This is Feeding Therapy

2 Years Old Checking In

Looks who's two

David turned two so I thought it would be a good time to get on here and update anyone who still follows my blog.  We are busy with our regular lives.  Probably not the same regular as some of you, but our regular.  Mom and Dad work Zac is in Kindergarten and David goes to a regular Daycare. 

After surgery for tonsil and adenoid removal

Lets start with David's health.  This winter was amazingly easy compared to last year.  He was rarely sick and when he was it was for just a few days like a regular cold.  What a change a repaired heart makes.  We have not gone to the pulmonologist at all since David's heart surgery.  His last cardiology appointment was confusing so we will just follow up in 6 months and see what is really happening over time.  We experienced our first sleep study which was awful.  David screamed for the first two hours and they didn't even put all of the leads on him until he finally fell asleep.  The results were central and obstructive sleep apnea. 

This led to David having his tonsils and adenoids removed while getting new ear tubes (his others had displaced) and a sedated hearing test. The good news is he passed his hearing test even though previously we were told he had permanant hearing loss.  Another common down syndrome thing is the canals are so small that even doing the sedated test that tests brain response can be incorrect due to the small ear canal size.  Also the ENT thinks his ear canals have grown considerably and this could be our last set of tubes, but only time will tell.  The tonsil and adenoid recovery was terrible.  He signed "hurt" and pointed to his throat, at least we know he can communicate pretty effectively when necessary.  We are now four weeks out and fully healed but it was a lot of sleepless nights. 

Phoenix Childrens Hospital

Eating still is not happening.  Part of the tonsil removal is hoping it will help with swallowing and speech.  We will see if his eating improves in the next couple of months.  He is still 100 percent tube fed.  Although he tastes foods and puts some food in his mouth he does not consume enough to count as any calorie intake.  He gags on swallowing the smallest bite.

Trying the icing

Speech is minimal.  I would say his words are dada, mama, dog, Zac, ball, hi, and bye (and I swear SpongeBob).  He makes lots of animal sounds, his roar is adorable.  Signing has seen the biggest improvement.  We don't realize it until we are talking and he signs the correct word when he hears it.  He also signs while looking at books or the newspaper or while out in the stroller.  I think he has 40 to 50 signs in his array.  We have ordered more Signing Times DVD's to add to his vocabulary and ours.  It makes me sad to think of how in the old days before sign language people would have just assumed he was not very smart because he could not talk.  When you see him point to his shoes and sign the word or sign ball and then throw you the ball it makes your heart melt (you say to youself, he gets it).  Speaking will come in time and we speak and sign to him and encourage his words as well. 

Watching Signing Times

Walking...will we ever get there.  He is making huge improvements.  He can walk holding one of our hands.  He is starting to stand in the middle of the room for a few seconds.  He can take a few steps.  He crusises like crazy, rearranging the furniture to move throughout the kitchen.  He can even cruise a flat wall.  He recently got SMO shoe inserts that go up over his ankles.  He doesn't mind them and wears them every day.  He still does not crawl.  His mode of transport is a butt scoot and he is super fast.  He goes right out the doggie door in fact, across the landscaping rock, to the grass.  He is an escape artist already.  He is also a super climber.  He loves to get into chairs and slide on them.  He just learned how to climb on to the couch which is amazing based on his small stature.

Our favorite family outings are to the zoo, as that is our thing.  David loves animals at the petting zoo and loves to make animal sounds.  We even bought the Signing Times videos for farm and zoo animals to encourage his love of animals.  Zac has always been an animal lover and Steve and I were known to go to the zoo numerous times even before we had kids.  He grew up going to the San Diego Zoo and I grew up going to the Toledo Zoo, both great zoos although one is a tad bit more amazing than the other. We go to the Phoenix Zoo (we are members).  The picture below was taken at another regional park called Bearizona. 

Petting A Goat