June Update

It's been almost a month since my last update! So much going on and it seems like the longer I don't get to updating, the more intimidating it seems! So much happens in just a month!

Dan just got a raise! So happy about that, they've been on a wage freeze for the last couple reviews he's had, but they called him into the office last night and gave him the good news. He's been busy working and trying to get his huge list of things to do done. Most of these things to do, at least the ones on the top of the list require him going to his parent's house, so we've had some lonely weekends without him but he's been getting a lot done.

I donated my hair the last Tuesday in May. Feels good getting that thick hair off my back and neck in this heat! I've been working on sorting and organizing things around the apartment. So many things were just shoved aside after Tyler was diagnosed, it's a big task trying to tackle it all now. Things are starting to look better, it's a slow ongoing thing and I'm trying to keep to 1 area at a time so I can more easily see the progress. I've also lost 8 pounds this month. I've been walking, biking and eating a lot better these days.

Before

After

 Dawson is growing by leaps and bounds. His language has improved a lot. He says and signs "more" without prompting, comes over and says "help" if he needs something, rather than whining and throwing himself around. He now repeats just about any 1 word object you say, or tries to. He loves counting, he knows 2,3,4 and can do that part by himself if he's not being bashful. He loves looking at all his counting books, watching his counting movie and he often brings me things to count. Just today he repeated the alphabet as I was saying each letter. While watching a movie about shapes, they were on "square", and he got excited, said "square" and ran across the room and brought me a square from his shape sorting set! He also knows circle. He's getting into the alphabet too, he seems to like "E", he repeats the letters when he hears them, he can say most of them. He had a WIC appointment today, he is 34 pounds and 36 inches.

Dawson's bed with the cars comforter. He likes his bed.

Dawson got a permanent blue marker and drew on himself, my leg, the carpet, cube slide, chest freezer, a couple end tables and a few toys. Thankfully the carpet wasn't much, just a couple long lines, but still! It's probably up for replacement by the time we move out anyway.

I finally got the trampoline back out for him. I had put it in our room after he got the staples in his head.

 We went to my mom's house this week and I asked her to give Dawson a buzz cut. His hair is just growing too much in some areas and not enough in others. I wasn't happy with the last haircut he got at the kid's hair place, so I thought this would even it all out and hopefully stimulate it to grow better. I came prepared with the portable DVD player, suckers and bubbles. Amazingly enough we only went through 1 sucker and didn't need the bubbles! He enjoyed watching Word World and wasn't as afraid of the shaver as I thought he'd be.

 He did squirm and flinch a lot though, I bet it felt funny. I love this pic!

 All done! The sides in the front have never really grown much at all, I'm hoping they'll come in! It's still baby fuzz there! He continued to sit and watch to the end of the show.

Tyler is making lots of progress also. He's eating better, he still sucks and spits food out, but he's starting to eat some things now. He ate a jar of baby food this week also and actually swallowed it, so that's a good start. Must be working because he gained a few ounces this month! He had a 3 week cold that really knocked his counts down. They are still dropping, though he's not showing any symptoms anymore. I hope they'll recover soon!
He was taking a few steps a month ago, now he's walking all over the place! He can walk across a room now, though he's still working on balance. He can even stop and change direction without falling most of the time. I'm sure by next month he'll be running all over the place!

Tyler is officially qualified for Early Intervention. His speech is behind and he's just slightly behind in some other categories. They tested his hearing and he had fluid in his one ear. They are worried because the hearing test showed that he can't hear certain tones. The Dr laughed it off, saying that nobody should test while they have a cold. The evaluator is all worked up about it though, she insists that he has hearing damage. He has an ENT appointment on the 25th, so hopefully that will come quickly so we can see what's really going on.

His favorite thing to play with is cars. It has to be on a surface though, not on the floor. He usually likes to play on the trampoline, couch, computer desk or chair. Dawson often takes his cars away, which is becoming more difficult to deal with since Dawson loves all the cars too. Tyler is very patient and will usually just look for another one, though I've been working on getting them to share.

We participated in the Relay for Life at the Apollo High School in town. It was fun, we met many other cancer patients, mostly adults but there was 1 other child there that we saw too. Tyler was the youngest survivor by 2 years. He really enjoyed the music and all the people. It made me realize we haven't really done much like this since he was diagnosed. We usually avoid large crowds. Thankfully he was good about wearing his mask until the crowd thinned out. I let him have it off when there were very little people around, since it gets very hot and uncomfortable. We even found someone willing to watch Dawson in a pinch if we need it.

The survivor signatures. Tyler's is by the marker in the lower left corner.

Thought it'd be fitting for Tyler to wear this shirt to the Relay.

Taking a break. The boys both loved the bleachers. It gave Dan and I some time to rest while they wore themselves out climbing, though we ended up climbing with them.

Tyler was being such a ham! He was crawling around the gym smiling and marching big steps with his head up as he crawled. He got lots of laughs and everyone thought he was pretty cute.

The boys in the gym. They were having lots of fun and thankfully Dawson kept to the gym most of the time.

Even though it's not Tyler's bedtime, they brush their teeth together and get on their pajamas. They both like brushing and I think it's so cute seeing them both sitting there watching each other. After diapers and pajamas I tuck Dawson in bed and Tyler comes over and I put him in Dawson's bed also. He snuggles up to Dawson, who giggles and then Tyler grins and wants out. He does that every night now, Dawson even sits up in bed and waits for Tyler to come over, it's adorable!

I love these monkey pajamas, they're so cute! The only thing is, it's a reminder of how little he still is.

This pic was taken around the end of July 2009, after a friend visited and gave him these PJs. Almost a year has passed and he's still wearing them. They fit better in the legs now, but the shirt fits the same. If anything, it's a bit looser now than a year ago because he was pretty swollen in the belly from his liver and spleen then and still had a lot of baby chub. He's a little longer now and definitely thinner. I'm pretty tired of the same wardrobe though. I finally got a bag of clothes off Craigslist just to see him in something different! So now he has more than I'd usually get, but I couldn't take it anymore!

My little troublemaker! He sure knows it too. I folded that leaf down so he couldn't crawl onto the table anymore. Apparently he wasn't going to let that stop him! Now I have the leaf back up and a small toy box up there, so there's no room for him anymore.