Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Second Birthday Pictures

I'm still very woefully behind on this blog, but here's a mini-update with pictures from Theodore's second birthday in September.



We opened presents the morning of his actual birthday. They were almost exclusively train-related and he was thrilled! Theodore is still completely in love with Thomas the Tank Engine and trains in general.

Later that morning we went to the Palo Alto Junior Zoo and Museum and met Talia and Beti. It's a cute little zoo and play area that Teddy loves, and they had a fun time running around together and looking at the animals.



We saw Talia again on the morning of the 10th when we held his birthday party in our backyard. We had bubbles and cupcakes, which went over very well! We kept everything low-key because he was only turning two and isn't a fan of big, noisy events anyway, and it turned out great.

Theodore also had a two-year checkup with his pediatrician in that time, and everything looked great. He's around the 10th to 15th percentile for height (it's hard to measure a screaming, flailing child!) and just under the 3rd percentile for weight. It was exciting to have him on the charts, and he's got a lovely growth curve that just happens to be on a lower part of the chart than average. He's very healthy overall and so we were pleased! We have been discharged from seeing the GI doctor further, and also met with Endocrinology in December and were told not to worry there either. So he's officially a small child that takes after his father - which is fine by us, because he's so happy, healthy, and smart.

Here are the rest of the photos from his birthday - just 14 of them - and hopefully soon I will post more catch-up photos and news, unless his Baby Brother arrives in the meantime!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Brampton report

Slowly working my way up to the present. At the end of August, Theodore and I took a 5 day trip to Brampton on our own, while Billy stayed home to work. The flights were definitely challenging - Theodore didn't nap on the way there, and threw several epic tantrums going both ways - but it was worth the trouble in the end, as it was great to see all of my family.



Theodore had a really good time, though unfortunately he was battling a cold and a cough. In particular, he loved spending time with his cousins Austin (age 5) and Alex (age 3). He wanted to do everything Austin did and looked up to him a lot. We were able to spend three of the four full days we were there with his cousins and Auntie Debbie, which was wonderful. They came to Brampton twice, and one day we went down to their house in Toronto to visit with them. Auntie Suzie also visited each of those days, so I got lots of sister-time and Theodore got spoiled by his aunties!



A highlight of the trip for me was taking Theodore to visit his Great-Grandma Peggy, who is his only living great-grandparent. She just turned 97 years old, and is living in a facility in Shelburne, 45 minutes north of Brampton. She is suffering from advanced Alzheimer's, but still really enjoyed our visit while we were there. I know Theodore won't remember the visit, but I'm glad to have photos to remind him of it in the future. While she is in great physical health you can never count on more time at her age.

In general, it was a nice, low-key trip. We didn't travel to see friends, and while there were many people I would have liked to see, it was much easier this way. We hadn't seen Debbie or Theodore's cousins since last Christmas, and will not be travelling this Christmas, so it was good to just spend lots of quality time with them. Though next time, I think I would think twice about flying alone!

That catches me up on our two trips of the summer. I'll end with one video and photos, as always. On another note, I'm sure this isn't a surprise to anyone reading this blog, but just in case it is, I forgot to mention here that I'm pregnant again and we're expecting baby #2, another boy, at the end of January. It's fairly obvious in the photo above, so thought I should make it explicit! We're very excited and Theodore likes the idea of his baby brother being in my tummy. Everything is going very smoothly this time around; I'm being closely monitored but so far we seem to be in the clear as regards complications. Fingers crossed for the rest of the pregnancy!

Theodore enthusiastically copying his cousin Austin:


Photos:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Paris report

Well, I'm so far behind at this point that catching up seems daunting - so I thought I would break the summer down into separate posts to make it more manageable. I'll start with our fabulous trip to Paris!



10+ hour flights with a toddler are definitely not a breeze, but Theodore really rose to the challenge. He slept half the flight there (an overnight) and at least took a nap on the way back. We had direct flights and bought him his own seat - best money we ever spent.

Our apartment was in a great location in Le Marais, near many great shops, restaurants, parks, and the Metro. The four flights of stairs (no elevator) were a challenge, but the apartment had two floors, was bright and airy, and extremely spacious. We were all very comfortable there for our stay. Theodore certainly had no complaints!



Billy worked for most of the vacation from the Paris office, though he would usually go in a little later so that we could all leave the house together (aka he could help me with Teddy + stairs), and he would leave quite early to meet us at the park and go to dinner. We did do some "big" tourist outings on weekends and one weekday morning: we saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and spent an hour and a half at the Louvre (not bad with a toddler in tow!) During the week Theodore and I would go do one touristy and/or kid-friendly activity in the morning, come home for nap, and then usually go to the park in the afternoon. There were several beautiful, fun parks close to our apartment, which was wonderful. As morning outings we went to a small zoo, the Tuileries, the science museum, Place des Vosges, the Middle Ages museum, etc.

While it took a few days to settle in because of the time change, Theodore really had a fabulous time. Paris is a toddler's delight! There were lots of cars, motorcycles, dogs, frites and pain au chocolat, and best of all, birds. He chased the pigeons in the park every day, and could do so for an hour or more at a time! It was great fun to watch him laugh and run, and as a bonus, it really improved his footwork and agility - Jyoti, his physical therapist, was blown away by the advancement in his skills when we got back.



We also had the pleasure of a nice visit from Billy's sister, Theodore's Auntie Diana. She stayed with us for the second week we were there, and Theodore really enjoyed her company. She helped us manage that hour and a half at the Louvre in particular, and also babysat one night so Billy and I could have a date night! Much appreciated, and it was really nice to spend time with her.



Billy also had his first night alone with Theodore - I went to London for one night to visit a friend. I was gone for just about 24 hours, and everything went very well back in Paris. Big thumbs up to Billy for that!

Overall it was pretty much the perfect vacation - we lived like locals, did some touring, and tried to take it easy (though we got tons of exercise!) It was hard to come home at the end!

I'll finish up with two videos and a slideshow from Paris. Next time, I'll do the trip to Toronto Theodore and I took, and hopefully also do stats/general updates.

Bird chasing champion:


Flamingo rock out:


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday, Theodore!

I know it's been ages since I updated this blog properly, but I didn't want to let such a big milestone go by. Happy 2nd birthday to our beautiful boy!

We had gifts (Thomas trains!) and went to the Palo Alto zoo with Beti and Talia in the morning, and had cake with Daddy after dinner. We are having a small birthday party on Saturday morning with Beti, Kevin, and Talia.

Hard to believe we've gone from this:

September 2009

All the way to this!!



Love you, baby!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

General Updates

Theodore turned 22 months old today. It's hard to believe - the time has gone by so quickly. We have had a pretty busy and full month since I last updated.

June started on a sour note when Billy and I both had extremely bad bouts of stomach flu, and Theodore had a rotten cough and cold. Thankfully, Grandma Carole came to the rescue and came to town on the 9th (my birthday!) We were so grateful to have her help, as we were in a pretty bad state. She stayed for two weeks, which was a wonderful visit and let us get back on our feet and also enjoy her company.

Riding the miniature train at Vasona Park

During her visit we had a terrible heat wave, but managed to beat the heat by checking out new things to do, like the San Jose Children's Museum. It's been hot and and off since, but other than a lot of complaining on my part, we've been surviving.

This last weekend was the Independence Day holiday, and Billy had both Monday and Tuesday off - hooray! And even better, Theodore's Uncle Michael and Uncle Alex came to visit. Uncle Michael stayed for four days, and Uncle Alex is still here, going home on Saturday. We've been having a great visit, and Theodore is enjoying getting to know his uncles better.

At the Japanese Tea Garden on July 4th

As always, Theodore continues to grow and develop daily. He has no new words, but has been using several words/sounds more consistently, notably "ba" for ball and "ka" for cat. Perhaps the biggest change since the last update is that we weaned him from breastfeeding while Grandma Carole was visiting. It went extremely smoothly, and while I miss it, he is very into snuggles now, so those are lovely as well. We are still going to speech and physical therapy, though we have no classes on at the moment, due to summer schedules. We visit the park almost every day instead, or play in our wonderful backyard. Speaking of that backyard, Theodore and I have been growing vegetables together, and got to taste our first cucumbers this week! He was very excited, though didn't end up wanting to eat it when it was on his plate!

Next update will come in August - after our big family trip to Paris!! We leave July 20th and come home on August 5th. We are very, very excited and I think Theodore will have a wonderful time. We plan to go to lots of parks and eat pain au chocolat every day, so I'm sure that will agree with him!

As always, video and photo to end!

Enjoying T-Ball at sports class:


Photos:

Monday, May 30, 2011

Vancouver, Medical News, Etc

The promised post-Vancouver update, only a week later! We had a wonderful trip.

At Stanley Park

We were in Vancouver from the 21st to 24th of May. Unfortunately, Theodore woke up with a rotten cold the morning of the 21st (and slept terribly the night before, so we were all extremely tired). He travelled well, however, sleeping almost the whole way. Billy and I both got varying degrees of crud as well, so it was bad timing, but we still did the best we could.

On Sunday we went to the main event, Auntie Catherine's engagement/medical school graduation party. It was held at her fiancé Kevin's parents' house and was a fabulous affair. Poor Theodore was pretty out of sorts, but we all managed to have some fun and eat delicious cheese blintzes. After the party we went to the Vancouver Aquarium with Grammy Eileen for a short visit. Theodore adored the sea otters and seals. We then went out for delicious Greek food with all of the above-mentioned people plus Billy's cousin Colleen. Due to some mix-ups, I don't have any photos of these events...if I get copies from anyone later, I will include them in a future photo album.

We then had a most excellent holiday Monday. In the morning we met Billy's cousins Pamela and Sean for brunch, and Pamela's daughter Serena. Theodore didn't pay her much attention during the meal, but afterward they hugged and he was in love with her from then on! After that we parted ways with Auntie Catherine and went to Stanley Park with Grammy Eileen. We visited the Aboriginal village in the park, and went on the Spirit Catcher miniature train ride. They put on an excellent dramatization of a legend about Raven, including costumed actors, and Theodore just loved it. After that we wandered around the park, enjoying the beautiful scenery. That evening we went to Granville Island for a delicious fish supper (and Theodore enjoyed looking at the boats).

We left early Tuesday morning for home, but late Wednesday night Grammy Eileen rejoined us here in Sunnyvale! Theodore really enjoyed her visit. Unfortunately, he was sick AGAIN, with some sort of tummy bug that kept us housebound most of Friday and Saturday. But once again, we made the most of it, and we had a lovely time all together, going on several short outings and to the market.

In other news, we took Theodore to his regular checkup with the pediatric orthopedist (we go every six months). This month we got an x-ray done of his foot:

X-ray!

The good news is that everything is looking good! There had been concern about his big toe, since it grows outward slightly, but the doctor said that the growth plate looked fine. She was pleased with his walking and his balance, and prescribed no treatments at this time. We will continue to go for a checkup every six months, but this was an important visit that gave us the all clear as far as surgery goes. Of course his toes will never be "normal" in the sense that there are missing bones, but they should continue to grow proportionately.

Today is Memorial Day so we were able to enjoy a second long weekend in a row. This week we have to get back into the normal routine of things!

That's about all the news...Theodore continues to progress and grow, and be a delight. His language skills are increasing, and he has several words now (though does not like to repeat them!) I forgot to mention last time that he sometimes says "there" or "this" for items, and since then he has said "truck", "track", "broom", and "cup" in contextually appropriate ways. There are other sounds that we're less certain on so aren't calling yet. In general his babbling and vocalization is becoming ever more complex, which is very exciting. And he is still fond of his "yeah!"

Until next time, here are a few photos and a video:

Throwing rocks with Daddy on the beach:


Sunday, May 15, 2011

General Updates

Just a few general updates and photos and videos to share. Theodore turned 20 months old this month, and continues to be a wonderful, joyous child.

We celebrated Easter with Theodore for this first time this year. He had his own Easter basket and did an egg hunt! We went with the "hide in plain sight" tactic, which worked out pretty well. The hardest part was convincing him to put the ones he'd already found in the bucket and go looking for more! It was very fun, and presumably will get more fun as he gets older.

Easter egg hunting!

In the month since I last updated (sorry about that!) we've been blessedly free of extra appointments and assessments. Theodore and I did both have terrible colds two weeks ago, and he had an ear infection as well, unfortunately. He's much better after the antibiotics and back to his old self.

In exciting news, Theodore officially has his first word! He has a very enthusiastic "yeah!" when we figure out what he wants. He can also shake his head no, but doesn't verbalize it - yet! He's come pretty close to other words as well - he said "mi" pointing at the milk yesterday, and sometimes says "ba" when playing with a ball. It's good progress, and we're pleased. The "yeah!" is a lot of fun, as well! He also learned a sign for "car" and has started following along with some fingerplay in songs, or specific dancing instructions.

His favourite sign is still "more", of course!

Eating continues to go better all the time, though we don't have an updated weight. He's had a definite growth spurt in height - suddenly he can reach and climb on all sorts of things he couldn't before! It's really nice to see. He's currently going through a sleep regression, but thankfully once he goes down to sleep, he's been sleeping 9+ hours straight quite consistently. He wants to nurse for all his naps again, so it's been a challenge for me - but I'm optimistic it won't last too long.

Other than that, we are just busy as normal - playdates, the park, Gym Kids, speech therapy twice a week, physical therapy once a week, and we also started the sports class. It turns out it's just letting the kids loose in a big gym for 40 minutes with lots of sporting equipment, and then some stretches and a story - but Teddy loved it, and got tons of exercise. We've also been playing in our backyard a lot, and I'm very grateful we have that space. In particular, we play with chalk and do shapes, colours, and letters, and also we're growing a squash and a cucumber plant in pots and so Theodore helps me water them every day. I can't wait until they start growing and producing vegetables so he can see!

We're off to Vancouver next Saturday, so I will try to update shortly after with photos from that trip. After that, Grammy Eileen will be visiting! We're really looking forward to all of that.

Photo and video time!

At Gym Kids this Friday:


Sharing with Talia during a playdate - too adorable!


Saturday, April 16, 2011

Lots of great news!

Some very exciting updates to share today. Theodore had his two assessments over the past two weeks, and he did amazingly well! He is just about fully caught up in all areas except speech, and is even ahead in others.

On Monday we had his six month review with the Early Start program. He has done so well since his original assessment that he no longer qualifies for the Infant Education program! So our educator, Erika, will be coming for the rest of this month, but then we will end that appointment. We are not leaving the Early Start program completely; we will do another assessment in six months, and if our insurance starts denying payment for PT or speech, then they may cover it. The review team (Erika, her boss (who did the assessment last month), and our service coordinator) were thrilled with his progress. Some areas where he excelled in the assessment were fine motor skills (where he tested in the 22 month range at 18 months old) and Attention and Memory, where he tested in the 28 month range). In terms of speech, at his original assessment he tested at 77% below his age level, but now he is only 29% behind - a huge improvement. There were a few other areas that tested a bit lower, but even in the few weeks since the assessment he has achieved those goals (self-help and gross motor) or they're ones we're not focusing on (for example, we have not worked on utensils as the goal is just to get him to eat! Nevertheless, he's been experimenting with a fork and getting quite good at it).

Last week we also had an assessment with the Behavior and Development department at Lucille Packard. This was similar to the original Early Start assessment, but done by a doctor and resident, rather than an occupational therapist. Despite being tired (nap time came and went during the appointment) and teething very badly, Theodore performed admirably. They declared him overall at a 18.6 month level, which is pretty much exactly how old he was. The only area they had concern about was speech, which they tested out a little lower than the Early Start assessment did. Overall the doctor told me we had a "cognitively normal little boy", which was great to hear! She was pleased by all the "chasing" we've done and said it has clearly benefited him in catching up.

We also followed up with the GI clinic yesterday, where Theodore finally broke the 20lb barrier! He weighed in at 20lbs 2oz, and just a smidge under 31 inches. Since our last appointment it worked out to a gain of 5oz a month, and the expected range at his age is 4-10oz/month, so he's falling nicely into that (though everyone agrees it would be good if he could do a little catch-up gaining too). I admit I'd been pretty upset that the week before he'd weighed in an ounce under 20lbs, but now we've broken that milestone and I am very relieved to have it behind us. He is an extremely active child so getting enough calories into him is a full-time job!

That's all the medical news! Theodore continues to do great in day-to-day life as well. He has been working on a lower canine for a few weeks, off and on, so that has caused some drama, but hopefully it will be through soon, poor boy. We've been keeping very busy with Gym Kids, PT, speech (which we are now attending twice a week), and outings. We've become regulars at the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, which is a very sweet little place with a few animals (two bobcats, a goose, a peacock, two raccoons, etc.) and a fun indoor area with "science" type installations. It's great for his age group and ability, and we've been four times in the last month! We've also been trying out lots of new parks; I received a brochure that listed all the parks in Sunnyvale, so we've been striking out down the list, sight unseen. Some have been duds, but we discovered a beautiful open space park that was lots of fun to run around in.

Some nature appreciation at Baylands Park

I've also signed him up for a sports class that starts in May. It's for ages 1.5 to 3 years, and apparently will teach them about basketball, soccer, etc. And also in May, we're going to Vancouver for four days! Theodore's Auntie Catherine is having an engagement party, and we're very excited to go attend.

Lots of text, so I'll end for now and get on with the pictures and videos! I almost exclusively take photos with my phone these days, so I apologize that sometimes the quality isn't the best, as even though it's a great camera, it's hard for it to keep up with a busy toddler!



Playing with a balloon at a wedding we attended:


Counting in the park:

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Catching Up

Sorry for the huge gap in updates! Once I started falling behind, it always seemed more and more daunting to catch up...but here's a big update, and hopefully I will keep at it more regularly in the future so they will be smaller and more timely!

Theodore continues to be a wonderful, happy child. He turned 18 months old this month, which is still a shock to me! The time has flown. As I posted previously, he is now walking. This has really opened up both his and our worlds, which has been great fun. He's very enthusiastic and loves to march all over the place. He's still learning his balance and posture, but works hard at it! He loves to be busy and active, and is always on the go.

Enjoying his new big boy shoes on his 18th month birthday!

He's been really blossoming into a little boy, rather than a baby. One of his new favourite things is "helping" me around the house. He loves to put away cutlery in the dishwasher, and claps his hands after each piece goes in! He also makes sure to shut any drawer or cupboard I've left open. He will fetch his shoes and socks before going out, and is very cooperative about getting dressed. It's all quite adorable. Of course, he's also finding ways to get into new scrapes all the time too; recent events have included a short drop face-first into concrete, and three times he harassed the cat so much he got scratched. No lasting harm done, except to my nerves! He can brush things off very easily, and never gets very upset.

We've also started doing different art projects, which has been lots of fun. It's exciting that we can do more planned activities at this point, and that it will only continue to get more interesting! Theodore's favourite activity is playing with stickers. He's created some beautiful masterpieces, if I do say so myself, and we've been mailing them out as they are created. Let me know if you would like one!

Painting yourself is the best part of fingerpainting!

We continue to go to many appointments, etc. Theodore's latest session of Gym Kids just ended, and we are now moving up an age group! I kept him in the 9-15 month class beyond that age range since he wasn't walking yet, but now that he is, we will be trying out the 18-24 month group. It's the same teacher in the same room, so hopefully he will enjoy it! We still go to physical therapy once a week, which continues to be an amazing, beneficial experience. We have also started speech therapy once a week, for half an hour right before PT. It's a bit of a heavy morning, but they're across the street from each other, so it works well. We've only had three speech sessions so far, but they seem like they will be very helpful, and we like our therapist, Miss Lydia, very much. Theodore still does not have any words, but his vocalizations are changing and becoming broader. He has also learned a few useful signs, mainly "all done/all gone", "more", and "me". We believe he has some low muscle tone in his jaw/mouth area (he has overall low muscle tone as well) so the therapy is partly focusing on that.

We are still with the Early Start program and having an infant educator visit, but at Theodore's review next month I may end that, as we are so heavily booked up and it is the least useful of our appointments. We also visited a GI doctor and an occupational therapist this month to consult about Theodore's weight, and have been going to weight checks at the pediatrician frequently. At his 18 month checkup he was just under 20lbs. He is, finally, trending upward in weight gain, but still remains very small. This seems to just be the way he is, but we feel good about checking out all of the possibilities. The GI doctor took one look at his chunky thighs and declared himself worry-free about Theodore's weight!

We are also having a full assessment done at one of the Stanford clinics next week - behaviour and development, a more thorough version of the Early Start one. Again, we're just covering all our bases. We're also set up to finally see Genetics due to his foot abnormality...in July! They're quite busy, obviously!

As you can see this all keeps us *very* busy. In addition, we try to go to the Y three times a week, and on outings several times a day. We were lucky to have tremendously good weather in January and most of February, and would go to the park for hours every day. The past two weeks have been extremely rainy, however, which has made parenting a toddler more challenging! We have been to the pet store to look at the animals rather a lot... We also fully converted the unused space in our oddly-configured living room into a play place for him, complete with wooden play table and a bookshelf (which is actually a library cart!) He also just got a comfy armchair, so we are able to spend a lot of time there, and running around the house, which is fun.

Enjoying his new play table and train set

We were lucky to also have lots of visitors lately. Grandma Carole and Granddad Bill were here in February. Granddad stayed for 10 days and then Grandma stayed an extra 6 days. Theodore loved their company. Best of all, they helped us change his sleeping patterns, and did so gently with almost no tears! Theodore is now put in bed awake and falls asleep on his own while someone sits in the glider in the room, reading or playing on their phone. He is also (usually) no longer nursing during the night until 5am. We are all sleeping better and are very happy about it. He is currently having a regression due to teething - the top two canines came through almost simultaneously, and it looks like the bottom two are trying the same trick - so are back to being rather sleepy, but he will accept Billy soothing him back to sleep in the night, so I sleep at night and Billy sleeps in the morning!

Theodore's Auntie Catherine also came for a weekend at the beginning of March. She was a wonderful house guest and is a fantastic aunt to her nephew! We had a great time going to the market and to a kids' museum in Berkeley.

That's about all that's new! Billy and I are doing well also. We were able to go out on a few dates while we had visitors, which was really nice for us as a couple. I unfortunately developed mastitis two weeks ago after Theodore cut down on his nursing, but I've recovered and hopefully will not experience that again! Other than that, we're not as interesting as Theodore - we don't really have any new tricks! As always, here are photos, and just one little video from the Berkeley museum.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Walking!

Yes, Theodore has started walking! He is very pleased with himself and we are thrilled too, obviously. He was taking 2-4 independent steps two weeks ago, and then last Saturday he just took off with Billy at the park. In the week since he's become very confident, walking far distances and turning well, and he can also stand up without needing to pull up on anything.

Here's a video I took of him walking last night. I'll post a longer update sometime soon!

Friday, January 28, 2011

December and January

A belated update, apologies! Time seems to fly by these days.

Theodore had a wonderful Christmas. He loved seeing all of his family, especially his cousins Austin and Alex. We were in Brampton from the 17th to the 26th, then in Ottawa until January 3rd. We were lucky enough to be able to see all of our immediate families and spend time with Theodore's great-grandmother Peggy, who is 96!

Playing with his cousin Austin

He travelled well, though on the flight to Toronto he only slept one hour out of five. It's definitely getting trickier to fly with him. Unfortunately he got sick in Ottawa, an ear infection, fever, and cold. He recovered fairly quickly, but then Billy and myself got very sick as well! It was a shame, but he enjoyed being taken care of by Auntie Catherine and Grammy Eileen while his parents laid around feeling miserable.

It was Theodore's first real experience with snow, also. He hadn't seen any since he was three months old and obviously didn't remember it. He hated his snowsuit, since he was so bundled up he could hardly move, but he discovered that he could slide very fast in it, and so we had endless fun at the park. Overall I'd say he gave the snow a mixed rating!

Whee! Sliding is fun!

As always, he continues to progress in all his skills. Thanks to his wonderful physical therapist, he is now doing a lot of "proper" hands-and-knees crawling, which is very good for his core strength. He also wants to walk everywhere while holding onto our hands. With me, he demands both hands to be held, but he will go very fast with only one hand with Daddy! He's also practicing standing independently, and can do so for about 10 seconds. He thinks both standing and walking are very fun games, which is great! We feel he will be doing both independently within a month or two.

He is also babbling much more, sometimes non-stop! He does not yet have any words, however. We are going to be starting speech therapy soon, hopefully in a week or two. But the range and variety of his vocalizations is very exciting. His receptive language has also pretty much completely caught up to his age level. He follows directions well and knows the name for a huge number of objects, body parts, people, etc. While we were away he learned one sign, for lights/sun/stars (they're all bodies of light, so it works!) He also reliably throws his hands straight up in the air when he sees football...I had no idea teaching him that would be so effective. ;)

We are still monitoring his weight; unfortunately when he was sick in Ottawa he went a few days where he would only nurse and not eat any solid food, and he was still resistant after he got better, so at his weight check he had not gained any weight. Since then his appetite has picked up. He now seems to actually *have* an appetite, and an interest in food! I'm feeling confident that he will be starting to gain weight now. His favourite foods are macaroni and cheese (homemade or boxed), Annie's Bunnies (bunny-shaped cheese crackers), ice cream, and peas. He's a strange kid! The other day I put a blueberry, a piece of zucchini, and a piece of carrot on his tray. He gave me back the blueberry and ate the zucchini and carrot!

Not too much else is new in his or our world. He did get his first haircut - see the photos for a picture! We continue to go to regular appointments, to the Y (though he is experiencing intense separation anxiety again and does not enjoy that as much), and Gym Kids. For the last few weeks we were blessed with amazing weather - 65F or warmer and beautifully sunny every day. We practically lived at the park! We are battling some sleep issues again, but seem to be making progress, which is encouraging. We are also looking forward to another visit from Grandma Carole and Granddad Bill, who are coming to visit on February 12th!

Will try to update more often...in the meantime, here are rather a lot of photos and three videos.

Billy bought Theodore a synthesizer, and took this video of him playing it:


Here he is playing on a keyboard during supper (kid loves music!):


And here is a video taken on my phone at the park:


And the photos! The slideshow doesn't seem to be loading right now, so here's a direct link to the album: December and January photos

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