Tough Love

Maria's View-

Today has been a really great day.  My Little G has made me laugh so much!  She is such a little character and I love it!  First of all, she raided her big sissy's craft area and found the bottle of glue.  She brought it to me as if it were saline nose spray, with the little tip stuck up her nose.  She was so mad at me when I took it away from her and didn't allow her to squirt it up her nose.  LOL.  Later that day, she found one of Griffin's small plastic dinosaurs that he never plays with.  She insisted on feeding it the chicken fried rice that she refused to eat.   I hope the dinosaur liked it!

This morning, I had to give Griffin a little tough love.  It's time to help him to become a little more independent with his food and snacks.  I have a snack trap cup that I made him use today and he did not like it at all.  I really need him to use this cup because sometimes he needs a snack on the go and I can't push a stroller and feed goldfish to him at the same time.  As he struggled to use this cup, I realized that there was a greater reason.  I had no idea that he struggles to use both of his hands together to complete one task.  He had a VERY hard time figuring out that he can hold the cup with one hand and get the snack with the other.  Let me tell you, there were tears, huge ones.  I had to completely remove him from his high chair and take him to the living room to calm down.  I had to be firm with my encouragement and I praised him like there was no tomorrow when he succeeded.  After about an hour, he finished every Reece's Puff that was in that cup all on his own.  Let me tell you, he was so proud of himself.  He knew he accomplished something big, I could see it all over his face.  This is one very determined little boy and I'm one very determined mommy! 

These past few days, I have been realizing that if he could have been born to me...if I could have had him with me for the past three years, I believe he would be a very typical three year old!  I totally believe, by the progress that I have witnessed over the past 3 months, that he will catch up quickly...that he will be able to run and play with other children, that he will be able to speak.  Honestly, I think speech is probably our biggest hurdle.  As far as being able to run, that will come in time.  I have noticed that he is starting to bend his knees slightly when he walks, which is progress!  No more totally stiff legs.  He still shuffles around, but he is definitely getting more confident and gaining some speed!  Am I too hopeful?  Nope.  Could I be wrong?  Yep.  Does it matter if I am?  Nope.  He's my son and I expect great things.  God has brought him this far and God is greater than the orphanage he was in...greater than his delays.  I just can't wait to see the young man he becomes!

Today, he kissed my hand.  He is showing affection and I just love it!  After I got home from ballet practice with Big G, I went straight to him, got on his level, he came right over to me and wrapped his little arms around my neck...and as I sang to him, he danced back and forth.  I love dancing with my son. 

Chris is going to jump on here and let y'all know how his ophthalmology appt went!  I wish I could have seen his goofy little self.  He will explain.

Love and Hugs!

Chris's View-

So I took Griffin to his pediatric opthamologist appointment today... this kid cracks me up!

I won't get in to the fact that I arrived 25 minutes early and didn't get seen until an hour after my appointment time... oops!  Yeah, we sat there for what seemed like an eternity.  It was interesting to see the faces of the people.  One of the ladies behind the counter was smiling at him and "awww"ing him when he'd do something sweet or funny.  Then I watched as people would come in to the office.  I sat right behind a corner that is just inside the door.  If people didn't pay attention, they'd have to stop really fast to get around Griffin in his stroller.  Every time it would happen, he'd laugh!  It was cute.

We finally got called back to see the doctor.  He's an older gentleman who has been doing pediatric opthamology for like 18 years or something.  He was great with Griffin, even though Griffin wasn't as great with him... he doesn't like doctors really.  He tolerates them at best, and really fusses when they make him do things he doesn't want to do... wait a second... that sounds like he's a typical toddler!!!  LOL!

Anyway, the doctor needed to dilate his eyes for the exam, which meant we'd have to wait up to another hour for the dilation to complete.  He saw other patients in the meantime.  This is when Griffin cracked me up.  We went back to the same seat we were in before, except this time I placed Griffin where he couldn't get run over... hey, he already couldn't see well.  As the dilation chemicals began to effect his pupils, it was almost as if he was high on drugs or hallucinating.  He'd pull his hands up to his face and move them back and forth and just laugh hysterically!  Then he'd flip them from backside to palm and back and again, laugh like no one was looking!  Deep belly laughs too!  His eyes were swimming almost!  It was awesome seeing him like this.  No, I wasn't making fun of him, I was enjoying the experience with him!

We finally got called back again and the doctor did his checks.  He has an astigmatism but does not need glasses.  He only has a very slight, intermittent stabismus, or eye crossing, in one of his eyes.  We thought that it was more prevalent when he looked up and to the left, or up and to the right.  Come to find out, this is false... it's just that he has larger than normal epicanthic folds.  The epicanthic folds are what makes the eyes of an Asian person, well, look like the eyes of an Asian person.  Because of these folds being large, they cover part of the eye when they are looking at the outer limits of the eye sockets.  He showed me a slide show that was very much like Griffin on slide after slide.  These folds are very common in children with Down syndrome.  Also common, is the "gunk" that he sometimes gets in his eyes.  It has gotten so bad before that his eyes were sealed shut from the mucus "gluing" his eyelashes together.  He said this is caused by a weakness in the eyelids, coupled with poor flow in the tear ducts.  So, for his overall diagnosis:

He's great & healthy!  Yes, while he does have some eye problems, they are very minor and should not be problematic in the near term.  In fact, he said Griffin would probably chew on his glasses more than he'd wear them anyway.  So, no glasses, no patching the eye, and no surgery!  It's amazing how we were fully expecting to have to get some sort of surgery, but so far every doctor has said that he's great for his past.  God really took care of our son for us till we could get there!

See ya'll later!