Lolly Pops.

This week has been dealing with runny noses, ear infections, and fevers.  So how else to brighten a sick child's day other than with a lolly pop.

What normal looks like.

We have had a really busy summer.  Doing normal, busy summer things.

Click me to see what normal looks like.


Our wonderful librarians caught us in the act of normal last week.  Let me tell you, it feels great!

Here are more acts of normal that we engaged in over the summer.

Freezing at the top of Mt. Washington

First Day at school

Saying "Hi" to a baby chick.

Funny blue tractor rides at Storyland

Ok, so popping out of a pie is pushing normal a bit.  But hey it's normal for our kids!

Contemplating how huge crane rigs work.

Tootling around in his car at Grandpa's!

So normal has our summer been, it's been hard to write.  Which in the grand scheme of our lives, is a good thing.

Both feet off the Ground!

Big day for Tyler!  We've been working for months to get him strong enough to jump.  It's a gross motor skill that has been lagging behind a bit.

That toe is off the ground!

We do a lot of jumping around here.

Tyler had an appointment with his development team Wed of this week.  He did really well.  We should have the report in a few weeks with the specific information about how well he's doing.  Tyler also has started school and will have classes through most of the summer.  He loves it.  Goes in with out a care that I'm leaving and cries when I come to pick him up.  He is so ready for school.  With any luck, we will enjoy a very fun summer.

Big Boy!

 Happy Happy Birthday, Tyler!  I can not believe you are 3 today.  What a handsome big boy you are.

We Love to wear our PJ's like this or with just one leg up.

Frosting goatee. 

Penguin Picture. 

We had a good day.  We will officially celebrate next weekend. 

Thank you Everyone for helping out with our March for Babies walk!  We raised over $600 this year which is amazing.  Thank you.

 

Can not go anywhere without Goldfish.

Tyler did walk!  He also rode in the wagon, rode Grandpa's shoulders, and got carried by everyone.  I think he spent less than 10 mins in the wagon all together.

Rachel spent a good portion of the time riding, but then she always loves a ride.

 It was a great day!  We say many people we do not often get to see.  Sadly the two nurses that were Tyler's primaries have moved on to new adventures.  It was fun to watch a doctor and a nurse get dunked into the dunk tank but the ICN Graduates themselves.

We have been busy with transitioning Tyler from his Early Intervention team to the school district the last few weeks.  This week was the last time his therapist came out to visit us for an official session.  It's so hard to loose such a trusted and well loved member of Tyler's team.  She has been with us since the beginning and Tyler worked her hard for every accomplishment he made.  We will miss seeing you every week and Tyler is asking for you.

Watch Mom, I can make you break out in a sweat in no time flat!

 We have been attempting public playground this week.  Scary stuff for me since most of them are not built for a kid who gets super distracted with an inability to figure out where steps are well.  He loves it though.  It really is great to see him start to move with confidence on these things.  And bonus, it really strengths all those muscles and helps with his motor skills and confidence.  

Don't you just love his giggle.  It is so infectious!

WOW!

Click to help us!

Not too late to help us!  We walk in 2 days in the Upper Valley March for Babies.  Here is Tyler's poster this year!  Wow what a difference 3 years make.  He's such a happy boy. Walk is this Saturday!

A Message from Tyler!

Hey!  Would you support me as I walk beside my little red wagon this year when Mom and Dad take me to The Upper Valley March for Babies?  Just hit the purple sponsor me button over to the right.  
Thanks, 
Tyler

His favorite volume level these days is 11.  Yup really loud.

In a little over two weeks, we will all be heading to Lebanon for our annual March For Babies walk and to visit at the ICN Reunion.  Yes, the little red wagon will be going with us, but I'm excited this year.  Tyler may actually walk parts of the Walk.  He doesn't always want to sit in the wagon or the stroller for our neighborhood walks anymore.  He wants to get out and as he says "Tyler walks himself".  This will be a huge emotional achievement for me considering at the start we were told Tyler may have some real inhibiting disabilities due to the prematurity and the brain bleed.  This child is just amazing.  He's over come so many obstacles and probable outcomes.  He is constantly wowing the doctors with how well he's doing (right now the big wow is how well he talks!).  Today he floored the GI doctor when she came back in with a new prescription sheet by asking if he could hold his new prescription.  Clear as day he says as she comes back in, "Can I hold the prescription?".  When the Dr didn't respond to him quick enough, he holds his hand out and again asks "I hold the prescription".  She was just tickled and showing him off to another Dr.  Yes we still have our bumps and he does have a lot of extra needs that still take up a lot of my time, but WOW!  He walks, talks, thinks, and is just plain stinking cute!  Through all the hospitalizations, sicknesses, doctor appointments, not seeing well, he is the happiest, giggliest little boy.  What a strong character he is.  I hope nothing ever takes that a way from him. 

A rare moment of quiet sibling love yesterday.

We did see GI today because he is very slowly gaining the lost weight from the RSV.  So the prescription is hopefully going to stimulate his appetite and get him more interested in food.  We will have another weigh in in about a month to see how well that works.  We had today's visit because when he had his Neonatal's visit on Friday his weight curve was way off.  Other than his weight, both Dr's were very pleased with how well he's doing. 

Brain Matter

3/24/11
I started this post about a few days before Tyler got very sick.  I never finished it while he was sick.  So allow me to sneak this in now.


2/16/11
I've been a little busy over the last week or so.  I find it's easier for the kids to be a little more busier when Ben is gone so they don't dwell on the fact he's gone.  We have a couple more days before he comes home, but today will be a quiet day as the girl nurses a barking cough and a fever.  Poor thing has been curled up on the couch all morning.

Hey Pink flowers go great with Backhoes!

Last week was full of doctor appointments.  I believe the most exciting visit was with neurosurgery. He had his MRI, which he still quietly sits through and amazes the techs.    Monkey was even given some ear muffs this time.  Our visit with neuro was a very happy flirty one for Tyler.  He talks up a storm with her and smiles.  The MRI showed a lot of good news.  First his head has not grown very much over the last 4 months.  Which is great, we want the rest of his body to grown into his very large head.  More about that later.  The fluid pockets on the outside of the brain have decreased some and what's more have shifted in such a way to indicate that it's moving into areas to be absorbed.  His ventricle size has not changed since his last MRI.  This is great because that tells us the shunt is working at the right setting to keep a balance.  So if his head hasn't grown, the fluid on the outside is smaller, and the ventricles are the same size what fills the extra space that just has been made?  Why brain matter!  Tyler's brain has grown in size.  His brain is bigger and developing.  Getting a little bit of control of the ventricles has allowed the brain to grow and either push the fluid out or the fluid is getting absorb to make room for the brain.  So a major hurray!
We talked  a little more about his in ability to perceive depth well and how his vision still has a few weaknesses.  We wonder if the cyst that formed in the area of the brain where vision is processed disrupted Tyler's ability to processes how to see depth a bit.  Time will give us more information of how his sight develops.  For now we just continue what we are doing and enjoy his smiles and antics.

Back to 3/24/11
That was the huge great news I was trying to get out before Tyler got sick!  Yeah for Brain Matter!

A couple of smiles before the storm.

David's House Help

David's House is a wonderful place right on the campus of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.  It's a place where parents with kiddos up at the hospital can come and stay the night, have a meal, sit for a bit, take a shower, and just plain leave the hospital for a short time knowing that they can literally walk back with in minutes if needed.  It's a safe, warm, welcoming place that Ben and I use when ever Tyler is in the hospital and sometimes even for clinic appointments.

"David's House is the dream of a young boy, David Cyr, who passed away at the age of five after almost three years of battling acute lymphocytic leukemia. Throughout his time in the hospital, David made friends with the other children receiving treatment for illness and injuries, and always begged his parents to take his new friends home with them to his house, his haven from the pain and uncertainty of his condition. David's parents met other parents and caregivers who slept in waiting rooms, cars, anywhere just to be next to their child, and when David passed away in 1984  the dream of taking all of these families home began to become a reality."     This is from David's House's main web page.

If you have a moment to help out David's House win $5000 with a Facebook page contest sponsored by Grappone Auto, please do.  Although the House is located on the hospital's grounds, it is not founded at all by the hospital and relys on donations and Grants to cover operating costs.  

If you have a facebook account, A link to bring you right to Gappone Auto FB page
From there,  
To VOTE: You must first become a "Grappone Fan" of our Facebook page by clicking "like" at the top of this page. Second, scroll down the LONG list of individual posts made by Grappone for each organization (Most are in alphabetical order). Once you find your organization's post made by Grappone, click "like" on that post. Each unique click is recorded by Facebook and = 1 VOTE.

Take only a moment of time and if David's House is in the lead, it could help the wonderful people at David's House bring a moment of peace and calm in a stressful period to a parent with a sick or injured child at the hospital. 

Rainy Spring Day

 

What to do on rainy spring days?  Make Banana Bread and then go and jump in puddles of course!  Things are going well here.  Tyler is so much better.  Thank you all for the well wishes! 

Jump in PUddleS Jump in PUddles.

Don't knock my hot pink pants.

"Look Mom, I'm making mud castles!"

March For Babies 2011

Well, life is starting to become it's normal pace again.  Tyler is much better and getting stronger every day.  Over the weekend he has gain approximately one pound back.  He already feels heavier and his little belly is starting to have the Buddha look again.  He is full of giggles and smiles and today we started his swimming lessons again.  Loves that diving board, could go without the rest of it. 

It's that time of year again.  We are walking for the third year now in the Upper Valley March for Babies walk.  It's early this year, May 7th.  Really it's a very fitting time for us since Tyler was born in May.  So please help us and our little red wagon raise a bit of money to help out the March of Dimes.  For without their help and research, Tyler's story may have been drastically different from the way it turned out.  Either click on the purple badge to the right or the link below.
Sponser us Please

I promise to take some pictures soon, Tyler really does look like himself again. 

We just got back from our pediatrician for a follow up to this whole 9 days in the hospital with RSV deal. 

He smiles!

His oxygen saturation is back up to 97%-98% again!!!  Hurray!!!  We left the hospital with a saturation of only 93%-94%.  His lungs sound very clear and he looks really good.  He has lost about 4 pounds and looks very skinny again.  He just finished his steroid medication this morning so his appetite should flood back and he should pick up the weight very quickly.  He is still really weak and I have had to help him to his feet once or twice today but he is already so much stronger than he was yesterday. We will take next week very easy and really allow him to completely recover.

He giggles.

Boy did I miss his giggles and smiles.  I'm so happy to have them back! 

Home

We are home.  It's been a long 9 day stay at the Emerald City.  And boy are we all happy to be home.  Tyler kept saying all the way home "I"m ready to go home!".  It was so nice to see Rachel.  Both Rachel and Tyler were so excited to see each other.  I'm exhausted and will update better tomorrow.

Small ups and downs.

His face lite up at the sight of his new balloon.

Reaching for his Thomas balloon.  Thank you!

Tyler loves roller coasters I think.  He made it through last night without a problem.  He was very quiet and peacefully sleeping with great oxygen levels from room air.  No help last night.  They were walking into the room to discuss going home this morning at 8 when his stupid pulse ox alarm starts to blare.  Two sensor changes, putting the sensor on the other toe, on his finger, and back on the first toe, move his position and he clearly was desating.  Sigh.  The nurse had told me last night if he made it through the night without desating we could go home today.  As I laid on the sleeper chair Ben affectedly swears is the latest torture device down in Gitmo, I stupidly got my hopes up that tonight I could sleep in my own bed.  Oh well.  David's House will have to do.  So by this afternoon he is back off his oxygen.  He's chipper and smiley at times.  Then he's calm and resting other times. Really all in all he had a good day and the bumps in his roller coaster are more kiddie size.  So enjoy Ben your turn on Gitmo. 

We are in the Regular Pedi Unit

Quick note, we were moved out PICU this afternoon to a regular pedi room.  Tyler thought he was being wheeled to surgery and kinda had a tense late afternoon.  But he is resting comfortable and we shouldn't be disturb too much tonight. 

Going down (In a good way)

The night before last Tyler hit a high Oxygen requirement of 100% @ 30L/min. (Imagine an 8 Gallon trash bag per minute.) The flow is so high because he is using a mask and it does not fit so well. We tried a nasal canula twice yesterday, thinking it would be easier to eat and talk. Tyler was NOT impressed. He screamed more than he did for the IV, not yet sure what the issue is there.

Sunday morning his O2 was at about %60, I woke up this morning and he was at %25! The mask wasn't even on his face! He spent most of the night with the mask on his chin. At the moment we are back up at about 30% so he can eat. And oh man is he eating. So far today we've had 6 oz. of OJ, Cheerios, SpecialK, Cereal bar. He is eating so well we actually ordered lunch for him!

Morning rounds just came through, Lots of changes in the works for today. We're going to try him without supplemental oxygen. The IV has been disconnected, the catheter is still in but no fluid running, hopefully this will make him thirsty. And he's been given clearance to walk around his room. At the moment he's standing with mom's help. If we can keep him off the oxygen or make do on low-flow we might move up to PEDI today or tomorrow.

Tyler feeding his Monkey some cereal. Just after I stopped recording this he asked for an old oxygen mask for Monkey, once it was on Monkey he pulled his oxygen hose and tried to hook Monkey up.

Quiet Afternoon

Watching Winnie the Pooh.

Tyler is really looking better today.  He's been on Tylenol and Motrin all day.  He just looks so much better.  He's eaten some Cheerios, Special k, and 1/2 a banana with quite a bit of juice.  He has more energy and will tolerate sitting up longer.  He still is bed bound mainly because he still isn't strong enough to get out of bed other than to be held.  After a while he asks to lay back down and usually sleeps or is content watching a movie.  We've read a lot of stories to him and he's watched a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine.  Right now his oxygen requirement is the lowest it's been since this started.  I don't think they will push much farther down over night just so he can rest well.  But right now his equipment is suppling 40% oxygen and his oxygen level is 99%.  The doctors did look into his ears, one was perfect and one is red irritated looking but not infected.  So we still don't need an antibiotic which is fine with me.

Midnight, yuck.

Tyler was great the first part of the night.  Oxygen levels were beautiful and required only 55% oxygen.  He was comfortably sleeping and he just looked great.  At midnight he started to grunt every few breaths again and his oxygen requirements started to SUCK.  At the height of it, he was at 100% oxygen and still desatting.  We finally had to threaten C-pap nasal cannula and administering Tylenol in places best not mentioned.  After an hour of chest PT (they use a soft bubbled lined face mask and pound really hard all over his back and chest to loosen up all the RSV gunk so he can cough it up), finally getting the Tylenol in by mouth and repositioning him so he couldn't curl up on his side he finally settled down and the rest of us could start breathing again.  He moaned here and there for a few hours but they have been able to pull his oxygen back down to 70%.

The current theory is Tyler is in some pain. You know that kind of pain you have after coughing for 2 or 3 days, muscles you never knew you owned make your chest tight and painful.  When he starts to grunt, we think the pain is significant and it's affecting his oxygen.  So the plan today is to keep him going on Tylenol and try to keep him comfortable and resting all day.  Why Tylenol and not Motrin?  He has no food in his stomach to protect against the Motrin.  I've also asked them to check his ears just to rule out an ear infection or pain.  He's never really had an ear infection before and with all this gunk and re-hydration it sounds like a good thing to rule out since he's also getting a fever while doing this. 

He's napping and I'm going to lay down again.

I want Puffs!

It's Empty!

Tyler had a quiet night.  We've also had a quiet morning too.  He's watching Tv right now a little annoyed with us because we won't give him some puffs or cereal.  He actually asked for some puffs.  So he feels better enough to realize he's hungry.  He hasn't eaten a snack never mind a meal since Sunday or Monday.  So everyone is very happy to see him asking for food.  Unfortunately, he needs to start drinking before we can give him food.

Here is the conversation we had with Tyler this morning:

"I want puffs"
"Sorry Tyler you need to start drinking first"
"I want a spoon"
"Ok"
"I want a bowl"
"Let me see what I can find, you going to make spaghetti?"
I give him a cup. He puts the spoon in and tries to scoops something out. 
"It EMPTY!!!! I want puffs!"

So I think he's starting to feel a little better.  He looks better to me any way you look at it.  Today he's even able to sit upright mostly by himself for a few moments while we change his pillow case.  He still needs his oxygen and still sounding like he has a lot of junk in his chest, but at least he looks like he's getting some strength back. 

A Ranting Tangent.

I would like to take the time to Thank the person/s responsible for developing the criteria to decide how Synagis is distributed.  Synagis is the once a month shot that Tyler received November to March for the first two winters to protect against RSV.  Synagis is not a vaccine but an antibody that helps a child's immune system respond to RSV faster and more effectively to keep the child from getting dangerously sick.  It is a very expensive drug and not distributed to children who are healthy and strong.  Most kiddos can fight the virus and just look like they have a really nasty cold.

The children who qualify for Synagis are under the age of two at the start of the season and have  documented treatment for Chronic Lung Diseases with in the last 6 months.  These kiddos are usually preemies or have cardiac and/or lung problems that diminish their abilities to breath like a normal kid.  The reasons they are given Synagis is to prevent further damage to their abilities to breath normally and to prevent more scar tissue from forming in their lungs.  The shot gives them a better chance of fighting RSV effectively. 
A list of requirements to recieve Synagis

Most kiddos have RSV at least once before the age of 3.  (You can suffer from this virus multiple times in you lifetime, usually with decreased severity.)  Note the two bold printed numbers.  This virus affects the lower respiratory systems; the lungs and cardiovascular.  It can produce high volumes of secretions in the lungs (fluid) which makes it harder to breath.  This increases the heart rate, breath rate, and reduces the oxygen saturation.  For kiddos who can not cough and move the junk up and out, this can lead to secondary infections including pneumonia.  This virus can be active for over 8 days and can greatly vary in each person with this contagious aspect (we are talking a few days to a few weeks for someone to be actively contagious).  It's a long cycle from starting to be sick, very sick, and starting to heal process.  Kiddos with lung disease have to work harder and can quickly require medical treatment.  The treatment is purely treating the symptoms.  Synagis will not work while a child is infected.  There is no true vaccine for it and no antiviral that helps once you have it.  This virus will run it's course it's way.  Oxygen is given to the sick child and in our case Tyler responds to the Albuteral treatments and steroids.  Other than that, wait it out.  Not a fun virus.

With that all said here is my gripe.
I have a child with a documented case of Chronic Lung Disease and is on a steroid and  bronchodilator (not regularly anymore, but requires them often for colds and bugs), but he's now over the age of 3.  He did not qualify this season for Synagis.  He now has RSV and is on a ton of oxygen and will have a long recovery even beyond his hospital stay.  He has already spent more time in the PICU for this than any of his surgery visits.  He is so sick that he hadn't had the energy to want to be held since being admitted until this afternoon.

I do not think all children should have Synagis, that would only make RSV a more powerful virus.  I do not believe all children with chronic lung disease will require it for a life time.  Again that would make RSV more powerful and put boundaries on that child's ability to grow and heal from the lung disease.  A lot of lung disease will eventually heal.  What I don't agree with is a strict cut off of 2 years of age.  There are some kids that would most definitely benefit from another season or two of Synagis.  Instead of leaving them expose to RSV which can infect an at risk kiddos and cause set backs in their healing process, evaluate on an individual level from the ages 3 to 5 the pro's and con's of continuing this preventive treatment.  As horrible as it is to say, I hope this hospital visit costs the insurance company more money to treat RSV than it would have to give Tyler the shots.

So again Thank You! criteria developer/s.

Peaceful Night

Another quiet night.  Tyler slept well and quietly last night.  We just had his labs taken and an attempt at a new IV just because the other one is possibly starting to look a little puffy.  The thought process was if we can get a new IV in during labs cool if not ok no need to stick him more until we have to.  So now we are quietly watching a little PBS to pass some time.  Over the night we were able to reduce his oxygen requirements from 85% oxygen to 55%.  Room air has 21% oxygen, so we still have a ways to go.  He will not be allowed to eat until he comes off the high flow oxygen he's currently on.  Reason being is the oxygen is being shoved into his face at 30 liters per second.  So he can feel a good bit of "wind" under his mask.  If he eats and then coughs with food/water in his mouth or wind pipe, the food/water with get pushed into his lungs and create problems.  I don't have many picture only because he's been sleeping so much any picture is going to look like the one posted yesterday.  If he looks better later when the light is better I'll post one up.  And it's snowing up here. 

What comfy looks like.

One sick little boy.  This is what comfy looks like right now.  He sleeping peacefully and is breathing rather easily.  Rounds this morning were positive in nature.  Everyone was happy to see how stable he's become over the last 6 or so hours.  The plan is to keep addressing his respiratory needs while trying to bring down his oxygen requirements.  He's still not allowed to eat or drink but he can have a bit of water or melted popicle on a sponge to suck at when requested.

Long but quiet night.

It was my turn to sit with Tyler in his room through the night. Thankfully it was pretty quiet. Only a few alarms and most were self inflicted (Tyler pulling his mask off). He is not critical but still a sick little pup. At the moment he's needing 70% oxygen and Albuterol every other hour to keep his oxygen levels in place. He's had a few small coughing fits which should be a sign of what's to come. Now that he is on fluids the gunk in his lungs will start to loosen up and start to move around. Hopefully we can keep it moving and prevent Pneumonia.

Currently we're about 1 day into a 2-4 day run with the main body of RSV. They have told us in no uncertain terms that his respiratory condition will likely get worse before it gets better. We are in the days to weeks to discharge range, it all depends on which way Tyler goes.

What is RSV?

Click here to read more about what RSV is.


Some more info

RSV Baby, RSV

Well we did our best to prevent this dreaded virus for over 2 1/2 years now. Unfortunately it wound up in our house over a week ago. We now believe that the illness we have been fighting for the past week is indeed RSV in both kids. Rachel, as sick as she has been, has been able to over come the cycle and is recovering as if it was just a horrible cold. Getting down to brass tacks, that is what RSV is really, a very bad cold. Anyone can get it at any time in their life. Tyler on the other hand, clearly wasn't strong enough to fight this.

Tyler has been sick since Thursday. Up until Monday it was just a very bad cold with a fever and some unpleasant fluid grossness. Monday he woke up having some visible respiratory trouble. For the first time in a year we wished we had that dreaded pulse ox machine. We got him into the pedi that afternoon. At that time the examine did not show any bactericidal infections or smoking gun pneumonia. So we were sent home with a steroid to help his lung function and instructions to give him Albuteral and watch. We were to call if he gets worse or does not have any improvement by Wed morning. By Tuesday afternoon it was apparent that he was worse and he stopped eating and drinking. The nebs were no longer completely easing his breathing.

So back to pedi where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and promptly sent to our local ER for IV fluids, antibiotics, and chest x-ray. Upon arrival to the ER, we did the x-ray and nebbed him and started oxygen. The x-ray did show some areas of interest but no smoking gun "this is most definitely pneumonia". At that point they started to try to get the IV in and some labs. 3 tries by the ER people produced a very angry pin cushion, but labs where drawn. Pedi people came for 2 more tries and still no IV. Labs came back with a near normal white blood cell count indicating that he does not have a bacterial infection at this point. So back to viral, let's test for RSV. Positive. Admitted and brought to pedi. Where they tried 4 more times to get an IV in him. No dice, he needs fluids, transferred to DHMC Lebanon at 230am.

Things get slightly blurry here. I'm a little out of practice for those long all nighters. He rested quietly on the way to Lebanon. It took 2 more tries for that IV. So a total of 11 sticks for 1 stinking IV. This is our record. But he's been getting fluids now over 12 hours. Here is the catch 22. He needs the fluids to combat dehydration and to help regulate his temp and all those "I need water for my body to work correctly" things. Because he was so dry, his respiratory situation was very understated. As he has become hydrated today we've seen his dependence on the oxygen and Albuteral rise and his breathing become nosier and having to work harder. This is the reason they told us to expect Tyler to get worse before he gets better. The RSV has a few more days to run it's furry before it starts to ebb away and with the fluids he needs from the IV his lungs will have more junk in them.

So we take this moment by moment. Let Tyler rest when he's sleeping, and support him when he needs the extra help. Right now he has a high fever and is covered in cold compresses satting beautifully with his oxygen, enjoying his Albuteral hits, all while watching his favorite movie "Cars". Always anxiously waiting for the infamous tractor tipping scene. As far as the next couple of hours, we just keep doing what we are doing now.

Happy 2011 and Hopefully not buried alive with snow.

We have had an amazing winter with Tyler so far.  He has been neurologically stable and actually starting to explore more with food.  The best part over the last 3 weeks, I've come to realize his face has filled out again and his 18 month clothes won't fit anymore.  Actually he's looking too big for his 24 month clothes too.  He's really starting to transition from a 20 month to a 3 year old. 

We are now starting the process of talking to our school district about services over the summer and preschool with services.  We've been gathering our information to present to the district and researching the types of programs we may be presented with.  We are slightly concerned that Tyler has made so many accomplishments in the last few months that it will be hard to convince the district to continue his services.  It will be an interesting process.  At the very least he is enrolled in the same preschool Rachel has been at.  Hard to believe we are at preschool with him, huh.

In side our igloo.  Dog jumped out of the window right after this shot.

"Help Mommy, Help!"

Yup, we put them to work around here.

 

 

The only time we liked playing with snow so far.

We have had a ton of snow this month.  There is about 2 feet on the ground here.  It comes up to Tyler's waist.  He is not a big fan.  The poor guy can barely shuffle in his snow suit to begin with.  He does like sledding if you meet a few criteria.  Number one, no snow is to fly in the general direction of the boy--God forbid it lands on his face.  Number two,  he is to be carried to the top of the hill and refuses to stand up if he's not on a plowed area.  Number three, be very good at playing the gloves off, gloves on game.  If the temperature is below freezing (which it has been for 28 of the 31 days of January), we last about 15 minutes before he starts balling his eyes out.  Above freezing we can get 30 minutes.  So, to sum up January in two words, CABIN FEVER! 

Tyler just had another 2 year old moment last week that landed him in the Emergency room.  He decided to try to expel some of his pent up energy by bouncing on a kid chair.  Well, he landed front teeth first into a pile of blocks.  He tore open the inside of his bottom lip which require a couple of stitches and bang is upper front teeth pretty badly.  Time will tell if he will need his baby teeth pulled a little sooner than nature has planned.  He did great for me in the ED at Southern.  We saw the same Dr from last March for the High Chair incident.  He vaguely remembered us enough to ask if he's see us before.  I kindly reminded him about his quote, "My Lord, look at the size of those ventricles!"  As for the event as a whole, he woke up the next day as if nothing ever happened.  Hasn't slowed him down.  Good for him, now where is my cup of caffeinated tea?

Let's play Airplane!  Next up, another trip to the ER.

We have a few appointments in February.  We go to Lebanon next week for an MRI just to check in and make sure there are no surprises.  Other than that, we continue to try to teach him how to walk down stairs and recognize the tops of stairs and curbs (we can't go to school with him, so he needs to figure out how not to walk right off steps).  As soon as his teeth heal a bit, we will work more on learning how to chew with our back teeth (actually this injury may have done more for this venture for the simple fact he's avoiding using his front teeth right now).  And most importantly, I'm trying to cope with him not taking a nap very much anymore (really this is the most challenging thing since Rachel gave up naps, I'm going nutz).  So, for the next two days we will be digging out from more snow and trying to safely expel as much kid energy as possible in fun, creative ways.  Dance party anyone?