Dear Jimmie- Happy 20 Month Birthday

Dear Jimmie,

Happy 20 Month Birthday!

This you right after you were born.

And this is you today!

Look at how you have grown next to your Rottweiler Puppy!

Look at how you've grown in your father's hands!

Here is your special "Watch Me Grow Montage"!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

You are struggling to gain weight. You are still about 17 pounds.

Your height has increased 3/8 to 31 inches long!

Your head is 18 inches around!

You are not on either the preemie or regular growth chart for your weight. You are on the regular growth chart with your height though. You are at about 8%. Because of this your nutritionist does not feel you have an endocrine/growth hormone problem. You are just very skinny. You have always gained weight slowly even when you were tube fed so your mommy and daddy are trying to be relaxed about it. Your mommy has a lot of thoughts, opinions and feelings about all of this that she is organizing on paper for your Developmental Pediatrician Dr. H. Over all your mommy is pretty positive about how you are doing!

Here is your little bony back! (-:

Here you can see your g-tube that is not being used anymore.

You have 120 followers on your blog Jimmie!

Your "Faithfulness" Video Montage has been viewed 13, 344 times. That's 620 times this month!

Your "Jimmie's Wonderful World" Montage has been viewed 949 times. And your "High Places" Video Montage has been viewed 651 times!

Your blog has been viewed 2,457 times this month for a total of 110,758 hits! You have a lot of very cool people who love to check on your progress Jimmie.

You have cut 2 molars this month Jimmie! Now you can really chew!

Physically you are doing well. Your OT has noticed a few motor planning issues. You've had to work pretty hard at learning to throw a ball this month and also learning to stack more than 2 blocks. You work hard, you get frustrated, but you eventually succeed.

I could probably dedicate an entire post to a speech update, but in short- we are starting to suspect a more serious issue than just a delay. Phonological Disorder and Apraxia are 2 of the possible diagnosis' being discussed. Cognitively you are doing great. Your receptive speech is on target if not ahead. However your speech is gibberish with a lot of guttural noises and nasal resonance. There is hardly any consistency in your speech. You have maybe four or five approximations of words that are consistent. You spend a lot of time grunting and screaming in frustration. Unfortunately this is a strange feeling of deja vu for me Jimmie. My daughter (your cousin) McKenna was diagnosed with Apraxia at age 2 a little over a year ago. After a year of intensive speech therapy she is doing really well. (I'm working on a new update for McKenna's blog! ) It is still a little early to know for sure what you are dealing with Jimmie, but we'll know soon enough. I know that no matter what . . . you will overcome.

You are picking up signing really well. You sign "more", "dog", "bird", "eat", "open". It's so cute to see you signing to communicate. You are so smart Jimmie!

You didn't get out much this month Jimmie because cold and flu season has started. Your mommy and daddy go in lock down mode to protect you from germs. You go to Ma and Pa's on Sunday mornings while your mommy and daddy are at church. Pa took this video of you walking the rock path in their back yard. When Pa asks you if you are walking the rock path it sounds like you say "yep". (-:

You did get to play at the park with your cousins.

Cousin Jennette and her daughter Maddy came in town from Colorado!

We all had a wonderful morning at the park together!

Here you are saying, "hi" to some little boys.

And here you are climbing up the slide with cousin McKenna.

Here is your beautiful cousin Maddy!

And Jennette took this picture of you and ME swinging!

I love you so very much Jimmie! Your mommy invited us out to your house the other day and I canceled all of our previous plans for the day. We were healthy and we don't get to see you that often so you definitely get priority! You are getting so grown up. You shared your toys with your cousins so well! My heart has hurt a little bit this month because of the realization you will have to work hard for your speech. You've had to work hard for so many things most of us take for granted already. You have worked hard to breathe, to drink, to eat... However *you* don't feel sorry for yourself, of that I'm sure. So I will not pity you Jimmie. You are strong and beautiful and you have a wonderful life! You have life! Life should never be taken for granted and with you it is easy to remember that.

Love you forever my sweet Jimmie Jim Jim,

Auntie Amber