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 - Mar 16

Just a day at home I think, I'm mostly waiting for Photobucket to finish rotating the photo from today, and trying to remember what happened! Note to self: edit and rotate photos before uploading them, the site based editor is SOOOO slow!

Zeke is definitely becoming more determined, today he wanted weetbix for lunch, which he then decided to wear, so a bath was in order. Let me tell you, weetbix cement is not fun to clean out of a child's hair, especially one who hates having his hair washed as much as Zeke does!

He added another new word today though - teeth. I gave him his toothbrush (he always brushes teeth in the bath) and he said "teeth" clear as anything. Of course, like most of his other words, he hasn't said it since!

Tuesday 16th March 2010



Zeke LOVES going outside, apparently clothes aren't even necessary! Shoes on and he's ready to go!

365 Photos - Mar 15

Another Monday, another playgroup session, lots of lovely weather so we spent a lot of time outside, and did some finger painting with the kids. Zeke is pretty enthusiastic about painting, so we had lots of new pictures to add to his wall! (I'll do an entry for that when I find a day without photos!)

Monday 15th March 2010



One of the most popular outside toys is the steering wheel on the play equipment, Zeke and Kayleb often have battles about whose turn it is to drive. Only problem is they don't understand the concept of taking turns, and both think it is always their own turn!

365 Photos - Mar 14

My goodness I am behind! Like, A LOT behind. Been so busy with wedding plans and preparing for my hen's night, and goodness knows what else. I can't even remember what we got up to half the days I've missed. Thank goodness for writing some things on the calendar, or status updates on FB, at least I can jog my memory a little like that.

Not so much for this entry though. I think we just chilled at home.

Sunday 14th March 2010



Zeke loves playing dress ups with anything he can find, particularly things that can become hats. Here's my little goof playing around with the bucket for his blocks!