New Year malaise
I suck because I haven't posted in a week and a day. The New Year has come, and the last post is still back in 2005. That's so 2005! Hectic wrap-up to the parents' visit, trying to get back into the routine, lack of time because Mia wasn't at school - so many excuses! But here's a brief update before I post Christmas pictures this weekend (that's a tease!):
Mia had a MRI two weeks ago as part of her regular visit to the neuro-surgeon. MRIs are no fun, let me tell you, especially when we had to wait for a long time in the waiting room (luckily my parents were babysitting Norah, or it would have gotten ugly). Mia has to be wrapped up like a mummy in order to keep her still - the whole set-up looks like a modern version of a Frankenstein movie - and the machine makes very loud noises, which of course freaks her out even more. Lots of crying, I can tell you. Her neuro-surgeon was happy with the results, since there has been no change in the images from two years ago, and her shunt looks fine, and her head size is fine. We mentioned that she seems to be learning more slowly, and he suggested we get in touch with her neurologist and see if it might be her seizure medication - he said that seizures can cause developmental delays, but sometimes so can the medication to stop seizures - the miracles of modern science! Her violent seizures have completely stopped, but she occasionally has what we think are "absence" seizures, where she just fades out for a few seconds before coming back. There are other options besides medicine (one involves surgery, which we're going to resist), so we want to consult with him. She has an appointment in two weeks, so we'll see what's going on there.
She continues to improve in gross motor skills - her PT is happy with her progress. Her fine motor skills, however, are still not great - we need to order her new chair so she can sit better, but it's been so crazy around here I haven't had time to do it. She'll still do her frustrating thing of saying a word very clearly and then never saying it again - the other night she said "sleeve" to Krys, but I doubt we'll hear it again for a long time. The other night in the tub she said "pee-pee," and when Krys asked her where the pee-pee comes from, she pointed to the appropriate spot, so we're trying to ask her if she needs to pee-pee and put her on the toilet, because we think she's getting annoyed with her diapers. Getting her toilet-trained would be nice.
As for Norah, my parents compared her unfavorably to my sister when she was that age. Barbra was a consummate whiner (I think she still is, but that's just me being a petty brother), and Norah is going that route. She is finally starting to learn how to play on her own, which should lessen the whining, but she still likes someone to pay attention to her all the time. She has resumed rolling, which is nice (for a while there she gave it up, as if she was thinking, "Well, I've mastered that skill, so I no longer have to do it"), but once she gets on her stomach, she can't get back on her back easily, so the whining starts again. We're awaiting the arrival of her teeth, because it seems like they've been coming in for over a month and they are annoying her. She's slowly getting better (she's standing in her Exersaucer and watching Baby Neptune as I type this, because her gymini just wasn't doing it for her), and she's starting to eat more foods (although turkey was not a hit yesterday), so that's that. I still can't wait until she's crawling and/or walking. I know it will be more work, but at least it will be fun.
So that's where the kids are. I have Christmas pictures to scan, but I just haven't found the time. I will either today or tomorrow, so check back over the weekend to see the two most beautiful children in the world and their cousins, who I guess are cute. In their own, non-Mia-and-Norah kind of way.
Mia had a MRI two weeks ago as part of her regular visit to the neuro-surgeon. MRIs are no fun, let me tell you, especially when we had to wait for a long time in the waiting room (luckily my parents were babysitting Norah, or it would have gotten ugly). Mia has to be wrapped up like a mummy in order to keep her still - the whole set-up looks like a modern version of a Frankenstein movie - and the machine makes very loud noises, which of course freaks her out even more. Lots of crying, I can tell you. Her neuro-surgeon was happy with the results, since there has been no change in the images from two years ago, and her shunt looks fine, and her head size is fine. We mentioned that she seems to be learning more slowly, and he suggested we get in touch with her neurologist and see if it might be her seizure medication - he said that seizures can cause developmental delays, but sometimes so can the medication to stop seizures - the miracles of modern science! Her violent seizures have completely stopped, but she occasionally has what we think are "absence" seizures, where she just fades out for a few seconds before coming back. There are other options besides medicine (one involves surgery, which we're going to resist), so we want to consult with him. She has an appointment in two weeks, so we'll see what's going on there.
She continues to improve in gross motor skills - her PT is happy with her progress. Her fine motor skills, however, are still not great - we need to order her new chair so she can sit better, but it's been so crazy around here I haven't had time to do it. She'll still do her frustrating thing of saying a word very clearly and then never saying it again - the other night she said "sleeve" to Krys, but I doubt we'll hear it again for a long time. The other night in the tub she said "pee-pee," and when Krys asked her where the pee-pee comes from, she pointed to the appropriate spot, so we're trying to ask her if she needs to pee-pee and put her on the toilet, because we think she's getting annoyed with her diapers. Getting her toilet-trained would be nice.
As for Norah, my parents compared her unfavorably to my sister when she was that age. Barbra was a consummate whiner (I think she still is, but that's just me being a petty brother), and Norah is going that route. She is finally starting to learn how to play on her own, which should lessen the whining, but she still likes someone to pay attention to her all the time. She has resumed rolling, which is nice (for a while there she gave it up, as if she was thinking, "Well, I've mastered that skill, so I no longer have to do it"), but once she gets on her stomach, she can't get back on her back easily, so the whining starts again. We're awaiting the arrival of her teeth, because it seems like they've been coming in for over a month and they are annoying her. She's slowly getting better (she's standing in her Exersaucer and watching Baby Neptune as I type this, because her gymini just wasn't doing it for her), and she's starting to eat more foods (although turkey was not a hit yesterday), so that's that. I still can't wait until she's crawling and/or walking. I know it will be more work, but at least it will be fun.
So that's where the kids are. I have Christmas pictures to scan, but I just haven't found the time. I will either today or tomorrow, so check back over the weekend to see the two most beautiful children in the world and their cousins, who I guess are cute. In their own, non-Mia-and-Norah kind of way.
posted by Greg at
7:55 AM
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