Playing in the Leaves

Brandon played in the leaves for the first time today. He seemed to enjoy it although there were a few times when he looked at the leaves with a strange look.

Brandon has been walking all over the place for the past three days. He lets go and walks from one thing to the next or from one thing to me or Stu. It is so cute.

Pulmonolgist Appointment and Early Intervention Evaluation

Brandon had a busy day yesterday. It started with an appointment with his pulmonologist, Dr. Sembrano. He hadn't been since the end of March but he will be going monthly again until April because he qualified for RSV shots again this season. We are so excited that he qualified because even though the shots don't protect against Brandon getting RSV they do make it so that it is a less severe case of RSV if he does get it. Brandon had to have two shots yesterday because it is based on weight. He was not happy about it. He cried for about 10 minutes after his shots. The RSV shots hurt more than other shots for some reason. I asked Dr. Sembrano about bringing Brandon out during RSV season this year. Our pediatrician said it was okay but I wanted to ask him too since he is the more conservative of the two. He said to treat Brandon like a normal baby. He said it is fine to bring him out anywhere and if we are at a restaurant to try to sit 3 feet from other tables. He said you can't replicate trips to the mall or restaurants and that Brandon needs that kind of stimulation now.

After his appointment with Dr. Sembrano, Brandon had an early intervention evaluation. Brandon's pediatrician had suggested having one done at his 15 month appointment since Brandon is not really saying real words, except for mama, Mom, and the occasional yum. He babbles a lot but with sounds. The early intervention team evaluated him in all areas. He scored at his actual age in social/ emotional development and in between his corrected age and actual age in cognitive development, self- help/ adaptive development, gross motor, and fine motor. I am happy about that because he is already starting to close the gap in some areas. He did score under his corrected age in speech. He is 3 months behind in receptive and 4 months behind in expressive. He was right on the border of qualifying since you need a 25% delay in two areas or a 33% delay in one area so they tweaked it so that he would qualify since he was so close. So Brandon will be receiving speech therapy at least for the next 6 months. We still have to meet with someone about it but most likely he will have it one time a week. I think it is really good that he will receive speech therapy before he falls further behind.

Walking All Day

16 Months Old and GI Specialist Appointment

Brandon is 16 months old today. I can't believe it has already been 4 months since he turned 1. I don't know where the time has gone. Brandon had an appointment with his GI specialist today and was discharged. We are going to start weaning him from his prevacid. He wants me to give him half of his prevacid at night for the next two weeks and none in the morning. He thinks he will be okay without it so doesn't need to see Brandon again. However, if Brandon starts having problems again he said I can call whenever I need to. Brandon weighed 20 pounds, 5 ounces and is 29 1/2 inches tall. He had dropped to 19 pounds, 14 ounces when he was sick so he has gained back what he lost.

Brandon has been walking all day. He pulls himself up and then starts walking to where he wants to go. Walking really happened overnight. He looks so cute doing it. Kind of like Frankenstein with the slow, stiff movements.

Walking in a sleepsack

Brandon has continued to take steps unassisted. The most he has taken so far is 17. He can definitely walk but it is all on his terms. If he doesn't want to he won't. He seems to walk the most when he wants to see Hershey. Tonight he was in his sleepsack ready for bed and started walking. It was pretty funny. He is standing not holding on for quite awhile now too. You will have to ignore me in my pajama pants in the background of the video.

Opthamologist Appointment

Stu brought Brandon to the opthamologist yesterday for his eye appointment. He was originally supposed to go in August but the office called me twice to reschedule since his eye doctor was going to be away and then Brandon was sick a few weeks ago when he was supposed to go so it was rescheduled for yesterday when Stu was off for election day. Dr. Turtel said Brandon's eyes look great. He said one eye is slightly different from the other but overall they look great. Brandon slept through the second half of the appointment but Dr. Turtel was still able to look at his eyes while he was sleeping. Brandon doesn't need to go back for 6 months.

Taking Steps

A few days ago Brandon started occassionally taking 3-4 steps without holding onto anything. He did it several times tonight. He kept walking to my dad.