Archive for the 'Aidan' Category

My heart is officially goo

Published on July 19, 2008 in Aidan, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 4 Comments

Aidan slept in a bit late yesterday morning.  It was nearly 8 before he graced us with his cute little smile and numerous requests to play.  Seriously…how can kids go from zero to 60 the way they do?  Sleeping one minute and inside 30 seconds, pulling your hand to drag you out of bed to play with them.  I wish I still had that kind of energy.  :-)

So I had a feeling that staying down for a nap might be a bit of a challenge yesterday.  I laid down next to him in his bed and tried to get him to drift off.  I thought he was getting close and closed my own eyes pretending to be asleep in hopes of reinforcing the nap.

Suddenly, I felt a soft little hand on my cheek rubbing it ever so slightly.  I opened my eyes and Aidan was staring at me with his sweet little face only inches from mine.  I smiled and he rubbed my cheek again and said, “I love you.”  Then he closed his eyes and drifted off.

I laid there for about five minutes before I got up and attended to all the naptime chores calling me.  I had tears of joy streaked across my face.  This is the kind of moment that I know will be with me forever.  It is a moment when I know that being his mom is the best thing I’ve ever done. 

I love you too, bub.  More than anything.

A day out with Dad

Published on July 8, 2008 in Aidan, Family, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 5 Comments

I was feeling under the weather yesterday.  I think I got some remnants of Aidan’s illness and it all hit me overnight on Sunday and into yesterday.  I had a fever, chills, muscle aches, sore throat, and upset stomach.  This morning, it is all gone but the sore throat and some lingering fatigue.

My dear husband was there to help me.  He took a sick day at work and told me he was going to let me rest and try to beat whatever had hit me and he would spend the day with Aidan.  What a great hubby!  It was a gorgeous day here yesterday.  Sunny, not a cloud in the sky and highs in the upper 70’s. 

A couple of months ago I bought a membership to Woodland Park Zoo because Aidan is in love with going to the zoo right now.  Brandon hadn’t been to the zoo with Aidan since the summer of 2006. 

Dow Family 1st Trip to the zoo.JPGMe and mom at the zoo.JPG

Brandon decided that if he was going to hang out with his son and “play hooky” from work, then he might as well do something fun.  So he and Aidan took off for the zoo. 

Getting ready to go the zoo with my Daddy

They had a wonderful time…as evidenced by the great pictures and my son’s nonstop descriptions of everything they did. 

Aidan and I have somehow always missed the giraffe’s feeding time.  For about an hour each morning, you can pay $5 to go up to an elevated platform and feed the giraffes leaves.  Aidan could NOT stop talking about this.  Brandon said he was not at all scared and was in fact smiling from ear to ear and giggling as the giraffe’s long tongue would wrap around his fingers and take the leaves.

Are we allowed up here DaddyFeeding the giraffe

Brandon came in around 1:30 or so with Aidan passed out on him and laid him down for his nap.  Then Brandon came in and excitedly told me about everything they had done and how Aidan knew the name and noise for every animal they saw.  Then he told me about Aidan climbing up a spiral ladder inside a play area of the zoo called Zoomanium.  Brandon said Aidan took off, and he went running after him certain that the ladder would be too difficult for a child under 3.  But Aidan did it all by himself.  He came whizzing down the slide saying “I did it” and he was so proud of himself.  It was then that I noticed my husband had a tear of pride in the corner of his eye.  My husband is the best.  I got teary eyed too.  Aidan woke up a couple of hours later filled with stories about the day. 

What a great sick day.  :-)

Maracas and drums!I love the carousel!

Is it obvious he had fun?

I had the best day!Me and my Daddy with the elephantSo cute in his little monkey hat

And lastly, a lovely picture of him quietly taking it all in.

Taking it all in

Awesome

Published on July 3, 2008 in Aidan, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 2 Comments

That is the word to describe my little man.  He is growing SO fast and I get to watch it all happen every day in front of my eyes.  I measured him today because I felt like he had shot up again.  Sure enough, he is a shade over 40 inches tall!  This is crazy!  That is about the 97th percentile.  His feet are huge as well. He is wearing size 11 shoes. No wonder everybody I meet thinks he is older than he really is.

His language is expanding in crazy fashion every day.  There are now several books that he knows so well, he can sit down and tell us the story.  He has a discriminating eye for things.  He can actually tell the difference between a picture of a hippopotamus and a rhinoceros. 

Here he is a couple of weeks ago making cookies with Dad.  He loves being our helper.  He has also entered the phase where he wants to do as much as humanly possible “by himself”. 

Helping dad mix the cookie doughTime for a quality control testYUMMYCookie coma

This next picture was something I should have expected with his adventurous nature and climbing ability, but I really didn’t see it coming. I was in the kitchen getting him a snack and he was talking about the pictures on the wall. I turned around to see this:

Am I not supposed to be up here

Yeah. Up on the table. Didn’t think a thing of it. Too funny.

And lastly, tonight’s bath was just so much fun. He is coming out of his week long stomach flu and was in a great mood tonight. I caught these photos in the bath. So beautiful. Sorry, I know I have NO objectivity.

Enjoying my bathComing after your camera MomChecking out my pruney toesCheesin

The double edged sword

Published on July 1, 2008 in Aidan, Parenting, Prematurity and Toddlerhood. 2 Comments

We spent a lot of Aidan’s first year and a half in relative isolation.  He was, after all, a 28 weeker that had been vented for 7 weeks and was coming home on oxygen in December.  Any parent of a preemie that had lung issues will relate to how scared you are of RSV and other nasty germs when you are finally bringing your precious little bundle home. 

So we had really strict rules about Aidan’s exposure.  He was on oxygen from when he came home to mid May.  He was receiving monthly shots of Synagis to help him weather the effects of RSV a little better if he contracted it.  This vaccine was not a preventative vaccine, but rather one that hopefully minimizes the ill effects of RSV.  The only places I think I took Aidan for his first few months of life were his pediatrician for check-ups and Synagis shots, his pulmonologist a couple of times, and physical therapy. 

Some people reading this may be really wondering about how germ crazy we were.  I know it sounds nuts to those that have not been there.  But in all seriousness, we were told in no uncertain terms that babies like Aidan can be put back on a ventilator or possibly die from RSV.  Exposure to other children in these times was out of the question.  Kids simply carry way too many germs, and the ones they do carry are usually more virulent than ones adults carry.

We didn’t go to anybody else’s house and anybody that came to ours had to be germ free for at least 7-10 days and nobody in their house could currently be ill.  Then, upon arrival, they were greeted and taken to the sink to wash their hands.  Hand sanitizer was in abundance and our guests (for the most part) seemed understanding about our restrictions.

In the summer, we could be more relaxed.  Kind of.  Aidan got his first bad cold in June of that year and had been off oxygen for about a month.  Here we were, in summer, and it was bad.  A couple of ER trips, some breathing treatments, and eventually a few day hospital stay with some oral steroids and oxygen.  At this point his pediatrician put Aidan on Flovent to “keep his lungs in check” and help him be better able to weather a cold without steroids and oxygen.  It worked.  Aidan got a couple of colds that summer and needed some breathing treatments, but no oral steroids, no hospital visits, and no oxygen.

Then in October of 2006 we went on lockdown again.  Aidan’s birthweight, gestation at birth, and lungs meant one more winter of Synagis and one more winter of being a little isolationist.  Aidan did get several colds that winter, but managed them all pretty well.

By May of 2007, I was really tired of being isolated and Aidan’s pulmonologist had discharged us!  I could hardly believe it.  She said Aidan’s lungs look “great” and she had no reason to see us.  She said his growth had helped him tremendously.  We had been expecting to see her for at least a couple more years.  Finally we got the OK to join a playgroup.  Aidan got lots of colds from this, but I figured it was par for the course since he had not had much germ exposure.  We have continued in the gym style playgroup to this day.  This winter I added an inflatable play place to the repertoire, so that we are doing social things with kids his age at least twice a week.

 The double edged sword is this.  The very behavior that kept Aidan and his lungs protected is what is doing us in now.  He is getting a lot of germ exposure that other kids his age already have degrees of immunity to.  So he is in this mode where he will be sick for a few days, well for a few days or a week or two, and then get something again.

 This time it’s a doozy of a stomach bug.  He is going on 5 days of runny you-know-what.  Actually runny is being complimentary.  I’d say “gushing” is more apt.  The poor little bug has a constant fever cycling between about 101 at good points in the day to 103-104 at the bad ones.  He is handling it like a champ though.  If I had spent the last few days sweating through my pajamas and having….err…no control, I would be in a foul mood.  But he just seems interested in being loved and getting cuddles. 

He is taking his first nap in 5 days where he is not attached to me.  I feel like I have temporarily shed my tumor.  :-)

The positive things I take from all of this?

1.  Aidan is really strong now.  Sure he gets some illnesses, but he bounces back like a champ.  It is wonderful to see his immune system doing its job!

2.  I get a break from chasing him!  ;-)

3.  This doesn’t rattle me anymore.  That is seriously a great feeling.  It doesn’t rattle me to see him get sick.  Sure, I don’t like it.  But I don’t feel that crazy, gnawing fear in the pit of my stomach anymore. 

In fact, dare I say, I have become downright relaxed.  About 3 weeks ago, we all went to a local pizza place.  THE best pizza EVER!  There was a play table with a lego train set on it and a Fisher Price garage.  Do you know that Aidan was playing with that thing for over 10 minutes before my husband complimented me on how relaxed I was about the (probably never cleaned off) toys.  And you know what?  I hadn’t thought about it!  Maybe that makes me crazy.  Or maybe I am finally getting some sanity and peace. 

Like father, like son

Published on June 17, 2008 in Aidan, Funny, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 8 Comments

Aidan is REALLY into emulating Brandon lately.  He climbs into his shoes and puts on any of Brandon’s clothing and accessories he can get his hands on.  Belts, shorts, work jackets, baseball hats, sunglasses, etc. 

IMG_4802IMG_4774IMG_4776Oh, is this Dad's underwear

Most mornings now when Brandon is getting ready for work Aidan will go running into the bathroom and tell Brandon, “Want hair like Daddy’s!”  That is Brandon’s cue to wet Aidan’s hair down and put in some gel.

Do these two look alike or what?

Daddy is doing my hair like his!Hair like Daddy's!

The proof that I’m getting old

Published on June 12, 2008 in Aidan and Funny. 1 Comment

Yesterday when I was asking Aidan for a kiss, I puckered up my lips very tightly and he just stared at me.  He ran his little index finger around my bottom lip and said, “Mommy wrinkles!”

Ugh.  At least I had to be puckering for them to be seen! 

How you know you’re addicted to Starbucks

Published on June 5, 2008 in Aidan, Funny, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 2 Comments

I mentioned in an earlier post that Aidan is really ramping up his pretend play skills.  For a while he has been playing with his Little People SUV and pretending that the mom and baby in the SUV are “Aidan and Mommy”.  He usually has us driving and going to Little Gym or Pump It Up.

But today, he was driving it around and I asked him where they were going and he replied, “Going to get Mommy some coffee!”

So either once a day Starbucks is too much or I just have a very observant child!  I am going to believe the latter, because let’s face it….Mommy needs her Starbucks!

Reason #287 we need to move

Published on June 5, 2008 in Aidan and Toddlerhood. 2 Comments

I moved to Seattle 15 years ago.  (Yikes!  I’m getting old)  I came out here after graduating from college and thought this was a great city.  In many ways, it is.  The job market is still good (even in the face of a recession), the average person here is more educated than in most places, it is in a blue state (oops…did I just reveal too much of myself?), and when it is sunny here there is no place I have ever been in the US that is more beautiful.  But here is the key phrase in that last sentence…. “when it is sunny here”.

The weather here largely sucks.  It isn’t just the rain.  It is the constant lack of sun that hurts so bad.  It makes even lily white Norwegians like myself go searching for tanning beds to spend a scant few minutes in to have the illusion of sun.

I really realized just how infrequently the sun appears when at Little Gym with Aidan last week.  At the end of class, the teacher always stamps the kids’ hands and feet with a different stamp.  Last week it was a yellow sun.

My son is a really smart cookie.  He knows words that would floor you.  (Like hippopotamus…it is crazy)  He knows pretty much every weather condition and constellation.  For example, he knows:  moon, stars, rainbow, windy, clouds, sky, rain, snow, and hail.  Yes…he knows what hail is.  But he was at a loss when he saw the sun stamp.  He looked at me with a confused face, crinkled up his nose, and said questioningly (like he knew it was wrong)….”Moon???”

 I smiled down at him and chuckled to myself.  I vowed that the next day the sun came out we were going to cover that.  I am still waiting.  :-)

Monsters in the potty!

Published on June 2, 2008 in Aidan, Parenting and Toddlerhood. 1 Comment

This is the recurring theme of the last few days.  This must be about the age that kids’ imaginations really start to go wild.  I guess it is a good sign that we are hearing lots of stuff about him being scared of monsters in the potty.  At least his imagination is working.  ;-) 

I have seen a LOT more pretend play in Aidan lately.  Last week his Fisher Price Little People farmer was milking the cow and combing the sheep’s hair.  So I carried the idea onto the other farm animals.  We had the farmer ride the horse and went up to get eggs from the rooster (yes…I know roosters don’t lay eggs, but he is only 2 1/2…cut the boy a break!).  Then we got to the pig.  I paused and chuckled to myself.  What to tell him about the pig?  So we did half the story…the farmer fed the pig.  He doesn’t need all the details quite yet!  :-)

He is also showing every possible sign of potty training readiness except lack of fear.  He has had very verbose expressions of fear about the potty over the last 2 weeks so we are just backing off and letting him decide.  Last night he came running out of his bedroom crying and telling us of his bad dream about the monsters in the potty.  He declared, “I scared of the potty.  Monsters in the potty.” 

Awww…poor little man.  Time for some snuggles on Daddy.  He will keep you safe, bub.

IMG_4825
The boy had a nightmare
Daddy is here to protect him

The food police

Published on June 2, 2008 in Aidan and Prematurity. 3 Comments

I have a bunch of thoughts swimming in my head about preemies with feeding issues and really just want to get some of them off my chest.  If this seems a little disjointed…you were warned.  :-)  Compared with a lot of our other preemie pals, Aidan’s feeding issues really look mild.  But this is really the one area that Aidan is still a bit “behind” in for his actual age.  I had really come to a place of peace about the feeding stuff until I recently had several different people make inquiries about something having to do with Aidan and food and it got me thinking and riled me up a bit.

So…some background.  Aidan is a former 28 weeker, vented for 7 weeks.  Came home appearing to have no oral aversions and did well bottle feeding.  Right around the time I started trying purees and cereal, he immediately began having gagging issues with the solids.  I presumed it was just new to him and plowed through.  But I became concerned as I began reading more and more on the preemie groups how common feeding issues were.  I asked for a referral to a feeding therapist when Aidan was about 1 year actual/9 months adjusted.  Aidan was vomiting on me anywhere from 4-6 times a day.  The sheer amount of time spent feeding and refeeding was enough to make most people lose their sanity.

My thoughts about his gagging and aversions were confirmed by the therapist.  During the time we were in feeding therapy, Aidan also began developing an aversion to his bottles.  I think the stress of the gagging and aversions were spilling over into something he had always done well.  As he began to make progress with crunchy foods (cheerios, crackers, etc), I decided to switch him to whole milk and sippy cups.  This actually worked!  I think the fact that a new container held his new kind of milk was really a nice mental clean slate for him. 

 The feeding therapist began having me try crunchy combinations such as really crispy grilled cheese sandwich and things of that sort.  About 3-4 months after beginning feeding therapy, Aidan was on the right track and we were discharged.  Things were slow going and he was still getting a lot of his calories from milk and purees.  But Aidan’s growth has always been great, so his pediatrician was ok with what we were doing.

A few months later, Aidan decided that macaroni and cheese could be added to the menu.  This was a HUGE leap, because it added a lot of calories to his diet.  Still I fed purees at least once a day until Aidan was almost 2.  Yikes, huh?  Thank goodness Aidan has always done very well with yogurt and cheese, so calorically we haven’t been very challenged.  But it wasn’t until about age 2 that he stopped doing the occasional gag.  The chance that he could gag not only worried me, but it made it hard to want to try to new things and create a new aversion.

I followed the central piece of advice of our feeding therapist throughout it all.  She advised me that our relationship with food is intricate, delicate, and lifelong.  That I should really try to foster the best relationship possible with it for Aidan.  If this meant that his diet was very narrow for a while, so be it.  So I started giving him great vitamins (Nordic Naturals Berries) that gave him all of the vitamins he might not be getting through food and added a 3-6-9 omega in for good measure.

Aidan is thriving.  He is closing in on 40″ tall and 34 pounds at 33 months actual/30 months adjusted.  He is at about the 50th percentile for weight and 97th or better for height.  We have been doing something right!  Aidan’s relationship with food is a good one.  He has a narrow food menu, but I hadn’t given it a lot of thought in a while.

Recently, my MIL asked me about his diet while she was here.  (Paula, if you’re reading this….I know you meant well…no worries!)  She said she noticed I hadn’t fed Aidan any vegetables.  You know…I immediately felt defensive and went back to this scared space where I wondered if I was doing this feeding issue thing right.  I told her that for a while it was hard to get him to eat *anything* and that I was focusing on that first and foremost.  But this inner being inside me (the one still scarred with PTSD from a premature birth, feeding issues, etc) wanted to ask her if she knew what it was like to watch a child gag on everything you fed him.  What it was like to have him vomit the entire meal you had just fed him on you?  To know that if you couldn’t overcome this somehow that you might need to resort to a g tube or inpatient feeding therapy?  I wanted to be recognized for patiently feeding and refeeding a child who vomited on me for 6 months straight.  I know my MIL really doesn’t understand the feeding issue…nor should she.  I think this is the central problem.

Parents that have kids with feeding issues are off on an island.  Everybody else has great ideas about how you should be doing it, but they’ve never been out there with us on that island trying to feed our kid.  I can’t tell you how many times I had somebody watch me making Aidan consume a certain volume of food and comment, “Kids will eat when they are hungry.”  Really?  Because I know a bunch who won’t.  I know a bunch who would starve first. 

I was even concerned about Aidan’s hunger drive for a while.  I wondered if spending weeks and weeks on continuous feeds via NG in the NICU messed up his hunger drive.  It is really just in the last couple of months that Aidan will tell me he is hungry.  Yay…another victory!

But here comes my big question.  How do you know when to give your kid a little push?  Recently he has tried some things he would never have eaten before.  He is now eating cheeseburger, turkey or ham and cheese sandwiches, egg scrambles with meat and some chopped veggies, and even asked me for a bite of my halibut the other night.  Is it time to start pushing more veggies?  And how does a mom who is a picky eater herself feed veggies she doesn’t like?  Do I start by trying something new once a week? 

He now has all his 2 year molars in and is much more adept and chewing.  He could never eat meats like deli ham or turkey before and now he has one of the two kind of sandwiches for lunch almost every day. 

I really want to abide by the central tenet from our feeding therapist (who is many ways saved my sanity way back when) and make sure Aidan has a good relationship with food.  I fear that I was so scarred by the months of gagging and vomiting that I don’t know how to make neutral choices about this.  It has been weeks since I heard even the slightest gag from Aidan and months since a vomit.  But I am scarred enough that to this day, if Aidan gagged on the other side of the house, I would probably hear it and feel that same sense of panic come rushing back. 

Help me out, readers.