Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Long Time, No See

(First, let me say that it doesn't look like my text is going to match up with my photos, but I'm going to post anyway and see how it looks b/c I can't figure out why it is looking like this in my blogger preview page.)

We were privileged to attend John's memorial service this weekend and are thankful Grams & "PawPaw" wanted to spend some special time with Adam so we could travel with one lap child instead of two. Levi handled the flight as if he had platinum medallion status with Delta.

I got to see my Amy.

I got to see my parents. If I look tired it's because I was! We stayed up late both nights we were down there and Levi didn't sleep well either night :(





I got to catch up with a lot of old friends that mean a lot to me. And I got to take a day out to remember this man. If you didn't know him, you may not appreciate this picture as much as the rest of us. Ah, the eyebrow. His trademark look when he wasn't sure if he agreed with what was being said or when he just wanted to be funny. Miss you, John. I wish I could've gotten one last hug!

Other news at our house:
This is Adam's train set, given to him by Miss Megan. He plays with it day and night.


Mr. Levi is working on some new skills at the dinner table. He actually started sucking from a straw today! Our OT almost lost it. She was so excited. She brought some tiny little juice boxes, which I had tried with him once or twice. The nice thing is that you can squeeze the juice up and control how much goes in their little mouths. She started to squeeze and Levi just started sucking on the straw and got himself some juice! Notice the towels rolled up all around him. We are trying to get him to use some of his strength to sit up in his chair rather than reclining and getting too relaxed. Having good posture will help him to eat better. We also have books propped under his feet, an idea given to us by another parent. She said her daughter improved her feeding skills greatly once they found a way for her feet to touch a footrest. (Thanks to my hubby for pestering me enough to follow through and make this happen!)

Here is his fancy spoon...

It is made by Johnson Therapudic, and the ridges are there to stimulate the tongue, which helps with this new tongue thing he's been doing. (Did you notice it is sticking out in every photo on this post?) The OT & I talked about it a lot today and neither of us can decide if it is something to be concerned about or not. Kiddos with DS have the tendency to have low tone in the mouth, but he is doing this on purpose, pushing his tongue out and sometimes sucking on it. It could be to explore the teeth that may be coming in, but we just aren't sure what to think at this point. Anyone with advice or opinion, please comment.

Levi started coughing on the way home from the airport. I took him to the doctor yesterday and we now have 2 inhalers for him. One is to be used until June. He sounds better most of the time but has a few spells throughout the day where he sounds bad. I am thankful that he is in good shape, and a few inhalers are nothing to deal with. We are rolling with it.

5 comments :

Leah said...

Sweet pics! :)

Tracy Batchelder said...

I loved seeing you guys. And getting to hold Levi made my day. I do believe I'm a little out of practice. ;)

JC said...

Hey, cool spoon! I would love to get one of those. Russell was about six months old when he started sticking his tongue out...I remember nearly panicking cause I didnt want him to do that...We have been using a z-vibe once a day...Its kind of just like a vibrating tooth brush to help stimulate those muscles.
But regardless of how much stimulating of that area we have done Russell still sticks his tongue out! I notice he does it mostly when he is concentrating on something, or smiling cause he thinks its funny. I wish I had advice or something...I guess with Russell I am just hoping as he gets older I will be able to explain to him to close his mouth and not stick his tongue out.

April Vernon said...

Jenny, The spoon is $3.50 at https://www.johnsontherapeutic.com/Order.aspx?id=Textured_Spoon
Our OT got it for us. She thought he seems to be doing the tongue thing when he is concentrating, too (which a lot of people do!). Thanks for your thoughts. The OT just called and is ordering something Levi something that is like a z-vibe that can also be used as a spoon. He seems to play with his tongue more at mealtime.

Michelle Glass said...

Love the pics! Sweet boys! April- you are a skinny minnie! You look great!
-Michelle Glass