Throughout JJ's life we have had 3 primary goals:
1) get him to breath normally
2) get him to eat and gain weight
3) get him to sleep better
Well...
Breathing: why is he better? Remember back when we went to Mazatlan, Mexico in Feb 2012? We found out that he breathed perfectly. We came home, bought a very expensive air purifier, and found that it improved his breathing as long as he did not leave the house:) Last year we were unable to take him outside at all - if we did he needed a nebulizer treatment. This year...not a single nebulizer treatment! Remember when we did that funky and weird allergy intervention weird thing? Well, that seems to be the only intervention that is consistently different (the air purifier helps inside but would not account for him being able to be outside). We wondered if because we are in such a drought if it was just the absence of molds from wetness. However, when we went to MN, which has had plenty of rain and wetness this year and it rained while we were there, he did not have any problems at all. In Aug/Sept when my husband and oldest son started having some fall allergy issues, JJ did not! Faith also had these treatments. She also has not needed any nebulizer treatments although she is having some congestion this fall.
Eating/Drinking:
JJ has made it to 28 lbs, which is the 50th percentile! He has never been above the 10th percentile so we are thrilled! The first 18 months of his life he gained weight one month and lost weight the next. Makes for slow progress. In the past 6 months he only lost weight once! He is also in the 25th percentile for height:) His mom is 5'5" and his dad is 5'10" so we don't expect him to be a super tall guy...but that is the same height of my husband and I and our oldest is pushing 6 foot and her brother is close behind lol!
JJ is a very, very picky eater. We have not really cared what he eats as long has he eats. JJ has considered a "meal" to be 2 - 3 bites of a food. Even at that, he has required that my husband or I eat the food first (kind of like a food tester for a king lol!). He has preferred to sit on our lap and just sample a bit of what we are eating (thankfully in the past 2 weeks he is now insisting on being in his highchair- yay!!) He likes foods like rice, raw tomatoes, cranberry juice, sliced ham/turkey, and grape nuts. He is an odd duck. He does NOT like breads. It is very funny that now that he is starting to talk, when he is hungry his word for "food" is "pizza." As that food is a family favorite (although not for JJ) he is used to hearing the word so uses it for all food lol! Some people may think that we are not doing a good job of requiring him to eat/try all foods, etc. Well, after almost two years of this kid not gaining weight we were willing to have a picky eater...if just to have an eater!
Another oddity of JJ is that he really does not like sippy cups...at all. He wants a bottle and it must be of milk. It has been pretty recent that he will drink anything other than milk, and that is only cranberry juice. Even at that he drinks maybe an once or two. We keep his bottles filled in the fridge so he can just go and get them at will (just like another kid having their sippy cup always available). He has learned that he drinks two bottles at a shot now so will just grab two from the fridge and go double fisted:) He will drink from a straw so we are trying to transition with that. This is a new problem for me as my babies all went from nursing to the cup at 11 months with no bottle. Even Grace, who was exclusively bottle fed obviously, gave up her bottle very easily. We are learning that even though he is the 6th kid, there are many, many firsts!! Thinking of weaning him from the bottle makes me worry that he will lose weight again so we are just holding off... We spend $100 a month on raw milk for our family and much of it goes to JJ. It must be working as he is gaining weight and he wets through his diaper almost every night - we are SO HAPPY about this!!
Sleeping:
In the past 2 months JJ has been sleeping better with most nights him sleeping most of the night. In the past 3 weeks this has improved to him sleeping all the way through the night 6 of 7 nights a week! He has also never been a napper - he may fall asleep in our arms at some point in the day (usually way to late in the day)...or not. Most days he never napped. He fell asleep sometime around midnight and woke late morning (after being up with us several times in the night for comfort). In the past 3 weeks he consistently goes to sleep 2:30ish and takes a 2 - 3 hour nap. He still doesn't go to sleep until midnight but wakes between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. What has not changed is that we still have to put him to sleep. We lay on the bed with him and he drinks his bottle, hangs onto us, and falls asleep. Oddly enough he will fall asleep within 15 minutes for his nap but at bedtime it usually takes an hour...
Embarrassing Quirk:
Probably JJ's most embarrassing quirk is his attachment object. I think I have made it pretty clear that he prefers to be held, cuddled, not put down, not be left alone, and always in the company of my husband or I. Well, other than his pacifier he has never attached to an "object" other than us. In the TBRI training this was a key part of attachment and bonding. I nursed JJ until he was 16 months old. He was not excited about being weaned. Before that, he would hang onto my shirt collar when nursing or falling asleep. Once weaned he decided that did not give enough guarantee of my closeness so went for my...bra strap. Yes, the child prefers my shoulder bra strap over a blanket, stuffed animal, or any other object. There are times where I can distract him, but he continues to be a very fearful child so when in public, and thus afraid, he goes for the attachment object...Yes, the embarrassing things we as parents put up with to give our children security lol! I am currently trying to put a rubber hair band around my shoulder outside of my shirt to get him to hang onto that. He is not very interested. So, I continue to put him to sleep at bedtime and nap time (he will let my husband put him down for nap but not bedtime) as I am the one with the bra strap. Gotta feel loved lol! Again, at this point we are just so happy that he is consistently going to sleep that we are not going to rock any boat. He has no ability to self-sooth at all. This will be something we will need to get figured out.
Going to others:
Another huge praise has been his willingness, well, not willingness but tolerance is probably a better word, for going to nursery and Sunday School. I am so thankful for his Sunday School teachers that told me I could just leave and let him cry. He remains pretty stand offish but at least he is going and not screaming the entire time:) Nursery is a bit different in that there are different caregivers every week. We had Faith stay in there with him 4 times. Now he goes, unhappily, but goes. Today when I handed him over to the caregiver (a sweet friend of mine) he clung to her and put his head on her shoulder. I was thrilled he was accepting comfort from someone else! There is also a man at church who has taken JJ under his wing and JJ will go to at times. Good things!
Talking:
Finally, JJ is beginning to talk. He doesn't have a large expressive vocabulary to use words to name things. Yet, he is able to get his point across well to us between sign language and words. He mimics almost everything that we say. He will point to things and get them if we ask - showing he is doing well with receptive language.
JJ is, after 25 months, finally starting to make consistent gains. He is an absolutely adorable child and I adore him. His smiles, his laughter, and his boyish sillyness keep our family in stitches. We have a few rough edges to work out like him throwing things, "talking" over us when we are trying to talk (essentially yelling "words" while we are talking to be sure he is the center of attention, and hitting when angry. Oh, and thinking of potty training at some time...in the future...distant future lol!
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