More Please... thank you! Signing update

Liam is doing excellent at signing and so far has 19 words! His list consists of:

Open, Please, More, All Done, Milk, Eat, Help, Kiss, Drink, Thank you, ball, yogurt (which I made up... I have him tap his nose), apple (applesauce), bird, kitty, 1 more (holds up 1 finger), hat, brushing teeth, washing hands.

We are working on the sign for book (with he confuses with the sign for open), dog, fish and water.

Daycare is still concerned and confronted me again this week. Although I was told that he was probably not going to  be eligible for the birth to 3 program, I am still going to get him evaluated. If he passes the evaluation, at least I can bring it to daycare to prove that he doesn't need extra help. If he fails, Steve and I will then discuss our next step.


I know that he will talk at some point. He does say "ease" while signing please. "Eeee" when signing eat. I swear he says more when signing more (see picture on right). His total word list consists of:
Hi/Bye - he says aye.
Eeee- when he signs eat
Weee, Dow- for when he says, weee down, playing with trains
Choochoo- sound a train makes
He tries to makes the sounds for a duck and bird
Mama
Dada
Pop (sometimes)
Uh-oh- which used to be ut, oh, and now has turned into ohhhh.
DD- DVD
Yea 
YEY!
ish- fish

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20 months old! (almost)

Liam will be 20 months this thursday! This month has gone well except that we are all DONE (mentally) with the snow and are welcoming spring with open arms... 4 weeks away!

As previously stated, daycare was concerned about his speech and so we had a hearing test done on little Liam this morning. He passed and the doctor felt that he wouldn't get accepted into the "birth-to-3" program (which helps babies/toddlers with developmental delays) due to his hearing being fine and the fact that he uses baby signing.

We are thrilled that he passed his hearing test and he has picked up a couple more signs this week. So far he can sign: Open, Please, More, All Done, Milk, Eat, Help and Kiss (which is him blowing a kiss). He does sign Ball when watching his baby babble show but not on his own yet. We are hoping to get him to learn 1-2 new words a week. His pediatrician says that the more words he learns, the less frustrated he will get and that he will develop his speech over time. This past month he also learned two more words: Weeeee (for when he pushes a train down a ramp) and Ee (when he signs eat). He also says Dow for which I think he is saying down but I am not 100% sure.

We have cut down the DVD time to 1 hr a day (~30 minutes in the morning and ~30 when he gets home). I know this is more that what is recommended but it is a start. I will be excited when spring gets here and we can get out of the house more often.

My health is pretty much the same. I still have slight protein still present but much much less than before. I am 100% off of my steroids, which is very exciting! 

The house is coming together. The room that was being worked on since before Christmas (and way before that) is still in progress. We have discovered that the paneling above the fireplace in there is NOT contaminated with lead paint (yey!) and so Steve has been scraping off the awful color, bringing it back to its original wood color.

Below are some photos of events over the month:

Cabin Fever: Drawing on cardboard to pass the time

Playing with the trains at Barnes & Noble

Playing on Thomas at the Mall.

Playing on the flowers and animals in the play court at the Mall.

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19 Months old!

Hello Everyone! I just want to start off this post by saying that I am officially a US citizen! One of the reasons for wanting this now is that I can finally take my husband's last name. I will no longer have to say, "I am so-and-so, mother of William" (since we currently have different last names). On January 17th, I had my interview and passed. They asked me 6 questions:

1. Name two national holidays.

2. What is the supreme law of the land?

3. Who is the Governor of your state now?

4. Who is the father of our country?

5. What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?

6. Where is the statue of liberty?

I was bummed that the ceremony wasn't the same day but the daycare toddlers had made me a really nice sign.

Then on February 7th, two days after my birthday, I had my official ceremony. Steve went with me and I got an official certificate. After the ceremony we went down to the social security office to start the processes of changing my name in EVERYTHING (which we later found out that it takes about 4-6 weeks).

Update on Liam: My wonderful Liam is 19 months old! He is recovering from a cold which transpired from another bout of croup. His cold also turned into a double ear infection again. Due to the antibiotics, we have him in disposable diapers (since he usually gets a yeast infection when on antibiotics and we are trying to avoid a yeast build up in his diapers). Daycare has expressed their concerns about his speech and we looked into getting him evaluated. I plan to start the evaluation processes in May, if things do not improve by then. In the mean time, we are going to get his hearing checked. The pediatrician suspected that he could have some hearing damage due to all the ear infections.

I also recently purchased more clothes for him because his head is too big to fit though some of his shirts as well as his pajamas are too short. He is now officially in 2T clothes. I also got him 3 Melisa and Doug puzzles. He wasn't as excited about them as I was but I am sure that he will use them more in the future. 

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Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Sorry for the delay. I have had Liam's blood results for a while but forgot to inform you all. His lead level is now a 3 and considered normal! It's fantastic news and it confirms that we have found the source of lead, AND most importantly, we have successfully managed it.He is also not anemic anymore. We are not scheduled for another blood test for 6 more months.

The rest of his 18 month appointment went well. He weighed 29.5lbs (96%) and is 34.25" (95%). He passed his autism questionnaire and the pediatrician wasn't the least bit concerned about his speech. She said that we should worry if he doesn't have any new words by age 2. 

Liam is back at daycare and I am back at work. I am not teaching yet, but prepping for the upcoming semester. We officially start back the 22nd of January. His first week back went well and he is so happy to be in daycare again. His teacher on Tuesday said that he enjoys circle time and even requested the song "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" after the teachers were talking about songs (and by request, she meant that he acted out the song and he understood what he meant).


 The only other real news is that due to a snow storm (a very cold temperatures), my citizen test was rescheduled for next Friday, January 17th.

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Hello 2014!

This past  Friday Liam turned 1 1/2 years old. It was amazing to think that so much has happened in such a tiny amount of time and that it flew by so incredibly fast. 

During this winter break, I have been taking him to the library so that he can get a change in scenery. Every time I go I think it will be better than last time and every time something happens that makes us leave the library in a rush. Monday, after his blood test, I took him home, got him a snack, changed his diaper and got him back into the car to go to the library. There weren't too many toddlers there and he grew bored very fast. He thought it was a lot more fun to climb the stairs and run screaming through the adult section of the library and play (and get soaked) by the water fountain in the children's section of the library. And again, I was that mom, carrying her kicking, screaming, strong willed toddler out of the children's section because he found playing in the water fountain much more entertaining than drinking from it and then from library because I wouldn't let him run outside on his own without a coat (still soaked from the water fountain).

Medical Update on Liam: As mentioned above, he had his blood drawn at the hospital again this past Monday. He was such as good boy and didn't even cry until they stuck him with the needle. They were able to get out two vials without too much fuss and then he stopped crying after they were done and offered him a sticker. We should know the results at his  18 month appointment this Thursday.

Medical Update on me: I had my doctors appointment today with my nephrologist today. He was very pleased with my blood work and doesn't want to see me for another 3 months. He said that I can get off of the prednisone faster and so for the next two weeks I am on an alternating dose of 5 and 2.5 mgs. Then in two weeks, I drop down to 2.5mg for two weeks and then I am done! He will repeat my blood work in 6 weeks to make sure everything is ok and then he will start lowering the cellcept. My kidneys finally stopped leaking out red blood cells and he said that the only thing wrong is that I am still leaking protein (1.4).

Two Christmas's with the Grandmas: My mother-in-law was here last weekend (weekend before Christmas). I made a roast chicken and we exchanged gifts. Liam got socks, a car set as well as a little house with blocks and people, which he all loved (not sure he cared too much about the socks but they made me happy).  He loved having her here and it was sad to see her go.

Then this past weekend my mother and stepfather came into town. It was a great weekend and I even made (with my mothers help) a beautiful prime rib roast for dinner with all the trimmings. She bough Liam a table and chair set, a broom, crayons and a coloring book. He loved it all, especially his table set and having his Grandma here.

What will 2014 bring? I am sure it will bring more temper tantrums, more laughing, more crying and probably a lot more patients (on my end). What I am hoping it will bring is my citizenship, great and wonderful changes to our house and good health for the entire family. There will probably be some surprises and unexpected challenges but such is life. Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014. I welcome you with open arms!

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I know that I haven't updated in a while. Things have come up and I have been busy with work and my little one. The last time I updated you, it was just after Thanksgiving. Things with our health have been well and we are both due at the doctors at the end of this month.

Update with Liam: Nothing much to report with Liam. He is a wonderful, strong willed, energetic, fantastic little boy. He recently has learned to kick a ball and drink from a water fountain. The only thing that we worry about (besides the lead) is his speech. Currently Liam has not really gained much of a vocabulary. He says, Aye (for both Hi and Bye), vroom (to mimic a car), mama, dada, ish (I think for fish), ssshhhh (not sure if that counts as a word), ack (for quack, again, not sure if that counts), ut-oh, go, and an assortment of grunts. We purchased a DVD called baby babble, hopping to encourage him to speak. Most of what the DVD encourages, we already do. I read to him every night, we repeat words, and we give lots of praise. He understands much much more than what he can say and can follow simple commands. If I say, "It's dinner time, wash your hands" he will go to the other side of the kitchen, grab the stool and push it over to the sink. I am sure that some toddlers just take more time when it comes to speech but it is something I plan to bring up at his next doctors visit.

We also discovered that he is afraid of the dark. He was crying out multiple times during the night, and it was creating bad sleep habits. I was bringing him into our bed at times or climbing into his crib at night to calm him down (I still climb into his crib on occasion but that's a different matter). I put back in his room a night light that projects fish onto the ceiling and this seems to have helped. I was also leaving a sippy cup of water in his crib at night (there were times he would wake up very thirsty) but that it a habit I am slowing trying to break.

He is doing excellent at daycare and they say that he is thriving. He is using baby sign language at lunch more, signing all done and more. He also has excellent balance and was able to copy some of the other older toddlers when walking across the balance beam (his teachers were very impressed). He is off from daycare till the 3rd of January (same day at my citizenship test). I am on winter break from work till January 13th.

 A couple weeks back we had some snow. We actually had two storms totaling about 8" of snow. He LOVED being outside in the snow and loved playing with the shovel even more. He actually refused to let go of the shovel and we had to carry both him (and the shovel) to the front door before prying it out of his hands. 

Due to the winter break, I have been bringing him to the library a lot more. He loves to play with the trains, climb up and down the stairs, play with the kitchen and the legos. It's a great place for him to interact with other toddlers (when they are there). This past Monday, we went to a neighboring library that was offering arts and crafts to children all day.We tried to make a Christmas ornament (which I was more interested in than Liam) and we played on the computer. About 1 hour after we got there, it got quite busy. Liam decided that he was bored, ran over to the elevator and pressed the button. I was right has his heels and got into the elevator right after him, but not in time to stop him from pressing the first button he saw... a bright red call button. The same button that patches directly to the police department. I heard ringing and frantically looked for a cancel button (there was none). I soon heard, "Hello, dispatch". I quickly explained to the officer that everything was ok and that my 1 1/2 year old had pressed the button by accident. He hung up and I decided it was time to leave the library for the day.

In my past post I had mentioned that I wanted to post a review. The two products are "little green pouches" and a new cloth diaper. I still do plan to post the review but have been a little behind on my blogging. These, hopefully, are soon to come as well as a Christmas, part two post. My mother will be coming into town and I plan to blog about the visits by both Grandmas.

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