"Get up off that floor & dance!"

Hehe. I'm not up to anything, Mommy! I promise.

... G-Daddy jived encouragement to a belly wigglin' Ayden for two days. Ayden wants to be mobile so badly, but he hasn't yet figured out forward movement. Even though Ayden didn't catch on to the crawl while G-Daddy visited, he did do quite a bit of music-making (Ayden on his drum and G-Daddy on the maracas) and dancing. Ayden also learned to race his car beneath his G-Daddy's legs, and he was an excellent assistant in creating grand monuments with his blocks.

 

You're cool, G-Daddy.

Fun in the Sun

 

Ayden loves the water. As you have seen from bathtime video, he enjoys splashing with his hands, and he recovers nicely when he is splashed by others. I have long hoped that my children would love the pool. I learned to swim at age four, and my parents paced the length of the pool as I competed as an eight-and-under; they worried I wouldn't make it across! I continued swimming, sometimes year-round, until I was eighteen, so it has always been an activity that I have enjoyed for its athleticism, competition, and teamwork.

 

 

In this post are some pictures from some sunny June Saturdays at Uncle Jesse and Aunt Sherry's pool. Their pool is especially fun for Ayden because it has a Bahama landing that he can scoot around on (kind of like a big bathtub!) and a waterfall that he can put his hands through. We have often been picked on by how much stuff we lug to the pool, but I insist that I would rather have it all than be stuck wondering why I didn't bring something! Ayden has been spoiled with a bucket full o' goodies... the same goodies that end up in the pool drains! When Ayden is able to go to a public pool (next year?), I'm going to use up a lot of Sharpie markers putting his name on everything!

 

 

Alex, I like this water gun!

Maybe Ayden will swim on a team; maybe he won't. I'm just glad he enjoys the water and time spent with family and friends!

 

My Handsome Boys

Happy Father's Day, Dada!

God calls the man of the household to a high standard. He is not merely a provider and decision maker; he is a husband and a father too, a model of Godly Love. Observing the relationships a man has with his family will tell you a lot about that man. I get to watch the developing relationship of Bryan and Ayden, and the adoration they have for each other is precious; the interaction is funny and patient and disciplined and kind and sacrificial and loving. I know Ayden loves me, but the bond he has created with his dad is awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

To my daddy and Bryan's: 

We wish you a joyful Father's Day! We love you!

 

Tiger-in-the-Making

 

 

 

 

Weekday Therapies

 

Now that Ayden is taking one long nap in the afternoons, his therapy days are pretty much all about therapy. So... much of our weekday action is spent in route to/from or at physical, occupational, or feeding therapy...

PHYSICAL
I can finally say that physical therapy is almost a fun experience. Gone are the days of screaming, crying, tantruming, nose running, and throwing up. Ayden learning to sit up on his own was monumental for his growth. He discovered that maybe, just maybe, Mommy and Ms. Kristin weren't such bad guys. Now that Ayden feels more comfortable with physical therapy, he is quite the "ham" when it comes to attending both physical and occupational therapies. (They are at the same location.) He smiles, laughs, acts coy, and uses his Miss America wave; most of the therapists know him by name.

Ms. Courtney made me these awesome shortalls! Go, Tigers!
Thank you, Ms. Courtney!

All of Ayden's current efforts are given to mobility. The kid wants to move so badly, but in trying to get to his stomach to crawl, he often gets his leg caught under him. He doesn't know what to do once finally on his stomach. He has trained his body to sit up so well that he often uses that as fallback when he can't figure out what else to do. Today he finally got on all fours and started rocking... Yippee!

Check out my stretch!

You caught me! I'm smiling while on my tummy!

We are also trying to help him with standing. He doesn't want to do any weight bearing on his feet. We need to wake those muscles up, which doesn't thrill Ayden. Standing is further down on his mobility agenda.

All of this exercise has tuckered me out!
This is only the second time I have slept on my stomach!

OCCUPATIONAL
Ayden has met many of his original goals (i.e. turn pages of a boardbook, put objects in a container, use three jaw chuck grasp). Ayden really wants to do what his OT, Ms. Julie, is trying to teach him, but he gets mad easily when he can't accomplish something the first time around. Julie commented, "Ayden has a low threshold for frustration." I don't know if impatience or a temper are hereditary or environmental... either way, I can pick out a number of influences that might have contributed to these characteristics!

This weekend he started independently placing pegs in a peg board, and he is working toward building and taking apart MegaBlocks. As Bryan told you, he LOVES taking objects out of a container and then putting them back in. He also really enjoys looking through books as well, particularly ones that are touch & feel or have flaps; however, his current favorite book is called Peek-a-Who?, and it's neither flap nor touch & feel. Some new goals we have for Ayden are stacking blocks and rolling cars.

You can watch Ayden at work here. (I didn't really take any recent fine motor skills pictures.)

FEEDING
Aaaahhh... the ever-present frustration. I suppose Ayden is making progress, but the progress is crazy slow. I can put dry spoons and dry sippy cups to his mouth, and he bites on them. Add food or liquid, and he isn't interested. Of course, he will eat just about anything that isn't food...

Does eating my football count?

"Is he hungry?" you ask. Probably not. Most tube fed babies don't seem to get hungry. Bryan and I watched videos from when Ayden was bottle feeding, and it was painfully apparent that our baby experienced hunger. We get no indication of that being the case now. We think he would need to go the better part of a day before feeling hunger pains. At some point (to be determined), we will make the step to remove feeds to see if we can get him hungry enough to actually eat something.

Are you sure this doesn't count?

In the meantime, Ayden adores his new feeding therapist. He spends most of his appointment laughing at her. (I often wonder what exactly he is laughing at... Does he just enjoy her that much, or is he laughing at her efforts to get him to eat?) At home, we do everything the feeding therapist asks of us. We made two changes to our day: One is that we have Ayden sit in the high chair for every morning pump feed; the other is that he sits in the high chair while we have dinner as a family. During neither experience do we apply pressure for him to do anything eating related. The reasons for the changes are for him to 1) be disciplined enough to sit in the high chair for a meal and 2) observe his family eating and perhaps become interested.

I'm still watching Phineas & Ferb...
but Mickey Mouse Clubhouse might have taken its place!

 

(I need to apologize for my terrible photography skills. I have had our camera on the wrong setting for probably a week, and I just now realized it. The pictures are darker, and action shots had a tendency to be blurry. Ayden would have taken even better pictures if his mommy had stopped to think about what she was doing!)