First Eye Exam

Caleb had his first eye exam yesterday. Children with Down syndrome often have eye problems, including tear duct abnormalities, strabismus (eye misalignment), early age cataracts, and many other conditions. As with all other health issues, early diagnosis and intervention is best. I didn't suspect any issues with his eyes, but it was still good to get everything checked.

He cried when the nurse put drops in his eyes, but he calmed down and was cooperative for the rest of the appointment. I was thrilled to hear that Caleb's eyes are perfect! No signs of cataracts or astigmatism. His left eye is +2.5, and his right is +2.0. The doctor said they're both right in line with what a typical baby's eyes should be. He told me that babies are born far-sighted, and the eyes gradually adjust to "normal or zero" by about age 16. He'll go back in a year for his next exam.

Five years

Happy fifth anniversary, Brad! Thank you for being such an amazing husband, father and leader of our family. 

Oral Motor Therapy

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we recently went to San Antonio and New Braunfels. The New Braunfels portion of our trip was to meet with a speech and language pathologist there. At DSACO's annual conference in April, we met one of the speakers. Renee Roy-Hill is a SLP and a course lecturer for Talk Tools Therapy. She did a presentation at the conference for parents of kids ages 0-3 years, and we were so impressed. We left the conference thinking that we had to get Caleb set up with a speech pathologist. After several unsuccessful attempts at trying to get him in with a therapist at a clinic in OKC, we decided to talk to Renee. She said that she could evaluate Caleb and then write a six-month program for us to carry out at home. We set up a two-hour consult for one afternoon in early July and also scheduled a one-hour therapy session for the next day.

A couple weeks before we went to San Antonio, the local therapy clinic called to schedule a speech evaluation. After weeks of calling and two referrals from the pediatrician, they finally got around to calling us! We went to the evaluation and were pleased with the SLP. We told her about our plans to meet with Renee and that we were going to follow her therapy program. The SLP seemed excited about what we were doing and said that she fully supported our decision and would like to work with us to carry out Renee's program... pending insurance approval, of course!

So fast forward to early July and our first session with Renee. She introduced us to several of the Talk Tooks therapy approaches, including drinking from a straw cup rather than a sippy cup. It turns out Caleb is already a pro at sucking through a straw, but he still needs some work on swallowing all of the liquid he sucks. We also learned how to help him drink from a specially designed open cup. Drinking from the cup will help him learn how to swallow more volume at once. Renee taught us some different ways to feed him purees and soft solids. She also showed us some facial stretches and some tools/toys that will help him build strength and good form. I wish I could go into all that we covered, but it was two hours worth of very detailed info!

The next day we returned to her clinic for a one hour session where we were able to ask questions and get a little extra practice. She recorded both sessions and sent the DVDs to us a few days ago. She will send the program soon.

We're still waiting to see if insurance will approve us to do speech therapy with the local therapist. Whether that happens or not, we're busy practicing all the techniques Renee taught us. I can't wait to get Caleb's program from her and really get started with it!

If you want to learn more about Talk Tools, check out their website. Most of the cups, spoons, and tools we use are available for purchase there.

Back to Tummy and Hand Foot & Mouth

After weeks and weeks (and weeks and weeks...) of practice, Caleb is finally consistently rolling from his back to his tummy! He's been doing this every now and then (like once or twice a week) for a while, but he has rolled over 30+ times today! We are so excited and proud of him!

And Caleb is doing all of that rolling over while dealing with his first virus. He had a low-grade fever a couple days ago (99.6) and was very fussy. I figured that he was probably teething. The fever went away yesterday morning, and I thought we were good. Still no teeth, but at least he was in a good mood. And then as I was changing him out of his pajamas this morning, I discovered a rash covering his body. Fortunately, we already had his nine-month well check scheduled for today. His pedi said that he has "hand foot & mouth disease". For any other first-time mamas out there who don't know what it is, it's just a virus that should go away in a few days. I did cancel his OT and PT appointments for the rest of the week, just in case he's still contagious. 

Nine month recap

Weight: 16lb 3oz (at an appointment last week)

Length: 26.5" (at an appointment last week)

Clothing size: mostly 6 month and some 6-9 month

Diaper size: size 2 (Pampers), size 3 (Luvs)

Eating: Caleb started taking bigger bottles, so we gradually worked his formula down from 27kcal/oz to 22kcal/oz this month. Normal formula is 20kcal/oz, so we're almost there! Also, instead of six bottles each day, he takes five! He eats purees three times/day. In the morning, he eats fruit, yogurt and rice cereal. Either he doesn't like the oat cereal anymore or it doesn't sit well in his tummy, so we're taking a break from it. For lunch, he usually has veggies and/or fruits. And at dinner, he usually eats veggies and pureed chicken. His new foods this month were chicken, whole milk plain yogurt, peaches, honeydew, and shredded pieces of cheddar cheese.

Sleeping: Since we dropped that sixth bottle, Caleb goes to sleep earlier now! He usually sleeps from about 8:30pm until 7:00am. He's still an inconsistent napper. If he naps during the day, it's while I'm holding him or when we're in the car. I usually try to have some "quiet time" with him for a while in the morning and afternoon, so that he can rest even if he doesn't sleep.

Highlight of the month: The highlight of my month was when we were working with the speech pathologist in New Braunfels (I really will blog about that soon... I've just been too busy to take the time and write it all down!). She said "Caleb's a champ at eating!". When she said that, I wanted to cheer and cry and thank God! Caleb has come so far! 

San Antonio

Brad, Caleb, and I recently traveled to San Antonio and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort. It's a great family-friendly resort, right across the street from Sea World. Along with the hotel and a few on-site restaurants, there's a golf course, nature trail, and several pools. Brad didn't have an opportunity to play golf, but we did enjoy the pools. Caleb loved sitting in the shallow water and splashing his hands around. This is definitely a resort I would consider returning to when Caleb is a little older and when we'll enjoy the proximity to Sea World and other area attractions.

 

While we were in town, we took Caleb to the Alamo. I figured it would be good to teach him a little about his Texas roots. I didn't expect that Brad would quiz me so much about the Alamo and the Texas Revolution, though! I didn't remember much, but it's been a long time since 7th grade Texas history. I will brush up on all the details and make sure Caleb grows up learning that there's more to his family's history than just the Oklahoma Land Run.

The trip was a fun getaway, but our main purpose for going there was to take Caleb to a speech and language pathologist in nearby New Braunfels, TX. I will share more about that soon.

Caleb's six month photos

I'm so late about posting these photos! Tammy Hall Photography took Caleb's six month photos in April. Here are a few of my favorites.

 

 

The beads in the photo above are Caleb's "Beads of Courage" from his hospital stay in Dallas. Each bead respresents a procedure or milestone (hospital admission, surgery, blood draw, CT scan, PT/OT visit, hospital discharge, etc.)