2012

 

We cheered in the New Year with ocean swims and chocolate.

 

We continued with family tradition and Dexter donned a 60 year old christening gown that has been worn by three generations.

 And on the first Friday the 13^th since his birth date, we reached 8 months.  Now while normally this timeframe would not signify anything special, to us it has.  It showed that he really does like being at home with us – that we are more fun than the hospital.  Because on this date, he reached 245 days old, or day 123 at home – 1 day more than his hospital stay.  From now on, he has been home longer than hospital.  What a milestone to reach!

I was hoping that by 8 months I would be able to say he was monitor and medication free.  While I can’t say that this has completely happened, I can say that we have decreased his medication, taking it upon ourselves to make the decision to not wake a sleeping baby at 3am to administer non-essential drugs!  And more importantly, after enduring the frustration of the monitor cord throughout the day, for the past month, his first nappy change sees his cord detached and removed for the remainder of the day.  What a delight to be able to play and cuddle without worrying about hurting him with the cord.

As expected, developmental milestones have been delayed.  We have thrown out timeframes, finding it too confusing to decipher.  Do we look at his actual age, or his 6 months corrected age, or do we take into account his 4 months in hospital when we couldn’t do anything with him and then don’t forget the PVL and potential cerebral palsy! 

We have accepted that he will do things in his own time.  This hasn’t necessarily been an easy acceptance – it is frustrating at times to see younger babies rolling and sitting – but we are getting there.  With each day, his neck control is getting stronger and we notice small improvements.  He is so determined that he pushes himself to the brink of exhaustion and quiet often has to be reminded that it is ok to sit and cuddle.

While we are yet to hear a full laugh or giggle, I'm claiming that I heard my first snort of laughter yesterday – just once, before he remembered that he is a serious baby and not one to laugh!  He is clearly so much more mature than the adults in his life!  But his smiles are becoming more and more frequent and don’t always have to be enticed out of him with a kiss or a raspberry blown over his face – and what a smile he has!

One of the biggest achievements for the New Year is that he has finally hit the scale for his growth for his actual age!  At 6.875kg he is skimming the edges of the scale (10^th percentile for corrected), at a questionable (due to discrepancies with tape measures) 65cm he is in the 3^rd percentile (25^th corrected) and with a huge head of 43cm, he is in the 10^th percentile (25^th corrected).

 

So as in all things Dexter, he will get there, just in his own time and we will continue to be patient and understanding and show acceptance, all the while pushing him to achieve his best.