Work Hard ... Play Hard

Today was another special day. Daddy got to spend the morning with Parker so that mommy could have a bit of a break. The last thing we need is for mommy to get sick. It was also so that I could meet with the dietician as well as the occupational therapists.

I was very excited to work with the occupational therpists today because Parker and I had been working on our rolling over (his rolling over) as well as increasing his strength in his abdominals. Although Parker needs a little bit of coaxing to roll from his back to his front he is improving greatly in this skill. He now knows when it is time to roll over and aticipates it by moving his arms into a position so that they will be under his head like we do for 'tummy time'. Then it is a quick 1...2...3... roll. When he does reach his tummy we make sure that his elephant mirror is in front of him so he may look at himself. By banging on the top of the mirror with his rattle we can make sure he is attentive and keeps his head up for an extended period of time. Every once in a while Parker will move his hands to his side causing him to lose the support he needs to raise his body but he is learning to place them back once he starts to lose control. Think daddy is tough on the little guy? Mommy may be obsessed with making sure he does not have dry skin, but no SCID of mine is getting out of his homework before he is done.

The occupational therapist showed us a new trick today. Well, not really a trick. Parker is now able to roll over from his front (tummy) to his back all by himself. How, you may ask? When he gets angry enough while using his arms to lift his body up he lets out a large cry and pushes really hard that he rolls back over to his stomach. We all cheered when he did it. He looked very satisfied with himself. So you know what his reward was? A trip back to his tummy so he could do it again. Hard work will help our little guy surpass all the goals we have set out for him.

Parker's dietician also came by today. It was nice to meet her and discuss the progress Parker has made with his weight, height (length) and head circumference. We were all in agreement that Parker has made some very positive gains in the past two months. He is almost at the 25th percentile in his weight. His length has also shown improvement. We discussed dropping his caloric intake to the normal level but agreed to revisit that in two weeks after the PEG-ADA has taken more of an effect. The extra concentrated formula does increase his calories to 1.3 times the normal value but it also increases the vitamins and minerals in the formula as well. We were so pleased with his reaction to the PEG-ADA that we do not want to introduce any new variables into the equation. My wife and I both agree that his formula will have to be concentrated less by the time we go home as we don't want our baby to be too much of a chunky monkey.