15-Month Doctor Appointment

I took Jackson to the doctor for his 15-month checkup this morning. He must have regular nightmares about this place because the moment we walked into the exam room he again started screaming his head off and didn't stop until we were driving away. He was throwing such a fit that the nurses and the doctor had to repeat themselves a few times just so I could hear what they were saying. Dr. G said it is totally normal for him to have a fear of the doctor's office and exam, but if this trend continues I will probably develop a fear as well. Other than the screaming, it was a great appointment. He continues to grow at a healthy rate. He now weighs 24lbs 7 oz (50th percentile), is 31.5 inches tall (75th percentile), and still has a big head (80th percentile). Here are a few more of his recent developments:
- He has a small vocabulary now..."car", "cat", "ball", "down", "diaper", "dada", and the occasional "mamamama" when he really wants to get my attention. He thinks he has an entire vocabulary of other words, but we have absolutely no idea what he is saying. He will babble complete sentences of nonsense and then look at us for a response.
- He can point to his (or someone else's) nose, ear, head and toes.
- His favorite past time is pointing to various objects and having you identify them for him. We have many conversations that go something like this "light", "spoon", "chair", "light", "chair", "light", "chair", "light", "light", "light", "light"...
- He loves to "help" with the laundry, will always come quickly when I am moving clothes from the washer to the dryer to provide assistance. I give him small light items and he places them in the dryer (most of the time).
- He also likes to help throw things in the trash can. Which is great until he starts to take all of the items back out of the trash can and hand them to you.
- We have completely eliminated all bottles, he happily drinks only from sippy cups now. And dropping those last two bottles was actually a breeze, don't know why we thought it would be so challenging. He now occasionally asks to drink from a water bottle, which typically just ends up in both of us getting soaked.
- He is a fairly good eater, only mildly picky. He loves most fruit, will tolerate most veggies. Thinks Cheerios are the best thing in the world. When he doesn't like something he will quickly spit it out of his mouth and turn his head away.
- We are trying to get him to use a spoon, but he can't really get it yet. He typically tries for awhile but then just dives in with his hands.
- He will occasionally tell me that he has a dirty diaper and would like it changed. Most of the time though he will run away from me and protest the diaper change.
- He is still an incredible sleeper, sleeping in sometimes later than we do on weekends!
- We have incorporated reading a couple books at bedtime. It's not really reading as much as it is identifying everything he points at in the book. His favorites right now are Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We "read" for a few minutes and then he will snuggle up as he gets ready to get into bed.
- He has become very attached to Skipit (his dog lovie). He loves all stuffed animals and lovies, but has a strong bond with Skipit. He reaches for Skipit immediately when he gets in bed and cuddles.
- On a less happy note, we experience frequent temper tantrums now as he gets easily frustrated when he can't communicate what he wants or we won't give him what he wants. He also is known to bite and/or hit. Dr G gave us many pointers today on how to start incorporating timeouts and handling the tantrums. I also talked with his school to ensure they are utilizing the same techniques when he is acting out in the classroom. Oh the joys of having a "spirited" toddler! :)

Here is a picture of him trying Blue Bell ice cream for the first time last night! He LOVED it at first, but then I think he decided that the cold was weird.


Here is a picture showing his love for stuffed animals. He decided to cuddle with his Michigan Bear on the way to school:

A New Teething Toy??

Last night on the way to dinner I turned around and this is how I found Jackson:

He thought it was hilarious! He alternated between biting his toes and laughing hysterically. It was pretty entertaining. Maybe this will help him stop biting his friends??

Good News! Finally!!

We met with the kitty surgeon this afternoon to talk about Tiger's progress, or the lack thereof. Thankfully, after examining Tiger, he wasn't overly concerned. He said Tiger has really bad muscle atrophy, so bad that he doesn't have the strength to bear any weight on his left leg whatsoever. He said we need to work constantly with Tiger to try to help him regain use of those muscles and in turn his leg. We have physical therapy exercises we are to perform with him multiple times per day. This sounds pretty challenging, but it sure beats the prognosis we heard last night. The surgeon did say that he has nerve function all the way to about mid-calf on his leg, therefore ruling out sciatic nerve damage. He said he should regain nerve function in the remainder of his leg as his muscle strengthens. Wish us luck as we start our therapy routine with Tigee!

Tiger Update - 4 Weeks Post Surgery

I took Tiger to the vet this afternoon for his checkup. I wasn't expecting them to share any good news with me, but I was still really hoping for it. We had a rough day yesterday with Tiger, he appeared to be in some pain and was limping more than usual. When I picked him up for his appointment today he appeared to be doing better than yesterday, but I knew it wasn't going to be good enough. After two long hours at the vet's office, I had to leave Tiger overnight. They needed to take some x-rays, and in order to do so, they had to drug him. He was having a difficult time waking up from the meds, so they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. I guess it works out since we were going to have to go back to the vet for another appointment tomorrow. They want the surgeon to examine Tiger tomorrow, to provide his opinion for the lack of use and apparent lack of feeling in his left hind leg. I reviewed the x-rays with the vet before I left tonight and ask for her opinion. She said that the bone cut (FHO) looks clean and exactly as it should. However, the femur is sitting quite a good distance away from the hip socket, maybe due to a ligament tear post surgery? Maybe due to the muscle atrophy? She wasn't sure. But she also talked about the issue that I feared the most...potential nerve damage. A major nerve runs along the leg very very close to where the surgery occurred 4 weeks ago. This nerve could have gotten damaged somehow along the way. Let's hope that this is not the case, as the results would be what I have feared the most.

Are You Ready For Some Football?!?!

Last Thursday night Mallory and I had the opportunity to go to the Cowboys Oakland game. While I am not a huge fan of preseason football, I was still excited to head to the game with Mal. It wasn't the best football we have ever seen, but we still had a blast:

Splish Splash

It is summer in Texas. And that means it is hot. Really hot. We have had way too many days over 100 degrees and it is only early August. But I'm not complaining. I would rather it be hot than cold any day. 100 degrees is considerably better than waaaay below zero. There are still plenty of things we can go do outside in the heat, we just need to time it right or find ways to cool off. So the other day we took Jackson to one of the nearby splash parks. He had a BLAST! I know how much he loves water, so I thought he would enjoy it. But I was a little surprised at how much fun he had (and how much he didn't want to leave!) It was so cute watching him interact with the other kids, kids of all ages, he had no issue. This guy is definitely not shy! My mom and stepdad were with us, my stepdad took some great photos:

Stitches Removed

Tiger's stitches were removed this afternoon. I asked to talk with the vet while I was there, wanted to get some feedback on how Tiger is doing. After watching Tiger hobble around the exam room, the vet commented that it was normal that he wasn't using his leg whatsoever at just two weeks post surgery. But he did seem a little concerned about the level of atrophy that has occurred so far. He told me to start some "physical therapy" where I force Tiger to start putting weight on the leg (the vet had zero success at this "therapy" while I was there). We are also able to let Tiger out of his recovery room, he now has the full house to explorer, hopefully this will help him regain use of his leg. I enjoyed watching him check everything out at home tonight, but noticed how quickly he became tired. He is getting very good at getting around on three legs, he even followed me up the stairs, but I am concerned about how/when he will start using his left leg again. I think there may even be some nerve damage from the surgery, we won't know for quite some time how this will impact his recovery. The vet has asked us to come back in two weeks to evaluate his progress.