Wes Side Story...: Mouthing Off

This week has been a busy one with therapy and doctors appointments. On Monday daddy took me to the children's hospital outpatient to get an ultrasound of my kidneys done and then again to the kidney doctor today to check out the results. I am happy to report that my kidneys are the RIGHT size :) At one point the doctors thought my kidneys might not be growing with me, but my ultrasound this week showed they are just right, wahoo! However, I still have some calcium spots showing up on my kidneys that the doctor wants to keep an eye on, so I have to go back for a follow up ultrasound in six months.

I haven't really liked my binkie lately, in fact he makes me gag every time he goes in my mouth :( My mouth and especially my tongue have become "hypersensitive" again this past week and no one really knows why. Mommy and daddy think it's because I still have reflux, which makes me gag and choke a lot and I'm so smart I am protecting myself by keeping everything out of my mouth. I don't know about all that, but I am pretty smart and I'll take the credit either way :) Mommy and daddy want me try a reflux medication to help calm my tummy down but my pediatrician says I have to talk to my GI doctor, and my GI doctor is out of town until after Thanksgiving! Mommy talked to a nurse who talked to another GI doctor in the practice, but his solution was to put me on a 24/hour continuous feed. SERIOUSLY??? Thankfully mommy and daddy aren't going that route and decided we will just have to wait until after Thanksgiving for the medicine... in the meantime I'm doing better on my three hour feeds, which makes my belly less full and me less cranky!

I did have speech therapy today and was a GOOD boy! She played with me lots and I chewed on my funky white brush for a long time. She eventually got me to try playing with my binkie again, which I agreed to do as long as she didn't make me suck on him, just chew and play. Every time she tried to put anything on my tongue, I immediately pulled it back into my mouth to avoid gagging. She says I'm very defensive with my tongue... if she tried to go to the middle of my tongue I would push the brush or binkie to the side. She also said I like exploring things with my mouth/tongue now.... THAT is true! I definitely enjoy anything in my mouth, as long as I have control and no one is making me suck or swallow anything!

I'm still working on coordinating my hands to my mouth and getting a toy IN my hand and then IN my mouth :) It's a lot harder than it looks!!! I definitely have more control over my left hand than my right... for some reason that one just seems to cooperate more than the right hand. I also like turning to my right better than my left when laying down because it frees up my left hand to grab things :) Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get away with this for long... everyone has caught onto my game and is starting to make me use my right hand as much as possible, shucks!! :) My therapists, though, say I have to learn to use both equally now while my brain is still growing that way I won't have any trouble with any muscles later on!!!

Here are a few fun pictures from my week :)