Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve, but ended up at the After Hours Clinic on Christmas Day. I had a sore throat on Wednesday, so I went to my doctor on Thursday. My strep test was positive, so I got a shot of bicillin in my hip. All I can say is "ouch!!", that was painful, at least I waited until I got in my car to cry like a baby. I knew I was contagious for another day, so I tried to keep away from Chris and Tucker. I was not really feeling that sick, I had just went in as a precaution. I still had shopping to do for our trip, Christmas, and my new job that I will start the day after we get back from our trip. Thursday evening Chris, Tucker, and I went to the local park to see it all decorated for Christmas. Dylan, Gina, Molli, and Dad joined us. Tucker was not impressed, even though he loves the lit-up Christmas tree at home. Molli's favorite part was the big water fountain, she kept asking my Dad for quarters to throw in it. Right when we were leaving, Tucker chased after Chris and missed the concrete step. His face slammed into the pavement and blood poured everywhere. He ended up with an odd-shaped scab right above his lip, so for Christmas Eve he looked like he had a red Hitler mustache (he still does, actually). I put him in the cutest little black suit that his friend Josh handed down to him, but the rough-and-tumble Tucker just didn't seem to match the suit, haha! For Christmas Eve we went to Chris's parents' house for the Townsend party. We had a blast opening presents with them; Tucker got several that he loved, like a Mickey Choo Choo (that's what he called it, so cute!) and a garbage truck and two firetrucks. By then he was done opening presents, but he had about 6 more! He was not happy that each truck was stuck in its own box, wrapped with wire and tape...he brought them all to Pops to open so he could play with them. Brycen and Slade also got tons of gifts and we all thought the presents were done. Then Mrs. Mia brought out a box, and we all knew there was a gun in it for Mr. Ricky (the men are all obsessed with hunting and guns). So after Mr. Ricky opened it, they said that Cabela's only had 2 of those guns in stock, so the guys had to pull straws to see who got the other one. We all thought this was pretty dumb, but the adults weren't supposed to get presents anyways, so we said whatever. So the guys pulled numbers, and whoever had the number 1 was supposed to win. It turns out, they all had the number 1, so then Mrs. Mia brought out 4 guns, one each for Chris, Justin, Andrew, and Michael. They were like little kids on Christmas morning, it was hilarious. Tucker went to the toy closet and pulled out all of his older trucks, then he sat in the middle of all of the new and old trucks and played; he was so happy! After that party, we went home to rest. We planned to go to my parents that evening for dinner and fireworks, along with a get-together with the Christian family. After Tucker took a good nap, we went to my parents' house, where Chris C was frying turkeys. Tucker was so scared of the turkey fryer, he kept running away. Tucker had to bring his new garbage truck to Nana's, so he played with his garbage truck and his pet shop inside until he got brave enough to go back outside with the men and the turkeys. My Chris came inside and put together his famous Deer Poppers (so yummy!); along with my Dad's gumbo, we had quite a feast. When the Christians arrived, Michael, Chris, and Tucker got right to the fireworks. Tucker loved the fireworks last year at New Year's Eve, but that was almost a year ago, and I wasn't sure how he'd feel about them now. Tucker got some of the little white snap poppers (I don't know what else to call them), the little things that you just throw on the ground and they pop. No fire involved! Anyways, he loved them, he threw each one of them on the ground and as they popped, he would laugh the deepest belly laugh, it was so cute! Then Michael lit firework after firework, and Tucker would run and hide behind our legs when they started, then peek out and laugh so hard. And once he started laughing, he couldn't stop, it was so cute. So then Michael would be done with that firework, and Tucker would run over to Michael to make sure he had another one to light. During this time Dad lit a bonfire, but Tucker was way too scared of it. Once the fireworkds were gone, he wanted to swing on the big swing, which was nowhere near the fire, and therefore freezing! We all took turns swinging with him until it just got too cold and we had to take him inside. The Christians brought Tucker more presents (of course!) but all Tucker wanted was outside. I said, "at least my child isn't greedy or materialistic, right??" He really does like all their gifts, he was just not happy at all to have to come inside. After I got my shot on Thursday, I had bet Chris that we would end up at the After Hours or the ER on Christmas Day. There was no way I could have strep and they wouldn't catch it. At about 9pm on Christmas Eve, Chris came to me and said he was starting to feel bad, and getting worse quickly. We said good night to everyone and went home. By the time we got home, Chris felt too bad to put Tucker to bed or even play Santa. I hoped that after a good night's sleep he would feel better, but that was not the case. He woke up Christmas morning feeling worse than ever. Tucker opened his gifts from Santa, but he was a little off as well. I fed Tucker and gave him his usual meds, along with Ibuprofen and cold meds, and he perked up. Chris did not, so we all headed to the After Hours Clinic. I told Tucker that once we take a test to show he's not sick, we were going to Maw Maw's and Paw Paw's in Reserve (my dad's parents). He was very excited and said "Paw Paw" and "Maw Maw" the whole ride there. We had a short wait, and then they checked both Chris and Tucker for strep and the flu. They both had strep, but at least they didn't have the flu. Chris's temperature was 102. Chris got two shots of bicillin, and Tucker got one. Tucker watched with great interest as the nurse gave his Daddy two shots, but he was not at all happy when she came in with a needle for him. We decided that Tucker and I were not going to the Galatas party, because we didn't want anyone to get sick, and we didn't want to push Tucker's little body too hard before our Disney trip. Of course, Tucker was not at all happy with this decision, as he did not realize he was even sick. We spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon at home; by 5pm Chris did not feel one bit better, and Tucker was literally bored to tears. Tucker and I headed over to Mom's to get Tucker's gifts from my parents, as well as the gifts from the Galatas family. Tucker opened a portable DVD player and a big truck that holds lots of little trucks from my parents, and then about 4 more trucks from the Galatas family. All in all, I think Tucker got about 12 new trucks in 2 days! And he already has two shelves full of trucks at home that he loves, and is not ready to part with. I got caught up on what everyone got for Christmas and how everyone was feeling (so far we haven't spread our germs to anyone, yay), and then Tucker and I went home to start packing and go to sleep. Christmas was not what we planned, but Christmas Eve was so wonderful that it almost makes up for it. Today Chris started feeling better, but not by much. My antibiotic shot worked pretty quickly, but Chris's is taking much longer. His fever went down by last night at least, but he still has a lot more pain than I did. Tucker and I both still have a cold, like we have for several weeks now. I went out and stocked up on cold meds for our trip, and as of 1030 Sunday night, we are 99% packed for our trip to Orlando! Now we are focused on Orlando, we leave tomorrow at 8 am. Neither Chris nor I have ever been to Disney World; Chris hasn't ever been in an airplane....We are staying at Give Kids the World, a village built for Wish families....this place seems so great that I don't think Tucker will want to leave to go to the parks! I just can't imagine what the next week has in store for our family, but I know it is going to be magical and we are going to take pictures of all of it to share with you guys!

Don we Now Our Gay Apparel...Falalalalalalalala

The annual Lavigne Christmas party was last Saturday. This is my mom's side of the family, and it's always a fun time:) There are 5 girl cousins plus Tucker, so there are lots of Barbie toys and other girly stuff, and Tucker's all-boy attitude right in the mix. Pretty much every year Tucker and Molli like each other's gifts, and Tucker really liked her Barbie car. This year we decided to do a "Tacky Sweater" contest, but it was not really cold, so most people ended up with tacky t-shirts. I couldn't find anything that I really liked, so I made Tucker's. Chris had an idea for his, too, so I made that one as well. I don't have a pic, but it was basically sponge-painted Christmas trees with glued-on jingle bells....seriously.

So here is Tucker's shirt, can't you tell he was thrilled to wear it?? It was tacky on several levels.

My brother Dylan and his girlfriend Laci definitely won, though, check out this tacky duo.

There was tons of good food, and the kids had a lot of fun. We had Grace's 8th birthday party first. Her birthday is December 20th, and it's hard to separate Christmas festivities from her birthday (Christmas birthdays always get the shaft, it seems). She had her own cupcakes and we sang to her. Tucker skipped that part, I don't know if he was scared of the noise or what. Last year I thought that he was scared of all birthday parties, until we had his and he loved the singing then. So who knows?

The kids are the main focus, of course, and they each get 3 gifts-one from their godparents, one from Maw Maw and Paw Paw, and one from whomever picked their name. That gives them each some nice gifts, but not an overload of stuff. They are all very good about waiting their turn to open gifts, except Tucker of course! He got to open his gift first, he got a Dog Pillow Pet. He laid on top of it immediately, and he loves it:) Then he took it to the back bedroom, I guess he thought he was done. When his turn came up again, Chris had to go get him from the back. He got a Buzz Lightyear Tent from Molli, and his Nanny Meagan gave him some tools and some money for his Disney trip. At the party, his favorite was his Pillow Pet. When we got home, Chris put together the tent and Tucker LOVES it. He spends a lot of time in it, and he has invited Chris and Brad in there (they don't really fit) but he definitely has a No Mom Allowed policy. (He tells me "get out" and pushes me.)

The highlight of the party was when Molli opened her gift from my Mom and Uncle John (her godparents). It was basically Barbie palooza, but the funny part was that she was thrilled before she even knew what it was. She ripped the first piece of paper and said, "Wow, I wanted this forever! It's a truck!" when really it was a Barbie car with 2 Barbies, and tons of clothes. Her mom made her say thank you to both her godparents, but she still thinks Dylan gave her every present:) (He played Santa and passed out all the gifts.)

Here is a picture of most of the group. We are missing a few people.

After all the gifts were open, Grace and Addi sang some songs for us. Morgan introduced their act, and posed for a picture.

Tucker was pretty well-behaved for this party. Hopefully he enjoys the rest of the parties we attend. This year he definitely knew what the point of the presents was, and he enjoyed unwrapping them. It's a good thing, because he has many left to open.

I hope to update on each of the parties, this Christmas season has been a blessing for us since Tucker is healthy and happy; I want to record the good memories.

Glimpses of Tucker

It is very hard to figure out what Tucker knows, what he is thinking, what he wants, or even how he is feeling a lot of the time. He has autism, is very speech delayed, and is quite the puzzle, so most of the time with him is a guessing game. If he cries out in the middle of the night, I don't know if he is hurt, having a nightmare, or whatever else could be going on with him. The other day Chris and I found him crying his eyes out on the floor saying "Ow, Ow, Ow" and we still have not figured out what was actually hurting him. In a lot of ways, he is like a baby-figuring out his grunts and cries, and interpreting them as happy or sad, never really sure if you got it right. We try to give Tucker many experiences, we like to watch his face as he sees new things or people. The way he feels could be evident by a smile or tears, but a lot of the time we get the "Tucker glance," which is staring off into space or even tilting his head to think about things. Oh, what I would give to know what he is thinking at those times!! Tucker's speech has been steadily improving, and every so often, I get a glimpse into my sweet boy's mind. A lot of the time, I wonder if he even notices the things we do, or treats and things like that; he does, he just chooses to show me what he knows on his own terms. Yesterday, Tucker came home early from school because he had diarrhea.....I was a little upset as he generally takes days to get rid of this particular symptom. So far, it's been okay, though, and we are hoping to be good and healthy for Christmas and the Dreams Come True trip on Monday. So anyways, Tucker was home early, and we picked up Gina and her friend Jenee at school. I drove to the bank, and along the way we passed Wal Mart. Tucker pointed and called out "Go to stoy (store), Buy some eggs!" Tucker watches things like a little hawk, and keeps it all stored up in his head. We laughed so hard at him, and told him we were not going to the store. He was pretty mad! Tucker also has started to "control" the car radio. Tucker and I spend a lot of time in the car, on the way to various appointments, and the conversation is obviously one-sided. I hate to just play the music and ignore him, but I think he really prefers that, haha. Well lately he has several phrases "shage da shannel" (change the channel) "put it lodder" (put it louder) and "music" which could mean either to change the channel or to put it louder...the meaning changes with his mood! He definitely prefers rap music, but he is even picky about what type of rap music. He seems to love Boom Boom Pow, and of course Chamillionare. It is a very nice change to have him interacting with me in the car. I am very late with my Christmas shopping and wrapping this year. Well yesterday I wrapped a few small gifts, and Tucker was very interested in helping. I let him put the labels on, then I put the roll of wrapping paper in the back room. Tucker ran in there and closed the door (never a good sign) and a few minutes later we heard him talking. He had unrolled the rest of the paper and was talking through the empty roll like a megaphone. It was so cute! I asked him "what do you think you're doing??" He looked at us and said, "wappin' pesents". Seriously, Chris and I were very surprised. Usually when you ask him "who is it?" he answers "who is it?" If you ask him "what are you doing" he answers "what u doin' " So to get an actual answer was a huge deal. I told him he was not wrapping presents, he was making a mess! He just grinned:) Every once in awhile Tucker shows us a little more of his personality and thoughts, I hope he becomes more and more expressive. I would really like to get to know my little guy better:)

The Lameness of Parenthood

The new Toyota commercials say "Just Because you're a parent, it doesn't mean you have to be lame." Well, I beg to differ. ;) I thought I was the only one who found that commercial odd, then one of my best friends posted the quote on her facebook page, saying that basically parenting is what makes us lame! Haha, I have to agree. I must admit, I was lame long before Tucker was born. But I have gotten much worse as Tucker has gotten older. On Thanksgiving night, Tucker went to hit Molli, and I called to him from across the room: "Tucker, we have hugging hands, not hitting hands," and he stopped immediately. Gina and her friend Jenee busted out laughing and told me I had hit a new level of nerd. But it worked! So who cares, right? I told the girls that Tucker's teacher made up the phrase, not me, so therefore I was still a little bit cool. I have said, "Use your words," "Tucker is a big boy and he can wait," and various phrases that I never thought I would use. Even without the special needs component, parenting changes a person fundamentally. Sleep has become a precious commodity. When we have a babysitter, we have traded late nights with our friends for early dinners then a full night's sleep. (We do still occasionally have late nights, but it takes much longer to recover, haha.) I discuss my child's bodily functions in public, and over meals. When my son gets very upset, I have resorted to singing, no matter where we are. I assume people would rather hear me singing "What's gonna work? Teamwork?" or "Hot Dog Hot Diggety Dog" as opposed to my son crying, but I could be wrong about that. I have gotten up early on the day that tickets go on sale to get online, hoping to be lucky enough to get front-row seats....then being way too excited when we get aisle seats on the 4th row....not for Jason Aldean or Keith Urban (my favorites), but for Elmo Live! There was a time when I had frequent buyer Rewards cards at Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles, now I have cards for Toys R Us, Whole Foods, and CVS. I still have the old cards, but the CVS card gets much more use. I have learned that my son functions much better within rules, routines, and limits. It is not fun to give him these limits and make him follow the rules....but it is my job. If that makes me lame, so be it. I have been called worse;)

The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly

Tucker has had a few busy days. We went with his class to the Christmas Tree Farm on Friday. I think the long bus ride there and back was the highlight of the trip for Tucker. He likes Christmas trees once they are inside with lights on them, but he was not too impressed by the real trees outside. He did try to steal the saw from Addi's Dad, our appointed tree cutter. After the tree was loaded into the bus, we took a hayride around the farm. Tucker tried to escape a few times, but Mrs. Wanda made him sit still. We were happy to see two friends. Sonny was in Tucker's class last year, and his class was also at the farm. So I got to see him and talk to him mom, and get updates on all the therapies and progress our boys have made. We also saw Mrs. Charity, one of the private duty nurses that used to spend 10 hours a day at our house, back when Tucker was 1-2 years old and still had the ventilator and trach. Mrs. Charity was there with one of her sons, and we hadn't seen her in about a year. She was so surprised by how big Tucker had gotten, but she was not happy that he still isn't eating! She worked hard to get him to eat several years ago, she had hoped he was getting better with that. After the farm, we all headed to Mc Donald's. For most kids, this was the fun part. For Tucker, it was less fun. He got his burger, complete with the Sesame Seed bun from my burger (he likes the way they feel). This picture really sums up his enthusiasm! He escaped from the table a few times, too (this is becoming way too common with him), but he made it through lunch.

We attended the Dreams Come True Christmas Party on Saturday. This is the organization that granted Tucker his Dream, which is a 7 day trip to Orlando that Chris, Tucker, and I will take after Christmas. The party had a lot of activities, like face painting, balloon animals, and caroling. The noise was a little too much for Tucker, but he did like the little firetruck that sang fire safety songs. He also really liked the dramatic dancing that a church group performed. They danced to different Christmas songs and spiritual songs, and Tucker was upfront grinning! I just never know what he will like and what he won't like, because I was not expecting him to like that really. Tucker lasted for about an hour and a half (the party was 3 hours), with many many breaks to look at trucks. There was a window to the parking lot, and Tucker's favorite part of the party was looking at all of the big trucks through the window. We were very happy to see our cousin Gracie with her family at the party. Gracie was diagnosed with sarcoma, a very rare type of cancer, in July. She has had treatment at St. Jude's that seemed to work but didn't, and she has to go back once they figure out which type of treatment will work (right now her cancer is a mystery). She has an amazing positive attitude, and it was nice to see her with her sisters and her parents. Her Dream Come True is to swim with the dolphins, so hopefully she will get her dream soon. I realized that I forgot Tucker's feeding supplies (Mother of the Year, right??), so we had to leave so Tucker could eat. He threw a big fit, because he thought he was finally getting to go play with the trucks in the parking lot, but we were actually going to our car. He screamed the whole 45 minute ride home, and continued at home. Feeding him made him feel better for a few minutes, but I think by then he was too far gone. He tantrummed (if that's a word) for about 4 hours, stopping for a few minutes in between until he found something else to yell about. Nothing worked to calm him, and he refused to take a nap, which of course would have helped. A fellow mito mom said about her son: "this is what autism looks like at naptime." Good way to put it. Chris came home from hunting around 130, and Tucker didn't miss a beat with the screaming. Jackie invited us to ride on a firetruck in a Christmas parade, and Chris said he was going to call Jackie to come pick up Tucker, and they could both go without us;) Tucker finally got it together when it was time to leave in Chris's truck. I told him he had to settle down, or no truck. So he pulled it together, and we left. He had a lot of fun riding in the firetruck. He was so excited to see the firetruck in the parking lot, and he climbed right up! He did not like when it stopped, of course! He said, "ride da fiyatruck." He threw a few beads and pieces of candy, but they only made it a few inches. He didn't mind our firetruck's sirens, because we really couldn't hear them. But the firetruck behind us was much louder, and Tucker jumped everytime that siren went off. His favorite part was at the end of the parade, when the truck went a little faster to get back to the parking lot. Tucker loved the wind in his face and the uninterrupted ride. It was a very nice ending to a bad day. We just never know what to expect with him, and are pleasantly surprised when experiences like that turn out so well.

Fun with Friends and Family

I was hoping to post a Wordless Wednesday post yesterday with our fully decorated Christmas tree....well that didn't happen! Our tree is up, but the lights aren't on it, and neither are the ornaments. We got a fake tree from Maw Maw Mimi. Chris put it up on Monday, and I fluffed out the branches yesterday. Chris put it right near an outlet, which we thought made perfect sense. Well, Tucker was way into plugging and unplugging the lights, which is a definite no-no. We kept being firm with him, to no avail. So we decided to move the tree...well, two moves later (for different reasons), along with other furniture being moved, and we were done! The tree is now close enough to an outlet that the lights can reach, but the outlet is behind the TV, so Tucker would have to work extra hard to get to it! Hopefully having it out of the way will put the idea out of Tucker's mind. Maybe we will decorate it tonight:) Tucker and the whole family have been having lots of fun lately. This is a picture of Tucker riding the pig on the carousel. It's from the same day that we saw Santa. He was SO happy to ride the pig, haha! On Thanksgiving night, Molli spent the night at our house. This was Tucker's first sleepover, and the kids had a blast:) I didn't know how Tucker would like sharing his toys for a whole day (his playdates usually last just a few hours), but he just loved having Molli at his house. Molli is actually my first cousin, but she is about 10 months younger than Tucker. Her mom (Susan) and Gina hit the Black Friday sales, while we slept in and enjoyed the kids. Molli and Tucker just played and played; Molli took out toys that Tucker hadn't played with in months, and Tucker loved doing anything Molli was doing. I stayed with them in the toy room, because Molli was scared of Chris! I couldn't believe that, but she told me that Chris was not too nice. He is not sure what he ever did to make her scared, but she was. I wanted to make Molli feel comfortable so that she would enjoy herself and want to come back. I got out some princess Barbies and some old crowns I had from when I was little, and she loved all of that. Tucker usually sticks to his routine of toys (depending on which ones are his favorite at the time), but Molli wanted to try every toy he had. At one point, she asked to paint. I was hesitant at first, but it rained all day, and the kids were running out of stuff to do. So I got out some paint and old tshirts for them to wear, and they had so much fun. They also had lots of snacktimes. Tucker sat right next to Molli each time and licked his food.

It was actually much easier to have Molli over to play with Tucker than to just have him all by himself. Apparently, she is great entertainment:) Once Molli was comfortable enough for me to leave her, she and Tucker hung out in the toy room together. She kept calling me to the back. She would call out "Leigh, Leigh, Leigh" until I would go see her, then she'd say "I like this horse," or "Tucker is playing with his blocks." She just liked keeping me informed. Once she called me back "Leigh, I just made a big fluff," (her code name for passing gas) haha! After she left, the house was much too quiet and Tucker was back to being bored! Chris and I agreed that we have to invite Molli over more often, maybe she will even get to the point where she likes Chris, hopefully!

My best friend from childhood, Jessica, got engaged a few weeks ago. Her boyfriend rented out an ice skating rink, and he painted a backdrop to look like New York City; he even put up a little Christmas tree so it would look like Rockefeller Center (she loves NYC, but she visited in the summer and didn't get to ice skate). So he took her ice skating and proposed, and of course she accepted:) So on Saturday Mom and I went with Jessica and her parents and sister, along with some friends, to search for her wedding gown. It was a great day, we really had fun, and we all shed a few tears. My mom was hilarious and very informative; she discussed the good and bad points of each gown, and we all told her that her true calling is to be a wedding consultant.

Sarah and Brad had offered to spend that day with Tucker; Tucker loves them (even before he could talk, he used to carry around pictures of Brad and point to him). Brad took Tucker riding on the Rhino and the lawnmower. They also took him for a ride in the truck to McDonald's to get a hamburger, which he licked. After that day, Brad, Sarah, and Tucker all needed a nap!

That same day, Chris shot a deer. He loves to hunt, but he hadn't seen any deer so far this season. He doesn't get to go hunting very often, as he spends a lot of time home with us. Maybe soon Tucker will be able to go with Chris to the camp, but I don't think I'm ready for that!

Tomorrow Tucker's class is going to the Christmas Tree Farm for their field trip. On Saturday he has the Dreams Come True Christmas party, complete with Santa. On Saturday night we are riding in a firetruck in a parade. Jackie's brother and dad are in the fire department, so they asked Tucker to ride on Saturday. We hope that he loves it, I hope to post pictures of all of these adventures soon. Please pray that Tucker has enough energy to keep having good days, and that we have enough rest times to keep up his good behavior.

On a Roll

Tucker has had several positive appointments, yay!! I have been hesitant to post about them, and my big plan that he won't miss anymore school before the Christmas holidays; I don't want to jinx him! We went to the dentist on Tuesday. This dentist is very good with special needs kids, so we drive out to BR to see him, at the same hospital where Tucker spent the first 8 1/2 months in the NICU. This is not my favorite place, but this dentist is great, so it's worth it. Every other time, they have put him in a little room, but this time there were procedures going on and he ended up in the big, multi patient area. This was not good, as Tucker needs a confined space. He tried to run around for awhile unti I gave him some very firm words and warnings. The dentist has a big covered wagon in the waiting room, so I promised him that he could play in it once the dentist was done. He was very well-behaved for the teeth cleaning and the fluoride treatment. As soon as that was done, he jumped up and said "wagon, wagon," which led to another round of warnings until the dentist checked him out. The dentist said he looks really good; his constant teeth grinding is taking its toll, but he has baby teeth, and the damage isn't too bad. Tucker was very patient while I paid our bill (there was a problem with the receipt printer, so it took a while) and then he was very happy to play on the wagon. I actually had to drag him out of there after; I told him he was making me feel pretty bad, when he would rather hang out in the dentist's office than go home with his mom! Yesterday Tucker spent the whole day at school, then he and I played outside for over an hour once he got off of the bus. He had a blast playing with Buck (our big dog), running around the yard. I was so cold, but Tucker didn't even seem to notice. We went inside, and I fed him. He fell asleep and slept for two hours. We went to see Dr. Thomas today (the lung doctor who has followed Tucker since he was 2 months old). It was a routine follow-up, we were seeing Dr T every 4 months, but now they have moved it out to every 6 months (yay!). Dr T said he looks good, he is really past the lung issues; he will continue to see Dr T for sleep and behavior issues. He was okay with us giving Tucker the melatonin, but he would like to try weaning him off in about 6 months. He asked me how Tucker's behavior has been; he asked me straight out if I can control Tucker. I told him Tucker's behavior was pretty hard to take last week, but once he got back into his routine at school he has been much better. One kind of big change is that Dr T told us to stop the twice daily Albuterol neb treatments. Tucker has had these treatments since he came home from the NICU, they are ingrained into his routine. He wakes up asking for two things: "teetment" and "ride da bus." At night, if Chris and I forget the second treatment, Tucker reminds us! Tucker's other doctors have been asking why Tucker still has so many lung meds if his lungs are better? I figured it was to be on the safe side, so I guess today Dr T decided he longer needs that. He will still have one puff of the Flovent inhaler each night before bed. He will still have the Albuterol prescription for us to use as needed. I have a feeling that Tucker will "need" his treatment as least once a day for a while. Someone suggested I just put water into his nebulizer; I may try that! They also weighed Tucker and measured him. He seems to have gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks. People have been commenting that he looks and feels bigger. I definitely can't carry him for more than a few minutes any more. The nurse tech asked, "what has he been eating? Or, maybe I should ask, what is he NOT eating?" I had to laugh at that, I told her he would love to not eat anything. He is 39 1/4 inches tall. Chris is very concerned with Tucker's height because he wants him to be tall enough for the big rides at Disney! The big roller coasters require a height of 44 inches, so I think Chris will just have to give that up, unless Tucker has some insane growth spurt this month. There are plenty of other rides Tucker is tall enough for, but we all know he is a thrill-seeker. I hope the other rides are good enough for him. Today I picked Tucker up from school before naptime so that I wouldn't have to interrupt the whole class's nap; so this left us with an hour of free time before his appointment. Sarah and I took Tucker to see Santa at the mall. Tucker doesn't show any big interest in Santa. I have a tacky dancing Santa that I put out each year (my Paw Paw Charles gave it to me, and I don't have the heart to get rid of it!). We took it out Tuesday night and Tucker loves it. But as for the real, in-person Santa...he is not too excited. He was very excited to go to the mall, though, since the carousel is there. I told him that he had to see Santa before he could ride the carousel. He waited very patiently while a group of giggling teenagers took their picture with Santa. I told Tucker to ask Santa for a firetruck and a dump truck (because that's what he's getting, lol), but he didn't say a single word to Santa. Santa didn't seem to mind, and we got a good picture of them when Sarah said, "want to ride the horse?" Tucker's face lit up, and he said "ride da tey-gah" and "ride da horse." Here is his picture:

He is so adorable:) Once we got the picture he grabbed both of our hands and we went to the elevator. Tucker was the only kid riding the carousel, and we let him ride twice (as usual). He was very good when it was time to get off (a huge improvement in behavior from last week!). He was fine until I told him we were going to the doctor's office. Then he started crying and screaming, but I really couldn't blame him. He cried the whole way there, but then he was very happy and well-behaved at Dr T's office. Of course it helped that we had his PreK video from last year's class on the laptop, he loves watching videos of himself. Hopefully the good streak continues; Tucker has an appointment with the Endocrinologist (blood sugar doctor) right before Christmas, but until then we are hoping for his normal school routine.

Wordless Wednesday

Tucker's morning meds