Neuro news

Today, Cade and I went to Children's to get a CT and and then to the neuro office to find out if his shunt pressure setting could be changed. When we were in about 6 1/2 months ago, the CT showed that he was "over shunted" which meant that there was not as much fluid in his brain as they would like. So, they changed the pressure setting from 130 to 150. The CT that was done today showed no change in the amount of fluid. So, we decided to increase the setting to 170. The max setting is 200 and at that setting the shunt is basically shut off and the brain drains at it's normal rate. It's unbelievable that Cade may not even need the shunt. We saw a new guy at the neuro office and he was amazed at how well Cade was doing based on his rough beginning. It was great for me to hear that from a medical professional that hasn't known Cade from the beginning.

In other news, his vocabulary continues to grow. He's also really working on putting 2 words together.
44. Uh oh - when he drops things and when he throws things
45. Out
46. Sit - he uses this on the dogs
47. Ow
48. Sock
49. Soft
50. Boot
51. Shut
52. Door
53. Shower - he took a shower with Sean this weekend and loved it, he stayed in there until Sean was done with his shower and had to have the water shut off before he would get out
54. Shh - this is part of his "Pajama Time" book
55. La la la - this is part of a book too and he surprised me one day by saying it on the right page
56. Bump - maybe he bumps his head too much but this one came out of his mouth today after hitting his head. He also found the permanent bump on his head and kept pointing it out. I told him that we like that bump.
57. Snow
58. Roar

The 2 word sentences are: hot cocoa, shut door, sharp ow, nice dada, bye bye Santa, sit down

Here's some pictures too.

Kira (my parents dog) begging from Cade

Happy Valentine's Day

P.S. I think I fixed the cocoa video that is in the post below this one

Cocoa!

Cade and I went outside for awhile when Sean was clearing the snow from the driveway. He actually did alot better than last time outside. At first he fell down after every couple of steps but eventually he got used to walking in his new boots and the snow. We went up and down the driveway a few times in sled and sat in the backyard. Then, it was time to go in and warm up. I think the total time outside was less than the time it took me to get Cade ready in all of his snow gear. Well, I figured after playing outside Cade deserved some hot cocoa. So, I made him a little and made sure it was lukewarm and handed him the big mug. He loved it.

Is Spring Here Yet?

I'm ready for spring and I'm guessing Cade is too. He has another cold and didn't sleep well last night so Mommy and Daddy are both a little tired today. I hope he gets alot of rest tonight and gets over this cold quickly. Last weekend, we all got our hair cut and had dinner with Andy, Jill and Phillip. Phillip is growing like a weed and now is taller than Cade. They both spent the afternoon and evening running around and opening and closing doors. Who needs toys when you have doors? The other news around here is that we finally figured out what is going on with Belle. I have wondered for awhile because it seemed like she kept getting skinnier. At first, I just thought that she was getting alot more exercise at the house versus the townhouse. But, lately, she's become really skinny. It turns out that she has a hyperactive thyroid. Both Sean and I were happy with the diagnosis because it's treatable and she is very healthy otherwise. One way to treat it is with a radioactive iodine injection that kills the tumor that is producing too much thyroid hormone. I guess it works really well and the vet recommended it over treating her with pills. So, now we need to get an appointment set up and find out the final cost. Hopefully, Belle will be on the mend soon.

Cade continues to work on developing his vocabulary. Here's a list of his new words:
31. All done
32. Brr
33. Thigh (ty) - Sean taught him this one and he says it instead of leg
34. Belle (baa-ow)
35. Foot (fo)
36. Rub - Sean taught him that you rub your hands when you have lotion on them - rub, rub
37. Water (wa wa)
38. Shop - maybe we do too much shopping? but, when we went to the mall yesterday I told Cade we were going shopping and he said "shop"
39. Down (dow)
40. Baa -as in the sheep says baa.
41. Hop Hop - as in the bunny in his book goes hop, hop. He said this one on his own one day when I turned the page to the bunny. Surprised the heck out of me. He also said "lana" yesterday when we were talking about a picture of a banana. But, he hasn't repeated it so it's not officially part of the list.
42. Toothbrush (boomba) - for awhile, he has done a gesture for brushing his teeth but now he asks for his toothbrush.
43. Sean (sha!) - he yells this when he wants to get our attention and we are pretty sure he's copying me yelling for Sean. This morning we were talking about daddy and he yelled "Sa!" so I think we're right.

He is also working on putting 2 words together. His favorite 2 word sentence is, "Santa off." He knows that Santa has to be turned off before we go upstairs. Santa is still out at our house because Cade asks for him when he gets up and talks about him all day. Even when he's going to bed, he keeps saying, "Santa off." Santa gets carried all over the basement and even rocks in Cade's rocking chair with him. Cade put him in the chair all by himself and then climbed up himself.

21 months

Cade turned 21 months yesterday. He is so quickly approaching 2 that it's hard for me to believe. On Sunday, we watched the Vikings game and went to Noah's birthday party. I thought it would be a good idea to put Cade in something football related and had a tough time finding something in his closet with a football on it since I am biased towards the soccer gear. But, I did find one sweatshirt that fit the bill. Here's some pictures of him cheering on the Vikings to their win. Well, to be honest, I had to work hard to get these pictures since Cade doesn't really watch the game with me. But, it does look like he's cheering.Yesterday, since Sean had the day off, we went to Edinborough Park. They have a 40 foot tall kids play park that has climbing and slides. They also have a toddler area that I figured Cade would play in but he didn't want to have anything to do with it. He wanted to play with the big kids. So, with our help, he climbed up about halfway and went down a bunch of different slides. He loved the slides but was always on one of our laps. He surprised me by climbing through a tunnel that had criss-crossed straps for a portion of the tube. The tunnel was probably 20 feet off the floor but he just crawled right through. In fact, he was leading the way without any problems with the holes.Today, I attempted to take a picture of him with the same preemie outfit that I used last year for a comparison. Well, he didn't want to hold the sleeper in front of him so I pinned it on his shirt. I think that if the shoulders of the sleeper were actually at his shoulders, it would only go to about his waist. It's so tiny that it almost brought tears to my eyes just looking at it. If you want to see the pic that I took last year to compare, click here.

Breakfast with Cade

Can you guess what Cade's favorite way to eat his yogurt is? Yes, that's right, he likes to drink it and with every slurp, he cracks himself up. He does actually know how to use a spoon but has decided that it's too slow or just not quite as fun. I also love the bed-head that he had that morning :)