May the force be with you

Gabe went to a Halloween Party on Friday. He was Yoda...the wise one.

On Saturday we went to a Pumpkin Patch. Gabe picked out his very own Pumpkin.

They had a petting zoo. He wasn't too interested in petting the animals, but they did get his attention.

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like. We've been so busy and I have started a new position at work, this month has just seemed to fly by. Gabe is doing well. Feeding is progressing slowly. Drinking is still the hard part. We have our IFSP meeting with all of our therapists for Gabe's 1 year review this week. Our biggest issue is gross motor. Gabe has no desire to move. Even if we take his toys away to make him get them, he'll just play peek-a-boo and crack himself up. As soon as he sees our PT, he screams. He knows PT is only 45min and he can scream the whole time. He likes his bouncer, kneeling, pulling to stand, and reaching up while kneedling on the stairs, so we're trying to work on that. He just hates being on his stomach to crawl or roll consecutively. The hard part is, we know he's strong enough. We know he can do it. I think he's just that stubborn. For awhile, we were thinking he had some vestibular sensory issues where he didn't like feeling off balance, but he loves to swing and be bounced around, so I don't think that's the case. We're trying to sneak in therapy before he realizes he's working. Our new technique may be even leaving him in the hallway with no toys while we are in the next room and make him work his way towards us. It's a change in thinking that's for sure. We've always been in his face to stimulate him in some way, and now he's going to have to work for that stimulation. I am happy from a cognitive stand point that he's challenging us so much, but he really needs to start showing some type of movement. Patience.

His speech is really progressing. He yells for attention. He has finally started saying "mama" about once or twice a day. He is mimicing B's, S's, T's, etc. He has become quite the chatter box.

Our bedtime routine has also been great. Since Gabe started teething, he would always be fussy at bedtime and want his pacifier. It became a struggle and he would cry so hard when we would leave the room. We stayed strong and after a month of crying at bedtime, he is finally going to bed without a problem. We read a story, sing a song, kiss goodnight, put him in his crib, he rolls over and is a sleep within 5 min. It's awesome.

Speaking of teething. Gabe has his 2 bottom teeth in. His left bottom canine has recently cut. His top left tooth is very close, and the poor kid is getting a huge molar on the bottom left that just feels painful.

We have our year post op Cardiology visit on Wed. I'll post about it later in the week. Here's hoping to good news!