Dylan's Den

I know, I know... it's been a while since my last post. But that's because everything has been such smooth sailing that I didn't really think it would be all that interesting to read about.

Still, today was Dylan's first Thanksgiving, and that only comes along once. Of course, he had his own special outfit to help celebrate:


Dylan tried some mashed potatoes and some gravy. Neither was exactly a huge success, but then again, we've only just begun experimenting with food other than his bottles. He has had a few mouthfuls of Gerber carrots, but even that didn't go over too well. That's okay though- it's still kind of early, given his adjusted age and all. He'll get it when he's ready for it. Until then, we'll just have fun watching him smear jar food all over his face.

It's all part of the learning curve for him. And the learning curve is something that came up in a conversation with his physical therapist a couple of weeks ago. After some discussion and after seeing just how well he is handling his toys and himself, his therapist and Barbara and I all agreed that it wouldn't be productive to continue seeing her on a weekly basis, especially since there isn't anything that the therapist is doing with him that Barbara and I aren't already doing at home. And since we are able to do things on Dylan's timetable, when he is ready as opposed to her schedule, it is typically more effective.

In the couple of weeks since we started the PT, Dylan has learned to control his head pretty much all of the time. He still get's lazy occasionally, but even then he doesn't completely lose control of his head- he just let's it hang a bit. He still has a bit of trouble lifting it from a flat position when he is laying on his back, but we work at that daily and he get's closer and closer to doing that himself every day. He also is grabbing with both hands, shaking rattles, manipulating toys to face the direction he wants them to (typically in the direction of his mouth) and can even hold some of his heavier toys over his chest like a bench-press, without our help. It's pretty impressive to see the development as it happens over just the course of a few short weeks. He's even starting to hold himself upright when in a sitting position. It will still be a while before he can pull himself up to that sitting position on his own, but if we put him there, he can maintain it without help for 30 seconds to a minute sometimes, before he wobbles a bit too much and topples over. We're scheduled for a follow up evaluation to make sure the home therapy is progressing well, sometime in January. That will give the therapist an opportunity to get a look at Dylan's progress and give us any pointers we may need or help us move things along in another direction if necessary. So far, so good...

Dylan also has a doctor visit Dec 4 for his 6 month battery of shots and his Synagis vaccine. Syangis is a vaccine againt a common virus affecting preemies and other high-risk babies. It can be pretty nasty, so we make sure he is protected against it. You can learn more about RSV here: http://pediatrics.about.com/od/rsv/a/1006_synagis.htm

After that, it's all about Dylan's first Christmas. We're already preparing with a couple of special Christmas outfits for the little guy, as well as plenty of holiday cheer. More on that soon, as details (and pictures!) become available.

Until then, look for updates to the blog on something more like a monthly basis, at least unless something especially noteworthy happens. With that, here's one more picture from today...