Therapy...
On this front Owen could not be doing better. I love learning new things each week to try with him and watching him flourish with his communication skills. Owen is now putting together 2 and 3 word sentences. He also uses lots of words to communicate that he wants, needs or notices something. His speech has actually exploded so much for me that I can't even remember all the amazing things he'll say in a day.
Some of my favorite new phrases and speech:
**Thomas the Train is Tom Tom and all trains are choo choos!
**He loves to watch the movie Bambi. He asks for Bambi all the time.
**Free Willy is another current favorite...he calls this movie Willwee. And any time there is an Orca whale in his presence (he has a whale bath toy and puppet), it's a Willwee.
**Today in the car as we were leaving the driveway I got 1...2...3...Blast Off!! And then 1...2...3 GOOOO!!!
**He can sign and use the word for Go in lots of fun ways!
**He likes to pat his legs like they do on Little Einsteins and say pat pat pat....GO!
**He loves to use the word jump and push me around the circle in our house saying Jump Jump Jump!
**His baby brother is CooCoo, Coop or CooKer.
**But most importantly, Owen will mimic most if not every sound you make. It's amazing how much communication we are hearing out of him now! It's been all about teaching him the power of communicating...and for Owen it's made all the difference!!
Preschool...
I recently sent in Owen's form to pre-register him for preschool at our church. He would not be attending until next fall, but we are hopeful he'll be all set for starting preschool with his peers at the same preschool I attended nearly 25 years ago! It's crazy for me to think that this time next year, we will have celebrated Cooper's 1st birthday and Owen will be nearly half way to 4 years old.
Wow...I think I might get a little bit emotional...
Okay...I'm composed and we're moving on!
Doctor's Visit #1
On Monday of this week he had his 2 and a half year checkup! That is right....2 1/2!!! The check up went great. We got some recommendation for potty training guidance for when the time comes. We also found out he is still 85 - 90th percentile for his age in weight and height. He weighs in at 34 pounds and was 36 1/2 inches tall. He's our healthy little bruiser. Because he is old enough now, he was able to get the flu mist instead of a shot this year. Much less of a debacle than a shot would be...that was great! We left with instructions to come back at 3 years of age and a Sponge Bob Sticker for the road!
Doctor's Visit #2
Remember this post? Well this Wednesday was our follow-up exam. This time I was so much less apprehensive. I had a sense of calm about returning to this office. I think mostly because we knew what to expect...and Owen is older now so it was easier to help him understand a bit of what was happening. This time we saw the same doctors and they did similar tests. The biggest difference was that Owen mostly enjoyed the flashy lighted sticks and movies they played. He was also calmed by me and Jer. The worst part of our visit was his dilation and compared to last time, it was a piece of cake! The news from this visit though, was not the same as last time. In fact, we learned some things that very much surprised me. First the good news. Owen will not be needing glasses. What near-sightedness they saw last time has since corrected itself. YAY! He has however, official developed intermittent isotropy. He has moderate issues in his left and mild issues in his right that have worsened since last September. The doctor said that instead of his muscles figuring out what to do they have actually gotten less responsive to their cueing and he's having more trouble getting them to focus than before. He recommended Owen have the corrective surgery to fix the problem now, and asked that we return in 6 weeks to have another set of measurements completed. Following that appointment, we will schedule the surgery.
We discussed some details of the surgery. I am sure we will have more to share following our appointment in November. However, for now, this is what we know. During the procedure, Owen will have to be put under by a pediatric anesthesiologist for at least half an hour. It is outpatient surgery though, and we will get to take him home that evening with no restrictions. So basically if you going to have to have a procedure done, it's the kind you want because it's fast and it just so happens to be incision, bandage and pain free for Owen. We also learned there is an 80% chance that he will not have to have any follow-on procedures done to make further corrections. I'm going to cross my fingers he makes it into that 80%!
I'm pretty sure any time this crosses my mind between now and when it's over, this Momma is going to be a ball of nerves. But I will be praying. And I also will be rationalizing with myself that it is the right thing to do for our little boy and his future vision. Also reminding myself that its simple and luckily its a pretty easy fix. While I'd prefer him to not have to have a procedure done...at least this isn't something more serious. So we are blessed for that fact.
Thanks for reading and sharing in this parenting journey with me and Jer. Life sure keeps you on your toes!
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