On a great note, Cooper has finally started venturing out walking on his own!! He usually makes it about 5 or 6 feet before a toy or some other obstacle trips him up. I just wanted to give him a little thumbs up!
I don't know if all of you remember the messiness entailed with feeding toddlers, it ain't pretty! There is no before on Sydney, she wasn't eating at the time the boys were, so she just has an after pic. Cooper and Quinn are supposed to be honing their spoon skills, but they gave up and just started trying to drink their pudding instead! They had a good time, but were very sticky by the time dinner was done! Sydney does enjoy a good cup of bath water, though!
The kids went for their 18 month visit and shots today. Cooper was 33 inches tall (75%) and weighed 25 lbs 8 oz (40%). Sydney was 30.5 inches tall (20%) and weighed 20 lbs 5 oz (3%). Quinn was 34 inches tall (90%) and weighed 25 lbs (40%). He was pleased with all of their progress except Cooper's head circumference is growing at a disproportionate rate, which isn't what we wanted to hear. Cooper sees the Neurosurgeon next week for his follow up, but they hadn't planned for any kind of a scan for that visit. We'll have to see if they want to check one
now that we know his head is getting too big, above the 100%. Now we have to start worrying again about if this means he will need a permanent shunt for his hydrocephalus (extra fluid in the ventricles of his brain). While a shunt may not sound bad, it entails numerous surgeries as the child grows to make the shunt long enough to empty itself, there is a fairly high rate of infections and failure of the shunt, which can also mean surgeries and hospitalizations and even in the worst case, permanent brain damage. So, not what we really were hoping to hear! There is always a rain cloud ready to roll in in life, I guess! We'll keep you posted as we know the plan!
Time is going by so quickly and so slowly at the same time! Cooper, Sydney and Quinn are a year and a half on sunday the 24th! They go to the doctor on monday and will be weighed and measured, so it will be interesting to see how they are doing. I was really hoping that everyone would be walking by now, but Sydney and Cooper are taking their time! It's about impossible to get a picture taken of Quinn these days. He purposely looks away from the camera, so shots of him are hard to come by! I'll send out an update after the doctor's appointment. Poor kids have to get vaccinations monday and the RSV shots on tuesday! They will definitely not be happy about matters by the time that's all over with!
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Those of you blessed with picky eaters or non eaters in Sydney's case can commiserate with me on what a challenge day to day eating and feeding can be! Some days I don't think I can deal with the frustration of it and others I just roll with it. This is definitely one of these areas where books have saved my sanity! I would feel like a failure if I hadn't read that one in five kids has eating challenges and as a parent all you can do is offer a healthy and differed array of foods and it's your kids' job to eat it. There isn't anything you can do to force the issue, just give it time and patience. Cooper is an average eater, Quinn a very selective eater that is very particular about food textures and Sydney is an occasional eater. Most of you who follow our kids know that Sydney came home from the hospital with a feeding button in her abdomen and has tube feeding. This was because of swelling in her throat she had from her ventilator tube and from reflux. This fall she was drinking up to half of her pediasure or eating pudding, yogurt or babyfood. During this winter she has stopped eating essentially and probably won't go back to it until all her sinus congestion clears up. Nothing like going back to square one after all the progress she made. When she was learning to eat, she used to throw up when she even saw a bottle. She isn't quite to that point, but she usually declines any food. Quinn won't anything that he doesn't like the feel of, which makes him a very limited eater. That always surprises people because he is the biggest of the three. Thank heavens for pediasure! One day this will all be a thing of the past. Quinn may always be a picky eater. It may take Sydney years to eat normally. I just hope that when they go off to school they'll just be like all the other happy eaters of chicken nuggets and pizza!
