Remarkable Robbie: July 10, 2009

Robbie is finally over his cold and bronchiolitis. He stopped wheezing last Thursday. He had one last albuterol treatment on Friday (mostly because I'm a paranoid mom) and then had to have steroid treatments for another week. His last one was this morning.

He also finished his antibiotics this week. I thought we'd escaped the antibiotic diaper rash, but alas, yesterday his poor little bum was suffering. It's the first one he's ever had. I'd been keeping him smeared up with Butt Paste the whole time anyway, but I've now added a paste of Mylanta. Today it seems a little less severe. I'm hoping it's gone soon.

He's been doing a few new really cute things.

He's started sharing. I think it's especially cute since no one really taught him this one. Just all of a sudden he started handing me his toys. He doesn't always want to actually let go of them, but he likes to hand them to you anyway. The other night he was even "feeding" me. He was playing with some paper and I was laying in the floor next to him. I guess he decided he was having such a good time chewing on the paper that maybe Mommy would like a bite, too. So I'd growl and gnaw on it and he'd giggle, then take it back. Then he'd put it back in my mouth and we'd do it all again. Just a little while ago, he was sharing his pacifier with Grandpa. He must love Grandpa a lot to share his most precious item!

Robbie also is exploring his toys more and more. We have one of those peek-a-boo toys that pops up when you activate a lever. Then you push the toys back down. He's learned to push them down. Sometimes getting that last little bit down to get it to click is a challenge, but he definitely wants to close them all the time. He's loved his toys for a long time, but mostly to bang on or shake. It's amazing to see him figuring stuff out.

He's been babbling "dadada" quite a bit. He still also loves "baba" but seems to have forsaken his poor "mama."

His physical therapy went exceptionally well this week. They were working on crawling and he was really getting the arm movement part pretty well. We've continued working on it this week and he's getting better and better about moving his arms forward. I really have been convinced he wasn't going to crawl (would just go straight to walking) but the way things are going, I think it's possible that he'll be at least army-crawling sometime soon.

He broke 17lb this week. That honestly sort of blows my mind. Seventeen pounds just seems BIG. And it sure FEELS big when you add 8 pounds or so of carseat and lug the whole thing around. He's still short as all get-out which is making clothes sizing interesting. He's wearing 3-6 month clothes, but the belly and legs are stretching a lot of them. I will never complain, though. It's just lovely seeing him thrive.

My favorite development is that he's started giving affection. I don't think he quite understands a kiss just yet, but he'll lean his head in and give you a head bump occasionally. I thought it was a sign of affection for a while and talked to the OT about it yesterday and she confirmed that's pretty normal. First he understands getting heads close together, then you'll get an open mouthed kiss, then finally a pucker (if we're lucky.) So I'm thinking of it as a head-kiss. It's pretty cute. He'll be playing and going wild, then suddenly stop & lean his head in to bump yours, then go back to playing and going wild again.

In less fun news, he's had a bit of a rough time with his reflux again this week. Yesterday was a particularly unpleasant day. He starts his morning with a breathing treatment and a feeding and he actually puked into his breathing mask. Then less than an hour later, he puked upward and managed to get it in his eyes. That's really not the way anyone wants to begin a day.

It's frustrating to not really be able to do anything about it. And knowing that 99% of kids outgrow it by now. Robbie always has to defy the odds. His OT even commented yesterday that he "wins the award for the worst, most stubborn reflux" she's ever seen. That's not an award we wanted. It's really annoying because, for example, yesterday during therapy, she couldn't do some of the activities because every time he'd try to lean forward to get something, he'd audibly reflux & cough or start swallowing hard. Please keep praying this reflux finally stops.

And with that- some updated pictures: