Armed and dangerous . . .

The biggest news this week is the arrival of two teeth. It's possible we have an explanation for the whiney, difficult child we've been dealing with the past couple weeks. Somehow, I did not see this coming despite the signals Toby was sending out. It was a surprise to feel them fully erupted. Warning: be careful where you put your finger.

We did make the trip to Toledo yesterday. We revisited a few of our old hang-outs. The good people there are still busy saving babies and taking good care of parents. It was a strange but good feeling to be on the outside looking in this time.

The clinic's evaluation of Toby was overall positive. The only new recommendation is that he begin physical therapy to help with his large motor development. I have been concerned that he is starting to fall behind in this area. He does not crawl or even move around much. His therapist (the same exceptional one who worked with him in the NICU) says it is because of weakness in his trunk. This may be partly because of his surgery and partly because of the lack of proper exercise during his winter illnesses and, again, the surgery. We now have some ways to work with him and hopefully will get something set up through the therapists at the U of M.
She did say that he is doing well with his fine motor skills, which was good to hear.

His weight gain the past two weeks was a modest three ounces. That's a much lower rate than the almost ounce a day he was doing previously. The new feeding plan we were trying has not gone well. Toby takes very little from the bottle. He has been refusing solids. And he continues to have retching problems sometimes during his pump feedings. When that happens, I have to stop the feeding for a while. And loss of time equals less intake. The good news is that he has continued to gain. We will continue to work towards getting him on a plan that works better for him.