Random Pictures

I thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures from this month. I absolutely LOVE this age (15 months)!!!

Pick-a-boo!

Mason and Camden

Love that smile!

Chillin' in the laundry basket.

Early Childhood Intervention

Not only did Camden have his 15 month well check up yesterday, he also had a special appointment with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). I chose not to blog about it yesterday because I was reserving that particular entry for praises of reaching our goal - which by the way I am still beaming about! This particular appointment has been in the works for a bit now, but to be honest, I have been having a hard time talking about it because, well, who wants to admit that something could be wrong with their child?

Months ago before Camden was even crawling (which if you recall he was late reaching that milestone) one of his teachers mentioned to me that I might want to look into ECI to come out and evaluate him due to his slow progression in mobility. For those of you who are not aware of what ECI is or does, they are a Texas based program that deal with children who are 3 months or more behind in their development - be it social, physical, mental, or any other area. I had talked with my pediatrician at Camden's 12 month appointment regarding his non-interest in walking, and she reassured me that things were fine, he has been slow in all of his other milestones, and not to be worried regarding his walking at this time. So, I chose not to refer him to ECI at that time, deciding instead to wait a bit. Now, let me back up a bit and say that Shane and I have noticed for a long time, even prior to him crawling, that his left foot pronates inward. It is hard to describe this, so here is a picture showing what I mean.


We were hoping that with his increased standing as well as moving while holding on to furniture would help straighten that out, but that has not occurred. So about 3 weeks ago, the director of Camden's school stopped me on my way out and voiced the teachers, as well as her concern, regarding Camden. She was not so concerned that he was not yet walking, however that he has decreased muscle strength in his left leg, which she felt could be due to the way he crawls.

She again recommended that I contact ECI and let them come to the home and evaluate his progression and offer me some information and guidance regarding what things we could do with him at home, as well as school, to help strengthen that left leg. So I went home that evening and filled out a referral on-line. After several phone interviews over the past few weeks, they finally set the appointment to send an occupational therapist as well as an intake coordinator to the house yesterday. Let me also say, that when Shane took Camden to his well check appointment yesterday, the doctor was pleased that we had contacted ECI to evaluate Camden.

The ladies were both very nice and spent 2 hours at the house observing Camden as well as asking a TON of questions. After all was said and done, they found him to be developmentally accelerated in the cognitive, communication, and social-emotional areas. He was noted to be right on development for the adaptive area. However, for the physical aspect, he was noted to be at a 3 month delay, which qualified him for services. So, the OT will be coming out twice a month for 60 minutes each time until we reach our goal of walking. As far as his pronated foot, she will have an orthotist come out to evaluate the need for an orthotic on the foot. She gave us exercises to do with Camden until she comes out again to help strengthen his left leg, as well as to make him more aware of certain muscles that he can use to help his mobility.

I guess it is a good thing we achieved our goal of becoming over tenth percentile in weight, so we could focus on our new goal of getting Camden to be right on target for developing physically. Like they always say, if it is not one thing, then it is another!!

15 Month Appointment - Goal Accomplished

Today Camden had his 15 month appointment and guess what???? For the first time in his life, we are FINALLY above the tenth percentile in weight!! As a matter of fact, he is in the twelfth percentile!!! I couldn't be prouder. I have made it my personal goal since his birth to get him above the tenth percentile and it took me 15 months, but we finally got there! His measurements were: Height - 31 1/2 inches, Weight - 21 pounds 15 ounces, Head Circumference - 17.9 inches. He received two shots also, one of which was his DTP (tetanus) and his poor leg where he received that immunization was so sore this afternoon. I felt so sorry for him. Anyway, I guess eating a whole piece of pepperoni, hamburger, and bacon pizza from Pizza Hut once a week or so will put on some weight. Perhaps that is my problem . . . .

Tooth #10

As I am still waiting on the tooth to the right of his top front tooth to come in, a molar on the top right came in instead (of which I don't have a picture of). Perhaps the reason for yet another bad note today at school . . . . . Since I always say (though don't always do) you gotta look for the positives, the only positive thing I can say about his biting at school is that at least he has bit a different child every time!

Pool Time

Mason and Braden have been swimming in the pool for several weeks now, but knowing that I would have to actually get in the water with Camden, I have been waiting a few weeks until I knew good and well the water would be warm enough. After dipping my toes in the pool today and it feeling OK, I decided I would suit up Camden and let him at least play in the shallow portion. After sitting there with him, I decided the water wasn't too bad, and we were able to actually swim around a bit. I was relieved to see that he loved the pool as much, if not more, than he did last year. He did a lot of splashing and playing today and would have stayed in there as long as I would have let him!

Squeeling with excitement as he was splashing the water.

His face says it all!

Tooth #8 & #9

Where do I begin!?! Yesterday, I was talking to my best friend Lisa, when she asked me how many teeth Camden had. I told her that he still has seven and we were waiting for #8 to appear any day now on the upper right side. I told her that his gum had swollen a few weeks ago, but the tooth had just not popped through yet. Now, let me back up to Monday when we arrived to school to pick Camden up and he had yet another bad note for biting a friend while loving on them. (This was bad note number four!) One of his teachers mentioned us bringing baby oral gel to school for them to use as needed in case it was teething that was causing his biting, since it happens so sporadically. We of course obliged, and delivered it first thing Tuesday morning.

This morning, as I was finishing up feeding Camden breakfast, we were playing back and forth when he started laughing hard and I noticed a white spec on the bottom left side that I had not noticed before. Upon further examination, I noticed it was one of his molars. I felt around in his mouth, and would you believe that I felt yet another tooth on the top left side, which again was one of his molars!!!! Perhaps that explains some of the crankiness! So, needless to say, no tooth on the right side, instead two teeth on the left!!

New pearly white molar on the bottom left

You can not seen the new molar tooth on his top left gum, but I posted it so you could gather a concept of how far back it really is.

One Nap

Transitions - they aren't always fun and sometimes tiresome, in more ways than one. On Friday, Camden's teachers started trying to transition the children in Camden's class to one nap a day versus the two they were getting up to this point. The main reason for this is when they move up to the toddler room, they only take one nap a day. This is not such an issue, because on the weekends he normally only gets one nap which usually lasts 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Also, the past few weeks while at school, he would not take his second nap several times during the week so seemed to be heading in that direction himself. On Friday, he had an hour nap and by the time he got home, nothing could make him happy. On Monday, he had an hour and a half, which again, rather fussy when he got home. Today, he had a two hour nap, which I thought would help the cause, but again a fuss bucket! Luckily, after we get some food in him, he isn't as fussy, but when he rubs his eyes, he is a dead give away. Hopefully, as the weeks go by, his naps at school will increase in length and our evenings can get back to normal. Ahhh, the transition.

Sold!

After more delays, frustration and fretting than you can imagine, we FINALLY closed on our house today. I know, you are probably thinking to yourself that we did that months ago, and you would be thinking along the right lines because originally we were to close on March 23rd. I am not going to bore you with all the bumps in the road, along with the natural disaster (the tornado), that happened that kept extending this, but know that our agent said she has never had to deal with all of these things before. So basically, 2 months later, it FINALLY happened, and on Friday the 13th to boot. We couldn't be happier. Now, if we could just find a house we like and buy it . . . . .

Happy Nurses Day

Today is designated School Nurses Day and I received beautiful flowers from my husband in honor of this day. Shane has, since we were dating, always given me flowers on Nurses Day and I LOVE it. I always say if I was rich I would have fresh flowers all the time. But, I get to enjoy them at least once a year. Happy Nurses Day to all my fellow nurses!!!

Tooth #7

All I know is Camden's teeth are coming in back to back. He again showed no symptoms, except for increased biting. (Which, by the way, he got another bad note from school on Thursday due to biting his friend while hugging them.) You will have to look hard, but tooth #7 is coming in on the bottom right and with a little bit of swelling that is noticeable on his top gum, I would have to think that tooth #8 will be coming through shortly.

Happy Mother's Day

I have always been the one to say Happy Mother's Day to people since I was not a mom myself until a little over a year ago. I still find it very odd for people to tell me 'Happy Mother's Day' because I honestly think of it as a day for my Mom and all the other moms out there. But none the less, I enjoyed my second Mother's Day. I must say, they definitely become more rewarding the more that go by (not that I have experienced that many). For Mother's Day, Camden not only gave me some Pandora beads for my bracelet, he also gave me my first hand-made Mother's Day gift. And as any mother that receives a pretty orange butterfly (which is my favorite color) with his sweet hand print on it, I LOVED it!!!!

For the Love of Books

Over the past week, Camden has really started showing an interest in books. He has always liked to look at them and will turn the pages faster than I can read, but this week he started 'reading' books to himself. It is the cutest thing to listen to him read. He is very animated and sometimes tries to say things that cause him to get tongue tied. Right now, one of his favorites is 'Guess How Much I Love You' which I read to him a lot while he was a baby. I guess it is time for me to dig in a box and get out more books for him to read.

Camden reading

Getting tongue tied

Tooth #6

Tooth #6 has arrived!! Once again, no swollen gums or extra drooling. I just love when they pop in when you least expect them! This one is on the left side next to his left front tooth. He better get some on the right side to help even this all out!