Haaaaaay!

J lost another tooth. It was one of the bottom center two. It was turned totally sideways. Don't know when he lost it, I just noticed the hole over the weekend. I talked with the new dentist today and he's going to try to get in on the endoscopy action and do a full cleaning and x-ray while J is out.

Over the weekend we went to Harvest Fest with Uncle Mike and Cousin Maddie while Daddy was out of town. The boys, especially Jameson, love Maddie and follow her around like puppy dogs. When Jameson woke up the next morning, he asked where Maddie was. I told him she went home and he said, "But I just wanted to give her a hug." Awwww.

At the fest, there's a giant area covered in hay. I think it's partly for the kids to play in and partly for people to use the hay to make a scarecrow to take home. J was unsure of the festival until we got to the hay area. He absolutely loved it! He kept yelling, "Haaaaaay!!!" at the top of his lungs. He rolled in it, filled our wagon with it, jumped off the hay bales, and tried to chew a piece or two. Talk about a sensory experience! He was sad to leave. I'm pretty sure he would've played in it all day.

I'm so thrilled with my decision to keep J at his current school. The staff is wonderful, they seem to genuinely enjoy working with him. He's made such great progress since the beginning of the school year. I talked with his OT and one of his aides today and they had such glowing reports for me.

J woke up coughing quite a bit last night. I rubbed some Vicks on his chest which did the trick, but before that, J kept telling me, "Go to the hobstible, they fix you right up." Then this morning he told me, "I got the chest medicine." I'm amazed at his memory and understanding of things.

Object du Jour: Back to the Cleesus.

You Should Be Dancin', Yeah!

So it's been almost a month since I've written, whoa! So much has happened, I don't know where to start!

J has been to the ER twice with croup/stridor. He got the racemic epi and steroids and we waited the required 4 hours and then they sent us home. At our GI visit last week, the dr. decided that we should schedule an endoscopy to see what's going on in there. She's going to try to schedule with ENT to see if he needs to do anything in there while J is out. I want to try to get dental in there to do a thorough cleaning and x-ray too. Might as well kill three birds with one stone, huh?

J's now up to 3'2" and weighs between 28-30 lbs, depending on whose scale we're using. He's gained, so I'll take either one. Now that he's maintained a level of 90% ideal body weight, we're going to start working with the speech therapist and behavioral psych at the hospital on a more regular basis to expand his food horizons. Man cannot live on sweet potatoes and cracker snackers alone.

J started Kindergarten this year. He's split between K and the special ed classroom depending on what's going on in K. J is adoring school so far. He asks to go every day, even on weekends and bank holidays. I'm so relieved he's loving it. This is his first experience with all day, so he's exhausted when he gets home. Some nights, he's slept 12 hours! His teacher says J is doing really well and trying everything.

This is his first year eating lunch at school and so far, so good. He eats with his aide from last year and then they go read a book in the cafeteria to get J used to the noise level.

Above is his K5 pic. He's got a bit of a Barry Gibb vibe going on. Add a polyester suit and some gold chains and hello 1974! (He did get a haircut this week finally!)

J2 and I were having a bit of a chat one day and I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He told me a doctor because he wants to help J talk better. Aww, this kid can be so compassionate when he's not wanting to knock his brother over to get a toy.

We went to a friend's housewarming party a few weeks ago. They live on a farm with a huge well-stocked fish pond. Jameson was raring to fish with his Godfather's help. J wasn't so sure. He watched Jameson catch two fish and said, "I want a fish. I want to give it a shot!" On his first cast, he caught a little fish. He was so excited. I'm always happy to see J trying new things!''

This week I got to finally meet another trisomy 4p mom in person! We met through J's blog and she happened to be near where I live for work. We met for dinner and had amazing conversation. It's wonderful to meet someone who knows exactly how I'm feeling and what I'm going through with J. I never thought I'd get the opportunity to meet another mom with a t4p kid and I got very lucky to meet the one I did! Hope we get to do it again soon!

This weekend we went to the county fair by Grandma and Grandpa's house. The boys loved it! Jameson went on some rides and won a huge stuffed monkey in a fishing game. Jackson won a cool water game at Pick-a-duck. We picked up a yard sign for our chosen Gubernatorial candidate. His name is Scott Walker and Jackson thinks we're saying Skywalker. We sampled the fried cheese curds and lefse and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Object du Jour: A pair of 2.00 calculators kept the fellas busy on the car ride!