Eddie's Therapy: The End

As of today, Eddie is officially done with physical therapy! Julie came by for the last time today to conduct a huge test and Eddie passed with flying colors. His feet are doing a lot better, so we are just going to keep using the sample insert that Julie let us borrow for another month and if he doesn't get any worse, he will be able to be done with that, too.

The test was a little ridiculous, but they have to test him in all the developmental areas before he can be done with therapy. The test itself took over an hour. It might not have taken so long, but Eddie was woken up from his nap by the ridiculously loud rain storm we had from 1:44 to 2:00 today, so his nap was cut short, and he was a wreck. Julie tested Eddie's cognition, perception, communication (both receptive and expressive), and fine and gross motor skills.

Julie started with what we knew he could do already and then worked her way up until we found what he couldn't do yet. It was gross motor skills that put him in therapy in the first place, but now he is in the 63rd percentile! He blew us away with some of his fine motor skills. Julie brought out some big beads and a piece of string and showed him how to thread the bead on the string. She said, "This is hard. He probably can't do this." Then we watched in amazement as he concentrated really hard and got the string in the hole. I also learned that he knows how to put lids on bottles. Where he learned that, I have no idea.

The area he scored lowest on was "self care," which includes things like feeding himself with a spoon, removing his shoes without help, etc. Mostly he scored low on that category because these are things I haven't really given him the opportunity to do. So I guess we'll work on those things.

The only other thing we need to work on now is curbing Eddie's blossoming temper. Dave and I are at a loss as to where all of Eddie's rage comes from, but it has been getting worse and worse over the past weeks. I have suspected that the anger stems from his desire, but inability, to communicate his needs and wants to us. Julie confirmed my suspicions. She recommended that we try to always offer him a choice between two things that we think he might want. That way, he knows that we understand that he wants something and then we don't give him the opportunity to say "no." We'll see how that works out.

Overall, Eddie is doing great. So now we'll be focusing on communication and anger management.

Eddie likes wearing this "hat."

Just Monkeying Around

With our Tracy Aviary membership, Eddie and I can get into the zoo for free the first Thursday of every month. We avoided the last couple of months because of the heat. Lately, Eddie has been showing a lot more interest in animals (mostly in puppies), so I was interested to see his reaction to the zoo. We went along with Christie, Josh, Neil, and Kyle.

Eddie and I got there about 5 minutes before the others, so we went inside the front gate to wait. I let Eddie out of the stroller so that he could have some time to walk around and explore. He walked around in a big circle and eventually I was able to contain him by saying, "Eddie, look! A ball!" He was mesmerized by the ball-shaped water feature, so that is where we spent the rest of our time until the others arrived. He especially liked that he could see his reflection in the side of it.


Once Christie and kids arrived, we attempted to set off to see the animals. I tried putting Eddie back in the stroller, but he refused. I thought he might be okay walking down the hill to the elephants, but two steps into it, he fell flat on his face, banging his forehead on the ground and making his nose bleed. So I carried him to see the monkeys.


Luckily for us, Eddie loves monkeys, so they helped calm him down after his incident. I was surprised that Eddie recognized that all the different kinds of monkeys were, in fact, monkeys. He just kept pointing at them, saying "ah-ah." Besides monkeys, Eddie also liked the bears and the tigers.


The tigers were my favorite part this time around. There are three tiger cubs that were born in June and they've only been out on display for a couple of weeks. We got to see them up close since their mommy was feeding and bathing them right by the fence. They were ridiculously cute. Eddie showed his approval with a point and a "pup!"

Eddie's Desert Island Books

I have heard that it is perfectly normal for toddlers to want the same books read over and over again. Lucky for us, Eddie has picked some pretty good books to want repeated. I have most of these memorized and have contemplated trying to multi-task while "reading" to Ed. We've read them so many times that sometimes he will even tell me what is coming up on the next page.

Where the Wild Things Are // Maurice Sendak

Eddie loves all the "pups" in this book. He thinks that Max is a pup because he's dressed in his wolf suit. He thinks the wild things are all pups, too. Plus, this book has an added bonus: the moon. We're not sure why (perhaps because of the moon in The Very Hungry Caterpillar), but Eddie loves the moon and always has to point it out when it shows up in his stories.

"Oh please don't go - we'll eat you up - we love you so!"

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think // Dr. Seuss

My mom and I discovered this book the first time we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and visited the bookstore dedicated entirely to Dr. Seuss in Seuss Landing. I absolutely love this book because it is all about encouraging imagination and thinking of ridiculous things.

"And what would you do if you met a Jibboo?"

Puppies

This is an Usborne touchy-feely book. Eddie loves puppies, so naturally he loves this book, which is filled with all sorts of hairy, fluffy puppies.

"Most puppies like to sniff, but not this one."

Sheep in a Jeep // Nancy Shaw

This book was a baby shower gift from my cousin, who told me that she let her sons pick out the book. It is a fun rhyming book about a bunch of sheep driving a jeep rather recklessly. Thanks to this book, Eddie can say "beep beep."

"Oh dear! The driver sheep forgets to steer!"

Hippos Go Berzerk // Sandra Boynton

A gift from Eddie's aunt Cheryl, this book was a hit from the start. It is a counting book about a bunch of hippos that get together for a party and... you guessed it... go berzerk. Eddie likes this book so much that he attempted to eat it the other day in the car. Luckily I caught him before he ate through any of the words.

"All through the hippo night, hippos play with great delight."

Good Night Gorilla // Peggy Rathmann

This book is all about the pictures. Eddie loves it because it prominently features a gorilla (aka monkey, which Eddie calls "ah-ah") and a lion, which Eddie always thinks is a "pup." I even taught Eddie to gasp at the right moment -- when the zookeeper's wife realizes that all the animals are in their bedroom.

"Good night armadillo."

Life's a Beach

Since Dave currently has the "luxury" of not working on Fridays, we like to go out and about on Fridays when most other people are at work. Today was just such a day. We spent this afternoon at the Oquirrh Lake beach with Dave's sisters, Cheryl & Christie, and their kids. There are two beaches at Oquirrh Lake -- one with an adjacent playground and one without. We had originally planned to meet at the beach by the playground so that Eddie could enjoy his daily swing, but upon arriving, we found a bazillion people already there and no parking to be found. So, we decided that Eddie could go one day without swinging and went to the other beach instead, where we almost had the whole beach to ourselves.

I slathered Eddie's exposed areas with sunscreen, making sure to get his face and ears, arms and legs. Then we set him loose in the sand. He had a blast, digging and splashing with his cousins, while I enjoyed sitting on the grass talking to my sisters-in-law. After a while, I started to feel like I was getting sunburned, so I applied more sunscreen. Then I took the sunscreen to re-slather Eddie. He didn't look pink at all, so I just put a little on his face and let him get back to business.

After a little over two hours of digging, splashing, lake water drinking, duck chasing, sand throwing, bee stinging fun, we decided to call it a day and packed up and went home. We did our best to de-sand Eddie's crevices and got him dressed. After a little while, we noticed that one of his cheeks was red. I said to Dave, "maybe he got a little sunburned." A little while later, the other cheek started turning red. Then we noticed that one side of his head was burned as well. Clearly, I didn't do as good a job with the sunscreen as I thought. What do you think?


He already looked like he's been in a fight due to the bathtub fall bruises on his forehead and the front porch fall scab on his nose. Now he looks like a red raccoon! At least he's still in good spirits, but maybe it's only because he hasn't looked in the mirror.

Just a Little Off the Top

Like all future first time parents, when Kristen was pregnant with Eddie we discussed all sorts of plans for our new baby. One thing we agreed on was that we wanted to let his hair grow and grow, even if other people mistook him for a girl.

Well, Eddie's hair has turned out to be super thin and wispy (one of the few really obvious traits he inherited from his momma). Recently his head has just been a giant ball of fuzz, so we decided it was high time to give him his first haircut. This experience played out in three distinct acts, which I have captured in the following video (and lightly accented with the film music of Bernard Herrmann).

What I Love About Being a Mom

As a mom, it is easy sometimes to let oneself feel unappreciated and overlooked. The past few days I have been feeling this as Eddie has taken a liking to looking through our photo albums. He will point out "Dada" on every page and will even point out "Papa," which is his Grandpa Andrews. I keep trying to get him to point me out. I'll say, "Where is Mama?" or "Who is this?" and he will either point at someone else or ignore my questions altogether. So I was feeling a little bummed out, thinking that Eddie takes me for granted. Then yesterday evening, he flipped open an album to a photo of me, pointed, and said, "Mama." It helped me realize how grateful I am to be a mom... even if Eddie doesn't yet know how to show his full appreciation. I really love being a mom and here are my top 10 reasons why:

10. Having a very good reason for not working full-time.

9. Having my patience tried every single day, but knowing I wouldn't want it any other way.

8. Feeling a sense of accomplishment when Eddie learns something new.

7. Having no choice but to agree when people tell me I have an extremely cute son.

6. Holding conversations with Eddie in jabber language.

5. Reading stories with Eddie and seeing how smart he is.

4. Making Eddie laugh so hard that he gets the hiccups, but still doesn't want to stop laughing.

3. Seeing Eddie do things that remind me so much of myself that I just have to laugh.

2. Snuggling in the rocking chair and singing songs when Eddie will allow it.

1. Hearing Eddie say, "mama" and knowing that he appreciates me in his own little way.

Eddie's Therapy

Eddie had another therapy session this afternoon. In just the past two weeks, Eddie has gone from a boy who could stumble 5 steps to a boy who can walk back and forth across the room. Walking is his new favorite thing. If I ever want him to stop whining, I take his hands and say, "let's walk" and he takes off across the room chanting "dada, dada."

We are supposed to be putting his shoes on him every day, but I am bad at being consistent. However, I have found that he is much more stable when he wears his shoes. Because of Eddie's foot situation, we have discussed getting shoe inserts for him. We have hesitated to get them before now because they are $25 per foot and we have been hoping Eddie's ankles would strengthen as he learned to walk. They have improved, but aren't quite normal yet -- with his left foot being substantially worse than his right.

While Julie was here today, she pulled out the sample insert that she carries with her to show parents what they are. It just happened to be a left foot insert that is very close to the right size for Eddie's foot. So she let us borrow it for the next month. That means I have to be diligent about putting Eddie's shoes on him.

Since he is quickly outgrowing his current shoes, Eddie and I went shoe shopping after Julie left. Eddie is now the proud owner of some stylish new Converse All-Stars.

(Not Eddie's actual shoe)

We are hoping that by the end of September, Eddie's feet will have improved enough that he will be able to test out of physical therapy. Once they determine that he is caught up in all five developmental areas, then he won't have to have therapy any more. We aren't too concerned about the other areas besides gross motor skills. He is good enough with his fine motor skills to catch the tiny black ants invading our house. He is becoming quite the jabber-box lately as well. More details on that will come in a future post.

Cousin's Day

The Barton mommies do their best to gather all the cousins together occasionally for "Cousin's Day." Yesterday was one such occasion. We gathered at Cheryl's to tie-dye shirts for the upcoming Bear Lake trip. Then we had a pizza lunch and headed to Old Farm Park in Riverton, which is a splash park.

I had heard about these splash parks (there is a similar one in Herriman), but had never been to one before. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I was a little sad that I didn't wear my swimming suit, so I didn't get the full experience. The great thing about the splash park is that there is no standing water more than an inch deep. The ground is perforated, so all the water showering down from above drains away. Since I didn't have to worry about Eddie wandering to the deep end and drowning himself, I felt more comfortable letting him roam. Of course, Eddie didn't feel too comfortable roaming alone, so I ended up following him around. At first, he didn't like it at all. For some reason, he doesn't like it when water comes at him from above. But soon, he got used to the cold water and figured out that he could get close to things without getting showered.

This was one of his favorite features. He sat down a couple of feet from it and slowly inched his way over. Eventually he ended up right underneath it, trying to get the water in his mouth.

Here is a photo of the whole group, minus Christie and Grandma Barton, who were both trying to get a photo with everyone in it and everyone looking. As you can see, they weren't entirely successful. If you zoom in, you can see that Eddie is turning blue. The water was really cold and Eddie wanted nothing to do with it after about 20 minutes because he was too busy shivering.

You Don't Win Friends With Salad

Every parent quickly comes to the realization that feeding a toddler is hit and miss. While that can be taken quite literally, I mean it in the figurative sense. Ever since Eddie stopped nursing and got teeth, we've been trying to expand his diet to include, well, everything. Every parent also quickly comes to the realization that cooperation is not a toddler's strong suit. Perhaps it is due to my lack of creativity in thinking up meal ideas for Eddie, but it seems that he eats the same three things over and over again: macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, and peanut butter sandwiches. These items are, of course, supplemented with yogurt, grapes, pureed vegetables, pickles, the occasional nibble of corn on the cob, and lots of crackers.

Despite our best efforts, Eddie seems to have been born a vegetarian. The only "meat" that I have successfully gotten him to eat willingly is the Gerber 2nd Food Apples and Chicken puree. As you may imagine, the stuff is disgusting. It is brown and runny and does not resemble chicken in the slightest. Eddie loved it. We have tried giving him hot dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled chicken, steak, deli meat, pork roast, bacon, etc, etc. Sometimes he will eat one piece before carefully moving all the other pieces from his tray to the floor. Sometimes he will put one piece in his mouth, taste it, then extract it and place it on the floor. Most of the time, he won't even try it. We try to trick him by hiding meat pieces in other things that he likes. He is too smart for us and rarely falls for it. If he does accidentally get a piece in his mouth, it is quickly ejected.

As life-long carnivores, Dave and I are not really sure how to handle this. Do we need to be worried about stunting Eddie's growth because he's not getting any protein? Do we need to make him eat tofu and beans? Do we need to puree all sorts of meats and add them to his yogurt and macaroni? Perhaps we just need to explain the food chain to him and then he'll get it.

15 Months Old

It's official: Eddie is growing up too fast. I took him in for his 15 month check-up today and felt like a veteran mom -- no questions, no concerns. I know the drill. Eddie, however, seems to have forgotten the drill. He was angry when I laid him down to remove his pants. He was angrier when I laid him back down so they could measure his height. He was absolutely livid when I laid him down to get his shots. But, between all these bursts of rage, he was incredibly happy to be there. He explored every inch of the filthy floor and opened all the drawers and found the best toy ever -- the doctor's stool. There he stood, spinning it for a good two minutes straight before the doctor came in to check him out. Then I had to remove him so that she could sit down.

Apparently he is healthy, which is a good thing. He's only grown one inch since his last visit, which surprised me. I thought he was getting tall. He must just be getting more spry and that is why he can suddenly climb on top of the coffee table where he was too short to before. He also hasn't gained much weight and is only in the 12th percentile! I had to ask her to repeat that (mostly because Eddie was busy yelling at the cupboards, but partly because I couldn't believe it).

In other news, Eddie had physical therapy again on Tuesday. Julie was very excited that Eddie has decided to take some steps on his own. We don't even have any new exercises to work on; we just have to practice walking. I am glad about that. It makes me feel like maybe we're almost done with physical therapy. We will be done once Eddie is walking well and we see what happens with his feet/ankles.

All in all, Eddie is doing great!

Eddie enjoying the garbage cans at Cove Fort last week