17 month well (or not so well) check-up

Harrison visited with Dr. Gerhard today, his primary physician who I absolutely love; he has followed Harrison since the day he left the NICU.

I'll start off with the good news of the appointment because who really wants to hear the bad news first...right?

Catch up growth is awesome! I repeat AWESOME! Since his last well baby check up three months ago Harrison has grown 3/4 of an inch, that's huge! He now measures almost 30.5 inches long. This makes him in the 10 % for his height comparing him to other 17 month olds. Dr. Gerhard was very pleased with this as so was I. He said, "Wow he just looks so long." If you can remember Harrison has been in kind of a lull from growth since October, not outgrowing any clothes since then (and not giving mom and excuse to go shopping)!  I am prepared for a shift in clothing as we just filled his 5th tote full of winter/too small clothing. Weight-wise Harrison is doing phenomenal as well. He tipped the scale at 21 lbs 3 ounces---another good weight gain. He is at the 3rd percentile for his weight.

Dr. Gerhard was also pleased with Harrison's mobility, coordination and balance, another plus. Wow, this appointment sounds great...right?

Well here comes the not so good news...

I got a call from daycare yesterday that Harrison was running a fever of 103.1. I picked him up from daycare and he did not look like the same boy I dropped off their just hours before. He face was flushed and his eyes just read, "sick". I picked him up and he was just burning up and was lethargic. Later on in the evening Harrison spiked a fever of 103.9. This is 7 days after starting an antibiotic to help clear up the ear infection he has had for more than 3 weeks.

As the night went on and on and on and on and on and on....Yes, it was by far the longest night we have ever had since bringing Harrison home from the hospital. There was no consoling him. He would only sleep on you for 15 minute increments before waking up crying. Needless to say I was up to watch the Royal Wedding Live at 4 am and I hadn't even intended on watching it. Turns out it was not as spectacular as people made this out to be....just a regular wedding with a larger audience than most. But anyways back to Harrison. His well baby check-up was already scheduled for today so we addressed his fever (which has yet to break). The infection from the right ear has cleared, but a infection in the left ear is still very present. Since yesterday Harrison has developed a cough and with listening to his lungs, they are not clear, which means he is also dealing with an upper respiratory infection that is most likely viral, but it's also his concern is that this could possibly turn into pneumonia again. The doctor said, "this doesn't sound like a pneumonia yet, but this antibiotic for his ear will hopefully protect his lungs against another round of pneumonia." The problem is once you have had pneumonia, you are susceptible to get it again and again.

Great news right?

It gets better....now the vomiting has started this afternoon. With every and I mean every illness comes vomiting...it's the true Hallmark sign that he is really sick. I just hate it....not only do we have to worry about infection but also dehydration. When it rains, it pours here.

Harrison is now on a very potent antibiotic which should help clear this ear infection once and for all and in a few days have our little boy back. I sure hope so. I spoke to his doctor about all of these infections and the possibility of this being something more serious like an immune disorder... He said, he can't deny, Harrison has been very sick, many times, but immune disorders don't result in just ear infections, vomiting and colds.....these infections usually are rare, not common infections. However if this antibiotic doesn't clear up his infection, they are going to have to dig deeper to find out what is going on.

Dr. Gerhard said, "it's been a hard winter and with a preemie, this has especially been hard because of his immature immune system." Hopefully spring will come soon and we can forget about all of this.

17 Months

We have a rambunctious17 month old. Go, go, go a million miles and hours from sun up to sun down.

I can't believe how much has changed in the last month, it's so exciting to watch.

Walking is Harrison means of transportation these days...he rarely crawls anymore unless he is going up stairs. He has a fascination with boxes. He loves to get into them, but can't quite figure out how to get back out of them. Watching him move about the house is pure entertainment. He loves to chase the kitties, he gets down on his hands and knees and looks under our bed an his crib in search of them. Harrison has yet to learn "gentle" with the kitties (I don't think their tails are a good teaching tool). Whitney dog has it a little better than the kitties. It's Harrison job (with the help of mom) to feed Whitney. He also LOVES to give her treats. I have to say it's pretty priceless to watch him play fetch with her as they both fight over a squeaky tennis ball.

I am seeing just how positive routines are. The structure is helping Harrison to learn. He understands we get dressed first thing in the morning, after his bath he brushes teeth and hair, after a diaper change, he puts the dirty diaper in the trash can and etc. The communication and understanding is blossoming rapidly. Harrison vocabulary is still very limited to ma ma, uh oh, ya, hello, & bye bye. However he is using body language and gestures to make his wants and needs known. For example when he sees his snacks on the counter he will tug at my leg and point up towards the snacks. The same for after bath time he will walk to the sink and point up at the tooth brush and open and close his hand. This is his way of letting us know he wants something. We continue to work on signs such as "all done" which he can sign about 50% of the time and other signs such as "please." I researched online that age of 18 months a toddler learns the meaning of one new word for every 2 waking hours. That's pretty amazing; I guess it's true they say that children's brains are like sponges.

He is so smart. Harrison knows exactly where the ball pit is at daddy's store. Today while we were at Target we passed the ball pit there and Harrison pointed up to them and said, "oh, oh, oh" with a mouth full of pretzels (one of his favorite foods). Speaking of shopping, I would like to say that Harrison is getting better at shopping...but that is not the case, in fact with his increasing mobility it's actually the most difficult that it has ever been. I am a fan of bribery to make it through our few shopping trips. One lady commented during our shopping trip tonight that I have my hands full, yes, yes we do. I am thankful for successful car rides and shopping trips. Today was a successful day (yeah).

Harrison has taken interest in television. We watch Sesame Street on the weekends in our pajamas and share Lucky Charms on the couch. This past weekend I caught Harrison giggling out loud at Big Bird. But what he really prefers is music. He LOVES it! If I say the word "dance" he will head out to the living room and stand in front of the t.v. He starts dancing before I can even start the CD. I got a report from daycare today that he was doing a lot of moving and grooving to the music.

Food, it's good thing. Harrison is not a picky eater, in fact he still will eat baby food, which many toddlers won't at his age. All this good eating is good news. I actually am beginning to think he is finally starting to grow again. He has outgrown most of his 6-12 months tees (though he still wears 9 months and 6-12 month onesies). Doug and I are thinking he must be 30 inches long and between 21-23 pounds. He has an appointment with his primary physician on Friday morning in which he will get weighed and measured. I am going to talk to the doctor about adding a multi-vitamin and his thoughts on it. The most recent information out of vitamins says if you eat healthy, you really don't need a vitamin.

Harrison is fascinated by pea gravel and sand. At the park he will sprawl out in the pea gravel to the point it looks like he is swimming in it. Just today we purchased Harrison's castle sand box. I can't wait for the weather to cooperate to get him out in it.

Separation anxiety is happening. Harrison has never went through a bout of separation anxiety until recently. Some days are better than others. The biggest change I have seen is fear of strangers. Harrison loves to people watch, but if a stranger talks to him (especially guys) he wants nothing to do with them and he can usually be found clinging to our legs. He also takes longer to warm up when he goes to daycare...I usually have to hand him off to a staff member as opposed to coaxing him into playing while I sign him in and say my goodbyes.

Temper tantrums are daily. Yes, daily. But with the last month of practice we are getting better at managing them. The best tactic for Harrison right now is letting him cry it out, ignore him. By ignoring him, we are not rewarding him for his unwanted behavior. He is too young for time outs. The earliest they say to start is 18 months, but most still can't gasp a time out at 18 months.

Sleep...Sleep is good, very good. However sleep for Harrison is not so good right now. He started waking up at night again over the past week. We don't know if it's due to his ears, teeth or what it is. We usually let him cry it out, he doesn't usually cry for more than a few minutes and goes back to sleep. Another change with sleep is bedtime. Most nights Harrison is up until 8:30 pm and wakes up by 6 am. His naps during the week at daycare are short, one in the morning, one in the early afternoon. At home, Harrison usually naps 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon. He needs his two naps, if he doesn't get them you can expect a hectic evening. Some evenings we drive around after running errands because Harrison has fallen asleep and we don't want to wake him up. If I have learned anything from parenting, "You never wake up a sleeping baby."

Like I mentioned earlier, but it's worth repeating, "Harrison is so smart." Tonight while we were reading "All About Corduroy," he pointed to the Corduroy bear on each page. I was in aw. Puzzles are also something he enjoys. Though it's not expected at his age that he would be able to put a puzzle together, he does a good job taking off all the pieces and then lying them back down on the puzzle. He understand the concept. This goes the same for scribbling and drawing with chalk. And you know Harrison enjoys finger painting.

Here are some other fun stuff

-He imitates coughing
-He laughs at his own gases
-He holds a spoon in his right hand and scoops food into his mouth with his left hand (who needs a spoon?)
-He likes to pick up messes, the other day he spilled Whitney's cup of dog food and picked up every piece and put them back in the cup
-He is a Linus, if we would let him carry his blanket everywhere with him, he would
-His favorite toy is a plastic rake which he uses to rake the driveway
-He knows how to blow his nose (he has had enough practice being sick)
-Tooth number 8 is trying to make an appearance---it's an upper right molar, his first one!
-He gives kisses and hugs without being asked
-He still wears size 3 diapers (I wish I would have put this size on our baby shower registry). I heard on the news today that Pampers diapers will be going up $3 more for every 100 diapers, Huggies raised their prices last month.

Despite the teething we snapped a few cute shots tonight. His shirt was drool soaked with in minutes.

Thank you Coke of Winona for this awesome prop.

17 Months

Unwelcome?

I am trying my best to put my frustration into words in this post.

Daycare in the last week has been anything but blissful. Currently the center is working on transitioning Harrison to the toddler room. By May 28th it is a requirement that he will need to be downstairs in the toddler room. Most babies transition at about 16 months, but with Harrison's prematurity I pushed for him to transition as late as possible. On the May 28th transition Harrison will be 15 months old corrected (which is still one month before they would normally transition a baby).

As part of this transition process they are working to get Harrison down to one nap. What does this mean? Sleep deprivation. Our evenings are challenging, Harrison is overtired, crabby and making the entire night hectic until he finally falls asleep. It's more than obvious that he is not ready for this part of the transition. I am tired of guidelines that say your child should be doing this or that. I am not saying that these guidelines are not good guides, but they don't fit every child. If I have learned anything from having a premature baby, it's that preemie's do things on their own time. Harrison is only 14 months old---he may look older than he is, but he is still developmentally 3 months behind. I have spent the last 16 months trying to convince myself that he should be doing what every other child at his age is doing. But, you know what? I can't change him and pretending he is developmentally older than he is overly frustrating.

The napping is only the beginning of the heap of frustration. For the past week I have been greeted by comments such as, "Harrison is too big for this infant room." Harrison needs to get bit so that he stops biting." "Don't worry, I kept him away from the other children." "Harrison needs to go down to the toddler room." "I isolated him from the other babies, he is too big to be here." (Too big? He is 4 months behind in growth and 3 months behind cognitively).

Okay, yes I am in tears. I am consumed with frustration.

I don't think I have ever felt so unwelcome anywhere. I am beginning to feel that they see Harrison as a burden to the room. I dread picking him up from daycare. I am sad, I don't think they see the same amazing little boy that we do.

I have done nothing but give praises about his daycare since he started there last April. I have even recommended friends to enroll their children there. I used to love this place...I am having second thoughts in the last week. Tonight my Facebook status reads, "I desperately need to be a stay at home mom."


I would give anything to be home with him...anything.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter and happy it was. We started the festivities on Friday evening with dying Easter eggs. This year we were successful unlike last year. My words of advice? Only buy the Paas brand. For something a little different, we tried some glitter ones. By the time the tablets dissolved, Harrison had called it a night. That left Doug and I to get creative with a cold drink in hand.

Here is one of our creations...

On Saturday we visited the Easter bunny...Harrison was thrilled!

 Yes, this was a repeat of Christmas with Santa.

Here is a little more cheerful one

Saturday evening Harrison spent with Grandma while Doug and I went to the evening church service (there is no way to convince Harrison to sit through a 1 hour service). After church Doug and I went out to eat. This was our first "date" in almost 3 months. Things really change when you have an active almost 17 month old to chase after!

Sunday morning Harrison woke to find that the Easter bunny had brought him a kitchen set. I am beginning to think Harrison needs a bigger Easter basket!

After making a mess, we packed up the car and headed to Grandma & Grandpa's for an Easter egg hunt (oh and Easter dinner too).

You get to see a lot of the egg hunt because I couldn't make up my mind in which photos to post.

 Cousins Carter & Cooper...after a dozen photos, I settled on this one being the best one. Seems these boys are much to busy to be bothered by pictures.

 I love these next ones. Pictured: Aunt Kim, Harrison & Cousin Cooper.

Easter dinner is ready, come and get it!

 After dinner, Harrison volunteered to "help" with the dishes.

Help, didn't last long---we were back out enjoying this beautiful day, doing what boys do best---playing in the grass and dirt.

Take note of his little wing to your right, perhaps the beginning of a curl? (Mommy can only hope!)

 A hand off to Grandpa!

 Grandma and her boys!

Oh geez...Is that daddy?

 After a quick skate board lesson, it was on to driving lessons.

 It was a blast watching them cruise around...I couldn't convince Harrison to sit down in the passenger side, so he rode in back with smiles and giggles.  

 Doug also took video that we will certainly post.



Every holiday is special, but some years holidays just have that extra something special; this happened to be Easter this year. I love the pure enjoyment of a toddler picking up Easter eggs on his first hunt, the joy of banging plastic food together on his new kitchen set to the simplicity of just spending time with family.

A special thank you goes out to the grandmas and grandpas and special auntie for filling Harrison's basket full of goodies.

I hope you and your family enjoyed Easter as much as the Kelley Family.