4 year Dr. visit

This morning, B-man went to his primary care dr. for a 4 year-old well check. Last time we went to the dr., it was hard for him (and me). They couldn't even weigh or measure him because he was crying and freaking out. And he really, really wanted out of that office. So I took our senior therapist along for back-up. In what has become typical of B whenever I am worried about how he'll do, he was a complete champ. We opted to leave the stroller in the car and he happily went in to both the main office and the exam room. He followed direction and got his weight and height checked as well as blood pressure, eyes, ears, mouth. He did great and the dr. was impressed. He even repeated her sentence one time.

Here are his stats along with his big brother at 4 (in parentheses)

Weight: 38 lbs, 50-75% (36 lbs, 50-75%)

Height: 42", 75-90% (39 5/8", 25-50%)

BMI: 14.9, 10-25% (16.1, 50-75%)

It would appear that B is going to be Tall like his daddy. He has had a big growth spurt this last year. At big brother's FIVE year check, he was the same weight and 1/2 an inch shorter.

Our primary topic of conversation and concern revolved around B's diet which admittedly is atrocious. Unfortunately, there are no magic solutions. B is so picky and it's difficult to introduce new things. He won't even do a different BRAND much less a new food. But he's healthy, he's growing and there's only so much we can do. We'll keep trying. One day at a time.

It was comical some of the questions the dr. asked. She clearly doesn't know B at all "is he aggressive with his brother?" The kid does not have an aggressive bone in his body. And she seemed shocked that he is potty trained at night and so on track with so many of the physical milestones. She remarked about how calm he acted. He is such a good boy. When I think about all of the challenges we could face with this diagnosis, we are very lucky that he is who he is.  I can handle food and communication challenges. I'm not sure I could handle an aggressive, unhappy kid. Luckily we don't have to.

B-man is FOUR

B turned four yesterday. Since he had a pretty full therapy day, we celebrated on Sunday. We took him for pancakes around 11 but since there was over an hour wait at our usual pancake house, we went to Cheesecake Factory instead. Our insanely picky boy didn't like their pancakes and ate about 2 bites. He was thrilled to be out of the house though so I guess it was still a treat. He had a fun-filled day with lots of trains, lots of presents and cake. Cake for dinner actually since it was a food strike kind of day for him. On the bright side, he totally got into presents this year! He was all the way down in the basement and all I had to say was "do you want to open presents?" and he came running. Boy his receptive language has come a long way!

I'm so proud of how far he has come in the past year but this was a hard birthday for me. I know lots of moms have trouble with birthdays because they want to hold on to their babies. I thought I might be that way since I have always been baby crazy. That hasn't been the case at all for me though. I love each new age and I am excited about the changes and developments at each stage. With B it's different though. The one thing we had on our side was that he was so young when we sought treatment. Early intervention is so critical to outcome and it was always encouraging to hear things like "he's so young - we have no idea how much he'll change in the next year". Yes, 4 is still young but I feel like we're getting out of the window. For some reason, 3.5 stands out in my mind. I had hoped he'd be talking by 3.5. I had hoped he'd be catching up. Instead, the older he gets, the larger and more apparent the developmental gap becomes. I want to keep him young so we have more time. And I want to keep him young because it's just easier. It's still somewhat socially acceptable and manageable for him to act the way he does. It's okay if he doesn't answer adult's questions when we're out (he must be shy) or if he sings at the top of his lungs (so cute) NOW. How will it be when he's older? Four is getting close to school age and we are nowhere near ready. I don't want to discount how far he has come or how much I still believe in him. I just wish we had more time. I didn't expect to feel this way but 4 was hard. Very, very hard.

Still, B's birthday is a cause for celebration. How far he has come in this past year and how proud he makes me every day. He's a little warrior and we are just scratching the surface. Happy Birthday, little man. We love you so.

A few pics. I have video too - I'll upload soon.

No big deal

Once again, B surprised me today. After the circus incident where he had a hard time leaving the comfort of his stroller, we've been working on stroller tolerance. Today, we decided to go to the mall and test it out. Instead of letting B ride along, we put big brother in the stroller. We even broke the stroller down and carried it alongside and B did GREAT! He held my hand or our PCA's hand and walked with NO problem whatsoever. So while we were at it, we tried a couple more things: getting on an escalator (first time ever) and getting his foot measured. Nothing phased him. "No big deal" is our mantra when we challenge this little guy. Today he embodied that in a big way.

This morning, I volunteered at his big brother's school. I was in the 2-year old room. I can't believe how little they are at 2 and how much I've forgotten. It was a little sad to see that some of these kiddos (ok, most of them) are actually ahead of B developmentally. But all in all, it was an enjoyable albeit exhausting morning.

While it was a busy morning, there was a highlight. When we were on the playground, my big guy came out with his class. He was SO excited to see me and SO sweet. When I left, he shouted "I love you, mommy." Even though he was in a huge group of peers. I'll hold on to that... for the days when he is driving me crazy and for the teenage years when the sight of me fills him with embarassment. It warmed my heart.

Bathing in his bday suit

B seemed to be in an especially good mood today. So at bath time, I decided to just go for it and skip the bathing suit. It has been several weeks and the bath has gotten easier but I didn't want him to get dependent on the swimsuit (which is the only way he has willingly taken a bath lately). I took all of his clothes off while he was on our bed and he did cry but he wasn't fighting like he did before. Again, in the tub he cried and cried but he sat right down and I could just tell that he was going to be ok this time. So I waited it out and sure enough he got over it. He even enjoyed it. Actually, he didn't want to get out. Score for mom.  And now that he has done it, there's no going back. At least in my mind. He may disagree.

He also has made amazing progress in potty training in the last week. He went from 8 accidents (all #2 unfortunately) to 1. I think he's getting it. This week, we're going to try to train him not to remove all of his clothes every time he pees. This too will be a battle but we can do it! We also started putting him to bed in underwear. Amazingly enough, he has never had a nighttime accident so it was just our own paranoia keeping him in diapers at night. We are officially DONE buying diapers!!! More money for therapy.

Assessments, haircut, chuck e. cheese and more!

Coming off of a great halloween, we've continued our success this week.  It has been a busy one (aren't they all?). B has been having lots of assessments conducted this week since our next 6 month review is coming up. Things are looking good. He mastered the ELM (stands for early learning measurement, I think)!  That is one that the kiddos in the original Lovaas study had to have mastered by 3.5 years old in order to attain best outcome. We're just behind that but it's still good. He overall has been testing really well all week. It's exciting to watch. He has improved in so many areas and yet still obviously struggles. I watched him scribble circles every time he was asked to imitate drawing a horizontal or vertical line. This despite the fact that we have practiced this for months. He has grown by leaps and bounds though in so many areas. Today, we did the 3rd installment of his video assessment with me. The first one - he cried the entire 30 minutes. Last time, he was much improved but was off in his own world a lot of the time. Today, he complied unbelievably well with playing with me and it was just such an obvious improvement! He is a changed boy.

On wednesday, he had his last afternoon off for a while. We took him for a haircut and he was a total Rock Star with it. So we followed it with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese which he LOVED.  Also this week, we've gone back to a more hard-core approach for potty training since we are struggling with #2. I'm happy to say that he hasn't had an accident since Monday. All in all, a very busy but very great week for us!!  Tomorrow morning, I go to a meeting about funding. I'm not excited to hear what that's all about. Please, please, please don't let anything happen to our funding. This boy NEEDS it and is thriving from it!

Pictures below are post-haircut (she put in product which looked adorable but isn't exactly realistic) and smiling from ear-to-ear at Chuck E. Cheese.