A Nice Day for a Wagon Ride

The weather was in the 50's today so I brought Brandon on a wagon ride in the neighborhood in the wagon that he got from Grandma and Grandpa Newman in December. It was the first time Brandon got to ride in it and he enjoyed it. He liked looking around at everything.

Show Us Your Life- What Is Your Typical Day Like?

I have been following Kelly's Korner blog for over a year. The topic for her Show Us Your Life today is about a typical day. Here is what my typical day (Monday-Friday)is like.

5:45 wake up and shower

6:00 bring Hershey out and start making my breakfast and Stu's breakfast and our lunches for the day
I also try to have my cup of coffee before Brandon gets up for the day and check facebook, my blogs, and thebump.com

sometime between 6:00-7:00 Brandon wakes up- I get him his milk and bring him into the living room to give him a nebulizer treatment while he watches Sesame Street or Nick Jr.

7:00-7:30 get dressed for work while Brandon plays or follows me around

7:30 put Brandon in the car and bring Hershey out one more time

8:00 drop Brandon off at the babysitter

8:20 arrive at work

8:40-3:15 teach kindergarten to 19 students

3:45 pick Brandon up at the babysitter

4:15-5:30 play with Brandon

5:30 feed Brandon his dinner and cook dinner for me and Stu

6:00 eat dinner, Brandon is either watching Nick Jr., playing, or eating his dessert/ snack with us

6:30 bath time for Brandon

6:45-7:30 play time, watch the rest of Yo Gabba Gabba

7:30 Stu reads Brandon his bedtime books while I put water in Brandon's humidifier and get his clothes ready for the next day

7:45 Brandon goes to sleep

sometime between 9-10 I go to sleep

20 Months Old

Brandon is 20 months old today. I can't believe in 4 months he will be two. The last 20 months have been the fastest of my life.

Brandon is at such a cute age right now. He has such a personality. He is a happy little boy but does have his share of tantrums when he gets frustrated. His receptive language has improved a lot but he is still not saying a lot of words. He does say Elmo (many times a day), mama, yaya (Dada- he has a hard time with the D sound), more, and tries to say milk. He also has said baa for the sound a sheep makes and mmmm for the sound a cow makes.

He can point to his eyes, nose, hair, ears, feet, and hands when you ask where they are and stick out his tongue when you ask where his tongue is. He fake coughs if he hears someone else cough, does wash hands (rubs his hands together) if he sees you washing your hands, claps when you sing If You're Happy and You Know It, put his hands in the air for how big is Brandon, So big, and play peek-a-boo. He also makes kissing sounds with his lips.

He's Definitely Part of Our Family

Brandon is definitely a part of our family. He loves Girlscout Cookies as much as we do. I got my first two boxes of cookies that I ordered yesterday and gave Brandon a thin mint last night after he finished his dinner. He ate it and then came to me signing more and pointing to the box of cookies. I gave him another one which he also ate right away. The nice thing is Girlscout Cookies have a lot of calories (nice for Brandon, not for us).

Brandon had his pre op appointment for his ear tubes on Tuesday. I have to call today to see what time his surgery is scheduled for on Monday. It seems like it is a relatively easy and quick surgery. The ENT said it only takes 5-10 minutes to put them in. They will probably stay in for 8-12 months and then he will probably need them put in again. If they don't fall out within 2 years he will remove them. Brandon will need ear plugs when he swims this summer.

Brandon's cold finally seems to be better. He is still on the pulmicort on the nebulizer once a day to prevent anything from coming back. He hasn't been sleeping great. I am not sure if it is because he hasn't felt well or because he is going through separation anxiety. Last night was a little better. He only got up once at 11 and I had him back to sleep within an hour and he slept until 6:20 this morning.

Now a Cold

Brandon now has a cold. I brought him back to the pediatrician yesterday because I thought he had another ear infection. Once before he got an ear infection when he was almost done with his antibiotic. His nose has been running a thick yellow green since Thursday and he hasn't been sleeping well. The pediatrician looked in his ears and said they are clear. She listened to his lungs and said they are clear too. She said he has a cold. So we are continuing with the pulmicort once a day. He is coughing slightly but not enough to start the xopenex. It sounds more like a post nasal drip cough. Brandon goes to the ENT on Tuesday morning for a pre surgery appointment so at least we will see if his ears are still clear now that he is done with his antibiotic.

I was off on Friday because it snowed here a lot again on Thursday into Friday. We went outside yesterday to go on a sled ride. Brandon loves the sled but doesn't like being put in the snow.

Developmental Clinic Appointment

Brandon had his developmental clinic appointment today. It was supposed to be two weeks ago but was cancelled because it snowed the day and night before. Yesterday when Brandon got sick with the stomach virus I thought we would need to cancel but he was feeling a lot better last night and this morning so we decided to keep the appointment. When we first got there the ot (occupational therapist) came to look at Brandon to see how he was doing. She was very impressed to see him walking, running, climbing, throwing a ball, and balance on one foot with assistance.

Brandon then saw the psychologist there today which he has never seen. She did a test on him to see where he is and he tested at his adjusted age of almost 17 months old on the test. He had a lot of things he needed to do. Some of the things were stack little blocks, find a toy bunny that she hid under a cup, put puzzle pieces in, put pegs in, point to pictures she asked him to, point to body parts on a doll, etc. When she asked Brandon to point to the body parts on the baby (doll) he kept pointing to his body parts.

After he saw the psychologist we had to wait in the waiting room to see the neonatologist. After waiting for over a half hour I asked the nurse practioner if it would be a lot longer because Brandon was tired since it was past his nap time. I was doing everything I could to keep him awake. She said the neonatologist would see us soon. The neonatologist finally came to see us in the waiting room and said she was just stopping by to say hi. I was really annoyed. She didn't even take Brandon back to examine him like they usually do. I am not sure why. I can't believe we waited almost an hour for the doctor to just say hi. We go back in July and I will ask if we are going to see the doctor for an exam when they make us wait. If not I am not going to stick around.

Stomach Virus

I got a call from Brandon's babysitter this morning at 10:30 telling me that Brandon was throwing up. He had thrown up 4 times in a row when she called. I had to have my school find a substitute for me and then I was able to leave to pick up Brandon. He threw up three more times when he was waiting for me to pick him up. I called the pediatrician on the way home and spoke to the lady who answers the phone. She told me to try to give Brandon pedialyte, gatorade, or flat soda and see if he could keep that down. Stu was home for lunch so he went out to buy some gatorade. Brandon threw up again when I got home when we were getting the gatorade ready. He then took one sip of the gatorade and pushed the cup away. It didn't surprise me because he won't drink juice. He doesn't like the sweetness of it. I gave him some water and he drank about 2 ounces before he wanted to go take a nap (it was already almost 2 hours past his nap time and he was up early this morning at 5:45). He napped for an hour then woke up crying. He was asleep on me on the recliner chair by the time I sat down in it. He slept for about 15 minutes on me and then woke up and threw up again and didn't want more than a sip of water. He just wanted to go back down for a nap. He is currently napping and I have an appointment at the pediatrician at 4:00. At this age they are concerned with dehydration and he has already thrown up 8 times in 5 hours.