Friday, February 22, 2013

He Said, "All Done." Cross My Heart

Drew thinks I am crazy.

He thought I was crazy when I heard Grayson Goo say "more" in his own little way. It sounds a little on the "MAAAAAA!" side. Kinda like a hoarse man from the Bronx screaming at his mother. In my defense, though, he said it in his highchair when you walk away from him we used to walk away from him during a meal.

He can sign "more" as well. That took me about a month to finally hammer into his head. He signed it for the first time around a year. Now he signs it any time he is hungry. Here is how you sign more in the image below.

Image from http://www.babysignlanguage.com


I tried to get a pic of the Wee Pie signing it and all I got was this. This is him attempting the sign for cookie.


Image from http://www.babysignlanguage.com

he also signs this when he is hungry. Apparently all Grayson wants is more cookies. All-The-Time. "More Cookie." "More Cookie." 

Image from http://top40.about.com

Hmmmm reminds me of someone.....


Do you see a resemblance?

Anyway, Wee Pie can sign "more" and "cookie" with much gusto. These are consistent and we can tell that he is really trying to communicate these concepts to us. Even if it is all about the food.

Drew thinks I am crazy, but I have also seen him sign:

"Milk"
Image from http://www.babysignlanguage.com


 "Mommy"

"Daddy"
Image from http://www.babysignlanguage.com
  
 And every child's favorite...."No"

Image from http://www.babysignlanguage.com

Both of us have heard him say "Mama" and "Dada". When he is angry, upset, or just doesn't want to do it, we have heard him say, "Na, na, na, na!" Drew and I are pretty sure this means "no" given the circumstances and the behavior. He bows his back, kicks his legs, and tenses up his body so you can't get him to budge. That Wee Pie is strong when he wants to be. We are 99.9% positive that he says these words and means them.

But today, oh today, that sweet little Wee Pie with his little curly hairs wisping everywhere...


he said...SAID not signed..."All done." I was feeding him cereal in milk and he leaned his sweet head over his arm, sighed and said, "All duuuuuh." That's what it sounded like, with the ending sound missing. I got excited and asked him, "All done, Grayson?" Then he signed it, "all done", with his arms waving in the air so happy. "Yes, all done, my sweet boy." I planted a big kiss and squeezed him tight. He was so proud. He knew he had really done something to impress his mama. I love my little man's breakthroughs and milestones.

I tell people that when you have your first child every little thing they do is so exciting, but with Grayson the excitment is ten fold. When your first baby smiles, sits, crawls, pull ups, says their first word mamas get out the baby book and write it down or document it on film. I did it with Little Sweetie. Every first was so wonderous to see your child experience for the first time. It is such a gift to be there with them when they get it for the first time, perfect the skill, and make it an everyday occurence. 

With Grayson, its different.  I have long ago gave up on Grayson's baby book. It did nothing but frustrate and discourage me because Wee Pie wasn't meeting those milestones.  He was barely 10Lbs. by four months, let alone sitting up. He could barely roll over. When his daycare buddies started pulling up and walking I smiled bittersweetly when I dropped him off and picked him up. 

But on days like today when Grayson Goo makes a breakthrough and does something new, my heart soars. It's such a different feeling than your first child. I find it hard to describe. I guess the feeling is like having your first all over again, but now you know there is so much more behind the accomplishment. My son is delayed...physically, cognitively, developmentally, overall...but he is capable. He is able to communicate with me. He may take longer to master a skill, but he is going to do it and be okay. Only the good Lord knows when that child is going to crawl, not to mention walk.

I just can't dwell on those things. I can only be thankful for today, for my crazy moments when Drew comes home and I tell him what Grayson did. Drew just rolls his eyes because Grayson won't perform for him. But that sweet Wee Pie did it for me and I cherish all of those sweet moments in my heart. I think that is better than any old baby book anyway. 
Yep, got it documented...biting his sister.

 Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Spread the Word: Got my shirt

A couple co-workers and I bought our Spread the Word to End the Word t-shirt this past Friday. The day is celebrated 3-6-13 this year, which is a Wednesday. We are only allowed to wear t-shirts at work on Friday so we will have to wait to wear it then. You can get the t-shirts and pledge to stop using the word here.

I love this video. I hope one day my little Wee Pie can stand up for himself in this way and tell people that he is smart, capable, and a contributing member of society.

I am excited to promote the campaign and plan to post more stories and resources for this campaign sponsored by The Special Olympics.  This is the first year that I have been able to participate or even know about the campaign. Thanks to one of my blogging buddies, Pudge and Biggie, I learned all about the campaign and what it means to people affect by disabilities.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Traumas of a Flexible Child (Or how we compromise in the land of Wee Pie)






















Poor Grayson has to eat his snacks off the floor if this Mommy wants to get anything done. Our floor is fairly clean, but I would rather feed him in his highchair. This just isn't an option after what happened to Drew a couple weekends ago while he was trying to feed Grayson in one of his crying fits he has when he is hungry and tired.

I have decided to re-enact the story of what happened:

 Drew, Grayson, and the Highchair
starring Dora (from the circus)

Once upon a time in the land where Drew and Elizabeth have crazy busy schedules between working full time, carting Marloe to dance, Grayson to therapy, and just trying to live life there was a night where the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. Daddy Drew argued that the kids could just be put down in their beds and given baths in the morning. He reasoned that both would be very cranky and whiny from being woken up and plopped in the bath.

Mommy Elizabeth argued that Little Sweetie and Wee Pie (especially The Wee) were dirty from the day and had daycare and preschool germies all over them. Because of Grayson Goo's surgery and heart defect, he has a much lower immune system so she wanted to wash those germies away regardless of the temper tantrums that this would cause.

Weeeeellllllll....Grayson had a major tantrum. MAJOR TANTRUM, but he was bathed and dressed. Then Daddy Drew tried to put him down to sleep. Wee Pie wasn't having this. Mommy Elizabeth said he was probably hungry so Daddy Drew got him out of bed, put him in his highchair, and tried to feed him oatmeal. He wasn't having this so Daddy Drew sat beside him while he wailed in the highchair.

Then he looked over and saw this...

(re-enactment only. No inflatable Dora's were harmed in this picture.)
Grayson was hanging over the side of the highchair about to fall to his death! Okay this might be an exaggeration, but he would have been badly hurt. With quick, animal-like reflexes Drew grabbed Grayson Goo by the ankle in a flash. His heart was pounding. His mind flashed with images of what could have occurred if he had been across the room or not noticed Wee Pie's plight.
See, Grayson has extreme hypotonia all over his body. So he is SUPER DUPER flexible. That little Wee Pie, in his tantrumming state, had squeezed himself from his highchair and was attempting to escape. He did not know that this escape could have resulted in injury.
When Mommy Elizabeth came in the room and saw her husband clutching their son to his chest with wild eyes, she asked what was wrong. Daddy Drew rehashed what had happened and how badly it had scared him. To the point where tears were in his eyes. (I hope you don't mind me including that detail, Drew.)
Mommy Elizabeth sat Grayson Goo on the table and Grayson then proceeded to also tell the story with much gusto...waving his hands around and jibber jabbering. Daddy Drew said it seemed like Wee Pie knew what had happened and knew the seriousness of the matter. Mommy Elizabeth said that, regardless, there would be no more leaving the highchair to throw away trash or put a cup in the sink. Grayson also needed to be strapped in and attended to at all times. No zoning out for either parent...DARN.
You see, wee aren't bad parents. We all leave our kiddy poos unattended sometimes while we quickly get something, run to the mail box, go to the bathroom, or check our email. What we've now realized with Wee Pie is that we just can't do that. He is a pure mess and gets into everything. He is crafty, limber, and mischievous. Don't let the smile fool you.
And I am training his sister to clean up after him. First with the baby wipe...















Then we pull out the sweeper and dust pan. Looks like she is teaching Grayson. He is paying attention pretty closely.









Hair Pull! Have to get one of those in at least once a day.




Or his bottom can sweep it up, too.


Have a great weekend!