Team Truman Update

I've learned that Team Truman was the 7th highest fundraising family team in Dallas last year for the March of Dimes March for Babies, but drumroll please ... we're currently in first place for Dallas for 2010. Here's the Dallas Family Teams blog where you can see the stats: http://www.marchforbabiesfamilyteams.blogspot.com/.


If you still haven't had a chance to support Team Truman as a walker or a donor and you'd like to, here's the link to my page where you can do so: http://www.marchforbabies.org/kaltenbaumer

His father's child

Earlier today, I was listening to Bon Jovi in the kitchen while I made lunch. Truman kept coming in and saying "Tru loves Mama" and pointing at the iPod. Turns out it was his effort to get me to turn off the iPod so that Daddy could turn back on the John Williams CD from earlier in the day.

Awesome Weight Gain!

Between August and November, Truman gained 3.5 ounces. Between November and today, Truman gained 1 lb, 10.5 ounces. It was so much, I made them re-do it on the other scale because I didn't believe it, but he now weighs 26 lbs, 10.5 ounces.

He's also 35 inches tall now, which means he grew another inch during that time period as well.

OT Graduation On the Horizon

Truman's occupational therapist told Ben on Tuesday that Truman is almost caught up to his peers in terms of occupational (fine motor) skills. She thinks that after his upcoming evaluation, he may graduate from OT. This is huge. He's been in OT since before he left the NICU.

A foot of snow in Dallas!

Below are pictures from the biggest-ever snowfall in Dallas. These are when about 7 inches had fallen. Another 5.5 inches fell before it was over. Truman wasn't a big fan of the falling snow, but we spent a lot of time playing in the yard the next day once the full snowfall had finished. We even made scooped snow off our diving board and made snow ice cream.

Oral Surgery Update

Truman had his oral surgery yesterday. They put him to sleep in order to remove his abcessed tooth, clean out the infection, and then build and install a spacer/bridge. He was out for about an hour and a half because of the time it takes to build the cast for the false tooth and to create and install the apparatus. He now has an infection-free mouth and a false tooth wired in. The tooth is wired to his back, so he now has a wire all the way around the inside of his top teeth.

The dentist said it was a really bad abcess and that they had to dig a pretty deep hole in his gums to get all the infection out.

He was a bit groggy most of yesterday afternoon and had a lot of bloody drool all day. At one point, we left him watch Mr. Rogers. His response, "Uh Oh, two Rogers." He had a similar reaction to seeing two Daddys. Once we let him get up and move around, he seemed to enjoy the stumbling feeling and all the falling down. He kept laughing at himself. He had a bit of a rough night sleeping. We kept him home from school so that he could sleep in as late as he needed after his rough night. Today, he seems fine.

He's having a lot of trouble talking and has made references to having funny teeth. I think it may take him a while to get used to the wire in, but I think in time, it won't be noticeable and he'll get back to his prior speech level. I think that's how most people feel about braces and retainers and stuff, but not having ever had anything orthodontic, I wouldn't know.

While they had him asleep and while the apparatus was being built, they did a thorough cleaning and did full X-rays. They said his teeth look great otherwise and are showing no signs of decay -- which is great both from a preemie perspective and because of the gene I contributed for really cavity-prone teeth. The dentist said we could wait another two years before another set of X-rays.