Zodling report

[sethrak]

Ok, the promised Mark update.


The day before Jack was discharged from the NICU, davner took Mark to Dr. Morales, his allergist at CHKD. Blood work was done, which did not meet with his approval, as usual, and Dr. Morales asked Dav a few things about Mark's symptoms. Much to my consternation, it turns out beef was NOT removed from his list of allergens last time. I feel awful: I'd been giving him strained beef and foods containing beef for the last six months. But... He didn't seem to have any adverse reactions or noticeable increase in the eczema... Hell, the eczema's been gone for months, all of which were months during which he ingested beef.

Aside from that, Dr. M told Dav that we've been doing an excellent job managing his allergies, and to keep doing what we've been doing.

Test results came back about a week or so later. I spoke with Dr. M when she got to the local office with the results. There's been a minor reduction in the milk, egg, and beef reactions, so she thinks he may eventually outgrow them. However, it's not enough of a reduction to let us try giving those foods to him yet. Peanuts, dust, and pets are at about the same level as before. We can take him back in six months or in a year, and test again. I expect we'll need a new referral from his ped. to keep Tricare happy.

Then the day of Jack's discharge, Dav took Mark for a long overdue haircut. (The day of my c-section, I'd had an appt. for him to get a haircut - which obviously we missed - and he'd been in dire need of a trim *then*.) You guys might remember the hilarious photos I posted of his first haircut. Well, this was only his second, and apparently he pitched an even bigger fit than last time. Poor little boy looks like I let my beloved but arthritic 90 year old granpa trim his hair. Dav is now threatening to buy a Flow-Bee or an electric shaver, and do all of Mark's future haircuts himself, because he sees no reason to spring 16 bucks every couple months to get results like *that*. ^_^;;; Somehow I think this will not end well...

Mark's overall response to the arrival of his baby brother has been about what Callisto and Amara's reaction was to his arrival two years ago. ^_^; Mommy and Daddy, for inscrutable and possibly insane reasons of their own, have brought home That Thing, frequently known as That Noisy Thing - and they won't take it back where it came from! Calamity! Woe! Deepest woe! Worse yet, they keep hugging it and feeding it and paying attention to it, and not paying nearly as much attention to Mark any more. Poor little boy... It wasn't so bad at first: Gramma Debbie and Granpa Steve came to visit right after That Thing came home, and they played with Mark a great deal; even took him to the beach with Daddy while Mommy and That Thing stayed home. They also brought presents. Like a really nice wooden rocking horse. (Gramma and Granpa, - who are SO going to a special hell, or choice corner of purgatory for this - even bought Mark a Leapfrog toy. It has a set of magnetic numbers and alphabet letters, which when inserted in the handheld doohickey sing a little song about the sounds that letter makes, or counts the number. It's infectious as hell, to the tune of 'The Farmer in the Dell'. ::shudder:: Dav and I find ourselves humming it, or chanting "E says 'eee'! And 'eh!' " on occasion... Mark adores it. He insists on carrying a letter or number up with him at naptime and bedtime. I am now expected, when he brings me one of the numbers, to hold up my fingers and count from zero to the number and then back down to zero. Over. And over. And. Over. Again...) That wasn't so bad, even if Mommy still refused to lift him up in the air like she used to before That Thing came here.

Then Gramma Carol came to visit, before Gramma Debbie and Granpa Steve left, and she stayed nearly two weeks. She played with him lots too. It seemed to distract him pretty well from all the attention Mommy and Daddy were giving his new brother. He mostly ignored Jack, aside from the occasional attempt to abscond with an unattended pacifier.

But then Gramma Carol went home too.

Poor Mark is not at alllll happy, oh no. On the upside, we don't have to worry about him spitting and clawing at people holding the baby, as Callisto was known to do with Mark. (He once trapped my mother in the nursery by sitting on the banister just outside the nursery, and trying to swipe at her if she so much as opened the door. I had to chase him away with a squirt bottle. Amara just hid, and occasionally tried to lick baby Mark's face off.) But he's definitely found ways to make his displeasure known. Unattended pacifiers are promptly stolen and stuffed in his mouth. So are unattended bottles, or the nipple shield. He's tried to steal pacifiers out of Jack's mouth twice. Even tried to yank the shield off of me once, as I was preparing to latch Jack on. That move got his hand smacked and a firm "No!". He shrieked and did the Flop of Despair. I was unmoved. He decided the Leapfrog game was more interesting.

But he's learned Mommy will read to him while nursing the baby, if he brings a book to her. He likes that a lot. His current favorite is 'Hop On Pop', which even surpasses his former fondness for 'Green Eggs and Ham'. (GE&H has vanished into the Parental Sanity Protection Program. I feel no shame.) He's actually learned to say 'wall! wallwallwall!', at the right part. I almost thought it was a coincidence, or that we were imagining things.... But now, when reading his second favorite, 'Put Me In The Zoo', he says 'wall! wall!' at the right part of that too. ::proud maternal glee::

He's managed to gain a significant amount of weight and a touch of height lately. He weighed in at 27 lb at Dr. Morales' office; that didn't seem like a lot to me, until he crawled onto my lap the first time after we came home. Kid's going to grow up as a linebacker, or a repo man, or a one-man Brute Squad. ^_^; He's quite sturdy, and extremely active. I don't know how he managed to do it on the fairly healthy diet we feed him. No soda, and not a scrap of junk food except for the occasional sharing of our french fries when we go out to eat - which isn't often. No candy. An occasional circus animal cookie when he eats all his dinner like a good boy, instead of snubbing his veggies and tossing bits of chicken about. Not *that* much juice... Yet he's turned into a small tank while Mommy wasn't looking.

He managed to throw Dav's back out briefly when my mom was still here. I'm not surprised. Dav's been doing the bulk of the toddler lifting and hoisting thanks to my healing incision. I've been very very very careful about the few times I've had to lift Mark in and out of his booster seat or playpen. So far it hasn't made my incision pull or twinge. This is good: Dav goes back to work Monday. He's thrilled. ;p He's always been deeply appreciative of what I do as a SAHM, but I think this experience really made an impression on him.



Hmmm... Can't think of any more bragging to do, and Dav wants to check email. I may nap, if Jack stays quiet.

Comments

[isisamour.livejournal.com]

LMFAO...yeah the Leap Frog toy song DOES get stuck in your head, but after awhile you get used to it....and he'll grow slightly bored with it eventually and not bring it to you as much...at least we can hope! Aiden would do the same thing...but now he can sing his ABC's...well, he sings in the tune but they're all "D's" except for "J" "S" and "X". LOL.

But yeah, trust me..there have been many a-nights for me that I sung the "E says E and E says eeh" song in my sleep!

Have fun with it cause next year he's getting the "Spell a Word" one from me! :P That one should be REAL FUN!