Yes!

YES is a great word! Especially since Ryan has never really used it unless he was repeating us using the word. That is until the past few days. At first I thought it was a fluke that he said it when he answered a question I asked him (which right now I forget what it was I asked him). But over the past few days we've asked him things and he'll say "Yes!" Like he really means it and knows what we are asking him. We ask him things like "Do you want pretzals to eat?" and he'll say "No" so we'll ask him "Do you want peanut butter crackers? and he'll say "Yes!". So is this a big deal? YES!! For someone who just tested 6 months behind in some areas of language (when he tested with the school system evaluator) not even a month ago and now to be answering questions and saying the appropriate answer to yes & no questions..it's a big deal! Since "paci" was broken and has been gone for about 10 days, he has been talking so much more. Honestly, I didn't think he used the paci all that much and it interferred with his talking but both Dean and do not think it's coincidence that he's all the sudden talking. Hopefully I can get a video of him chattering away this weekend but for now here's something funny he did last night..we were cleaning up the dishes while Ryan finished his yogurt..or we thought he was finishing it.

Check out the blog to see the short video...

Ryan's t-shirt

Since it was windy down at the beach, we had a jacket on Ryan so I didn't get any pictures of his t-shirt. After my last post, he woke up from his nap so I thought I'd get a pic. We then went outside to play in the backyard and watch Daddy knocking down the rails to the deck (although no pics of that). We bought a small 8 ft. round pool so we'll be setting that up next weekend and finally getting the backyard & frontyard for that matter, cleaned up and some flowers planted.

March for Babies 2010

We walked for the babies today and it felt good. We had a good time and our team Ryan's Warriors raised $615! Pretty good I think, since I got such a late start (usually I start in January but this year I didn't start until 6 weeks ago). In total, $360,000 was raised from this walk.

It was very windy but the rain held out (although it was spitting a little halfway through our walk) and the sun was even peeking through the clouds for a little while. The kids with us were loving all the free stuff the vendors were giving out and Ryan was dancing to the music and loving the attention from everyone. I want to again thank everyone who donated and bought candles from our fundraisers. I also want to thank my friends and family who came out and walked with us. It means so much to Dean and I to have the love and support from all of you! Mom, Dad, Steve, Christina, Peggy, Tayra, Tana, Kade, Sharon, Henry, Johnnie, Betty, Jay and Phyllis, you are all saints! Here are a few pics from the walk:

our preemie prince

family photo

Baxter..the team mascot! haha

team t-shirts

showing off

If you want to see the rest of the pics here they are:

March for Babies 2010

March for Babies tomorrow!

It doesn't look like tomorrow's weather will be anything like what we had for last years March for Babies. Last year was sunny & warm with a nice wind (as always since it's right by the ocean)....this far outbeat the previous year which was cloudy and chilly (But no rain!). Tomorrow the weather guessers forecasters are predicting rain and scattered thunderstorms. We're praying (yes, praying for weather is silly but I want a good turn out for the March of Dimes!) that the system moves out early and the thunderstorms are somewhere else besides the Oceanfront. If the rain holds out, we will have 17 people walking! I'm keeping with tradition, though not on purpose, and will be making Ryan's shirt tonight. It's pretty easy though so I'm fairly confident it won't take long. Then I just need to get all the buttons together, my sponsor forms printed out and the chairs in the car (maybe I'll make Dean do that..ha!).

Ryan is feeling a ton better and his face is almost bump free. He's actually been napping for 3 hours! I guess that's what happens when you wake up at 11 pm & 2 am and then get up for the day at 5:50 am! Too bad I couldn't nap but if I laid down all I'd be doing is thinking about all the stuff that needs to get done. I love my life though and love my precious preemie prince!

It's another cold!

Ryan had a good run of being cold free for a few weeks. He actually hasn't missed preschool in 6 weeks so I thought that was great. He went back last week after having the previous Thursday off since it was Spring Break. Then Sunday evening his nose started running a little. Allergy season is so bad around here right now so I just figured it was that. Wednesday we gave him some Zyrtec and then Thursday he woke up with raised bumps all over his face. We took him into the pedi since they have walk in sick hours in the morning and the pedi said he has Impetigo. Basically it's a staph infection that he probably got because of the cold that he has (for lack of better words...his nose running and him wiping it with his hands).

This was not our regular pedi but we did mention that he seems to have this consistant congestion, cough & runny nose and basically it's been on and off since September. He stated that he didn't think it was allergies because not many children under the age of 4 suffer from seasonal allergies. I also mentioned what the OT & ST told us and that was his congestion and fluid in his ears (even though it was clear fluid) may be contributing to his lack of speech. He didn't seem to buy that and said Ryan hasn't had any ear infections and would have to have some sort of hearing loss for it to affect his speech. I wasn't buying that but wasn't going to pursue it since this wasn't his regular pedi and that's really wasn't why we were there. I did mention that since he was put on the antibiotic 6 weeks ago (a 10 day treatment), his speech has dramatically improved (hence he wasn't congested). The pedi said we could give him Zyrtec at night because it will help keep him cleared up whether it's a cold or allergies. So, for right now Ryan's on a strong antibiotic for 10 days. When we got home from the pedi, he didn't want to go inside and kept saying bye bye and pointing to the car. He was upset that he wasn't going to preschool. I felt bad for him because he really does look forward to that every week. In early June they start Summer Preschool/Camp so he'll be going 2 days a week for about 4 hours. I know my mom will enjoy the extra break and Ryan will enjoy playing with the kids.

Bye Bye Paci!

Gussi, Paci, Binky, Nuk. Whatever one calls the pacifier, if your child loves theirs, it's hard to rid them of it. Harder on the parents & caregivers probably. Ryan's loved his since the NICU days. He was so tiny the paci seemed bigger than him!

We've been wanting to ease Ryan out of using his paci for a while now and a few months back actually was pretty successful letting him have it only at naps and bedtime. Once his 2 year molars started coming in and his sensory issue of him wanting to put everything in his mouth started increasing, it was easy just to let him have his paci whenever he wanted. Heck, it was better in our eyes for him to have the paci in his mouth rather than an inedible object such as a puzzle piece. Now that his 2 year molars are all in, we've had several professionals (an OT, ST & just this weekend a Pediatric Dentist) tell us, it's best to get him away from sucking on the paci. The issue is that the sucking motion will make the front teeth to come forward and cause him to have "bucked teeth". I certainly don't want to be shelling out money for braces if I don't have too and while he may ultimately need braces, I want to do everything possible to avoid that expense. By the time he would need them, they will probably cost as much as car!

The past couple weeks we have been weening him down to only using the paci at naps and bedtime again. This seemed to work well most days. He would walk around the house sometimes and ask for it in his pitiful sad voice "gussi, where's gussi?" (For the record, I call it Paci, my mom & Ryan call it gussi). It's been quite funny because while we would try to hide the paci from him after he woke up, he would ultimately "find" another one. In reality, he has been stashing them in his little secret spots (like under the couch & in one of his buckets). Yes, there's no denying kids are smart! Last night after dinner, I was cooking some chicken to have later in the week and he comes in the kitchen with his gussi and shows it to me. I asked where he got it and then noticed the end of it had come off. Then I asked him where the end piece was and he ran into the den where Dean was sitting. Dean told me Ryan had bitten it off. I told Ryan the gussi was broken and it would need to be thrown away. So, we went to the kitchen trash can and I told him again that gussi was broken and he had to be thrown away and to give him a kiss goodbye, which he did and then I threw it away. To my surprise Ryan was fine with it. He went off to keep playing and watch his night time show on Sprout. I kept anticipating that he would ask for gussi but he didn't until it was time to go up for bed. We told him again that gussi was broken and went bye bye and he took it fine. We did our nightly routine of books and he went right to sleep, only waking up once during the night but went right back to sleep. This morning he woke up and said, "It's broken, gussi broken. Went bye bye." So, I don't think we could've planned it any better because at least he's aware of what happened. I'm still holding my breath though because we still have today's nap to deal with and then again tonight.

My Dear Friends & Family

Thank you so much to my wonderful friends and family who have donated to our team for the March for Babies. I'm so touched by your generosity and willingness to donate despite some of you having your own hardships. I made our goal quite a bit smaller than previous years but it looks like we will well surpass that goal once all is said and done. Next week I will know how much profit we made from both the Yankee Candle Fundraiser and the Scentsy basket party. A huge thank you to my high school buddy Casey for offering to donate her profit from the Scentsy orders she would have made (her paycheck) to our team! Thank you to everyone who bought products and helped me sell to their co-workers & friends, including Peggy, Tana & Betty C., Tayra, Betty R., my Mom and my loving husband Dean. Also, thank you all those who have donated directly to the walk including, Theresa, Janet, Becky & Issac, Katie & Jonathan, my Aunt Susan and Uncle Jay, Ryan's Auntie Pamela & Uncle Craig and Uncle Steve. And lastly (I feel like I'm giving an Oscar winning speech! ha!) thank you everyone who will be walking with us a week from Sunday. We are up to 14 people and 1 dog walking! It's going to be a wonderful day. If you still want to walk, there's always an open ticket, just let me know so I can make a t-shirt for you!

OT evaluation

Last Friday Ryan had an OT (occupational therapy) evaluation. We had been concerned about his increasing sensory issues and wanted to find out if it was truly something to be worried about. Among the issues we had a concern with were his need to still "mouth" everything--he always seems to want to put things in his mouth even though we constantly tell him no, that it's not food. Also, he dislikes having his hands dirty..not all the time or with everything but it was enough to notice. That coupled with his toe walking and the fact his physical therapist also mentioned it was probably sensory issues.

Without going into too much detail and making this post long (and possibly boring to some) I will be short and to the point as much as I can. The way it was explained is basically, there are several categories (or types) of Sensory Processing Disorder and several sub-catagories under those all having to do with each of the 5 senses. Some people have very minor & very few symptoms and others have very severe & many symptoms. Have you ever seen a child who can't sit still for even 5 seconds? Or covers their ears for every loud sound, even vacuums or hair dryers? Or won't put their hands in anything messy? These all may be due to a sensory disorder. Some people may wonder, well don't we all have a sensory disorder to one degree or another and the answer is No. We have "preferences" to things. It becomes a disorder when it impacts a functionality of one or more areas.

So onto Ryan's evaluation. The OT asked lots of questions and observed Ryan toe-walking- which wasn't hard to see since he now does it regularly with and without shoes. Based on what Ryan is doing, she determined he has an Oral Input Dysfunction (aka Oral Sensitivity). There are two types of Oral Sensitivities, hyper and hypo and he has characteristics from hypo. Children with Oral Hypersensitivity tend to dislike having their teeth brushed or face washed, will gag easily when eating, & will often have "tactile defensiveness" such as disliking being touched or dislikes messy play. Children with Oral Hyposensitivity tend to love & crave intense flavors (sweet, sour, salty, etc) and tend to become "condiment kids", tend to overstuff their mouths with food, take large bites and not chew their food thoroughly before swallowing, drool execessively beyond the teething stage and always tends to have something in their mouth inclyuding inedible objects. Ryan has ALL of those symptoms! The good thing is, it should be fairly easy to get him beyond his sensitivities. By simple, fun activities we can do every day, hopefully within a couple months we will see a decrease in his sensory issues and he won't need OT.

The OT wrote down a huge list of cheap, simple but fun activities we can do with him and I'm excited to get started. I can't help but think if we had him in a daycare setting, he might already be doing some of these things. The list includes things such as :
messy play to include fingerpainting & making edible playdoh for him to play with (I will have to get over my issue of it being messy and getting everywhere but should be okay since we could do this outside)
getting a medium sized tote and filling it with pasta noodles or rice and hiding objects in there for him to hunt for and also having him sit or stand in there with bare feet (he does this at PT), when he stuffs his mouth at mealtime put a mirror in front of him so he can visualize what "too much" really is, stimulating the mouth with an electronic toothbrush (for inside his mouth) & a small massager (for the outside of his mouth/his cheeks), playing games with him to have him stand on his heels (for his toe walking) such as painting his heels and having him walk on his heels thus making an imprint on the sidewalk or driveway. Also, after he does these and other's that we'll do with him, ask him the "W" questions. What did you just do? What did you eat?..things like that will stimulate his processing. I believe I mentioned in another post that he has a slight processing delay and since he needs to be a hand on person to understand, asking him "W" questions sometimes gets silence. Did you have fun today, did you play outside, how are you feeling are other questions that most always get silence or he says No to everything. Hopefully soon he'll be able to communicate a little better and in the meantime we'll have lots of fun with the activities provided for us and helping him get over his sensory issues.

Easter 2010

We've had pretty busy weekends lately but we managed to get Ryan's Spring pictures done. We can tell even since we had his Christmas pictures taken in November, that he's gone through a height growth spurt. Everyone comments on how dark his hair is too and lately it just seems to be growing like a weed. Not that I'm complaining...gracious No. The boy didn't have hair for the first 18 months of his life and it really didn't start fully growing in until he was 2! I posted one of the pictures in the last blog post so here are a couple more from the session.

We were able to visit with both sides of the family for Easter and Ryan had a blast getting to do his first Easter egg hunt, twice. Once at Grandma's house and another time at church. We didn't do a basket this year but rather a "bag". Every year I say I'm going to buy him a personalized basket from Pottery Barn Kids but never get around to it (maybe they have them on sale now though!). His first Easter basket was a plush Elmo basket and that was way too small and it is packed away so we couldn't use that so I just opted for a bag. Someone (that someone named Dean) thought it was a mini Christmas and kept buying things for the "Easter bag". Ryan ended up with several DVD's including Bob the Builder & of course Thomas the Tank Engine, an electric Thomas the Train with a track, several books including a coloring book, hot wheel cars and candy (which Daddy better end up eating! ha!). And this was just from us! I won't mention everything both sides of the family got him and several friends got him. It was such an enjoyable weekend and we're so blessed to have Ryan happy & healthy and have our family and so many friends.

Easter at Grandma's

Excited about Bob the Builder DVD's

Book from Nana & Papa (my parents)

Easter at my parents

Easter Past & Present

We had a busy weekend so this is a tad late but you know I have to post a picture comparison. I just love to look back and see how much he's grown.

First Easter: 2008

Easter portrait 2009:

Easter portrait 2010: