The latest update on R & A

Since my last post, I have been giving Ronin the Flovent via AeroChamber, 2 puffs twice a day. Honestly, he hasn't thrown up and his coughing has disappeared. Is it the Flovent? One day this week I forgot to give it to him at night (and Denis hadn't given it to him when I went to a GNO a few weeks ago) and later that night or the next I swear he had a mini-coughing spell. I don't know if that was the Flovent (or lack of it) or not. I am back on it and don't really want to experiment again by not giving it to him. I think he gets a refill on it when it runs out. I'll have to check the script on that.

Peter Lyon, Nikko's former speech therapist, is going to be Ronin's speech guy. He had an opening for tomorrow at 10:30a so I took it. Ronin's normal speech time will be Mondays at 11:30a, after our playgroup. We are going to have to rush to make it home, but he's easygoing so I shouldn't stress out about it too much. I wonder how Nikko will act in Ronin's therapy. Will he want to be part of the action or will he be aloof and do his own thing? Tomorrow (and the next 2.5 weeks) will be tough because Chinny is in the Philippines and I won't have help taking Ronin away during Nikko's therapies. I fear a lot of distraction, probably frustration on the part of the therapists (mostly Gloria, but Shelly might get annoyed too if Ronin is in the way too much. Bo is very tolerant of Ronin) but they all know we'll have to work with what we've got. I am looking forward to seeing if Peter can give Ronin's language a boost. Ronin is also picking up signs from the Signing Time DVD, but lately he's been jumbling them around a bit. I was so proud of him when we went to Mom's house yesterday because I set him down on the ground, he looked at the neighbor's yard and signed Dog (patting his hip) because he remembers that those two yippity yappity shelties always come running when people are in the front yard. Ronin is such a curious tyke and very smart, but he is also a HUGE WHINER and seems to overact to everything. He is an attention seeker. He is not a bad kid; in fact he is very sweet, but boy does he try to defy me right now. I don't like this stage because I have been screaming my head off at him when he doesn't follow what I say. I have to remind myself daily to calm down and not set a bad example for him. I'm sure he is watching everything I do (so is Nikko) so I have to somehow find a ton of patience and be calm in the eye of the storm.

Audrey is 7 months old and is really blossoming. She's so pretty, she looks like a female Nikko. She's got really chubby legs and her hair is growing in sparsely. Audrey hates tummy time but I force it on her because I don't want her to have low muscle tone in her shoulders and upper back. She sits up really nicely, however, and I can leave her on the living room floor for a long time to play and explore toys from her toy basket. When it's time to nap or she needs a break from sitting, Audrey fusses and lets me know it. She was napping pretty consistently around 11a, 2:30p, and sneaking a 30 min. catnap around 6:30p. But today she started the day with a 2 hour nap that offset everything. I wonder if that was a fluke nap schedule today or if she's decided to nap longer. I wonder if it was a result of yesterday's excitement at my mom's house before they left for the Philippines. She's still not the best solid food eater and I admit that it's easier to plug her with a bottle when she gets fussy during a mealtime since the other boys are pulling at me already. Still, I have to try harder to incorporate solids during at least two of her three mealtimes. Her separation anxiety is in full swing, just like her brothers, and her stranger anxiety is also there, just like her brothers. Today and yesterday she's been moving her mouth as if she is chewing constantly, moving her jaw and her tongue up and down. She's still in our bedroom, sleeping in the pack and play, but I've stressed to Denis that we have to change this really soon because she's not learning how to sleep on her own. I love her dearly, but she needs to get out of our bedroom.