Holiday Bubs

Wow, its been a while since my last post. I hardly know where to start on the Bubs catch up.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in classic Grunsted style by hanging out at the hospital. Bobby had a tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy and tear duct probe. The original hospitalization was supposed to be overnight but we were there three days waiting for Bobby's oxygen saturation levels to stabilize. Spending a holiday in the hospital is a definite downer (although the mood was lightened by our good friends the Medinas who brought us Thanksgiving dinner) but its good to have the surgery behind us. Hopefully he'll be healthier for the rest of the winter.

Since the surgery, we've been working to increase Bobby's food intake. His weight has stalled a bit. We've tried increasing the calorie count of the food he's on, but its given him bad diarrhea (or frequent blow outs, as we're fond of saying) and kept him up at night. So, we're back to his old formula formulation, planning to increase the volume he eats.

Lastly on the medical front, we've had two ER visits this week. Bobby's Mic-Key button came out Saturday night. Valerie went to comfort a crying Bubs at 3 am and found his sheets soaked. Unfortunately, the tube had been out so long that his g-tube hold had started to close so we couldn't replace it ourselves. Valerie volunteered for hospital duty and five hours later Bobby was home with a smaller button.

Then yesterday I got a call from daycare after his afternoon nap that he had turned blue around his eyes and sweated out his clothes. I'm not sure that he was really blue as in lack of oxygen blue - that has always started at his lips and tongue. But, his teachers are great and I trust them when they say something is wrong, so we went back to the ER. Four hours later we were going home after negative chest x-rays and a good EKG.

Therapy has been slowed some this month by the medical goings ons. Still things are going well. His Developmental Therapist told me that Bobby was beginning to narrow his percent delay, meaning that not only is he progressing, but he is learning at a faster rate than he has in the past.

The Bubs is getting strong! His body feels so much tighter when I toss him into the air - I credit that to all that time he's spent sitting up. He's able to pivot - he uses his legs to turn himself 360 degrees. He is also starting to butt scoot a bit. In the last couple of weeks, he's learned to pull himself into sitting position. He starts on his tummy and then does the splits. He pushes his upper body upright by 'walking' his arms towards his body. Its quite impressive.

Of course, we've gotten some negative feedback from our therapists about this adaptation. I understand that it's not ideal for him to be relying on this position - he needs to stop doing the splits so much and start stabilizing his hips. That said, he is 20 months old. At 20 months, the boy deserves some mobility by whatever means he can achieve it. Goodness knows we've tried hard enough to do things the 'right' way.

Bubsy is getting to be more fun by the day. He is starting to develop a sense of humor and is very conscious of whether or not we are watching him when he makes his silly sounds and gestures. He gives 'five' and enjoys being clapped for. My son the entertainer.

We're having a great Christmas season. Little Lord Bubsleroy is going to get more toys than he needs. I have to start packing up some of his current stuff now. We've seen Santa Claus and shown some curiousity but haven't pulled any hair or beard as I guessed he might. We have a couple more chances this weekend as we're going to a Christmas party for one of our play groups tomorrow and then having Breakfast with Santa at Lambs Farm on Sunday.