Gus Gets Around

Gus Gets Around

Well, it's my turn to post (Maria). Earlier in the summer, Gus had his second annual trip to the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory. This year, he managed to stay awake and enjoy the flowers, kids and butterflies. He was a little frustrated that he was not allowed to hold or pet the butterflies. He has not quite got the fine motor skills to delicately touch a butterfly with out the poor thing suffering damage beyond repair. We had a lovely day among the flowers and butterflies and had lunch outside in the tent.

 Saturday, it was such a lovely day, we decided to visit our Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. We had not seen the Cat Canyon or the Cheetah Show this year. First, we stopped at Lorikeet Landing and I introduced Gus to our feathered friends. I used to take care of these birds at Petsmart so I didn't have any fear of having Gus around them. He was a little fearful at first but that gave way to curiosity.

Next stop, the Giraffes. Kimba was patient enough to let Gus feed him. He has absolutely no fear of feeding him and wants to pet them both. He has all kinds of Giraffe toys and they seem to be his favorite. Too bad we don't have more room in the back yard. They would certainly help keep the trees trimmed back.

Well, we were on to the Cheetahs. This is a picture of Gus and Mommy waiting for the show to start.

Our friend, Kathy, tries to protect herself from Quilliam, the African Porcupine.

Danielle sets up the Whiffle ball for both the Serval, Cleo, and a young athletic volunteer. Cleo beat the dickens out of him.

Gus screamed his head off for Alicia when she came out with Sir Francis Bacon. That's one of his many girlfriends. She was asking for volunteers to help with the cheetahs but I don't think Gus knew what he was getting into.

Gus qualifies as snack food for Nia. She may not hold the world's record for the fastest land animal like Sara, but she is a lot faster than that Bolt guy everyone is talking about.

We got to meet briefly with the Connellys. Gus gave Trista a big kiss on the lips. Fathers, lock up your daughters.

We also got to see the newest addition to the Cheeth show, Savannah. She is practicing her stalking and pouncing.

Before we go, we have to ride the train. A lovely young lady (about 4 years old) gave Gus a big hug and kiss while we were waiting in line. I'm gonna have to fight them off with a stick. Getting off the train is not so easy. I think he would ride it all day. A quick stroll through Cat Canyon, a little lunch and a big nap! What a nice day.

He's healthy, Get Out!

Our little guy sure does get around. It was 3 days in Fort Wayne last week for ABM, this week was: Mon - Early Intervention home visit; Tues - OT; Wed - Pediatrician for 18 mos appt; Thurs - High Risk Clinic at Cinti Children's Hospital; Fri -be charming for his Aunt Judy who's spending the day with us, and next week is 3 more days in Fort Wayne for more ABM.

The Ped doc did his exam and declared that he was the healthiest child she'd seen in months. They did his last couple of vaccines and now he's all good until he turns 4 except for annual flu stuff.

At High Risk they did his exam and said he was so healthy they no longer needed to see him at clinic! Basically, "Get out - we have sick children to see!"

He's somewhere around 32.5 inches tall and 28.5 lbs, 80-85% among his peers for his actual birth date so that's a lot of peers who were not born 11 weeks early and who did not start out at a mere 3 lbs that he's surpassed. Such a miracle boy!

We suspect what's really at play in the docs shoving him out the door and delaying or ending any return is that Gus has found the terrible two's ahead of schedule. He sure does have strong opinions on everything these days! We've found these nice pouches that are so easy to feed him fruits and veggies on the go but now he must be the one to hold it himself, making meal times much messier!

We find ourselves wondering if there will ever come a time when we have a 24 hour period without crying and tantrums. Gus gets so easily frustrated if he wants something that he can't communicate to us or if we don't give in to his every whim. Perhaps it's been worse lately because he has 4 new pre-molars coming in. And last week's stress surely affected him.

He has become very interested in his books lately, too. Of course he likes to manage the page turning himself!

All in all, I'm happy to report it's been a much better week! How could it not be? Hope yours is wonderful, too!

Gus and Maria Update - What a week!

So, let's start with a snapshot of this week's timeline:

HOW THE WEEK WAS PLANNED HOW THE WEEK REALLY WENT Sat/Sun Dust off RV that hadn't even been de-winterized yet Discovered water leaks in RV   Clean out van Nope   Do Laundry and start to pack for trip Barely Mon After work get more packing done Maria takes RV to repair shop Tues Maria does Carol's grocery shopping and we finish packing Maria does Carol's grocery shopping then picks up RV from repair shop and walks back in the door just before 3 PM burning up with fever. Christi drops everything for work early to take Maria to the ER. Maria has a fever of 102.6 upon arrival at ER. Maria is admitted to Christ Hospital with some sort of infection. Wed Start a lovely 5 day mini vacation weekend together as a family leaving early to arrive to Fort Wayne for Gus's 2 ABM lessons.  Christi takes Gus to Carol to be down to hospital by 7 AM to be there for doctor's rounds. Doctor says kidney seems to be doing all right but they don't know what's causing the infection. A couple days of IV antibiotics and fluids should patch her up. He said maybe she could even be out next day. Christi and Maria decide that Gus should still go up for his therapy so Christi and Gus leave town and make it for 1 ABM lesson that afternoon.  Thurs Do 2 ABM lessons in the morning and spend the afternoon at Fort Wayne Children's Zoo Maria still isn't able to eat or keep anything down - no discharge. Christi takes Gus for his 2 lessons and they go to the zoo missing Maria very much.      Christi lets Gus fall off the bed just before bedtime and takes him to the ER to make sure he doesn't have a concussion - he doesn't.      Carol's little wire-haired dachshund, Greta, starts to vomit blood and have difficulty breathing Fri Do last 2 ABM lessons of the week and then head over to the campground in Paulding to do a little fishing and catch up with our friends there Finish last 2 ABM lessons and drive straight home to find Greta has passed away. She had some sort of clotting thing going on. She was 14 yrs old.  Sat  Run around to the abundant garage sales and flea markets up in and around Van Wert, OH. Eat at the Ribs Festival. Look at all the cars at the car show at the campground.  Pack Gus back into the van while he cries and screams, "No, Ma!" and head down to the hospital where Maria is finally discharged. The tests indicate she has E. Coli which thank goodness wasn't quite as terrible as her last bout with that. She also has a UTI. Bring her home and get she and Gus settled in then run around and pick up various necessities and prescriptions.

So here we are on Sunday and I have one worn out little boy, one exhausted wife trying to recover, one grief-stricken mother in law, and a house in complete chaos with a million things to do. Oh, and the air conditioner stopped working at some point yesterday so the repair man is here now. But at least we have Maria home and she's doing better. On to some happier highlights from the week....

Gus really loved the zoo on Thursday. The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is lovely. We walked through the loops for Africa and Indonesia, and rode the log ride through Australia before heading home for an early dinner. On our way out, we saw the train with all the people on it and I swear Gus said, "I want to go on that!" This kid comes out with sentences like that and then seems to never repeat it and refuses to say basics like More or Milk. I sure wish I understood more of how this language stuff works! Gus's favorites were the giraffes.

His ABM went well when he wasn't too tired and he did some nice things that are a definite improvement over previously. He's coming up on his hands so much better from both his stomach and while in sitting. That left arm and hand are especially noticeable in their improvement of this function.

He seems to be slowly catching on to the ways he can come up on his knees from his stomach. There's lots more work to do on this but it's so exciting to see him in a position that will lead to crawling!

Special thanks to those who came and visited Maria in the hospital this week while Gus and I were out of town! Very special gratitude to Annette who checked on her every day and stood at the ready to help in any way. We have a lot on our plates with Maria's health and Gus's CP but it's all manageable because of the support of our wonderful friends and family. We couldn't do it without you! Thank you so much for all the thoughts, positive energy, prayers, phone calls, Facebook messages, and gifts of your time this week and always! My team at work are also among our blessings. They are so understanding and accommodating through these situations. We have a lot to be thankful for and we are, indeed, thankful!