All Grown Up

If mama were still around, I'm sure I would have posted a lot sooner than this, as long before now she would have been emailing and calling to ask what I've been up to lately and bemoaning how quickly I change over the days and weeks she hasn't heard from me! 

You can hardly blame me, though -- I've been busy! After the embarrassment of having to report to my neurologist that I only know 10 or so words, and the humiliating offer of a referral to a speech language pathologist to help me ramp up my speaking, I've been diligently working on picking up more vocabulary, such as "I'm hungry," "Dada? Um..." (a la Isaac), "Help me," "Up," "Bounce," etc. I'm no Ashlyn (who at my age knew all her multiplication tables and square roots to 12), but I'm getting better at making my wishes known!



I'm also taking more opportunities to do things independently, like eating,



And bathing... well, not quite there, but I give it my best shot every once in a while. (If only my short stubby arms could reach above my head!)




One major step forward has been my move to a big boy bed, with a custom-built rail on the side so I don't fall out at night. I didn't know exactly what to do with it when I first got in, but I've since figured out how easy it is to get out whenever I want, and I grace my parents' room with frequent visits through the night -- not usually wanting anything but to be tucked back in bed, but hey, I do like to have the option!

What is it you want me to do in this big thing?

Bounce, anyone?

Oh, this is what you mean!

Who Knew Letters Meant Something?

I'm going to have to call 2009 "The Year of Letters." Who knew letters meant so much? Suddenly, after Christmas, it occurred to me that maybe I could read scriptures like Ethan does, and I've since made great strides in reading my own verse when we read scriptures each evening. It's slow going, and I still need help with the big words, but I have caught on amazingly quickly to sounding out words I didn't previously know, and remembering them for next time come across it!


I also started piano lessons in February, with my favorite substitute teacher Mr. Weston (who also happens to teach piano). Letters again! Only this time they mean notes on the keyboard. Middle C, G above middle C, G clef, F clef... letters are everywhere! My lessons aren't quite as long as Ethan's (his are 30 minutes long, while I can only manage to sit still for 15 minutes), but still, I love taking piano!

HandyTang

While we were living in Edmonton, dad finished the whole basement right under my nose, and I, more interested in playing tennis and chasing girls at the time, didn't even lift a finger to help. Neither did any of my other brothers, for that matter, but Michelle, loyal daughter that she is, spent many an hour with my dad, if not exactly helping (besides handing him tools and helping to paint), at least offering him company and moral support.

So, now I'm a homeowner, also with an unfinished basement, and, sadly, lacking much experience in being handy around the house. But, unwilling to let that be an obstacle, a couple of months ago, I made my first attempt at framing a partition wall with a pocket door. A smallish wall, and I'm glad for that, because it still took me all day! Call it my experimental wall, if you will, because I figured that if I could manage the small wall, I would press forward with framing the rest of the basement. So, here you have it, from beginning to end (well, the pictures actually pick up from middle of the project, but, oh well).

Addendum: Crooked framing notwithstanding, I decided to call my first wall a success and have since framed the rest of the basement -- pictures to come later! Now stuck at electricity... will keep you updated!

Texas

We just got back from Texas a couple of days ago -- an incredibly long drive to and from, but still, worth it for the fun visit we had with grandma and grandpa. (Oh yeah, and Uncle Andrew and Uncle Aaron, too, but most of the time they were playing video games in their bedrooms, so I didn't get actually get to see them much.)

Grandpa and grandma have been in Washington, D.C., for the past month while grandpa works on painting a big mural at Lockheed Martin Flight Service headquarters. It's the second one he's done for Lockheed Martin -- in fact, the reason why he got this job was because someone from up there saw the mural he painted at his workplace in Texas and thought it was so good, they wanted one up there, too! Here's us standing with grandpa in front of the mural he did in Texas. Isn't he a great artist?



Artwork aside, the main reason for our visit was to welcome Uncle Shaun and Aunt Kari's new baby Olivia into the world. She came a couple of days after we arrived -- so the timing was just right! Mom doesn't want another baby of her own, but she sure was excited to be able to hold someone else's baby for a while (and then give it back when she was done!).



We, on the other hand, only got to see her through the glass. No holding for us!

Christmas 2008

I'm on a roll here, so here's a belated post about our Christmas with Nana. No, actually, come to think of it, she did a great job of describing it, so I'll just refer you to her blog :)

http://sweetntangy.blogspot.com/2009/01/michigan.html

Ha!

One thing she only gave passing mention to though (not that I blame her), was that after being sick on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, on Dec. 27 (the day that Nana and I took the two older boys to the Children's Museum), James had a series of short (<1 min.) seizures spaced 2-3 hours apart, beginning shortly after he woke up that morning. After a couple of visits to the Emergency Department through the day, he ended up being admitted to the Children's Hospital that evening for a couple of doses of anti-seizure medications and an MRI under general anesthesia the next morning.


The upside of the story: James got to have an MRI. I mean, how cool is that, to be able to see the inside of your own noggin'? I, for one, have been wanting an MRI for years now, just so I can peek at my grey matter, but somehow I haven't been able to convince the insurance company to pay for one!

(above) James MRI - sagittal slice
(above) James MRI - coronal slice
The downside: the hospital sucks. I mean, don't get me wrong -- the nurses, clerks, techs, doctors, and residents were great, but James sleeping three times for 30 minutes each over 24 hours made for one LONG daynightday! While we were there, he went from this


to this


with only a little bit of this



to break things up!

Not that I blame him -- he hated the hospital gown, the glow of the pulse oximeter through his sock, the IV and plastic guard on his hand, the arm board on his wrist, the EKG leads on his chest (he tore those off within the first couple of hours), the nurses taking vitals every four hours, and, to boot, he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything all night prior to general anesthesia. And once he started getting anti-seizure medications, he hated that no one would let him go free to walk around on his own because he couldn't do it without tripping all over himself (an unfortunate side effect of the medications). In fact, pacing the halls with him all night, he got into a pattern of holding out his hands and crying for every nurse we walked past to take him from me -- and the ones who did soon found out what he was really looking for -- someone to put him down! Upon which I would take him back and he would howl despairingly -- until the next nurse passed by, that is... So yeah, pretty much his whole life sucked at the hospital.


Actually, there was one bright spot to his stay: he was sure glad to be able to eat again once he got back from his MRI, downing two cups of pedialyte and a cup of yogurt immediately afterwards, followed by a cup of milk, a cup of jello, and some cereal about an hour later!


I was glad he had such a good appetite, but he ate so much, I was actually worried he'd throw up and end up having to stay another night -- in which case I'm pretty sure I myself would've had to have been hospitalized in the psych ward for his own protection! But he didn't (and I wasn't) and we got home just in time to crash for the night and get up the next morning ready to drive to Niagara Falls that day (with the doctor's permission, of course)!


Anyhow, all is well -- he has one more test left this Tuesday, but the doctors didn't see anything suspicious on the MRI and at this point they think it was an isolated incident somehow brought on by his illness. Still, they told us to keep watching him, and gave us a prescription for emergency anti-seizure medications should he have another incident (an incredibly expensive prescription, I might add -- thank goodness for TriCare!). He's back to his normal self now, so I guess so far, so good.

Thanks to all who prayed/fasted for him -- we appreciate your faith on our behalf!