Dougie knows how to pick up food using a pincer grasp (using his thumb and index finger) but he hasn’t learned to then put it his own mouth. He has learned to put it in our mouths.
We’re hoping that this means he’ll learn to feed himself soon. That’ll make dinners a lot easier.
It’s been our first weekend home in a while. It was sure nice to be around. We had a bunch of things to do but we ignored the list most of the weekend. Instead, we did family things around town and relaxed. Everyone seems to have a cold so we all worked on getting over those.
On Saturday, we took Dougie to the Butterfly Flutterby. It’s a festival that celebrates the passing of the monarch butterfly through the area as it migrates to Mexico for the winter. It was a lot larger than we expected. All the kids dress up like butterflies so it is very cute. Dougie, of course, dressed up. So we, of course, took pictures.
On Sunday morning, we packed ourselves up and went out to Flower Mound to go to the “good” pumpkin patch. It was certainly worth the drive. It was much more impressive than the local one. There were a lot of activities that were much too old for Dougie but I’m sure he’s going to love it in a few years. The best part was that all the activities were free. We spent about an hour there and then came home.
Sssh, don’t tell him this is really his second pumpkin patch
On Friday, we took Dougie back into the doctor to get his blood checked again. He wanted to be sure that the iron was making enough improvement. On Saturday, they called with the results. His iron levels had jumped 3 points! The doctor told us we had to have a 1 point jump or Dougie would have to go to a specialist. Three points puts him just 0.2 points below a normal range. The doctor was thrilled with his progress, as were we. So, he needs to stay on the iron another month and then we’re going to get him checked again. Assuming he’s leveled off and in a normal range, then he’ll be on iron for at least another month or two and then he can stop it. One more check a month after he stops will be sure that his levels are remaining in the normal range and then we can rest easy. It’s still a long road but at least we know that we’re going in the right direction.
Since we were out in Alberta, we thought it would be a good idea to take the short flight over to BC to visit Scott’s parents as well. We’ve been wanting to bring Dougie out there to see them so this worked out perfectly.
I arrived a few days before Scott so everyone could have some extra Dougie time. He took full advantage of his time and got to know Grandma and Grandpa better as well as enjoying a bit of play time.
Playing in the tunnel
Playing with Grandpa
Hanging with Grandma
So many new toys
You’d be amazed how much noise he can make with this
Scott got up there a bit late because of a variety of airplane troubles. We were glad he made it though. Dougie enjoying having time with Daddy as well as his parents.
Aunt Judy even came by to meet little Dougie. He warmed up to her quite quickly and sure enjoyed her visit.
We even managed to get a few family pictures.
Our trip back was rather uneventful. It was a long flight and Dougie was up for most of it so that made it somewhat difficult. At one point, one of the flight attendants came and took him for a while. When he came back, he had a present she gave him.
I’m not sure exactly how it happened but everyone seemed to think it was funny that it was his favorite thing to play with.
Dougie started eating better while we were away. We are so excited. One of his top teeth is in and the other is just starting to break the gum now. He still won’t take anything off a spoon but he’s certainly eating hard foods a lot better. Hopefully, we’re turning a corner here and Dougie’s eating problems will be in the past.
My sister, Laurie, invited the entire family out to her farm for Canadian Thanksgiving. What a great treat! We decided it would be a wonderful opportunity to see everyone so we packed up the family and headed out to Alberta.
What a fabulous time! Laurie, as usual, out did herself on the food and the hospitality. She was very accommodating of my restricted diet. We spent the first few days hanging out at the farm while Mom and Dad were there and Lesley and Sean came up from Edmonton. By Monday, it was just Laurie’s family and Dougie and I left. We toured the area and then headed to Calgary for the last day. I was so glad that Dougie was able to see everyone and meet a few new relatives.
We took a ton of pictures. Here is a small sampling:
Uncle Glen and Dougie
Dougie and Auntie Lou
Playing with Cousin Molly
Uncle Glen, Dougie, Cousin Dale and Grandpa
The whole family at Thanksgiving
Dougie with Grandma and Grandpa
Dougie and Auntie Lesley
Cousin Sean and Dougie
Dougie Dressed for Calgary Weather (thanks Auntie Lou)
Ready for more outside fun
Playing in the leaves with Cousin Molly
We got the results of Dougie’s anemia test. Unfortunately, it turns out that he has it. The doctor called this morning and said that he had a hemoglobin value of 7.6 g/dL. Normal is 12 and the lowest they would allow is 10. He’s considered to have moderate to severe anemia (severe starts at < 6 g/dL). So, he has called in prescription of iron medication that we'll start to try to get his levels back up. We have to go back in 2 weeks to get his blood rechecked to ensure that the drops are making enough difference.
We’re obviously concerned about him. Prolonged anemia can have lasting effects on growth and development. Apparently, sometimes, any anemia can have negative effects but the study done that proves that was quite small and I’m trying not to think about it.
Dougie went to the doctor today for his 9 month visit. He’s not as big as last time. In truth, I thought perhaps they had mis-measured him last time so we’re not overly concerned about the lack of height growth.
Stats:
They did a blood test to check for anemia. That is standard at 9 months so there was no particular concern. We had wondered if he was low on iron though so I’m anxious for the test results.
We talked to the doctor about Dougie’s eating strikes while he’s teething and he said that it was totally normal. That sure was a relief. He said lots of kids do it and they can go on for months. So, though not idea, we’re okay there. He said that we should start trying to get Dougie to eat some of the same foods as we are and that hopefully, that will encourage him to eat a little.
The doctor indicated that Dougie has separation anxiety. That’s totally normal at his age though he did comment that it peaks at 1 and Dougie is already showing a lot of it. Just something to look forward to. This combined with his newly found stranger awareness makes for some difficult moments though he does seem to warm up to people quite quickly.
We got Dougie’s next Hib vaccine and decided to get him a Flu shot as well. The doctor said that at minimum, it will reduce flu symptoms if he does end up getting the flu and likely it should help prevent him from getting it at all. We have to go back in 30 days for a follow up on the flu vaccine otherwise, nothing until he’s a year.
It’s hard being a baby.
The pumpkin patch near our house opened yesterday. We decided we’d go today so we could get some pictures and do the pumpkin thing before it got too busy. It was a bit smaller than we were expecting so we didn’t stay long but we did get some great pictures.
As you can see, it’s still very hot here so it was hard to get into the fall spirit. There is a bigger patch that we’re planning to go to when we get back from Canada.
We’re still on a quest to get Dougie to eat better. We’ve managed to get him to eat some Puffs and Cheerios but he has still be turning his nose up at “food”. So, yesterday, I tried again. He ate three spoons of Shepherd’s pie. The issue appeared to be that he wanted more self involvement in the feeding. So, we bought some new dishes and spoons that would let him try things himself. Tonight, he did:
Don’t ask how much actually got in him, but some did. And we both had fun. Hopefully, he’ll get better at this soon.
We went back to Dougie’s GI yesterday. The entire appointment was good news. He said that Dougie appears to be doing very well on the diet. He wants us to start backing off the Prevacid to see if we can get Dougie off it. That would certainly be great! He also wants us to go to an allergist when Dougie is 11 1/2 months. He said by then he will likely have out grown the allergy but he wants to be sure instead of just experimenting. The 1/2 month before his birthday is to make sure if the allergy is gone, he can have cake and milk for his birthday. A thoughtful if not totally medical reason. If Dougie hasn’t outgrown it, we’ll re-test in 6 months.
So, we continue on the restricted diet for now but clearly it’s working which makes me feel better about all the trouble.