Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Troubling news

Alex had an appointment with a neurologist at CHEO and it turns out that there is something going on in that little brain. Alex has always been prone to "tuning out" periodically, which we've chalked up to the autism or even just thinking. However, there is a chance that what we've been seeing is in fact something called "absence seizures" where the brain simply stops talking to the body for a brief period. However, they can't say for certain because he fought the EEG so much that most of the scan ended up simply being noise. They did see enough to say that there is something unusual going on though.

The plan now is to try a sleep-deprived EEG, which is where we keep Alex up the night before in the hopes that he'll fall asleep with the apparatus on so that we don't get any movement problems. If that doesn't work, they would need to move to an MRI, which would require a general anesthetic. They don't seem to be in a hurry to book the next EEG, which I'm taking as a good sign of lack of concern.

We'll keep everyone posted as we know more.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Birthday Madness Wish Lists

Hey everyone,

Birthday month is almost here and we have a few unusual requests for this year. We've been looking over the accumulation of toys and such, trying to come up with a wish list and we've come to a surprising conclusion.

There's nothing that the boys would really want.

The stuff that they play with, they have plenty of (blocks, cars, lego). So we don't really need any more of it. But what we could use are some opportunities to get out of the house and do things as a family. So we're asking for gift certificates or donations towards a couple of specific goals:

- a membership to Cosmic Adventures
- memberships to the Museum of Civilization or Science and Technology

I'll be blunt with all of you and admit that money is really tight, so we can't afford to go out as often as we'd like. So this would be really helpful. If you'd like to get them a little something, then a Hot Wheels car or a bouncy ball would be popular (the balls shouldn't be smaller than a golf ball, or else they're a choking hazard for Nathan).

For Dave and I, here are some suggestions:

Gift cards:
HBC, Sears
Addition Elle
Chapters

DVDs:
V for Vendetta
Ironman
Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (this one is just for me, I'm missing one of the disks)
Titus, Season 1 and 2
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Monday, April 13, 2009

Let him eat cake!

Sometimes my boys are just too cute for words.

We were having dinner over at my folks and Nathan dutifully ate his steak and broccoli and baked potato, without much enthusiasm but without much of a protest either. But clearly it wasn't quite enough. My mom got up to get something else from the kitchen and in a movement worthy of one of the cats, Nathan stands up on his high chair and grabs the half finished steak off her plate and crams it all into his mouth. It was over almost before any of us realized what had happened. He gave us a great big grin full of meat.

We have a bit of a chuckle over that and my mom offers to give him a piece of cake for dessert. "Since he's obviously still hungry."

Nathan gets a small slice of chocolate cake and his eyes light up. He digs into it with real enthusiasm and it vanishes almost instantaneously. He gets a second small slice and it vanishes a little slower but still fairly promptly. I, being the mean mother that I am, call a halt on the refills and conversation continues around the table. Nathan is despondently picking through the crumbs of chocolate and dabs of icing on his plate and casting longing glances at the cake across the room.

About now, my father, who is sitting next to Nathan, finishes up his dinner and puts aside his plate for the dessert one with a large slice of cake already there and waiting.

Nathan's eyes light up and his mouth forms a tiny "o" of surprise. He very carefully lifts up his plate and places it on top of my mother's empty dessert plate. Then he reaches over and slides Dad's plate in front of him. Dad takes it back with a bemused grin and Nathan reaches right back on over and takes it again. This time, he takes the precaution of grabbing a big handful out of it and cramming it into his mouth. I am trying desperately not to laugh and encourage him but he's staring up at Dad with huge eyes and a mouth full of chocolate with an expression that says "Am I really going to get away with this?"

Dad starts to laugh and that's enough for Nathan to relax and grin. The two of them share the piece of cake amid many shared giggles.

I know it's not good that my son is a food-thief and it's something I'll have to work on. But as far as I'm concerned, it's still an adorable story.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

End of an Era

The crib has been officially packed up and put away and my baby is sleeping in a big boy bed now.

It's a mixed-emotion moment. I'm glad and excited about him growing up, but also a little sad at how big and independent my little one is getting.

Last night was the first night and he did fairly well. It took him a couple of hours to settle, along with a lot of visits from Mom. But eventually he fell asleep and he even did it in the bed, with his head on the pillow and the duvet tucked up around him. Unlike his brother, who celebrated his first night of freedom by falling asleep in front of the door. And his second, and third . . . lots of nights in front of the door.

Nathan woke up a few times in the night but was quickly reassured and went back to sleep fairly easily.

Naptime today went considerably better (him being tired definitely helped). A few mumbly protests and he was asleep in under twenty minutes. Tonight he crashed out practically before Dad was finished reading the story. So I think we can count it as a successful transition.