Charlie the Champion of the World

Great news today from the doctor’s..his last blood count was normal, so that’s one more thing to cross off our worry-wart list.  He has a mild cold at the moment kindly donated to him by me and so has been a bit out of sorts, but you can’t keep a good boy down and there is still plenty of mischief to be had.

He performed really well at his physio on Monday and even sat for Kelly on 2 seperate occassions for about 30 seconds with no support. He didn’t even prop on his hands! Wow..now if only we could find something to entertain him long enough so he can do it for us at home.

 He is giving me lots of grey hair at the moment and for once its nothing to do with him being an ex-prem. Its all entirely related to him being a BOY! He always wants to climb onto lounge and has no fear and would quite happily go over the edge…and today he learnt if he climbs up onto Daddy’s arm chair he has access to the whole bookcase. He’s also started to sit in his toy buckets, cuddle the teddies then move onto the next bucket when he’s bored. He leaves a trail of destruction everywhere…today so far he has unpacked a few draws..knocked over his change table and clothes twice..thrown all his toys all over his room…pulled all the books off the bookcase and all the washing off the futon…

 I love it…I am so so happy to pick up after him (for the moment). I’m just glad that he can do these things.  I took him to the park today to burn off some energy, where he saw some of his favourite things…dogs, birds, aeroplanes and cars.

I have come to a conclusion the last few days..Charlie is not a baby anymore. He is a little boy. And my god…I am crazy about him. He has been doing all these new and exciting things of late and I just can’t get enough of his crazy antics. What on earth did I ever do to deserve something so good?He can now climb up onto the lounge..a bit scary I admit. If you ask him to find the teddy bear or the duck in one of his books he tries very hard to and then points. On a good day he will also try and repeat a word you say to him, usually baby or bear. He is also making lots of noises that sound like mum…he says mun and num..and if he says them close together you can fool yourself!

He is no closer to walking or sitting up by himself but we are very patient (maybe too patient). Physio on Monday so she might have some more tips for us. He had some abnormal blood results so back next week to have another test. I am trying not to worry and hoping its just something like low iron or something simple like that.

 He has his new highchair..and I must admit I think there has been some improvement. He doesn’t seem to tantrum quite so much in it. So that was a good investment. He is just really good value at the moment…such a funny little boy who loves to laugh. We love him to bits.

We had our dietician appt last Friday and I wasn’t expecting much of a gain as he has been eating so poorly and has been drinking even less milk now that its souped up. Charlie never being one to disappoint…has gained 380g in 3 weeks! He is now 7.68  kg…Wow! I have no idea where it came from! But I am pleased and I hope it continues! She was shocked as well. We will see her again next month and in the meantime she’s given us some great pointers while we are waiting for the speechie appt. We are on the hunt for a new highchair as he detests being put into his current one…and she gave some other good tips.

He had his first trip on a train and a bus on Friday too! He loved it..much more than I did. He has got the hang of pointing now and is also cuddling his toys a lot more now and on occassion a person too! Its so sweet. He tries to say baby..”babe” the dog and birds are “ooths” still, and dada has become more like “dad”. He also likes to unpack (and pack) things now, like his draws of clothing, blocks etc.

He had a visit to the Dr today to check on a few things. He has eczema on his bottom and legs and his lymph node is still swollen so he arranged some bloods to check on that. He was a very brave boy and didn’t even cry the whole time. He also has a lump in his ear which might have to be lanced if it doesn’t go away soon…so fingers crossed it does.

But he is just doing so great and in the last few weeks has had this huge show of new skills and personality. He’s a real little boy now!

We had Charlie’s physio appointment today. It was lovely to have one of the ladies that he had whilst in the NICU. She was so pleased with everything that he is doing. Her current thoughts are that he has weak trunk muscles and tight hamstrings and that is why he is struggling with sitting up conventionally. So we have been given some groovy excercises to practice including one where he will be sitting on top of his big ball, so that will be fun!

We have to try and keep his interest in order for him to stay still while we are doing these things so we went to the toyshop on the way home and bought a toy mobile phone that looks just like a real one and a pretend pager. We’ll only let him have them when he’s doing his exercises so hopefully they will stay exciting. We’ll see her again in 4 weeks.

 In exciting news today….he pointed! Yay! Good old books, I pointed at the bird, and said “is that a birdie?” and he copied me and pointed at it! He also now has 5 teeth, 2 on bottom, 3 on top.

 He is still eating poorly, but we are doing a great job of pretending that we aren’t stressed out by it. We are somewhat relieved to know that at least if he drinks the same amount of milk as usual, he’s still getting extra calories in there, now its all souped up.

Charlie’s been doing some hanging out at the beach lately and loving it. Can hardly wait until summer so its warmer for him. We took advantage of having Daddy home to take care of us after my op.

This still and video are from Bribie Island where he was doing his best impression of a crab in the sand. So so cute.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1868349800700313149&hl=en

We had a really lovely day, chasing birdies (ooths), wearing holes in our jeans, eating sand and getting chased by the waves.

We had Charlie’s dietician appointment this afternoon. She was very helpful and has given us some new tricks to try. The main thing we will be implementing to get his calories up will be to make his formula up using cows milk instead of water. And of course, we have to persevere but make sure that we aren’t making the eating experience too negative. When he’s had enough of the highchair we have to take him out immediately. We are getting referred to a speech therapist as she feels a lot of his issues are behavioural, so hopefully they will be able to help us out too.

He came in at 7.3 kg so only a 10g gain since Dr D’s visit, but that wasn’t long ago, and we know how bad he’s been eating the last few weeks so its no suprise. But in all it was a helpful appointment and I’m glad we went. We will see her again in 3 weeks to see how he has gained. I’m grateful to be receiving some help for his eating finally. I felt at last that someone understood what we were describing and wanted to help instead of just brushing it off as something that all kids do.

Just a quick update to brag about Charlie being in both the Bayside Star and the Northside Chronicle this week for National Premmie Day. We are so proud of him and so happy that he is here to share his story today. Here are some pics (gross breach of copyright I’m sure :p )

http://northside-chronicle.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/mothers-share-advice/

We have his dietician appointment tomorrow. I’m so pleased we got in so soon. I was expecting a longer wait. So hopefully will see some weight gained

And just to brag some more last night he said ooths about 5 or 6 times to Zeus, and the other day he  managed to sit up for about 5 mins watching the Wiggles! What a gem!

Now we went to all that hard work to get that physio appointment, maybe he’ll suprise me and we won’t need it!

He has also discovered the joys of climbing where he can…his favourite spots are the stairs, under the kitchen table and the lounge!

Well, he finally has cracked the 7kg barrier! He actually came in at 7.29 kg and 73 cm tall at his paed check on Monday. He is moving nicely up the percentile charts for height and head circumference. Overall Dr D is so happy with his progress.

We have got some referrals to see a physio for his sitting and balance and a dietician. His eating has been so poor, we have switched back to formula instead of cow’s milk. (I know, I can’t keep up either, last month he was so good..) It may just be that we need to take a few steps back and go slow for a while. But he is gaining weight and that’s all we can ask for.

He now has 4 teeth, 2 top ones are the latest additions. They are coming through with what looks like some bits of enamel missing. We had been warned about this but will take him to the dentist to see if there’s anything special we can do to help prevent decay. Ooo…in other exciting news, he also did the sign for mum the other day! So, so cute! Next step, saying it :) He has a big day tomorrow. He is getting his picture taken for the 2 local newspapers that are doing stories on National Premmie Day on the 25th of July. I will be sure to post and tell you all about it!

He is really enjoying music at the moment, here he is grooving away.

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=7516933430469543005&hl=en-AU

If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands! We have been singing that an awful lot lately as our darling Mr C bear has finally started clapping! Proper clapping too, hands open and all. I finally caught some footage tonight…sorry it’s so dark and sorry for the ‘crapheap challenge’ on in the background!

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=8989284983313311888&hl=en-AU

In other exciting news, he is still eating well and we are still in shock! He had a few days where the old behaviour came out, but now he’s great again. His drinking still leaves a lot to be desired, but we can’t have everything can we? So with all this food going in I think there has been some serious growing happening. His next paed check up isn’t until 2 weeks, but I am pretty sure that we will not only make the 7kg but will exceed it. He can now wear size 0 tops! They look a little sloppy but his 00 ones are just getting far too short.

He’s also getting a lot more hair! Its still fine and wispy, but its so cute. When he wakes up from his naps he looks like he’s seen a ghost as he has these fly away fluffy bits all over. His top tooth came through and the rest of his gums look like corrugated cardboard, so I think there will be more soon. He is still great with his walker, but currently prefers to walk behind the pram! Still no independant steps but they will come. Still no independant sitting, but that will come I’m sure too. In the meantime thank goodness he has knees he can use.

 Still no mum mums, though on occassion he makes a noise which sounds supsiciously like it.

There’s a few things we need to try and work on, but as we all know with wee Charwee, he will do things in his own time..and in the meantime he’ll just have to get by on his looks.

Charlie is making his first attempts at Zeus. It comes out sounding more like ooths…but who cares? We know what it means! And Zeus is the dog by the way (much more important to say that first than mum…!)

He is also getting much more confident on those tiny feet of his and will now take steps with us holding his hands, as well as on the walker.

He has also been an absolute champion with his eating and drinking the last 2 weeks…touch wood. He has been so good I’ve been shocked.  So lets hope that delivers some results later. I swear I can see his upper arms and his thighs filling out as I type….

Around the 7th of June we had a Dueday cake for him as that was when he really should have been 1. Any excuse to celebrate and have mudcake..and this time he got to eat some which was great.

 Oh I almost forgot, he is getting a top tooth. So that explained a few restless nights last week. We have to keep an eye on the top teeth as his top gum is arched from the ventilator, so maybe in a month or so we might pop off to the dentist for a check.