Update on Zeke...

Just realised I never updated with his 2-year stats and why we were so busy on his birthday.

Well, we had a developmental check at the children's hospital as part of the follow up for his head operation. He is generally doing GREAT. Very switched on and thoughtful, he whizzed through simple puzzles that he's never had a chance to play with at home before, and his motor skills are awesome. He can thread beads, stack little blocks, post coins into a piggy bank, all kinds of things. He was pretty worn out and exhausted by the end of the day, but really enjoyed a special birthday lunch at Mc Donalds!

He's not talking heaps yet though, so we've been referred to speech therapy, just to make sure everything's on track. Given that he's only just 2, and a boy (boys generally are slower to start talking) we're not overly concerned, he does want to communicate with us, and he's far more interested in sounds (woof, moo, ding ding, beep etc) than he is in proper words! But given the LOOOOOOONG waiting list, it will be better if we get him into the system now, and have him assessed soon, even if nothing's going on and he's just stubborn (which I suspect) so that if he does actually need some speech help, he can get it sooner.

Part of that was having his hearing checked, which we got done last Friday. Again he did pretty well, but he's old enough to ignore the test sounds in favour of the toys he's playing with, and too young to give us a cooperative response (eg: tell us when you hear the noise) as he doesn't really understand what hearing is yet. So there were some sounds he definitely appeared to hear, but as he seemed to ignore them, they couldn't really be marked as heard. It was the higher pitch at very soft volume that he was ignoring, but he looked at me and made his signal for 'mouse' (not that we're teaching sign, but he's invented one of his own) when it was playing, so he definitely heard it, so again it's not a big concern, especially as he definitely heard and responded to it a year ago. He just didn't respond within the framework of the hearing test. We're going back again in 3 months to see if he'll respond better, and also hopefully teething will be over, which will take away a lot of the irritation/distraction in his head.

Of course since getting a referral to a speech therapist (the evaluation is 22/7, but we may not get an actual therapy appointment for 6-9 MONTHS) he has come up with a few new words, bear, ball, ow and Babar (the cartoon about the elephant family) furthering my theory that he's just doing things in his own time!

Now, some facts and figures...

He's about 13kg, (28ish pounds) and I think (I can't find his book to double check) 83cms tall (32 inches - not quite 3foot!) His head hasn't grown ANY, which means he is finally (for the first time ever) BACK ON THE GROWTH CURVE, he's high-end above 95% but he is back within a normal growth curve - hooray!

What else? He's still in size 1 (12-18 month) but is beginning to transition into some size 2 (24mth) for some things, he will probably be fully in 2's by the end of winter. Oh, and still eating everything in sight as usual. He LOVES weetbix, and would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let him.

He is in love with the Wiggles, and knows all the moves to Hot Potato, he can dance through the whole song, and uses the dance move for 'cold spaghetti' to ask for spaghetti for dinner (which he loves!) We can also sort of play Patty Cake rhymes with him, he has an awesome sense of rythym, he keeps time perfectly the whole rhyme, or he deliberately speeds up or slows down his hands to make me adjust how I'm saying the rhyme, and is very pleased when I do!

Haven't got any new photos of him though :( a friend has taken plenty, but I've got to remember to actually get a copy from her!

So that's where we're at at the moment, waiting for a speech assessment later in the month, and generally playing and having fun!

Happy Birthday Zeke

Zeke turned 2 yesterday my goodness! (We had a busy day, so no time to blog... )

Can't believe it's been 2 years since I was looking like this:


Or that he started out like this :



But then he grew...



And grew...



And grew some more!



And while not every day has been happy...



In fact, some days have been downright terrible...



Zeke has been an amazing gift...



and his rocking attitude...



sweet cuddles...



cheeky grin...



and enthusiasm for life...



Never fail to bring me joy!



Happy Birthday to my sweet not-so-little Zeke!

365 Photos... or not

I'm WAY behind in my photos as you probably noticed. Planning a wedding, honeymoon and then trying to get Zeke back into a normal schedule is hard work! There were just some days I didn't take photos, and to cap it off, I've broken my camera.

So the 365 photos thing is not going to happen for me, I'm too far behind, and can't take photos to catch up. Sad, seeing as I was doing so well, and really enjoying the record of what we'd been up to, but just not possible anymore :(

Will have to get busy uploading photos and get some catch-up posts started.

So things to post updates and pictures about... let's see:

• Hen's night
• Wedding
• Honeymoon
• Zeke (because who doesn't want to hear about him & see more photos?)
  

We have generally been well though, no major dramas really. Zeke will be 2 on Thursday! 2 already - how can that be? He is working on his second molars on and off, thankfully they're not bothering him as badly as the first ones, his gums aren't bruised black this time, and he's not off his food. We've only got 3 more teeth to go before we're done with teething till it's time for the tooth fairy!

We've not had heaps of new words from him lately, he has added car though. It sounds a bit like "ga" but the meaning is clear! It sounds like he might be getting into the mimicking stage as well - I was talking to him about Babar - that cartoon about the elephant family, and he said "Babar" back to me, but I suspect he was just mimicking "Bubba" more than what I was saying, but time to watch my language none the less!

His current obsession is trains - he can make an '"oo-oo" sound like a steam engine whistle, and also goes "ding ding" for railway crossings, or electric trains, because they look so much like trams. He thinks the trains that run here, and trams are the same thing.

His other new love is The Wiggles - he knows the actions to all of Hot Potato, and part of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y, Henry The Octopus, Walk, and a bunch of other songs, he dances along with them - it's very cute!

Anyway, his birthday party is next weekend, best get a head start on cleaning up for then. Photos and updates to come!

One Year Ago Today....

Well, yesterday now, seeing at it's after midnight! (I didn't get Zeke to bed till 14 past - little stinker!) Apologies for the shocking layout, I copied straight from another post... it formats differently.

Zeke had his operation to reshape his head. Thought you might like to see some before, during and after pics. Notice the way the back left bulges out heaps: The front of his head was very narrow: Very prominent forehead and bulging fontanelle: At the hospital, first cuddle after the op: Sitting up and playing the very next morning: Bandages off on day 3 post-op - you can already see a difference: One month(ish) on, you can still see the scar, but the shape is so much better: Six months later, the scar is all but gone: One year later - a lovely round back of head!: His head is less triangular too - and hair covers what tiny tiny faint line is left from the scar: Fontanelle are smooth and no longer peaking: He still has a big forehead (just like daddy!) but his forehead sticks out far less: All in all he is my beautiful, smart, sweet, funny, feisty, cheerful little man. I am so incredibly lucky and blessed today. I wanted to share it with you!

365 Photos - Feb 9

Tuesday - Zeke was cranky! Heat, teething, terrible twos... I'm still not sure. We were supposed to go shopping with Cherie, but decided to stay home and rest instead. I needed to tidy up for visitors the next day anyway.

In the evening, we went around to Leah's for dinner, and while Zeke was having his bath, he said ANOTHER new word - bubble! Leah & I both heard it, and kind of looked to each other to be sure he'd said it. That makes 7 new words recently, although camera, thank you and bubble have only been said once.

I really think we may be hitting the word explosion as Zeke has also got a new sound 'ga' although I am not 100% sure if it means something or if he's just impressed he can say it!

Tuesday 9th February 2010



Zeke was playing cute with Ryan under his high chair, and I had to get in with the camera! This is a bit of a milestone for Zeke, he's not been crazy about climbing under things in the past, so pretty impressed by this as well. He won't reach under his cot yet, but a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have reached under his chair either!

365 Photos - Jan 25

Zeke thought it would be a good idea to get up early this morning... guess it was the early night previous. I was not totally impressed, but it meant he got a nap in before we went out. We were minding Monique while Cathryn took Kayleb to the doctors. He had a lovely time, and actually went down the inflatable slide by himself without holding my hand - this is a big step, he would not even try the tiny tiny ones at playgroup a few weeks ago! He needed help getting up the step, but once he was up there he sure knew what to do!

We had Granny and all his aunties around for dinner as well, Zeke typically loved the attention, especially when Granny and Aunty Kyla gave him his after-dinner bath.

Only a week till playgroup is back - we are very excited!

Monday 25th January 2010



Here's Zeke post-bath, brushing his teeth and cuddling with Aunty Kyla, who is clearly not too big to sit on her mum's lap. Loved this pic!

Because my Internet is capped...

and uploading anything will take like an hour, this is a text-only update, seeing as it's also been over a month since I did anything! Not that I have a camera, but there are some webcam shots I should try and post in the morning.

Zeke had his 18mo check today, it was our first with the new nurse since we moved. What is it with women named Cheryl being nurses? Anyway, Cheryl is lovely, and approved of the way I spoke to Zeke when he was having a tantrum. ("Yes, I can hear you yelling, but I need to finish writing this first, then I'll play with you again")

Zeke weighs in at 12.55kgs (27.5 lbs) - that's a 1.2 Kg gain in 3 months! Good to know all that food is going somewhere! That boy can EAT! The other day for lunch he had 3/4 of a seaweed roll with cooked tuna & rice (he even ate the seaweed), 1 scoop of penne pasta in sauce, 250mls of juice, a churro with dipping chocolate (Spanish fried doughnuts, only not doughnut shaped) and a babycino! (frothed milk & chocolate dust.) He then had spaghetti for dinner, and half an hour later stole half a potato and 3 bites of steak from my dinner! My boy can eat!

He's 79cms tall, I've already forgotten the conversion for that... 31 inches I think... *checks FB status* yes, 31 and a bit inches. About what I guessed he'd be.

Chickenpox Vax today as well... no big deal. He shouted pretty loud though! He got over it when he met a cute little girl who gave him one of her biscuits :) My boy is such a flirt!

He's now 75th Percentile for weight (just above average) and 25% for height (just under average) and his head circumference (51cm) is slowly coming back onto the charts. We are closer than last time! We were supposed to have a check up for his head at the hospital at the end of October, (boy was that a freaking saga... remind me to tell you about that later!) He's now completely in Size 1 clothing, although the arms and legs are still a little long, size 0's are just too tight!

We've not had heaps of new words recently. He's started to use the same words to mean a lot of different things. All birds are now "Duh" (duck) and he sometimes actually SAYS "duck" I've only heard it a couple of times though. He's still really good at the non-verbal communication, showing you what he wants, or leading you to something he can't reach.

Actually I lie, we have had a few new words, new sentences actually. He's only said them once, and I'm not 100% convinced my ears weren't playing tricks on me, but at the same time it was very clear! He has said "I want my brrm brrm" (brrm is his word for anything with wheels) while reaching up to his train that was on the table, and also "Come back Daddy!" when Ryan came out of the kitchen and headed towards the back of the house instead of the lounge where we were sitting. Unfortunately Ryan didn't hear either of them, so I think he just thinks I'm crazy.

Oh, you might have noticed I wrote "Daddy"... that's because Zeke calls us Mummy and Daddy now! He still says Mama a bit, and Dada most of the time, but unlike 'Mama' which he uses to refer to any older female, and 'Dada' which can be anyone at all, Mummy and Daddy are very specifically referring to Ryan and I! How totally cool! :D

We are almost done with teething for a while, he is just cutting his top right canine, and then we are done till 2-year molars! They came in so quickly and all at once, plus he didn't like me checking on them so I'm not really sure WHEN they came in other than sometime during Sept-Oct.

There's a whole bunch of stuff I want to update about the wedding too, but I'll leave this post all about my gorgeous boy!

Miranda xoxox

Another new sound...

Is in the works... "woof" Sometimes it sounds more like "boo-ffffff" as he exhales loudly at the end, but he definitely has the idea & knows that the little dog at the end of his "Dear Zoo" book goes "Woof!"

Oh, and did I mention he can hiss like a snake? It's more of a lisp the way he does it, but it sounds like our house has a slow leak sometimes!

Miranda xox

He can say a new word!

That's right, my clever boy can say a new word - two actually.

The first one that's appeared over the last few days is dummy, he says "duh-duh" (not to be confused with Dada) he can ask for it when he hasn't got it, and will show it to us, and tell us what it is when he's holding it!

The second one, which he's been saying for a few days now, but it took me a while to work out was "nuhdah" turns out he means 'another'! He'll give us his empty bottle or cup and say "nuhdah!" or when he's finished a snack and wants more will say it then too! He can say more ("moh") but hasn't used it for a while, and obviously finds "another" more effective!

That brings his total word count to 7 now!

Dada
Mama
More ("moh")
Banana ("anana")
Duck ("duh")
Dummy ("duh-duh")
Another ("nuhdah")

It's almost 8, he says no occasionally, "neh" when he's offered something he doesn't want, but is not using it in context or consistently enough for me to be sure he's got it.

Gah, he really is a smart boy!

My smart boy!

I am just SO proud of Zeke and what he has been learning the last few days, I need to tell you all!

• Zeke really liked some specific pictures in a catalogue so I decided to cut them out and stick them in a page in his drawing book so he could look at them whenever he wanted. He enjoys looking at pictures that he likes frequently, so this was a good way not to have a pile of junk mail hanging around and let him keep the pictures. There's a picture of some apples, a cat, some puppies, a baby and the biscuits from the packet we'd just finished. Very proudly later the same evening, he's showing Ryan the pictures, and suddenly he points to the biscuits, says "nana" (which sometimes means banana, and sometimes food in general) and runs off to the pantry to wait for us to get him a biscuit. He can also ask for an apple like this now - so I'm definitely going to have to get some new pictures done so he can ask for more than apples and biscuits!


• Last night, we were sitting (well he was sitting, I was kneeling) at his little table and eating dinner. I'd forgotten to peel his carrots before I cooked them, and he doesn't like carrot skin, so I was pulling the skin off each slice and making a small pile of them on the table next to my plate. I also spat a little bit of gristle from my chicken into my hand and put it there too, and Zeke had obviously been watching me very closely. He ate another piece of carrot and found a bit of skin I'd missed, so he pulled it out of his mouth and put it in the pile with the other skins & gristle!


• Not long after that, when I was putting our plates away, he had followed me into the kitchen and was making his "mmm na na na" noises, asking for food, so I gave him a piece of carrot that was still in the pot. I forgot to peel it, so he spat the carrot out and threw it on the floor. I told him right away "If you don't want it, don't throw it on the floor, give it back to Mummy", and he picked it up, and tried to open the cupboard under the sink where we keep the bin. He gave me the carrot and was very pleased to see it go in the bin.
  


• The last couple of days as well, he's really been noticing where things belong in the house, if he finds the phone lying around he'll carry it over to the base (which is on a small chest of drawers) and try to put it back in its cradle, although he can't quite reach. When we offer to help him, he gives the phone over and watches to make sure we put it away. He also spotted my mobile on the floor (it usually sits on the mantle next to the heater, but had fallen off) and as the mantle is well out of his reach, called for me and stretched up with the phone to show me what he wanted! He couldn't bring the phone to me, because it was plugged in to charge and the cord would only let him go 2 or 3 feet, so he shouted out until I came to him!


• He's also starting to show me when he needs a nappy change, by finding a nappy, either from his nappy bag, or the actual packet and bringing it to me. He doesn't always let me, know, and sometimes he's just playing with the nappy, but it's a start!
  

I am still in awe sometimes that I made this boy, and how smart he is, watching him learn and play, and absorbing all these little things I teach him. There really are not words for how proud or happy it makes me to see him developing into such an awesome boy!

Back again...

We've been sick - then got better briefly, then got sick again. It has been a vicious cycle! Anyway, here's an update of the last couple of weeks.

The week before Zeke's party we were all sick. I had gastro, a cough, sore throat the works. Zeke was snotty and generally cranky, turns out the poor baby had a double ear infection. Anti's cleared it up quickly enough, but oh my god - upset tummies from antibiotics make for the WORST nappies. Ryan had some respitory/cold thing as well... we were a sick bunch!

Then, just as that was clearing up Fri night before his birthday party Zeke developed a slight fever, but seemed okay on Sat morning, so we went ahead with his party, although of course once everyone arrived he was obviously not 100%, and was very tired - he didn't even have any cake!

By Sat evening he was feverish again and started refusing bottles, he was also restless and sleeping poorly though some paracetamol had helped lower his fever. He woke up around 2am and cried non-stop, absolutely nothing we did could settle him, so we decided his ears might be infected again so we took him down to the ER of the children's hossy where he had his op.

Of course he turned into Mr Personality again once we were there, smiling and flirting, but the Dr said he was obviously not well, his throat was a bit red, his ears were a little sore, and generally everything was a bit off. She Dx a general virus and told us to take him home and to push fluids, and lots of love, and to go to the GPs on Monday if he was still unwell.

Sunday was generally sleepy as we'd gotten back from the hossy at 6.30am, not to mention being pooped from his party, and he was fairly good that night. However when he woke at 7.30am Monday, had a bottle & went straight back to bed, I knew he still wasn't better. He woke again at 10.30, had 3oz, a nappy change, and then picked up hs dummy, laid down on my lap and went to sleep - just like that, after only 20 mins of awake time. He woke again at 12.30pm, and repeated the same routine and was very lethargic & dopey, not to mention hot, so I decided I wasn't happy, especially with how out of things he seemed, and to skip the GP and head back to the ER.

This time he was definitely sick and a nurse saw us right away, and said he'd try and get us seen ASAP, when he saw that Zeke was spiking at 39.8 (103.6 F). Zeke just flopped on our chests, and did almost nothing. The Dr who saw us was lovely, & said we'd done the right thing to bring him in, as lethargy + fever can be very serious.

Thankfully it wasn't serious, still a virus, which had to get worse before it got better and a big dose of paracetamol began to ease his fever almost immediately. The Dr also wanted a urine sample, so we had Zeke without a nappy on for over an hour, bribing him with Pedialyte, chocolate milk, gatorade and cordial to try and get him to produce something. He got pretty cranky being in the little cubicle, so we thought we'd test out karma for a little, giving Zeke the chance to pee on us in public - we walked around the ER station for 20 mins with him only in a onesie, Ryan following along with a cup just in case and nothing!

However the Doctor decided that given how well he was responding to just the paracetamol that there probably wasn't a UTI as well, and sent us home, saying if he wasn't improving in the morning to persevere with the sample & take it to the GP for testing & ABs if needed.

Fortunately Zeke went straight to bed when we got home & barely woke the whole night, waking late on Tuesday morning & acting like a new baby! He's been steadily improving ever since, but of course I promptly came down with a head cold, which I spent the last week recovering from, too zonked to post here.

And now... his birthday! I haven't uploaded pics yet, as there are a lot of other things I need to do here, so many unread blogs and emails! It was great, a lot of work, but a huge success, lots of fun & laughter. The cake looked AMAZING, I am so proud of myself. We of course have enough toys to start a toy store & enough books to start a children's library, but I am trying to space out discovering them, so there's something new for Zeke to do each time he gets bored with something he has had for a while.

And now an update on Zeke seeing as I've been lazy and not done a proper update - he was weighed on his 1year birthday.

Weight: 9.8kgs (21 lbs 9 1/2 oz) but just 10 days later when he was weighed in the ER has stacked up to 10.3 kgs (22 lbs 11oz) still a lightweight, but gained 500g so fast!

Height: 75cms (29.5 inches - my baby is almost 2 1/2 foot tall!)

He is running almost everywhere, I don't think he crawls anymore unless it is over the top of Ryan or I when we are playing! He picks things up and carries them too. We got him a push along toy thing for his birthday, and he only just worked out how to push and walk along behind it today - until now he's been carrying it everywhere! I think there's a photo somewhere on my camera.

Zeke has learned a new word and he is obsessed with it - "duh" which means duck. He has a few books with ducks in them now, and he will keep bringing the books to us demanding "duh duh duh!" until we open it to the right page to show him. He even knows which book has ducks on 3 different pages, and won't stop until he's seen all 3!

There's even a book which I was convinced didn't have one on it, and yet Zeke was pushing the book on my lap, slapping it and going "duh duh duh!" and I'm trying to divert to another book that I know has a duck in it. But Zeke was smarter than me, finally he takes the book over to Ryan, who looked where Zeke was pointing (and I thought he was just banging the book, bad mummy!) and there it was, his precious "duh!" barely an inch high on the back cover!

When the TV had some white geese (which for all intents and purposes are just big ducks) & goslings, which if I hadn't known better would have thought were ducklings, on it this morning, his proud "DUH!" and pointing was just too cute for words! I think it's time to rug up & head to a lake to see if we can't find some "duh" for real to feed. Zeke's good at throwing things, so I expect will be great with bread - as long as he doesn't eat it!

There are so many more smart things my baby is learning about that I want to share with you as well. I think I need to do a separate post, not to mention upload some photos of his birthday! I'd better get busy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKE!

How can it be that my sweet, beautiful wonderful baby has already turned one? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was introducing this tiny sleepy boy to the world?

Now he's walking (running), talking (sort of) and generally getting into all kinds of havoc!

Here's a few pics from his day... you can see the rest on my Facebook.

Zeke's First Easter! Part 1

Well, Zeke's first easter has come and gone! What an awesome day it was too! The day started with an egg hunt at Granny's house, then moved to lunch at U.John & A.Jean's where we made Ressurection Buns and painted eggs. Zeke slept through the second egg hunt and rolling the eggs down the drive, but still had a great time and loved all the chocolate!

Well onto the important part... pics!

Zeke finds his first egg....


Tastes the foil...


And puts it in his basket!


He soon found some more eggs and taste-tested them all!









He also tried to steal some eggs!



Checking out his bounty with Granny



And tasting yet more foil!



Finally the real thing!



Part 2 will come tomorrow morning once the rest of the pics are uploaded!