1/12

Big day for Kyler! He signed 2 words, duck and fan. And he actually ate cheerios! He only has 7 teeth (he looks lopsided on the bottom). He's been trying to chew things with his front teeth, and the food just falls out when he pushes it with his tongue. But yesterday, he ate 20 or more Cheerios and chewed them and swallowed! Plus, we went to a restaurant for the first time in a few months, and he was quiet (eating cheerios and looking around). It was pretty great.

1/11

Ilea has a Veggie Tales movie called Dave and the Giant Pickle. It's about David and Goliath, who is a giant pickle in this one. So last night we were reading her Bible stories. We read about David being anointed and playing the harp for King Saul. We turned the page to see the next story. I said, "It's about David and Goliath". There was a picture of the giant. Ilea said, "Oh, he looks like a giant pickle!"

1/10

Today Jenny taught Ilea how to use scissors. She got some for Christmas. She is doing OK. I drew some lines for her to cut. She has a hard time making more than one cut in a row. She made lots of little cuts all the way around the outside. Then she got how to hold the paper and move the scissors up. She still needs practice, but now we may be able to do more crafts!

1/7

Ilea spelled some of her name on her drawing board! We were so excited! No prompting at all. She can write her name OK now, but needs to practice on spacing.

1/3

A couple of weeks ago Ilea and Victoria were playing together. They were outside, and I could see them through the window. Ilea was fake crying really loud, and Victoria was a few feet away, but I couldn't see that anything had happened. I knocked on the window to ask them what was wrong. Victoria yelled back to me, "It's OK, we're pretending". Ok, fine. "Ilea's mommy and daddy and brother and sister are all dead! We're SAD!" Where do they come up with this stuff?

Later that morning they had a pretend picnic on the floor. Victoria started, and Ilea said, "No, we have to pray. Dear God, thank you for the food and God bless Mommy and Daddy and Kyler. Amen."

Still later, Ilea runs over to the desk and climbs under the chair to the corner. She's been into the story of Jonah and the big fish. So I hear, "Come on Victoria, let's hide from God!" I tried to tell her that wouldn't work.

Today we took Kyler to the Dr. to have the bump in the middle of his neck removed. All the doctors kept saying it would go away, but at his 9 month checkup, the Dr. finally agreed it didn't look like it was getting any smaller. He sent us to a dermatologist. The first Dr we saw was a dork. He came into the office and looked at Kyler from across the room and said it was a wart. I said, "Really? It didn't look like a wart." He said, "You haven't been in the business for 20 years like me." Then he finally looked at it up close and said maybe it wasn't a wart after all. Maybe it was a cyst. OK. So we had an appointment for him to remove it. Then, about a week later, I get a call from him, and he said he was thinking about Kyler. He was afraid it might be a thyroidal glottal duct, or something like that. He referred me to an ENT who would know better, because it might require more to remove it. So I called her, and at the consultation she was very surprised. She asked why I thought it was that thing. I said that I didn't know, but that's what Dr. Dork thought. I've never heard of any of these. She said that it was just an epithelial cyst, and she was able to cut it off easily. The thyroid thingy requires general anesthesia and it could go down an inch into his neck, and be rather serious depending on the location. But this was just surface. I used a topical cream ahead of time, and he didn't flinch at all from the needle for the anaesthetic. Then she came back a few minutes later and shaved it off, and removed some skin from under it. No problem. He was great, and she said there shouldn't be any scar at all. So that's all done. She is sending the little thing to a lab just to make sure it's nothing since he's so young and had it since birth. But she wasn't worried at all.

New Year's Eve was memorable this year. The party we usually go to was cancelled, so we were just having a quiet night alone. We were in bed, getting ready to watch the last countdown, and about 11:55 we hear Ilea in the hall. We thought she might have been woken up by the firecrackers going off in the neighborhood, but no, she had thrown up all over her pajamas and all over her bed, pillow, teddy bear, sheets, everything! It was horrible! So Kipp took Ilea and I took the bed, and we got everything clean and changed again. Back to bed (12:15 now, we missed everything), and we go to sleep. 12:45 - Another wake up. She threw up again. We ran out of sheets, and were down to the last pajamas and had to put her in a sleeping bag this time. What a night. Luckily the next day was a holiday so we could rest!

The Saga of Ilea's Poop - Read at your own risk

During July and Aug we potty trained Ilea. It went well, except for the poop. She had very large, dry, and sometimes painful poops. By the end of Aug, she was dry during the day and 5out of 6 nights, except for poop. Then she started holding it. A lot. At first, I just took her off dairy, thinking that would solve it in a few weeks. But no, Ilea still wouldn't go, until she couldn't hold it any more and it hurt. So she would hold it more. By October, it was becoming a real problem, and she was losing her ability to hold #1 also. We also had to do enemas occasionally, which she really didn't like. Her pediatrician recommended Milk of Magnesia for 2 weeks. Nothing. We saw him at the beg. of Nov, and he switched to a prescription stool softener, and a recommendation to see a GI pediatric specialist. The medicine did nothing. The new Dr quadrupled the dosage of stool softener, from 1 1/2 t once a day to 1 T twice a day! Still nothing. After a week of the new dose, she held her poop in for 7 days. I called the Dr again, and was referred to his Nurse Practitioner, who specializes in constipation. OK. Another enema, and a visit to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma for an x-ray and a consultation. She said the x-ray was fine, some poop (but this was only 2 days past enema), and to now try Mineral Oil. 1 1/2 T twice a day. This is not fun. Ilea doesn't like it very much. We try to hide it in milk, but it's not great. The nurse promised poop in 48 hours. But Ilea must not have heard her. 5 days later, the nurse, who couldn't believe it, said to do 2 huge doses, 3T at a time. Not fun. By now, the threat of enema is holding more power over Ilea than any bribe could (and we've tried every bribe under the sun!). She tried very hard for 2 days to poop, but it was obvious that something was stuck because not much was coming out. One last enema. Then finally, 2 days later on Dec 16 Ilea had a huge poop all by herself! Yeah! We were so excited! The next week she was pretty sick, not eating at all, and vomiting some, so we didn't do any oil or poops. But we started again the week of Christmas. And since Dec 26, she has pooped every day! I can't tell you how excited we are! I never thought I'd be thrilled to smell poop! It seems like a turning point. She doesn't want "medicine in her bottom" at all, and knows she must poop now. She gets 2 pink and white Mother's Animal Cookies, and a movie (she always picks Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree - Ask us anything about that movie, we can almost quote the whole thing). We are now tweaking the dosage of oil to get a soft consistency. The nurse said we should do this for about 2 months, so she loses the pain association. Then we'll wean her off, and hopefully she'll stay normal. Both the GI specialist and the nurse emphasized a normal diet, including dairy. He says that there is no scientific proof that dairy causes constipation. Most normal adults who eat a varied diet include dairy and have normal movements. So we need to give her all foods, and she should remain fine. Don't over do it, of course, but that goes for anyone. Hopefully in a few months we can go back to finish the potty training and be completely done. It will be so great!