Walks, wardrobes, and weekends...

We are so close to meeting our goals for the upcoming walk to support Boston Children's Hospital.  In fact, Bennett has met and surpassed his goal.   I met my original goal and decided to aim to be a "Miracle Maker".  I'm just $45 away from that goal.  And Chris is a measly $15 away from reaching the minimum amount that he needs to raise.  Would you consider donating to help us reach our goals?  Pretty please?  You'll receive a lovely photo thank you card after the walk....

In the category of cute things that kids say, we have the following two entries.

• "Trash can truck- dump dump"  Each week he likes helping us bring the trash can to the curb.  And when we can, we like watching the trash truck come and pick up the trash can and dump the contents into the truck.  But Chris and I like how he blended the terms together to get trash can truck.  And the "dump dump" is just describing the action of the truck.
• Happy Birthday Mummy Mumma's Day

For the past couple of nights Bennett has been lining up all of his toys in the tub.  Another one of his OCD tendendcies?

We've been trying to get Bennett to dress himself.  For the most part he can do it, but if we are near him he always says that he needs help.  The only thing we weren't sure if he could do was his shirt.  So one morning this past week Chris picked out Bennett's clothes and left them in his room and asked him to put them on.  Then he left.  A few minutes later Bennett comes into our room completely dressed.  Undies and socks were on correctly, but the pants and shirt were backwards.  Oh well.  We decided to leave him as is and sent him to school that way.  And he was even still dressed that way when we picked him up.

On Saturday night we had a game night with friends.  It's been about 5 months since we've seen everyone.  Schedules are just way too busy!  Proof that it's been too long- one friend commented that Bennett is now speaking intelligent words.  We feel like he's been doing this for a while now!

Sunday was Mother's Day andd we went to Sturbridge.  Moms got in free (not that it mattered to us since we're members) so it was pretty busy.  Bennett continues to get comments from everyone about how cute his is in his hat.  If only he wouldn't smoosh it down onto his head.  It makes visibility a bit tricky.

We also got a picture of him in the final opening of this mult-person cutout.  I'll have to photoshop all of the images together at some point.

And of course we visited Doc and Blue (the oxen) and also looked at the cows.

After nap Bennett gave me his Mother's Day present that he bought with some help from Daddy.  It's a little hard to see here, but it's a "bouquet" made out of a few skeins of yarn with knitting needles as stems.  I had seen the idea and passed along a link to Chris.  I had a feeling this is what I would be getting but I hadn't known which option it would be.  There had been multiple choices in various colors and prices.

And then to finish the day we went outside and did some gardening.  Bennett helped me mix some compost into my garden beds.  I still have a bit more work to do, but need to get some more supplies before I can finish.  Hopefully that will happen later this week or next weekend. 



The snow is melting... Finally!

This was an interesting week.  More specific reasons as to why will be in a different post, but Bennett had some quality Mum and Dad time this week, staying home on Monday and Tuesday, and then again on Friday when he had a couple of appointments.

On Monday he was home with Daddy.  They watched some Curious George, and this was the position he sat in to watch.  (Not the best picture, but it was a cell phone self portrait, so what do you expect?)  I guess being draped across Daddy's legs is comfortable?  He sat in a similar pose for me on Tuesday as well.

I made Bennett a couple of pairs of pants.  Here's one of them.  I was trying to use fabric I already had, so some of the fabric choices are interesting, to say the least.  These almost look like PJ pants.  Finally I gave in and went to the fabric store.

We had lots of fun playing with Duplos.  I keep wondering if Bennett would do ok with regular Legos (or at least the larger blocks- not the tiles or plates) but then we break down and buy him more Duplos.  But we all had lots of fun playing and building.  We made lots of stores, houses, etc.  Bennett still likes to destroy our creations more than build them, but he does do some building as well.

This pile of snow looks huge here, but as of this morning, it's much smaller and I imagine it will be all gone either today or tomorrow.  What a difference a week makes! 

At any rate, on Tuesday after Daddy got home we went out to play for a little while.  Bennett found a stick and thought that poking and stepping in the snow was fun.  And seeing my garden reminds me that soon I should get out there and plant some peas and maybe some other early things like lettuce.  (I think it's still a little early for broccoli.)

It's a little small and hard to see, but here's another pair of pants I made.  These are striped fabric.  I like them, but Chris thinks they look like prison pants.

As I mentioned here, Bennett had his first visit to the dentist on Friday.  He did awesome!   In the afternoon he saw his pediatrician, just to touch base and see how he's doing.  (I have no idea with what frequency most kids see their doctors, but I think we get extra appointments due to his heart and speech delay.)  His stats are that he now weighs 28.2 lbs (30th percentile) and is 37" tall (80th percentile).  I had thought he weighed a bit more, but I guess I was wrong.  He also got measured on the big boy scale and his height was taken standing up for the first time, rather than laying down as has been done in the past.

Saturday was skating and errands and then in the evening Bennett went to a seder with Nana and Grandpa while Mummy and Daddy went to OSV for Dinner in a Country Village, a program "where costumed interpreters oversee the preparations, but the guests do the roasting, baking, and mulling. Participants roast meat using a tin reflector oven, fire a brick bake oven, and mull spiced cider over the hearth before sitting down to enjoy the results, all by candlelight."  It was a lot of fun and we would love to go back again.  Although we are thinking it might be more fun to go with a group of friends.  They are already booking for next year (and some dates are sold out) so check your calendars and let us know what might work for you!

Here's Chris skewering the chickens to prepare to roast them.

And here I am whipping cream with a twig whisk.  This was a group project since it takes a while and your arm quickly gets tired.

On Sunday Bennett woke up to see that the Easter Bunny had visited!  The Bunny knows Bennett well and he got some play eggs, stickers, a Curious George book, Curious George puzzles, chapstick, and M&Ms.  He also got a toothbrush, which is still pretty exciting to a toddler.

Here he is looking at the puzzles.  You can see some eggs on the floor at his feet.  And why yes, he is wearing Christmas PJs on Easter. 

After getting dressed it was time to search for eggs.  Most of the eggs were empty, but a few of them had some small plastic dogs inside.

After church Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry came over.  They had fun playing with all the Easter grass.  Luckily it was made from paper, so it didn't make as much of a mess as the plastic kind would have.

After lunch we went to visit Mimi, and then it was home for a late, and much needed, nap.  What a busy day!

And now for a couple of videos.

We had no idea that Bennett knew this word, but he started saying it all on his own!

Lots of friends and family had March birthdays, so here's a rendition of Bennett singing Happy Birthday.

And another plea for donations as we walk to raise money for Boston Children's Hospital.  Here is a link to the team's page. We would love it if you would sponsor Bennett or Fiona (or really any of us, as the adults are required to raise a minimum of $150).  No worries if you can't, but even $5 or $10 can help make a difference.

Fun around the house and in the snow

 Thank you to those who have sponsored us already in our walk for Boston Children's Hospital.  If you haven't yet but still plan to, there is still plenty of time!  The walk isn't until June.  (This likely means that you will be hearing from me until then asking for donations.)  You can sponsor Bennett, me, or Chris.  Just click our names to take you to the donation pages.  If you are trying to decide who to sponsor, our preference would be for you to sponsor Bennett.

And now for pictures and videos from the past week.

You may think that Bennett is eating toast in this next picture, but you would be wrong.  What looks like toast is actually a pancake, possibly Bennett's favorite food (other than fruit).

Someone had a major case of the giggles!  He was laughing even more before we started recording!  He thought that the puppet drinking from the cup was the best thing ever!

 

On Tuesday Daddy had to work late.  When we were mostly done with dinner we video chatted with Daddy.  And then Daddy started making funny faces at Bennett, so of course then Bennett had to make silly faces at Daddy.

Here he is from Daddy's point of view.

On the way home from school one day Bennett wanted to sing The Wheels on the Bus.  I tried to record him by holding up my phone from my seat in the car (Don't worry, I wasn't driving.) which is why it's kind of jerky and not great quality.

Friday we had another snow storm.  Luckily our plow driver cleaned up most of the snow while we were at work, but we had a bit of cleaning up to do when we got home.  Bennett got a bit better about not shoveling snow back onto the driveway.  Even if he had though, we wouldn't have cared because he was happy and he was letting us do what we needed to do.

And here's a quick video of him shoveling.

Bennett has always been interested in what we are cooking.  He'll ask to be picked up and we encourage him to get in his tower.  Sometimes he moves it closer to the counter (especially when he wants to sneak food) and we often have to push him back a bit for safety reasons. 

On this occassion he was very interested in the nachos that were been prepped- but probably because of the chips and the cheese.

After nap on Saturday we went outside to play in the snow.  Bennett wasn't too interested in making a snowman, but Chris and I had fun with that.  Unfortunately, about a half hour later it toppled over.  And although Bennett didn't play in the snow too much (although he did play more than we thought he might) he did have fun going down the slide and playing on the swings.  The swingset has been pretty neglected this fall/winter due to cold and darkness. 

Here we tried having Bennett stand next to the snowman.  I think he thought we were trying to get him to measure himself against it or something, which is why he backed up to it.

Skating, cooking, and everyday life

Once again showing how thankful I am that we live in the greater Boston area, here's an article about advances being developed in the Cardiac ICU at Boston Children's Hospital (where Bennett spent the first 2 weeks of his life before being downgraded to the regular cardiac wing).


To help give back to Children's for all that they've done for us, we are walking to help raise money. Initially we hadn't set up a fundraising page for Bennett, but now we have. Please consider supporting one of the three of us. (But if Bennett meets his $500 goal, he will be considered a "Miracle Maker".  Here are the links to sponsor us:

Bennett
Mummy
Daddy

And now for some pictures!

Bennett is pretty awesome.  Well, we knew that, but in this case I was meaning that he's pretty awesome about showing affection.  I know this won't last forever, so I'll take it while I can.  Pretty much any time we ask for a hug or a kiss, we get one. And this boy gives awesome hugs!

I think we may have figured out Bennett's favorite food.  Pancakes.  When he sees us getting eggs out of the fridge he thinks we also need a bowl, a whisk and the cookbook.  These days we have to make a double batch because a single batch isn't quite enough.  Leftovers get frozen and make a quick and easy breakfast.  Eating (and cooking) pancakes is serious business!

Trying to get the bag in the trash can.  This requires lots of shaking of the bag and then shoving it into the trash can.  Folding the edge over the can, however, is optional (to Bennett).

The train fairy came to visit!  We've had the train table put away since before Christmas.  I brought it up from the basement one night and Chris and I set up the track.  Bennett was so excited when he saw it the next morning.  He saw it when he was halfway down the stairs and started exclaiming about the choo choo.  A friend of mine passed along some trains from her son as well as some clips that hold the tracks together.  They worked awesome on the elevated sections- especially since we don't have enough risers to hold it all up otherwise.  Bennett is loving this, and playing with it multiple times a day.

We've given Bennett an old cell phone to play with.  The other night he was "talking" on the phone and trying to rest it on his shoulder.

I know this will come as a shock to you, but we went to Sturbridge on Sunday.  We mixed things up a bit and Bennett rode in the Boba on Daddy's back.  Here we are checking out the "ocken".

Every weekend in March OSV is having "Maple Days" where they boil the sap, cook with maple sugar, etc.  Towards the end of the visit we were at the fire where they were boiling the sap.  We were talking (and admiring the inside pockets on the woman's cloak) and Bennett had obviously had enough.  He kept asking for the oxen, the horses, etc.  Anything to try to get us to leave.  And then he asked for the "ock-neigh".  Hmm, I guess that's a combination of oxen and horse (Which he never says horse.  He always says "neigh".).  Then as we left that camp Bennett starts shouting, "BYE"  over and over again.  Luckily no other visitors were over there being disturbed by his shouts.  But the cute part was when the interpreters then shouted "bye" to him as well.
We also lucked out as we were leaving.  There's a patch of plants growing near the oxen in the center village.  And every time we walk past them I wonder what they are.  And every time I comment that I need to remember to ask someone.  As luck would have it, someone was walking by just then who overheard me and told us that the mystery plant is teasel.  Teasel is a biennial (takes 2 years to grow) and was used in the textile industry (and was still used fairly recently as a man-made version wasn't the same quality) to comb fibers in finished cloth- mostly for flannels, wools, etc.

Saturday was the start of a new skating session.  Daddy decided not to take lessons this session which means he gets to take pictures and videos.  Unfortunately he's a bit of a distraction to Bennett, although in this video he's distracted more by the other kids.  It's also nice though to be able to better see his progress than trying to watch from the other end of the rink.  He also lucks out and gets a teenage helper for pretty much one-on-one assistance during the class!

Bennett loves breakfast, in particular, pancakes.  And lately, he always wants a "nice" (knife).  He has a couple of play ones that he loves to use, and he likes to go into the silverware drawer and get us knives to use for dinner.  (Don't worry, they aren't sharp.  The sharp knives are all out of reach.) 

And the report is in...

US News and World Reports released their rankings of the Best Children's Hospitals 2012-2013 and Boston Children's Hospital was ranked as #1 in the Cardiology & Heart Surgery category.  Also, of the 10 categories included, it was in the top 3 of 9 categories.  And the one it missed?  It was number 4.  That's not too shabby!  (It receive 3 first place, 4 second place, 2 third place, and 1 fourth place).

I'm definitely glad that we live so close.  When we've gone to appointments and staff members are making small talk with us, they will ask where we live.  We really are one of the close ones.  People come from all over the New England area, not to mention the rest of the country and world to be seen at Boston Children's Hospital.  So to give thanks for all of the support that they have given us, we will once again be walking in June to raise money to help them with all that they do.  Chris, Bennett and I would be extremely grateful if you would consider donating to this worthy cause.  You can sponsor us here at my page, or here at Chris' page.

A medical update

I realize I haven't updated on Bennett's medical condition lately.  (Ok, I haven't really updated on anything lately.)  So here goes.



At the cardiologist- August 2011

August 2011 he saw the cardiologist.  It had been a few months since he had last been in.  The cardiologist he had been seeing had left to go to another hospital.  We considered staying with him, but in the end figured we'd rather stay with Children's. 

The ECHO was challenging.  Bennett did not like lying still.  They got some images, but not great ones.

We met (very briefly) with the new cardiologist and were told that everything looked good.  Come back in a year.

Fast forward to 2012.  When we left last year, they had mentioned the possibility of doing a sedated ECHO next time, but that they would let us know.  After a horrible experience with a kidney/bladder ultrasound back in February, Chris and I knew sedated was the way to go.  So I called and made it known that we thought it would be best if Bennett were sedated.  Finally we heard back that yes, they thought so to.  And then the appointment ended up being rescheduled a couple of times.

Finally at the end of September we were able to get in.  Being sedated meant nothing to eat after 2:30am the night before, and only clear liquids until 8:30am.  (Appointment scheduled for 9:30.)  Surprisingly he did well with nothing to eat, and didn't fuss about no milk.  He was more annoyed with the 2 hour drive to Children's in the morning.  Under "normal" circumstances it would take maybe 45-60 minutes, but it was rush hour.  Chris found some Thomas videos on his phone for Bennett to watch, and that kept him happy for a little while.

Then began the waiting.  At this point we're used to appointments at Children's taking excessive amounts of time with lots of time waiting.  In this case, we were told 9:30, they had us down for 10:00.  They got a height and weight and then brought us back.  Interestingly, our little pipsqueak, was pretty much right on the upper range of being able to take the sedation medicine. 



Passing time while waiting to be sedated. 

They had a play doctor kit in the exam room that Bennett liked playing with while we waited.  Finally they were ready!  The nurse came back in and gave him the medicine.  And then we had to wait for him to fall asleep.  Bennett does not like being told to go to sleep, especially a couple of hours before his normal nap time!  Daddy and I took turns holding him and trying to keep him still.  We couldn't put him down because he would likely fall and hurt himself.  Plus I think he would have been really confused about what was happening.  In the end Chris lay down on the exam table and held him.  All in all, this took maybe 15 minutes.

Then it was time to transfer him to the room where they do the ECHOs.  He woke up slightly when he was transferred but he went right back to sleep.  The nurse stayed with him and Chris and I went to get some food.



He also did some coloring with his new Aquadoodle
that he got for his birthday.



Some people have commented that they wouldn't be able to/ wouldn't want to leave their child there, but with our experience at Children's, we've learned that when you get an opportunity to eat, take it.  Doesn't matter that it's only 11:00.  Go. Eat. 

When we got back to the room the person doing the ECHO was just wrapping up.  They had been able to get great pictures and a very thorough look at his heart.  Bennett was still sleeping, so they went ahead and did an EKG.  Then the cardiologist came in to talk to us.

It was awesome being able to talk and be able to give our full attention to the doctor rather than only have listening while we're trying to entertain Bennett and keep him from getting into everything.  And the news is... He's doing awesome!  The cardiologist commented that Bennett now has "mild regurgitation".  Wow!  Such a change from what we were hearing just before he was born.  They may not do an ECHO again next year, but that's ok because they were able to get such a thorough look this time.  And everything is looking great.  No reasons why he should be prevented from doing sports or other activities.  Future surgeries?  Maybe, but likely not until he's a teen/young adult, and possibly won't ever need anything else.

When we were done talking, and Bennett had been asleep a decent amount of nap time, the nurse removed the EKG stickers.  This woke Bennett up.  The nurse commented that coming out of sedation was similar to being drunk.  And that like with alcohol there are happy drunks and angry drunks, there was a similar range of outcomes when coming out of sedation.

Bennett is a happy drunk!  But  he also thought he could act like his normal self.  Um, sorry buddy.  We had to hold him to keep him from falling down or crashing in to things.  After he drank some milk we were free to go.

He also had his 2 year appointment with the pediatrician that afternoon.  We had time to kill between appointments so we stopped by Brandeis to visit Chris' co-workers.  The effects of the sedation hadn't worn off yet.  It was a struggle to restrain him!  This is a boy who doesn't like sitting still for very long!  But it was entertaining watching him try to walk.  But also a little scary since we had to keep such a close eye on him.



Asleep in the waiting room.



Then it was off to the pediatrician.  Bennett fell asleep again in the car.  He must have still been feeling the effects of the sedation because he didn't wake up when we took him out of the car.  Plus he slept in my arms while hanging in the (noisy) waiting room.  It was awesome!  I haven't been able to hold a sleeping Bennett in almost a year.  I hadn't realized how much I missed that.



Asleep in the exam room.



Then when we took him into the exam room he was still sleeping.  The nurses kept asking if he was ok- was there anything wrong with him?  Nope, just the after-effects of the sedation medication.  Understandable though, because I can imagine if I saw him lying on the table like this I would probably freak out a little as well.

When the doctor came in, we woke him up since we had to get an updated height.  They didn't like the measurement that we had gotten at Children's because it was very different from the last measurement that they had.

And then it was a pretty basic appointment, except we had to keep a closer eye on Bennett to keep him from falling from chairs and crashing into things.  But he was good about sitting still when he needed to be examined.  Pediatrician didn't express any concerns to us.  Yeah, Bennett has a speech delay, but he is making progress.  (We'll be so happy when he learns to communicate more!)

Another update

We're all home again!  Bennett's appetite is back, and his blood is now testing normal, so we were allowed to bring him home.  I went to join Daddy and Bennett after work today, and we headed home around 9:30pm.