Desperately Seeking Sandbox

Christian is "all boy" already. He loves digging in dirt, rocks ... and Bella's dog food.

Our back patio is surrounded by the remaining landscaping rocks from the front yard. Christian loves to dig in them, and find the biggest rocks among them to toss around. He loves going after the weeds ... loves running his fingers through the dirt. He loves CRAWLING on these rocks, which are by no means smooth. If it's dirty or rocky ... he's attracted to it.

Bella has dug herself a hole to lay in, and Christian loves to make his way down into that hole and hang out. That new hideout, combined with Christian eating Bella's food yesterday, has us wondering if Christian thinks he's a dog. :) (Thankfully, Bella's dog food is all-natural and organic, so we don't have to worry that he consumed rat tails or pig snouts - or whatever odd fillers are in regular dog food).

We desperately need a sandbox! Daddy promises Christian will have one soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Fabulous Lil’ Guy Turns 19 Months Old Today!

The last few weeks have seen visits to a neurologist, Christian’s new pediatrician, an endocrinologist, as well as a CT scan, and various blood work … all to determine why Christian isn’t yet walking or talking (at an age-appropriate level). Calls have been placed so he can get a variety of evaluations from speech and physical therapists and a developmental specialist, too. However, it will take weeks/months to get in to see anybody. So, we are working with Christian on our own with his walking and verbal skills.

For a while, we thought he had hypothyroidism. He does not, but there is still something possibly going on with his thyroid, so he’ll be scheduled for a thyroid scan soon. And we are waiting to hear the results of the CT scan.

But to us, Christian is just a happy, curious, energetic little boy who is the light of our lives. His legs are getting stronger and he makes new noises (I’m sure the are words, in his opinion). And he’s so smart … he catches onto things almost immediately. He loves his books more than ever … and his current favorite is “Green Eggs and Ham.” I think I’ve read that book more to him in the past two weeks than I did during my entire childhood. We are so pleased that he enjoys books so much, and is able to remain focused on the books as we read to him.

His new words to read are “toes” and “chin.” When we show him “toes,” he lifts up his toes to show us. When he sees the word, “chin,” he points to our chin. He’s also recently started pointing at numbers. We have a counting book, and I can say, “Where is 5?” and he’ll point to the number 5 on the page.

Christian follows directions very well, and it’s heartwarming to see him be so compliant. I know it may not always be this way, so I am enjoying the compliance while it lasts.

It is fun to watch his little personality develop. He’s easily amused (lots of laughter around here!), and also easily frustrated at times. In the past couple of days, he’s really protested being placed in his car seat. Even when he knows we’re on our way to someplace fun (like Melissa’s house), he makes it very difficult for me to get him buckled into his car seat. I’m hoping whatever issue he’s having with it is short-lived.

Christian’s appetite has really increased over the past few days, which pleases us as we’re now able to give him more balanced meals. For example, yesterday for lunch he ate salmon, grapes, cheese, a banana and an entire cup of milk. Quite a lot … and quite nutritious!

We love that Christian is so affectionate with us … he frequently comes to sit in our laps to be read to and loved on. He’s learned to give kisses (the open-mouth wet variety, of course!). Such a lovey-dovey little lad!