Friday, January 20, 2012

Seventeen Months and Taking Steps



Caleb is now seventeen months old. Last year at this time, we were in Ann Arbor while Caleb recovered from his second stage surgery. What an exciting and wonderful year this has been.

Last week, Caleb decided that he could stand up in the middle of the floor without holding onto anything. His balance is still not great (he stands like a sumo wrestler and swings his hips to keep upright), but he can do it. Sometimes, he gets so excited clapping for himself - he certainly doesn't lack self esteem - that he falls back down. He has also taken several steps. Walking is still just for amusement, not transportation. As far as we can tell, everything is working just fine and it is just a matter of time before he gets it all figured out.

Caleb had his third RSV vaccine today. He did fine in waiting room at the pediatrician's office, but as soon as we went to the exam room, he started crying. The bad thing about getting a shot once a month is that you obviously don't forget between appointments. After some screaming and giving the nurse some really dirty looks, he calmed down and we were on our way.

At today's appointment, Caleb weighed 19 pounds, 5 ounces. That puts him at the 0.5 percentile. He is still growing at the proper rate, just at the bottom part of the curve. To be at the 50 percentile, he would need to weigh 6 more pounds. The nice thing is that we are really getting our money out of the 9 month old pants.

Caleb still doesn't say many words. His occupational therapist said that he may put talking on the back burner right now while he is working on walking. He does say "Mama" for me, Phil and Karen (our great daycare provider). He will occasionally repeat a word you say - we've heard "hot", "no", and "down".

Overall, Caleb is still doing amazing. As far as we can tell, other than working with some modified circulation, he is a normal toddler. Who would have thought that we would ever be able to say that?

In an effort to help out the Congenital Heart Defect Community, we are selling paper hearts for $1 to help Faith's Angels. Faith's Angels is a group out of Sparta, Michigan that was created by Faith's parents after she died from a congenital heart defect. This group focuses on raising awareness and supporting CHD research. Eighty percent of their donations go directly toward research. Just this fall, they provided a four year research grant at U of M for $7500 per year. If you are interested in purchasing a heart and having it proudly displayed in the windows of Cogent Engineering in beautiful downtown Alto, please contact me at jen@cogentengineering.com. The hearts are sold in the month leading up to Valentine's Day, the official Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day.