NO More Bottle!!

Yesterday Timothy turned 1, so today we told him he was way, way too old for a bottle and from now on he'd be drinking from a sippy cup.

Actually, it wasn't that bad...he resisted this morning but this afternoon he was so hungry that he readily embraced the cup.

Now what to do with all the 25 bottles we have...hmmm.

Timothy (Verbally) Reading His First Word

Well, I was saving this for a special occasion (and my camera cord), but here it is.

I never thought "dead" would be one of Timothy's first words, but it was.

The story: After Timothy's hearing test, we went to eat at TGI Friday's with my cousin. Timothy pointed at the street sign behind us and daddy said "That says DEAD MAN'S CURVE." Timothy pointed at the word "dead" and said "Dead? Dead! Dead! Dead!" and the he slid over to the word "Man's" and said "Dead Muh, Dead Muh"

It took me awhile before I was able to get over the shock and get out the camera, but I still got him saying the word "dead"

I just wish I could have recorded "Deah Muh" as he pointed at each word

Happy, Happy, Happy

Happy Birthday to me!!

Happy Birthday Timothy!!

Timothy is ONE today!!

He's not sick, either, but he is a little sleepy...he took a 2.5 hour nap this morning!!

I'll post some pictures later!

Sick

When daddy got home, Timothy was pretty fussy and really warm. We think he's getting sick - how miserable to be sick on his birthday!!

Hat

When Timothy had speech therapy last week, he started playing with daddy's hat.

We have a short video of it:

Unexplainable Part II

How do you explain this one?

Daddy fed him

Timothy fed himself

Timothy stuck his face in the bowl

Mommy fed him

Hearing Test

So, we drove to Calliers for Timothy's hearing test. We were actually 20mins. late because of HORRIBLE traffic near downtown.

We got there, they were waiting for us, DADDY went into the booth with Timothy this time. When they said "Uh oh! Timothy, Timothy, look over here, buh buh buh" on the highest setting, he looked over. He wouldn't look over at ANYTHING else, though.

So, what she told us is this - We know with certainty that Timothy has *some* hearing in one OR both ears. He might only hear the low-pitched sounds, maybe only the high, or he might have perfect hearing. We really don't know.

She said we could take him to the hospital and have him put to sleep for another hearing test...we said no, thanks. Then she said she recommends we come back in another 2 months and maybe he'll be old enough then. Since we're paying for this out of pocket, I think we're going to wait a little bit past 2 months!!

She said 99% of the time when they pass the first 2 tests like Timothy did they have perfect hearing, but there have been a (very) few exceptions.

So...we really don't know anything.

My mommy-instinct tells me there's nothing wrong with his ears, though.

Book?

Yesterday, I loaded Timothy into the car and I said we're going to the library.

He said "Yeah?"

I said "Yeah, we're going to the library!"

Then he said "Book?"

I was thrilled!! I called my mom and said "Listen, he's saying book!!" and he just said it over and over again...

And I hadn't even said anything about a book. He knew we get books at the library!!

Swim & Speech

Swimming lessons and playing with a hat during speech therapy

The Unexplainable

I was looking through pictures from the last year, and some I didn't post because I didn't know how to explain them.

I'll try to post these the next couple of days and YOU can see if you can figure them out.

Who do you think made the mess?
Daddy?
Mommy?
Timothy? or
Lady?

Crazy, crazy day!!!

Yesterday was a crazy, crazy day!

Timothy had a swimming lesson yesterday morning at the college pool. He LOVED it! He worked on floating, hanging on the side, splashing, and blowing bubbles in the water. He also made a really good friend named Blake!!

THEN we we got home Grandma was here to visit and help out for a few hours.

THEN at 11:30 the speech therapist came. She told me stop speaking to Timothy in sentences. Yeah, right. I will *never* do that. Ever.

THEN at 3:00 the nutritionist and our service coordinator came. The nutritionist said Timothy has perfect nutrition - he needs at least 1000 calories a day and he's getting them. He weighs 22.5lbs and that's EXACTLY average for a child his age (50%). He is also slightly above average in height.

THEN Granny came and spent the night and she went to swimming lessons with us this morning!

Right now, Timothy's taking a nap from all that excitement!

MAD Piano Player

Well, now I guess we know what Timothy thinks of me taking pictures during piano practice...

"I just got off the phone with..."

Daddy called home yesterday to check on us.

Daddy: What are you doing?
Me: I just got off the phone with poison control.
Daddy: Um...why?

Yeah, that's his favorite thing to hear when he calls to check on us.

Timothy carried some lotion from the bathroom into his playroom yesterday, and he was just carrying it around so I didn't think much of it. I was cleaning up his videos that he had thrown all over the room, and when I looked over he had the lid off the lotion and I watched him squirt a big squirt into his mouth. Of course, he wouldn't spit it out, and got mad at me because I wouldn't let him eat MORE.

Poison control said he might have diarreah but he should be fine. He didn't have diarreah, though.

Lady is Back Home!!

Our neighbor saw our sign and brought us Lady - she had spent the night in their garage and he was going to go search the neighborhood for signs and put an ad in the paper - I'm glad he didn't have to!

Peek A Boo

Timothy's at a stage now where he has to do things 400 times. I don't start anything that I don't want to do over and over and over and over.

After playing with scarves for about 15 mins, I decided that I had to record it and share.

"I hate people like you..."

So, yesterday, I took Timothy to the dollar store. We were in line and he was looking at the mylar balloons, quite impressed with them. I told him that balloons were filled with helium and helium is a noble gas and it's the second lightest element on the periodic table, lighter than oxygen, which is why it floats, so on and so forth.

The lady in front of me was paying for her items and she turned around and said "I hate people like YOU" in a most disgusted tone and left.

People like me who...talk to their kids? Or talk to their kids about balloons? Or take their kids to the dollar store? I guess I'll never know.

Misc.

It's been an interesting couple of days.

As you can see, Timothy likes to go in "his" cubby hole. He also really, really, really likes to lick batteries. I feel as if I'm constantly taking batteries away from him. He'll pop open the back of the remote and take the batteries out, he'll take them out of his toys, and he'll just happily lick them...he gets very upset when I take them away.

Timothy spent Thursday with Grandma and Pop - he had a great time at their house and he sure was happy to see them!! I got caught up in my class while he was gone (no thanks to a sudden power outage, though).

Timothy had a rough night last night - I got 3 1/2 hours of sleep. I think he's really missing his daddy - daddy is working for his 8th day straight today. That's over 100 hours daddy's worked in the last 8 days!! Timothy's also VERY distressed over Lady. He keeps going to back window and squealing for her but she doesn't come. We're going to put out more signs today - they say "LOST DOG/SAD BOY" and have a picture of Timothy with lady.

Timothy is eating us out of house and home - he really likes sardines (see pic with smushed sardines on his tray), and Gerber chicken and turkey sticks, and he really likes Gerber ravioli with carrots and beef, too. [Strangely enough, he won't eat steamed carrots by themselves, so we get them inside the ravioli so he'll eat them] We stocked up at Target this week and now our pantry looks like a grocery store (see pic). Now I have to go buy more avocado, onion, and banans for next week. We also realized that he likes broccoli!!

It was Christmas in July yesterday when Timothy got some new toys I found on clearance at Target and at the thrift store. His favorite new toy was a telling-time owl that I got for $1 at Goodwill. He didn't care for Mr. Potato Head.

Post more later...

Timothy's Sad

Please pray for our beloved Lady - she is missing. Timothy is quite distressed about it!

Smile!

Timothy has been using this cube as a walking device. He pushes it across the room and walks behind it. We don't stop him when he's doing it...he can't get very far (it doesn't quite work when he leaves the carpet with it).

*

Today, Maria came for 5 hours - Timothy really enjoyed it! He didn't cry at all, and when I came home he smiled, crawled over and gave me a hug, and then crawled back to play with Maria (quite a shock to me!). He really, really likes her, and he's learning Spanish, and he's not crying the whole time like at Mother's Day Out, so we're quite happy with her.

*

Today, she came and I realized that Timothy had hidden my book somewhere. So I searched for my book for 30+ mins and then decided to call off the search and drive in to the college to get the book from the library. So I drove 30mins to the library to get the book (an older edition) and sat down to use the computer and I had no internet signal. So I packed up and moved to another floor of the library and I had no connection. So I packed up and moved to my office and worked until I had to go home...and I only got about 30% of my work done that's due Friday. *sigh* Timothy is certainly learning from me - never give up, even when it's hard. If I can get a PhD while staying home full-time with an infant (and doing a Doman and FHC program), he can do anything!

*

He ate broccoli tonight - I was very glad. He threw all his carrots off his tray, but he ate all the broccoli!!

Mother's Day Out, Hearing, and More

Alright, so Timothy cried for 4 hours straight in MDO before they finally called me to pick him up.

I'm so upset!

He *hates* it!!

I sent him more for him than for me. I thought that he'd like making friends, being around kids. I thought they would tell a story and sing Bible songs or DO SOMETHING, but instead they transfer him from one "device" to another (exersaucer, swing, playpen). And they're not moving him to another classroom when he turns 1, although I asked them to.

So, he won't be going back.

Even watching Sesame Street in Spanish like he is now is better than sending him there so he can be put into devices and cry the whole time while I cry the whole time at home because I know he's miserable.

Daddy's working 8 days straight and I'm in a tough class, but I'll drop the class if I have to rather than have him miserable in an exersaucer. *sigh*

HEARING

His hearing test did not go that well yesterday. We drove to downtown Dallas and they were going to do 3 tests. He passed the first 2. The third test was one where he sits in a booth and plays with toys, and they make a noise around him and he looks over at it. He NEVER looked up from his toys!

I was SO afraid that they were going to say he was profoundly deaf just because he was too busy playing with toys to pay attention to them, but they didn't. Because he passed the first 2 tests, the most he has is mild hearing loss - he should be able to hear speech at a conversational level.

They want to repeat the last test again so they can know if he has perfect hearing or mild hearing loss - we go back Friday, July 27th. Maybe he'll be more cooperative then!

Heart-Wrenching

I am SO unahppy with Mother's Day Out.

I left Timothy today just screaming and crying - he didn't want to go. I don't blame him. They don't DO anything. I asked the director about what they do and she said they just put him in an exersaucer, put him in a swing, put him down for a nap...I know he hates it! He started crying as soon as he saw the building.

The other kids in his class (2) are not even crawling yet. I asked if when he turned a year he'd move classroom and she said no, and I said I was disappointed because I thought he'd be around children and explained about his delayed language and everything else, and she said "Well, there will be one other kid in the fall and he's only 2 1/2 months younger than Timothy!" Like that's supposed to make me feel better.

I'm so upset - I hate taking him in but I have SO much to do this week for class and this is my only opportunity to get it done. However, I'm so upset that I can't work on it.

He will NOT be going in the Fall.

Teething

Timothy spent a few nights teething...very rough nights. He got a new tooth (bottom left) and now he's back to sleeping through the night. We're VERY glad!!

He also has his appetite back - with a vengence! Seriously...feeding Timothy is like feeding a hungry dragon. Here's a snippet of what it's like:

Timothy signs more

Me: Daddy, he wants more.

Daddy: But I gave him that whole can of pineapple!

Me: He ate it all.

Daddy looks shocked, checks to see if he's hiding the pineapple somewhere (he isn't - he ate it), gives Timothy some string cheese.

8 seconds pass.

Timothy signs more.

Me: David, he ate all of that string cheese.

Daddy: The whole stick?

Me: Yep, the entire stick. He wants more.

We give Timothy a half can of sardines.

Less than a minute later

Me: Daddy, he's signing more...

Daddy: Let's give him a banana. I can't believe he's still eating!!

Timothy eats half of a banana.

30 seconds later

Timothy signs more

I'm serious - when he eats pineapple, he eats a whole can of pineapple. He eats a half can of sardines (that's all we give him at a time). He easily finished a stick of string cheese. He LOVES white onion. He'll eat peas, lima beans, sweet potato fries, raisins, olives...he just loves food!

Keeping him full is just about a full-time job, though!!

Bath

Timothy having fun in the bath!

These are all the Bits of Intelligence Timothy's seen so far. We're going to need a lot more boxes!!

Timothy's First Concert

We are excited to show off Timothy's first concert!!



He's never shown any interest in the piano before, but daddy was playing with it a few days ago and Timothy realized it makes noise. This is his first time to ever play - watch how he wants up on the seat.

We're very proud of our baby Beethoven!

Zoo

Some pictures from Timothy's first trip to the zoo!

Timothy at Animal House Parties

Mother's Day Out

Yes, Timothy did go to MDO on Tuesday. He did just fine. It was SO hard to leave him - I cried for 45 mins!! But it seems like he had a fine time. There are 3 children in his class (including him). The other two kids are girls and they're a couple months younger than he is, so he's the oldest kid in the class. The other two girls are not talking yet, so he won't be getting that good language practice that we hoped he would be.

When we went to pick him up, they had him in an exersaucer. He was just standing there staring at the woman who was singing to him like she was insane. I don't think he liked the exersaucer too much. He wasn't really having a great time, but he wasn't crying, either.

On Thursday we went to Animal House Parties and Grapevine Mills Mall and we ate at Rainforest cafe. On Friday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo and the Museum of Nature and Science. Yesterday, we had a garage sale. It's been a really busy couple of days. Now, Timothy's throwing fits and is just difficult...we're trying to get him back on his schedule and back to normal.

Messy Climber Continued

Read the last post first - it explains what a crazy messy climber Timothy is...

So I made him a pillow playground. I thought it would be a [safe] way for him to climb and have fun. We try to follow his lead - if he wants to climb, we want him to be able to climb. If he's acting interested in words, we'll pull them out and show him some more. If he's not interested in states, we'll put them away for a few weeks.

While I was making the pillow playground, he dumped out all the water from the humidier. Why, oh why, did we get the 3 gallon humidifier?? Why?

As you can see, he likes to go up to the humidifier and let it bow his hair, but then his hair looks like a rooster.

Oh, I wish I were done. He played on the pillow playground for awhile, then went over to the entertainment center. He removed the device that's on the inside of the cabinet, with a magnet, that keeps the door shut. I couldn't close the doors the rest of the day because I didn't know how to put it back in. He likes to take things apart, too.

And, he found a pen and scribbled on his leg. My picture didn't turn out that great and I'm disappointed because it was his first "masterpiece"...of course he's not interested in writing on paper at all...only body parts and furniture.

And if you're wondering if mommy fell asleep at the end of the day on pillow playground while Timothy helped himself to a video, the answer is yes.

What to do with this? Well, just be glad you weren't here and pray for us! :-) All this while he's sick, no less, too...

Messy Climber

First, sorry I haven't posted in a few days - our internet has been persnickety and it only works a few seconds at a time. David repaired it, now.

Timothy is a MESS-MAKER. He has learned how to open up our entertainment center and he helps himself to a video whenever he wants. He also helps himself to the cassette tapes (he's tried to put one into the radio but he can't), and he just pulls the tape out.

We've been arranging his out-grown clothes and such since he has a birthday coming up. We want to get rid of the old toys and clothes before then. I pulled out a tub so that I could go through it while Timothy destroyed the playroom (see above). Well, I went to answer the phone and when I came back I found Timothy STANDING on the tub. STANDING ON TOP OF the tub. I kid you not.

Yeah, so he's officially a climber. I've caught him trying to climb up the bookshelf (we don't allow that), trying to stand up on the entertainment center (we don't allow that either), and, finally, actually SITTING ON TOP OF his Activity Table. As you can see, there's a bowl in the middle. That bowl spins. He was sitting on the bowl letting it spin him around and around while he held on with his hands. Look at him trying to get on top again! The table is now in our sell pile.
More to come...we've got to leave for a fourth of July parade!!

Why Is Exercise the Answer?

So many people think we're crazy, and that's okay with us. But many, many children with brain injuries have physically grown their brain through creeping, crawling and (later) walking and running. Physical development is a key to mental development. And it's not just Doman and FHC saying it anymore...

Yahoo News! Article - Exercise *grows new brain cells*

From the article: "The researchers also examined the hippocampus region of the brain, involved in learning and memory. Neurons there increased dramatically in the depressed rats after wheel-running."

That's why we're focuing so much on the physical program right now.

It is NO coincidence that in families who walk early the children have learning problems. Creeping and crawling are the foundations for intellect later on.

Sick

Timothy's sick - he's been coughing a LOT and is just generally miserable. Aside from a cough, I don't notice anything else.

I'm hoping this clears up before Tuesday - he's supposed to start Mother's Day Out and we've already pre-paid for the whole month. We really want him to be able to go!