daddy's computer magazines (I'm pretty sure that would be considered a fine motor skill).
The one frustrating change in Henry that has occurred in the past couple of weeks is that he has decided that diaper changes = torture. He squirms and cries while trying to change him. And once the changing is over, he miraculously stops crying.
That's about it from here. We gave Henry a bath tonight. On the nights when we don't give him a bath, he has a hard time settling down. We had originally planned to give him a bath every other night, but I think that we are now settled on the idea that he needs the 4 Bs at night: Book, Bath, Bottle, and Bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment