I’ve been a very bad blogger. But it’s only because I’ve been a very good employee. I had a tough deadline to meet for work, and so for the last 10 weeks, every spare minute has been dedicated to finishing my project. And I mean every spare minute. Larry forgot what I looked like until I finally emerged from my cave on Monday.
But I’m back. So let me get caught up.
Birthday Bash
The boys turned 1 in October and we had a small party here at the house. I pretended it was a party for Ren and Grayden, but in all honestly, it was really to celebrate mine and Larry's accomplishment in surviving the first year with twins. Together.
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| Hey, Publix, why do you work so hard on a cake just to jumble together the words? |
But Grayden took to his birthday like, well, like a baby to cake:
Ren, on the other hand, was not feeling well that day, and wanted nothing to do with his cake at all.
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| He didn't eat one bite. |
Grayden also thoroughly enjoyed opening his gifts. He moved through them like King Kong in New York, growling and snarling and destroying everything in his path. Christmas should be fun.
Helmets
On Thanksgiving, after 28 weeks of wear, we retired the cranial remolding helmets. Both boys made great progress, but Grayden is definitely better than Ren. Ren's head is still quite deformed and his face is extremely asymmetrical. Luckily, he has curly hair that will likely hide his flat spot to the untrained eye, but every bath time is difficult for me. I stare at his head and wonder what I could have done differently. More tummy time, earlier intervention, different helmet. I wonder how a boy is going to grow up on the beach and in the creeks and in the salt marshes without being made fun off every time he swims with friends. It is a minor worry in the grand scheme of life--and we have been blessed beyond words--but a worry that keeps a mother awake at night sometimes.
Here is Gray's last scan and a picture of his head before helmets:
Unfortunately, the orthotist compared the final scan (blue line) with a previous scan in August (red line), rather than the original in April. But you can still see that his head is much better compared to the picture.
And here is Ren's scan. It is misleading because it measures the outer rmost part of Ren's skull. The major deformity occurs above this, so it's not shown in the scan:
As you can see, the helmet really helped with reshaping his forehead, which is a plus. But the asymmetry is still very noticeable in his eye, cheek, and chin. I took him back to physical therapy for his torticollis this month, and the therapist noted that his tort looks much worse than it is because of the asymmetry.
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| Ren's asymmetry |
New Skills
It's been a busy 10 weeks! Both boys have growing vocabularies, which started with the word "Ball." After repeating "ball" non-stop for weeks and weeks and weeks, they now say "outside," "Nonni," "Papa," "Jud" (usually yelled at the top of their lungs when Jud is outside. I wonder where they get that from?), "bye-bye," "no-no," and many more.
They have both learned to sit at their table:
But only one has learned to get down from his chair. Can you tell which one?
Ren's fine motor skills are developing well. He can sign "All done" which, when done with only one hand, becomes an elegant "Hi" that even the Queen of England would envy:
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| Cheerio, Governor! |
He has also learned to pick his nose:
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| It really needs no words. |
And it appears that they have both entered the Jedi Training Academy:
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| "The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet." |
Larry and I are very proud.
Christmas
We have seen Santa Claus twice this month. The first Santa looked and sounded awfully familiar, so the boys had no problem visiting with him:
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| Ho, Ho, Who? |
The second Santa didn't go over so well:
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| This is not my Papa! |
In Gray's defense, I would have cried, too, if I had to sit on that guy's lap.
I think that about brings us up to speed. Today we are going to Sam's Club because it's the only place on the island that has double shopping carts. Oh, it's the little things that matter so much when you are twice blessed.
Merry Christmas!
