Charlie
Once again I have to say, this has been a BIG week. Some of the highlights of this week as been:
1. You call Joey, "daw-gaw" (sometimes daw-daw) for doggie. I know the "J" is a hard sound to make, so we are pretty impressed. When you see him, you now tend to smile and say "daw-gaw." For the most part, you are petting him nicely.
2. You are continuing to prefect your "motor boat sound." This week you learned how to change the pitch and rate. Plus, you are no longer consistently asking me to do it, you can on your own.
3. You learned to spit. I wouldn't call this a milestone, but it is something you find funny and we are trying to terminate. You do not enjoy us telling you "no" or "koom" (the Amharic word for stop).
4. You finally let us read you a whole story where you smiled when we were done! You also didn't try grabbing the book out of Mom's hands or distract us by pulling hair. (It was Good Night Chicago) Even though you still enjoy making car sounds and "driving" your books around the house. (Such as in the picture on the right. If I get down to your level when you are doing this, you sit up and pose for the camera.)
5. You met with L from TBF for our one month home post visit!!!! She loved you and thought you were absolutely adorable. Plus, I am thinking it helped she has heard a lot about you from your Grandma Kathy and Aunt Kristi at the gym.
6. We changed up your bedtime routine. More on this next week, if it continues to work. . .
Okay, so for the BIG stuff. On Friday, we went to Comer's to see Dr. Gray for the first time. We were supposed to go back on the 16th, but there was a scheduling issue so it was pushed back until yesterday. (In case we never tell you this, Dr. Gray is awesome. He called us from out of country to check in on you while we waited to get you in to see him.) So we got up early to head north to Chicago, your Dad and I were impressed we were out of the door and in the car 2 minutes before we said we were going to be. (Not bad for our first real deadline with time.)
You do not enjoy being taken from your crib when you are asleep. Once in the car, you looked out the window and before long were singing (in your own way) along with the radio. We were not in the car for long before you looked like this.
Traffic wasn't horrible, even when we were in the Chicago area, so we got to the University of Chicago with plenty of time to spare. We looked at the fish in the lobby, stared at the purple monster, learned you do not fit on all restroom changing tables (there were a lot of some whining there), and watched Mom eat a cupcake while you were in your Ergo attached to her. I am thinking you didn't think it was fair. We waited for you to be called back and you made a friend with a little girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Back in your room we had to strip you down to your diaper and they took your height, weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and several other things. (You are 33 inches tall and 27 pounds, plus some ounces.) We had to leave your room for this, but were told we could wrap you up in a blanket. Failure. Why would we have brought your blanket in from the car? So you waited around in your hoodie until you had your initial exam by nurse Linda and we could put clothing back on you.
Dr. Gray thought you were doing awesome considering your referral paperwork and what we told him about our court trip to see you. We talked about some of our concerns and prioritized a couple of them. Once we were done with Dr. Gray, we went to get your blood work taken.
The child life specialist took us back and was there to help us distract you during it. You loved the bubbles and watched some Yo Gabba Gabba. You would look over at your arm here and there and would then go back to the Ipad. They took 11 vials. 11!!!!!!!!!!!!! You didn't cry. You didn't whine. You were called a rock star by the phlebotomist.
The picture above was after your blood was taken. It didn't show up here, but you were smiling. I didn't know if you smiled because a) you were excited about having blood taken b) you were done having blood taken c) your Dad was holding you d) the phlebotomist gave us the idea to get you a milk shake for being a rock star. It could also be a bit of a combination. . .
We headed back to the car and you were quickly clapping and singing. We left Comer's and headed to a great place. Portillo's!!!!!!!!!! We were not in the car too long before you decided a nap would be good. Which was nice, even though it was 1 pm, traffic leaving the city wasn't the best. I am looking forward to taking you up there on the train or the metro in the future. . .
So your Dad and I had debated, do we go in or do we eat in the car. We went in. It wasn't crowded and we needed a break from the car already. (Okay, it had only been a little over an hour since leaving Comer's, but we needed a break.) Once again you showed us how amazing you are, especially for your first real time for leaving the house.
You highly enjoyed, looking around.
Trying a french fry for the first time.
Sharing Mom's chocolate cake shake with her.
We took the smaller camera, which is a lot slower than the big one, so we didn't get the smiles that really were there. We go back to see Dr. Gray in two weeks, so we will stop at Portillo's again. We will also take in your blanket when we are at Comer's.
Love,
Mom
Once again I have to say, this has been a BIG week. Some of the highlights of this week as been:
1. You call Joey, "daw-gaw" (sometimes daw-daw) for doggie. I know the "J" is a hard sound to make, so we are pretty impressed. When you see him, you now tend to smile and say "daw-gaw." For the most part, you are petting him nicely.
2. You are continuing to prefect your "motor boat sound." This week you learned how to change the pitch and rate. Plus, you are no longer consistently asking me to do it, you can on your own.
3. You learned to spit. I wouldn't call this a milestone, but it is something you find funny and we are trying to terminate. You do not enjoy us telling you "no" or "koom" (the Amharic word for stop).
5. You met with L from TBF for our one month home post visit!!!! She loved you and thought you were absolutely adorable. Plus, I am thinking it helped she has heard a lot about you from your Grandma Kathy and Aunt Kristi at the gym.
6. We changed up your bedtime routine. More on this next week, if it continues to work. . .
Okay, so for the BIG stuff. On Friday, we went to Comer's to see Dr. Gray for the first time. We were supposed to go back on the 16th, but there was a scheduling issue so it was pushed back until yesterday. (In case we never tell you this, Dr. Gray is awesome. He called us from out of country to check in on you while we waited to get you in to see him.) So we got up early to head north to Chicago, your Dad and I were impressed we were out of the door and in the car 2 minutes before we said we were going to be. (Not bad for our first real deadline with time.)
You do not enjoy being taken from your crib when you are asleep. Once in the car, you looked out the window and before long were singing (in your own way) along with the radio. We were not in the car for long before you looked like this.
Dr. Gray thought you were doing awesome considering your referral paperwork and what we told him about our court trip to see you. We talked about some of our concerns and prioritized a couple of them. Once we were done with Dr. Gray, we went to get your blood work taken.The child life specialist took us back and was there to help us distract you during it. You loved the bubbles and watched some Yo Gabba Gabba. You would look over at your arm here and there and would then go back to the Ipad. They took 11 vials. 11!!!!!!!!!!!!! You didn't cry. You didn't whine. You were called a rock star by the phlebotomist.
The picture above was after your blood was taken. It didn't show up here, but you were smiling. I didn't know if you smiled because a) you were excited about having blood taken b) you were done having blood taken c) your Dad was holding you d) the phlebotomist gave us the idea to get you a milk shake for being a rock star. It could also be a bit of a combination. . .
We headed back to the car and you were quickly clapping and singing. We left Comer's and headed to a great place. Portillo's!!!!!!!!!! We were not in the car too long before you decided a nap would be good. Which was nice, even though it was 1 pm, traffic leaving the city wasn't the best. I am looking forward to taking you up there on the train or the metro in the future. . .So your Dad and I had debated, do we go in or do we eat in the car. We went in. It wasn't crowded and we needed a break from the car already. (Okay, it had only been a little over an hour since leaving Comer's, but we needed a break.) Once again you showed us how amazing you are, especially for your first real time for leaving the house.
You highly enjoyed, looking around.
Trying a french fry for the first time.
Sharing Mom's chocolate cake shake with her.
We took the smaller camera, which is a lot slower than the big one, so we didn't get the smiles that really were there. We go back to see Dr. Gray in two weeks, so we will stop at Portillo's again. We will also take in your blanket when we are at Comer's.
Love,
Mom
2 comments:
Good job on getting your "spit" on your dad's shirt Charlie! : )
love, aunt Meg
Love it and love hearing of the progress!!
(and love Portillo's!)
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