Today our first "child" turned 4 years old! Its hard to believe that our little crazy puppy Otis is now almost 30 in dog years. He's even sprouted a couple of old man gray hairs on his chin!
This evening we took Otis to PetSmart for his special birthday trip. It has been our tradition for the past 3 birthdays to take Otis there to pick out a treat and a new collar. He used to wear his collar a lot more than he does now, though, due to the collar clanging and making so much noise. We've got babies sleeping, so Otis' neck now goes naked more often than not. So he didn't really need a new collar this year. We opted for a new leash, since the leash we were using was the one that we brought him home from the breeder with!
Otis enjoyed his trip to the store, though I think he was jealous of the other dogs there in the obedience class. We let him sniff around quite a bit, he got to meet a few new friends, and then picked out his own treat. Luke assisted with this part.
Earlier today, we went to the pediatrician for the boys' 2 year well baby check up and for their final shot of Synagis (thank goodness). Luke tipped the scales at 24lb 12oz and was 33 inches long. Will put on a modest amount of weight since last time we were there, weighing in at 21lb 12oz and measuring 32 inches long (though I am not entirely sure this length measurement is accurate). Though both boys are still on the small side for two year olds (Luke is right around 25th percentile for height and weight, and Will is about 20th percentile for height and about 5th percentile for weight), they both are doing very well health wise and the pediatrician was very pleased.
Our physical therapist gave me a height and weight chart from the Kennedy Kreiger Institute in Baltimore, showing the typical height and weight chart for children, and then percentiles for children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy like Will. I always refer to it when I get frustrated with Will's lack of appetite and weight gain... would you believe that he's right at the 50th percentile for both height and weight for his age! People with cerebral palsy typically have less muscle mass than people without cerebral palsy, and its important to remember that we still need Will to maintain a good balance between muscle and fat... even if that means he weighs less. Having him put on 6 pounds of fat right now might make him appear healthier on the typical growth chart, but it doesn't actually make him any healthier. We will continue to add BeneCalorie to his food and give him PediaSure to drink to add extra calories and ensure he continues to put on weight, and we'll continue to work with a feeding/speech therapist to teach him to swallow and chew... but sometimes its just good to put all the effort into perspective.
In other health news, Luke's pseudomeningocele has officially closed up and is not causing him any neurological problems! Our concern had been that the pseudomeningocele around the shunt surgery location from September was a "bypass" for cerebrospinal fluid, and that when the hole closed, we would learn that the shunt was malfunctioning. But the hole is closed and Luke's acting as normally as you can expect a two year old to act! He's a walking talking parrot these days... almost 50 words!
Will had some blood drawn to test the levels of his potassium. You may remember that it had been elevated (though not a dangerous level) and we stopped all bananas and sweet potatoes for two weeks to see if that made a difference. Unfortunately Will's potassium was still slightly elevated, so we now have a new blood pressure medication to try with him. There is a strict regime that we must follow over the next week to get the enalapril out of his system and start this new BP medication, and then we've got to go in to the blood draw lab in a week to check his blood pressure and potassium levels again.
The most exciting bit of information for me today was that the boys can finally just be one age. Up until now, they had both actual and adjusted ages because they were premature. I always had to remember how old they actually are and then count back 11 weeks in order to "correct" their age for their prematurity. Science tells us that preemies have pretty much bridged that gap by the time they hit their second birthday. So yay, just one age now... now they can just be 2! Both exciting and scary...
And because today I am all about keeping things in perspective, I'll leave you with a couple of photos of Will and Luke when they were just two weeks old... back when they weighed just over 3 lbs. Its really hard to believe that this was almost two years ago!
Nate and a slightly jaundiced, sleepy Luke
Me and bright-eyed Will cuddling
Little Luke
Will lounging
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