Out of the Mouths of Babes

Setting: Bedtime
Me: Good night, Truman. (both signed and spoken)
Truman: Good night, Mama. (both signed and spoken)
Me: I Love You.
Truman: Shut door.

****

Setting: Getting dressed into pajamas on the changing table
Me: Do you think Mama's baby is a boy or girl?
Truman: (Lifts my shirt and looks into my belly button) Girl.

****

Setting: Bedtime
Me: I Love You, Truman.
Truman Signs: Love You
Truman Says: Too.

Truman has an announcement

Truman is proud to announce that he is going to be a big brother. His brother or sister is due April 27. We had our first sonogram yesterday. The baby has a strong heartbeat at 168 bpm (looking for anything above 100 at this point) and is currently measuring 6 days ahead.

This will be a long (hopefully), carefully monitored pregnancy. Of particular importance for any pregnancy I have is that my cervical measurement looks good at 4.3. We want to stay above 2.5. The fun begins on October 13 when I have the cerclage procedure. Super intense monitoring will begin in November when I reach the danger zone for IC.

Can't we be done with this?

We're back on a very bad run in the meal department. Truman is back to refusing to eat at almost every meal and throwing up multiple times in a day. Bleh! We started a new group feeding therapy program at Callier last Friday, but the first day was orientation. They really get started this Friday. Maybe they are finally the ones to work miracles. Heaven knows all three of us are really tired of this.

Beach Trip

We went to Corpus Christi over Labor Day to visit my sister and her family. Truman had lots of fun with his big cousins. We enjoyed a day at the beach during our trip.

"Truman is so verbal."

That's a statement I never expected to hear, but that's what one of his teachers told me during a recent drop-off. :)

That deserves some excited boy and Mama photos.

Pre-school

Truman started pre-school on August 24 and officially loves it. He is very happy to go to school every day and talks about it when he's not there. I love his teachers. They are so open with communication and seem to get little kids.

One day, I watched Truman through the window after I dropped him off. One of the aides helped him put up his backpack and then he went straight to a table on his own and sat down and worked a puzzle. He was clearly quite happy.

There are 12 kids in his class. Only one of them is a girl, but she is clearly Truman's favorite. When asked about his friends, the only one Truman talks about is "Ona" (Leona). His teachers say he pulls his seat next to hers during circle time.

They say he does well during circle time and pays attention with the right peer pressure from the others.

So far, I received the following e-mail comments about Truman from his teachers (among other discussion about figuring out what he can and can't have at snack time): "Truman has been a delightful addition to our class. We love seeing such enthusiasm!" (from one teacher). "Truman is a delight to have in our classroom. He has a happy disposition and plenty of energy to share with all of us." (from the other teacher) .

3-Year Check-Up

CURRENT STATS

WEIGHT 24 lbs, 12.5 ounces (<0%)

HEIGHT 32.5 inches (<0%)

The doctor was very pleased with Truman's progress over the last few months. He confided that he was getting very worried about the speech and not sure what direction to go in, but seems very happy with what we're seeing. He tested a bunch of other cognitive skills and was very happy with the results. Gross motor is still delayed, but not dramatically so.

He was also very happy with the weight gain because for the first time in a very long time (maybe a year), Truman's weight moved closer to the standard charts rather than away from him. His height, on the other hand, is a different story. He really should be taller by now. The doc said that based on a number of studies, extreme preemies who haven't caught up more on height by three are not going to catch up. They've told us that was likely before, but the doc based on his current height and growth curve, he will be lucky to reach 5 feet. That makes me so sad. That is going to be so hard for a boy to be that short.

The doc is also concerned we haven't seen more progress with developmental eating, but pleased that there is less vomit (which means more growth). We told him we are trying a new group feeding therapy starting September 4 (at the same place where the speech preschool was), and he couldn't recommend a better option.

You can tell our MD is very proud of Truman. He was his patient since he was in the feeder/grower side of NICU, and he sees Truman as one of his success stories. He often transfers his patients to another doctor once they reach three, but he said he wanted to keep Truman for as long as we wanted. We were very happy because we like having Truman with a neonatal specialist and someone who knows his history.

In the photo to the left above, Truman is signing jump and asking where the bounce house that was out front the day before went. In the photo to the right, he is playing with his new favorite toys from his birthday.