In His Own Words

Levi wants to write on his blog today, so I'm going to let him. Here goes:

xmxknkcxnskdckcnjkdnczkcdljhccknjc
mkmlmnlncknsdcndkjcjkjkssfjkckdfjdhfkdhfffffffjkfjhfjdhfhjdjddgdggfgfgfgfgfgfgfgfrrfgfggdfgregeyg ge

Now he is going to dictate:
I love Daddy. I want to go see I love Daddy. I want to climb up. How about.... how about..... how about... I want to climb up. I want that one. tookatookatookatookatooka. That one, I want that one. Pens. So, that's a big picture. What did I said? What did I said Mommy? You say, so that's a little picture, I say big picture. So that's another picture. uh, cups. I want cups to say those. Hi Grampa and Gramma. Mommery, mommery, mommery. I want to talk to Grampa and Gramma. Where's Grampa and Gramma live? Uh, pens. How about...toast.

Poke A Nose

Okay everybody! Here's a few pictures from my awesome weeks with my family!

Me and Mom and Dad

Two words for you: Light. Chaser.

Me and my cousin Xandra saying goodbye.

Do you like my moose hat?

Me and Grampa and Gramma

Awwww, just look at me! Ain't I cute?

Me and Gramma

Just me again.

Me and Gramma again. Those are some great falls, alright.

Mmm, Coffee

So, the other night, a few people were at our house drinking some coffee. Levi loves to smell coffee. He has been smelling it for a while. That night, he kept asking for some coffee to drink. We kept saying "No, coffee is for grownups." He kept asking and our dear friend, Sonja, suggested that we let him try it. He would most certainly hate it and never ask for it again. Daddy concurred saying that he would surely spit it out all over the floor. So, the plan was enacted. Us brilliant grownups decided to teach the naive child a hilarious lesson. Well, turns out that we are not as smart as we think. The boy likes coffee. He took several drinks and then cried as Mommy took that coffee away. Great.

Life in the Breadbasket

Hey, guess what everybody? I eat bread now! Yep. That's right. Little ol' me likes to chew and swallow wheat hot dog buns. Don't believe me? Check the picture. Check. It.




Okay, you may be wondering why in the world our dining room table is behind me in that picture. And on its side. Well, that's because it was raining really hard and our house flooded so we moved the table. Only kidding! It's because it was raining really hard so we didn't go camping in the forest. Instead, we went camping at home!

See?


I eat hot dog buns in the tent, too.

Intellectuals Meet with Intellectuals

Is this my future? Am I destined to be a lonely intellectual given to pondering the great questions of mankind? I sure hope not. Mommy and Daddy are counting on me to be a professional athlete. For the money, you know?

Easter Inland

Hey everybody, sorry that I'm so late with this. It's just been really busy around here lately. We had Easter, and then springtime, and then daddy went to Japan and me and mommy went to Pennsylvania for a wedding. So, to make a long story short, I'm just now getting around to putting up the pictures from Easter. I hope you like them!

Yay! We did it! We painted some eggs!



Everybody knows that painting eggs and tickling daddies goes hand in hand.




Wow, look at that Easter spread!




Check out my new bike! I think it's really cool.





All hail King Chocolate!

Update on Levi's Medical Stuff

Sorry no cute pics this time. I just wanted to bring everyone up to date on what's going on with Levi's eating issues. First, he's doing well, happy and developing as he should.

At his last pediatrician's appointment, he was bigger than the previous one, so he is continuing to grow. At that appointment, our doctor referred us to Lynn Balzer-Martin. She lives in our area and is a contributer to The Out of Sync Child, which is the best book available on sensory integration dysfunction. Check it out at your library if you want to know more about where Levi's coming from.

We met with Dr. Balzer-Martin and she gave us two contacts. One a nutritionist in North Potomac to meet with two or three times to help cover ground that Levi is not getting nutritionally. Second, a speech language therapist in Bethesda that specializes in young children with sensory-related eating problems.

We met with the nutritionist. She was very kind and helpful. She looked at some blood tests we had done earlier. She checked off on a list the problems Levi has. She checked:
Anemia (iron)
Constipation
Feeding Problems
Malnutrition (mild)
It was hard to see that malnutrition diagnosis written down like that, but the good news is that she will be able to help us fix these things. She prescribed a custom multi-vitamin that she designed, as well as additional iron. She also advised us to order an essential fat supplement that includes omega-3s. She also suggested juice plus fiber which is a fruit juice with added fiber. We've already started all the supplements except the fat, which hasn't come yet.

Today, Levi had his first session with Mandy, the therapist. They got on great and Levi had fun there. She observed him and asked me questions about him. They had a little snack time during which she handed him a piece of cereal (like a cornflake). He put it in his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it. It was like some kind of miracle! It was all I could do to keep from crying or cheering or hugging him. She hadn't even done any therapy yet, she just told him that she was going to help him learn to eat. He tried another one and spit it out, but he still ate that one. That is the very first time that I have ever seen him eat that way. So I have very high hopes for the therapy. She also observed that she believes that much of his problem is due to oral-motor problems, and that his sensory issues are not as strong as we've been thinking. Which is good news, in that it is easier to work on. So, we are going to be doing tongue exercises and blowing on things and generally working to make those muscles stronger.

Levi continues to suffer from chronic constipation. I'm trying to get ahold of his pediatrician to come up with a better long term plan for treating it. I've found some information online. You can read about chronic constipation in kids due to withholding bowel movements here.

So, if you are a praying person, please pray that we will be able to relieve Levi's stress and pain due to bowel movements, that we will be able to provide the nutrients essential for energy and growth and that we will make steady progress with food at therapy.

Auntie Peter and Uncle Claire!

Wow! My Auntie Claire and my Uncle Peter just came to visit me from Seattle! I am pretty sure that any airplane I see in the sky is flying to Seattle.

Anyway, it was lots of fun. We did all sorts of things, like go to museums and see dinosaurs and airplanes, go to the park. Auntie Claire and Uncle Peter even went to some concerts while they were here. I'm too little to go, but they said they had fun. Here's a bunch of pictures we took while they were here.

I miss you already Auntie Claire and Uncle Peter!

The Doctor

Levi had a Doctor's appointment yesterday and it went really well. In the last three months since his last appointment, Levi gained 1.8lbs and 4cm. His weight is back on the chart and his height is about 12th percentile. Not too bad. Also, we got some good leads for new therapists and are going to be following up on them.

Happy Birthday Everybody!

Hey everybody, I just wanted to say "Happy Birthday to everybody with birthdays this month. So...

Happy Birthday Aunt Liz!
Happy Birthday Xandra!
Happy Brthday Uncle Zach!
Happy Birthday Grampa Frank!
Happy Birthday Auntie Claire!
Happy Birthday John!



I sang happy birthday to all of you! You can listen below! I love you!

Happy Birthday Everybody! Click here to listen

Isn't Garageband great!?

A Trip to the Beach

For the second time in my life, I visited the beach this weekend. The other time was to the Pacific Ocean, so this was at least my first trip to the Atlantic. On Friday we drove all the way over to the Dewey/Rehoboth Beach, Delaware area. We actually stayed a long way from any sort of town (well, as far away as you can get) in Delaware Seashore State Park. We rented a cool little cottage. I call it The Beach House. Here are some pictures of it. It's right on the Indian River Inlet, between Rehoboth Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The view from our screened in back porch. That's Indian River Inlet in the background, not the ocean.



That's our cottage. There are twelve of them and they are really great!



That's me sitting on the ladder to the loft in the beach house. I wasn't supposed to climb it by myself, but every time Mommy and Daddy turned their backs, that's where I headed. It's really fun!



I threw some rocks into the water here at Indian River Inlet!


But by far the most exciting thing we did all weeked was go and see THE OCEAN. It is really big. I learned that the ocean says "CRASH" and "BOOM" and there is water everywhere and sometimes it comes up the beach and tries to get you! Me and Daddy played a really fun game where we would go up to near the water and then run away fast when the wave crashed! The only sad part was that the weather was really cold and rainy and windy. Mommy and Daddy took a lot of pictures, so enjoy!

Just a Few Cute Picture

Guess what everybody! There will be two posts today! Can you believe that my Mommy and Daddy are actually doing something with this? Maybe I should learn how to use the computer so I can do it!

The Return

Hello?

Is anybody still here?

I'm sorry that we have been a little remiss in keeping up this blog. We're really going to try harder, I swear!

Anyway, a lot has happened in the three and a half months since the last post, and I think it would be silly to try to cover it all, so let's just start afresh.

A couple weeks ago, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the three of us decided to go for a walk in the park beside our house, or, as Levi likes to call it, the Forest. We threw some rocks, looked at some cool trees, saw some dogs and even played in a big sculpture. Oh yeah. We were honked at by a fire truck, too. That ruled.

And now, what you all came for! Pictures!!!