Home of the Four Trans

Hi, Family and Friends!

Thanks for checking in. I’ve been neglecting the blog for several reasons, but mainly because I wanted to devote my time to my children and savor every bit of the summer with them while they’re in great health. So, excuse me for the lack of updates.

I’d given Justin a break from medical stuff (i.e.; doctor appointments and tests) for the month so that he could enjoy the things little boys are made of. I enrolled him in a Mommy and Me music class and gym. He especially loves the social aspect of the classes, but also enjoys the core lessons of each of his classes as well. In music class, he loves to sing, dance, learn new hand motions to new songs, create sounds with different instruments, and exercise his tonal understanding. In gym class, he enjoys me rolling him into somersaults, climbing up padded stairs, popping bubbles, whacking balls, and scooting around on his bum.

For those who are wondering, Justin still cannot walk, or crawl for that matter. He spends most of his time scooting on his bum, and has gotten quite efficient at it. However, he has learned to pull up to standing with his one unaffected arm, and cruise around chairs and tables.  He is noticeably eager and willing to walk independently, but that darn right leg is not cooperating. He still shows weakness in his right ankle and foot, thus the lack of stability and support to walk independently. He is able to take steps with my assistance, and tends to take advantage of my help by running as far as he can. Because he is not bearing weight into his right leg, he is not taking quailty steps, and appears to be flying most the time. His physical therapist is recommending a brace, although his orthopeadist (the one who writes the prescription for the brace) does not. I, his mother, see benefit in putting him in a brace even if he may be dependent on it for life because it will allow him independence and opportunity to grow cognitively.

Despite his inability to walk or use two hands/arms equally, he continues to grow cognitively and emotionally. He’s been verbalizing more in addition to using some of his sign language, pointing, grunting, facial expressions, and babbling to communicate. Lately, he’s been doing a pterodactyl type screech to either get attention or when he doesn’t get his way; we have implemented the “time out corner” technique to minimize this. He is quite mischevious these days, and getting quite good at manipulating to get his way. For example, when I put him in the corner this evening for whacking and eye-poking his Papa, he immediately climbed onto me to hug me and rested his head on my shoulder, then chuckled, like he knew he was going to get away with it. When I pulled him away to explain to him why he needed to be in the naughty corner, he immediately crossed his arms and bowed his head, and said “Ah” (a customary way for children to greet their elders in our culture). He knows that when Nathan gets the corner, before he is allowed to move from it, he is required to cross his arms and say sorry for whatever it was that he did wrong; essentially, he was trying to skip all the steps and get to the end.

Upset because he did not want to take a picture!

Sucking on the lollipop that pacified his tantrum. Bad Mom, I know.

Justin has gotten more attached to me, now.  He prefers Mama for everything from putting him to sleep to feeding him his bottle or holding his cup; He’ll cry and scream if Loi tries to help. He is quite independent with feeding himself with a fork or spoon, as well as bringing a cup to his mouth, but since he sees me feed Nathan, he screeches for me to feed him, also. He’s gotten quite competitive with his brother, not allowing his brother any time with Mama.

Justin is a troublemaker. He hits his brother, gets into pantry doors, swipes his brother’s toys, climbs over his Papa and talk during reading time, hang over the arm of the couch only after I tell him ‘no’, and was caught red handed playing with the toilet water (you heard that right. Toilet. Water). This is all new to us because Nathan did none of these things. The worst part is Justin has such a sweet face that he literally can get away with anything. He only needs to bat his long lashes, and flash his sweet smile, and I’d melt. But, so would not be fair to either of them.

Most importantly, Justin is an incredibly happy and friendly little boy. He wants to make friends and be friends with everyone. When we go out, it’s hard to get him to stop staring and smiling at people. He has a technique of getting people’s attention by staring at them, waving, and smiling, even if they’re not looking at him. Of course, eventually they do. During one of our restaurant outings, he reached his hand out from his high chair to touch the people walking by. There were a few times I could not stop him in time.

Justin is just a really sweet kid. When I sneeze (which is quite often when my allergies act up), he says “bleh u”. When it is time to say good-bye, to anyone, he waves and says, “bah, bah,” then does the sign for thank you while saying “thay u”, then blows a kiss. When he has food in his hands or on his table, he insists on sharing by pushing food into my face to eat, or taking crackers out by twos so that he can give one away. It’s hard for me to keep from kissing and hugging him all day long.

A few of his favorite things: Baby Einstein, books, dancing, cars, and music.

He weighs about 21-22 pounds at 24 months, and measures about 31.5 inches long.

Thanks, again, for checking in on us!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Baby Book, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.