Dom's first valuable lesson.

Jason finally feels like a Dad. He often mentions how he can't wait to get Dominick out on the golf course. For now, our back yard will have to do.

Summer fun!

Just some photos of us having a good summer so far.

Dominick's new pool.

4th of July, we fared some pretty nasty storms. The big Fireworks show was cancelled, but we saw plenty from our driveway. On the way home, we stopped for some Cold Stone. Dominick loooved it. It was his first ice cream!

Dominick's First Relay For Life!

Relay For Life is a huge deal to me. I've been participating for 14 years. Dominick attended last years Relay in Lenawee County but didn't get to participate much. I'm calling this year his first Relay. It was in Ypsilanti, MI at Eastern Michigan University. It was a beautiful weekend and I think he had a good time.

There couldn't be a better location anywhere.

Dominick and his friend Noah in the shirts I made them. So excited.

Dom and grandma

I made a few shirts for the occasion. This was my favorite.

A couple of my luminaria for family.

Catching up

Wow, a lot has happened since the last post! Blogger hasn't been cooperative on my phone or iPad, so I had to fire up the laptop.


Dominick received orthotics all his own. He wears a 5.75 wide. I assume that's the length in inches. They extend beyond his feet about 3/4". It's hard to find shoes that will fit over the orthotics. The upside is that it will be a while before his feet outgrow the orthotics, making shoe buying a little less stressful. I was able to find a great pair at Once Upon A Child (a children's consignment store). Also, Skidders are still a favorite and work so well with the orthotics.

Dominick took his first steps! We had been trying numerous tricks to get him to take those first unassisted steps and nothing worked. PT said late walkers are more cautious because they understand the consequences of falling. I had been in the living room blowing bubbles all around him hoping he would forget and take a step towards them. Nothing. I picked him up and placed him on the step that takes us out of the living room. He took 6 steps away from me, knelt down and looked back at me with the biggest grin on his face. Of course, the camera was out of reach. Later, the next day I caught him on video.

At about 19 months, his language exploded. He often repeats us. He knows so many body parts including heel and elbow now. We're working on numbers and letters (mostly in the bathtub), and he understands so much of what we say. I think our time of free speaking is coming to an end.

June 4th he started 2 days a week at day care. He's had some trial days and loved it. It's an in-home day care about a mile from our house. So far, so good!

Making progress

I had a dream last night that Dominick was walking all over the place. I'm excited for him to start walking, but I'm fine that he isn't yet. I know it will present a whole new set of challenges that I'm fine missing out on for now. I was more "worried" about him crawling than I am about him walking. Once he started crawling, I was so relieved. I just wanted him to be able to explore his world like other kids his age.

He was fitted for orthotics a couple days ago. The ones on loan from Pam are too narrow and small for him. Right now, he wears them the majority of the day. Shoes are the next challenge. Once we get his new orthotics we'll go shoe shopping. Orthotics make it difficult to find shoes.

Working on squatting

Starting with two hands...

...and going to one. He wasn't a fan.

So determined!

This week, we started walking with only one hand. He's not always game for it, but very determined to get it down.

A parents love

Being a parent is more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I knew it would be full of challenges and rewards, but I underestimated how much I would truly love it. I used to babysit a lot and I thought I loved those kids. I looked forward to seeing them and snuggling with them. Their smiles would light up my days. That was nothing compared to the love I feel for my own child. Since he was born, I've been memorized with him. Every move he makes with his arms, toes, lips, eyes, etc... makes my heart so happy. I love that I can see my husband in his face. Even better, I see myself in his eyes when he smiles. Being a parent has been so rewarding, intimating, worrisome, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Anyway...what started that train of thought was me noticing the little things. He's learning so much and doing so many new things every day. He's been climbing stairs, but can now figure out how to get down them without any help. He no longer tries to go down head first. He can also get on and off the couch and bed without any help from us. He's also learned how to knock on walls. He thinks it's hilarious.

Grass is good

It was so beautiful on Sunday, I decided to rake the leaves that were still in the yard from last fall. I brought Dominick out with me and what do you know? He didn't mind the grass at all. In fact, he crawled all around the yard. His favorite activity was to try to tip over the bag I was putting the leaves in. That was fun. Looks like he's over his fear of grass!

Dominick: One with nature

It was a beautiful day yesterday. Almost 70 degrees in March. I thought it would be a great idea to take Dominick outside and let him crawl around in the grass. He hasn't had the chance since he learned to crawl. He used to love sitting outside.

I think it went well.

From the moment I put him down, he refused to let his hands touch the grass.

Then proceeded to cry the entire time he was outside.

Being this close to nature is intolerable

Orthotics

Dominick had PT today. Pam had some orthotics that were pretty close to fitting him. They only get used for a short amount of time. Many of the parents give them to her when they're done to use on her clients. They were a narrow size and Dom has a pretty fat foot, but they will work for now. Otherwise, they're about $100. They didn't fit into any of his shoes, so we used Skidderz over them. They're just socks with a grippy surface on the bottom. Here's how they look!

It's hard to see in the pic, but underneath the blue plastic is a clear plastic that goes up higher on the ankle and covers over the top of the foot more than the blue layer. It's a very flexible plastic. They made a huge difference. When he walks without them, he flails his left foot out and walks on his insteps. With the orthotics, he walks great. They should help give his ankles support and help strengthen them.

Pam, checking the fit and alignment

Pam said to put them on him for one hour each day. As long as we don't see any redness or blisters develop, then we can increase it to 2-3 hours per day. Otherwise, she continues to be happy with his progress and thinks he'll be walking by the end of the month. Eeeek!

In other news, our thoughts were confirmed. 2 new teeth have just surfaced. We at least know the ibuprofen and Tylenol we've been giving him this week were going to a good cause.

Life of a 16 month old

I haven't done this in a while...

• I have no idea what he weighs, but he's long and lean. He's still in 18 month clothing and STILL in size 3 diapers.
• He crawls on all fours and cruises on anything he can hang on to.
• He gets himself up on his push toys and pushes them around the house. He can sometimes turn them when he runs into walls.
• He claps, and when in front of a mirror, loves to sway back and forth with his hands in his hair.
• He can say the following animal noises upon request: cow, sheep, kitty, and doggie.
• When prompted, he'll show you the following body parts: tongue, nose (iffy), hair, hand, foot, toes, belly, and ears.
• He doesn't yet imitate words, except for "eyes" and I think "shit". Oops!
• He eats anything and everything.
• He feeds himself with his hands. He'll eat food off a fork if I put it on for him, but then he immediately drops the fork when he's done.
• He's down to one nap a day that lasts 1 1/2-3 hours.
• Sleeps about 12-14 hours a night straight through.
• He still has no stranger anxiety.  Anyone can hold him and take him away. Jason and I can walk out of the room and he doesn't fuss.
• He still has 4 teeth on top and 2 teeth on bottom.
• He no longer goes to day care. He's either home with Jason or I.

Our typical menu:

• Breakfast involves any combination of fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, cereal bar, toast and milk.
• Lunch and dinner typically involves PB&J, grilled cheese, ravioli, chicken nuggets, something out of the crock pot like stew or chili, sweet potatoes, avocado, fruit, mac & cheese and anything we're eating.

 How we pass the time:

• Practice walking around the house.
• Up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs.
• Play in the bathtub.
• Read books.
• Go grocery shopping.
• Go to play places around town like My Urban Toddler and Jungle Java.
• Play with toys obviously. He's very much into playing by himself. He's not clingy or cuddly. He will sit on my lap if I have a book. Otherwise, we're just the ones that feed and change him.

Dominick is 16 months!

Today, Dominick is 16 months AND it's Valentine's Day! Since my last post, Dominick has made so much progress. He crawls at the speed of light, pulls up on everything and can push his walking toys all over the house. He still sees physical therapy each week and his therapist continues to be impressed with his progress. We're currently working on squatting, balance, and walking. She thinks he'll beat her original estimate of walking at 18 months (not so sure I'm ready!).

 

(It's a short video)

Working on squats

The rings make him balance more himself than if she were holding his hands.

We've noticed since he's been walking more that his left foot is pointed out to the side more than the left. You can see it a bit in the photo above. This is mostly because that's the foot he plants most often when pulling up the standing position. The therapist examined him today. She said his ankles and feet are still very flexible. The tops of his feet can touch his shins. By his age, most kids have grown out of this. When kids become mobile (crawling/walking), their joints become less flexible because their muscle and tendons get stronger. His feet and ankles still have little muscle tone, therefor not much support. So far, it hasn't affected his progress, but he may need orthotics to give him some added support. She's going to re-evaluate his muscle tone in 2 weeks to see if there is any improvement. In the mean time, we do so many laps around the house every day I get dizzy!

Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!!

We've got a crawler!

One month to the day after we started with Physical Therapy, Dominick took his first stroll on all fours. I had just gotten home from work and saw him push himself up onto his hands and knees. I immediately grabbed the iPad and caught his first attempt. November 26th will live in infamy. Of course, it took him another month until he was comfortable enough to crawl with speed. Now, there's no stopping him.

Climbing stairs

This was originally posted January 7th, but disappeared!

Dominick climbed an entire flight of stairs today! Jason only had to catch him once. Pam is back this week for PT. Since it's a state run program through the ISD, she follows the school schedules and they've been off for the holidays. She comes on Tuesday and I'm excited to see her reaction to his progress and get new assignments. We feel fortunate that we have her. We're learning so much about child development. Some of it I remember from nursing school and some of it is new.

Also, he said his first word! He babbles a lot, but hasn't really repeated anything we've said except for animal noises. Not counting "woof woof" and "moooooo", "eyes" was his first word. He knows some body parts and he points to them when we say them. A few days ago, I taught him where his eyes are and he kept repeating it "eyesh". He also grins and shows his teeth whenever he says it. My external hard drive is still broken, so no video proof of this yet.

Christmas 2011

The holidays were great, but exhausting. We had 4 family Christmases. We celebrated with Jason's family in Miami early December. On Christmas Day, we drove to my Grandmother's for the day. Dominick still doesn't open his own presents, but really enjoyed the activity block we got him.

Next, we had Christmas at my parents house. The ENTIRE family was there. All my sisters with their husbands and kids. We had a blast and Dominick got to show off his new crawling skills. Then, we came home and had our own little Christmas with just the 3 of us.

Mom and Dad

Cousins, Karoline & Dominick

My awesome family minus 2 sleeping babies

Our tree

We also added baby gates to our decor.