Well, we've had an eventful first week of 2011!
Dominic returned to daycare, with some protests, but is back in his routine again and shining in his class. His teacher, Miss Sabrina, claims he is the most polite child in the class (he better be, with how we pound it in him!). He is also amazing with puzzles, truly enjoys his arts and crafts (that's my boy!), and is trying to write letters now. Oh, and the "Bottle Fairy" visited us last night to take Dominic's milk bottles to other babies who need them and left him with some new Bobots and Army men and some money for his piggy bank. So far it's working... He asks for milk, we remind him that he needs to choose a cup because of the exchange, and he refuses to drink milk... It did make for a rough night, but we're sticking to it.
Layla "hit the ground running"... We had a full itinerary of doctor appointments and therapies with few spare moments. We had her usual 3 sessions of physical therapy and 2 sessions of occupational therapy. We also had her 1-year appointment with our pediatrician. Dr. Kim is very happy with all of her progress. She grew another amazing 1/2 inch (25 1/2 inches now), her noggin is tracking right where it should be, and her weight was actually a little down, but it's understandable with all she's been through... We then followed up with our wonderful neurologist that cared for her in the PICU. Dr. Carpenter said that seeing Layla in such great shape and having returned to much of her previous function was a wonderful start to her new year! We wrapped up the week, finally, with a visit to Hopkins to be reevaluated by her specialists that we see for her achondroplasia. They hadn't seen Layla since before her decompression surgery. Dr. Ain, the orthopedic surgeon, noted the same differences I did, but is not overly concerned. We'll keep working with her on her posture and tone and see him again in 6 months. We had a wonderful, long visit with Dr. Hoover-Fong and Miss Aiada, from the genetics clinic. We got rave reviews from them and comments that she looks the same as she did in early October, except for the addition of the new battle scars. Even with the surgery setbacks, Layla is well within the developmental windows and is still a ROCK STAR! We'll visit again in 6 months.
Layla has now finally been seen in follow-up visits by all of her docs and we have received glowing reviews from each. We are celebrating our little miracle and her beautiful fighting spirit!
We are finally relaxing this weekend. Dominic and I visited the playground in the snow, while Layla napped on her daddy and stayed toasty warm. Hot cocoa was had by all upon our return. And, Dominic is now down for a nap... I'll post pics later of the new bobots...
