The Rhoadarmer Babies!: September photos

Hi there.

My posts lately have mostly been pictures without much in the way of updates. This is because I keep getting so far behind on photos that I don't always want to take the time to write out stuff that doesn't accompany a photo--I just want to get the post up before I forget about it and let it sit for another month. So I thought, before adding photos to this one, that I would share some of our news, updates, and Robinisms.

First off, breaking news: Liam is now nodding! His communication is still pretty rough (hi, bye, ball, MomMEE!, Dada, uh oh, etc), so this is a big breakthrough. If he's fussing about something, we can ask him direct questions and if we get it right, he'll nod. So we're excited.

We're also remembering that "Mama" and "Dada" (or any derivations) don't necessarily mean us. They mean "help me," "give me that," "I want attention," "I'm frustrated," or any other combination of meanings.

Robin started preschool in September! It was quite a fiasco though. (Very) long story (kinda) short, the school I'd registered him at assured me they'd be able to safely handle his food allergies, but when I went to discuss details with their new director (the previous one had left to pursue other interests) they said they weren't certified to administer emergency medication. They tried to get the certification, but since they weren't a licensed program (something else I hadn't known, the previous director had been under the impression that they didn't have to be because they were in a rec center and qualified as a recreational program, not a daycare program) the state wouldn't certify them. This was all very frustrating to discover, especially considering that it was all happening last minute, right before (and continuing into after) all preschool programs had already started their year. Robin went to that program for a week, with Dean or I "babysitting" in the hallway, being on hand in case of emergency. However, once it became apparent that they weren't going to get all of their qualifications, at least not in a timely manner, we looked elsewhere.

There was another preschool we'd looked at months ago, so I called to see if they had any openings.

They did, we went to check them out again, they even managed to re-qualify us for some financial aid, so we took that spot and hit the ground running.

Robin has been attending since the last week of September (so he only had one week off between programs.)

He really likes the school, has made some friends, and seems to be thriving. It's a very free-form school, where the kids dictate their activities for a large chunk of the day, and he seems to love the control he has.

Ultimately, we're pleased with where he ended up.

In order to prepare him for preschool, we finally managed to finish his potty training. Not to say he wasn't using the toilet properly, but he was wont to spend ten minutes playing around in the bathroom before finishing up. He also still wanted us to wipe him. Using a chart, a timer, and a reward system, we got him to use the bathroom--finishing everything--in under three minutes, and convinced him to start wiping himself (since nobody would do it for him at preschool.) Apart from a little bit of a setback due to an illness and constipation, he's still remaining independent (even though he still waits far too long sometimes,) and I'm glad that's basically over. Especially since I'd been thinking of starting Liam after the holidays are over. I'd much rather only potty train one at a time!

We also tried to prepare for preschool by finding out how bad Robin's egg allergy is. We've been strictly avoiding all traces of egg for Robin, but we know that some egg-allergic people can tolerate small amounts of it in baked goods. So off we went to the allergist's office for a Baked Egg Food Challenge. Unfortunately, he failed it. After half of a brownie, he started saying his mouth felt funny, so we ended it, medicated him, and went home. Later that day, it came back for round two in the form of tummy and intestinal upset. So we medicated some more. So definitely no eggs for Robin.

We also, much to the allergist's chagrin, insisted on a food challenge for peanut. We'd strictly avoided that based only on a skin prick test (and later a blood test.) Both were positive, but I happen to know I'm the queen of false positives, so we wanted to be sure. Unfortunately again, Robin failed this test too. The first step of this one (since peanut can be so potent, they approached it much more cautiously than his baked egg challenge) was to brush a dab on his lips. They rubbed it in like chapstick and then he licked his lips a bit. He announced that he liked it, which I thought was a good sign. However, within another two or three minutes he started fussing and screaming, saying he didn't like that and his mouth felt funny. Dean went to get them and they tore back in, looked at him briefly, and administered an epinephrine injection. I was a bit surprised at that, since I usually wait longer for myself, but they didn't want to risk anything getting worse. Then they drugged him up with a combination of oral allergy drugs, kept us around for another hour to observe, and sent us home. There was no "round two" this time. I think the only reason he had a "round two" with the egg was that he had the chance to get a fair dose of egg into his stomach before he reacted, so he reacted again as it moved through his system. With peanut, similar to my tree nut reactions, he just didn't get a significant amount of the allergen past his mouth. Anyway, this means that the peanut allergy is definitely present. Poop. But at least we know--our biggest concern had been just not knowing whether we really had to be concerned about it.

Robin and Liam are really interacting a lot these days. They'll sometimes play together, or Liam will babble and Robin and Robin will carry on the conversation, Robin will "translate" for Liam's babbles, sometimes coming up with things that make sense and other times saying things that make more sense for Robin. Robin loves to make Liam laugh, which warms my heart. Liam loves saying "Boo!", and we're supposed to scream a tiny scream. I love that Robin participates in this. They don't always get along, though, which is to be expected. Liam has started retaliating if Robin does something he doesn't like. Liam will either bite or hit. So we're trying to teach Liam that these things aren't appropriate, but at the same time sometimes we don't feel like we should console Robin much. "You did 'x' to him, and he retaliated. You have to be nice to your brother, because he's starting to fight back now."

Some Robinisms:
He pronounces "magnetic" as "mang-a-nik"
He tells us he remembers things "in his mind." (Do you remember visiting where Mickey lives? I remember it in my mind!)
He says "menu" instead of "recipe" or "instructions"

Okay, enough of a novel. On to some photos!

Robin's preschool is on the same days of the week as the library's storytime, so he now only gets to go on school holidays. :( I took the camera with me on his "last" day