Elijah is getting more teeth! This would explain why he absolutely refused to take his nap yesterday afternoon. It would also explain why I kept saying, “I’m grumpy today” last evening. It’s nice to know the reason for Elijah’s crankiness and it’s exciting to see that two teeth on the top are trying to make their way into the world.
Feet
Feet are amazing! Well, at least Elijah seems to think so. In just the past few days, he has been grabbing for his feet when lying on his back...and he has been successful in reaching them. While it may not seem like much, it is another one of those developmental milestones that will help him complete more milestones in the future. Our PT mentioned awhile back that a child playing with their feet helps them gain the muscles necessary to roll from their back to tummy. While Elijah has rolled from his back to his tummy, he doesn’t do it often and so I’m expecting more rolling from him now.
Hands
Grabbing his feet has become possible because Elijah seems to be becoming more aware of his hands and is using his arms a lot more than in the past. Whatever happened in his brain seems to have affected his arms more than his legs. He has loved to jump and stand for a long time, which is great because his legs are ultra-strong. He’ll even get his bum in the air and essentially crawl, but the problem is that he’ll have his head and arms basically immobile. It doesn’t make for good crawling when he’s essentially being a bulldozer.
The awesome thing is that Elijah has been using his arms a lot more than in the past. He can purposively turn on toys by batting at them, he’s reached forward while on his tummy to try to get a toy, and he’s doing better holding toys in his hands. He has shaken a rattle that was in his hand and he’s even banged the same rattle on the tray for his Bumbo seat. He is pushing up on his arms to get his upper body off of the floor and stays on his tummy for really long amounts of time. And I’ve saved the best part for last...he’s putting toys in his mouth! This is the most exciting thing for me since he should’ve have started to do this at around three to four months. He is still a bit uncoordinated in this effort, but I can tell he is trying to purposively do it and it isn’t just on accident. I know it’ll be some time before he effortlessly grabs something and puts it in his mouth, but he is definitely making progress in this regard and I’m so excited, not to mention thankful for his continued progress.
An Annoying Leg
The annoying leg is mine, not Elijah’s. His chubby little legs are perfect. :)
As you may recall, I had a surgery a few months back to remove a lesion on my leg. Unfortunately, I need to have another surgery. L The first surgery went well, but we discovered that there were still “abnormal” cells in my leg. The doctors kept telling me that I didn’t have cancer, but seemed concerned because it looked “abnormal” and were afraid that the bump might come back. While what I have is definitely not cancer, it does look weird enough and is growing fast enough that they want to make sure they got it all in case it became cancer in the future...(so that’s what “abnormal” means).
For those of you scientifically inclined, the term for the bump I had is a dermatofibroma, albeit an “abnormal” one. I’ve been told that these are pretty common in women in their twenties and they’re not sure what causes them. The surgery that will be performed on me is called Mohs surgery. It’s a more precise way to remove the abnormal cells, but it also takes a lot longer to perform because they remove it in small increments.
I would really appreciate the prayers for an uneventful, successful surgery. Please pray for wisdom for the surgeon and that they remove all of the cells completely. The surgery is this Thursday, June 5th at 8:40 in the morning and we’ve been told to expect it to take a half day. Needless to say, I am really not looking forward to it.
And Another Thing...
What’s the deal with doctors loving the word abnormal? I remember when Elijah was still in the hospital and we got the results from his EEG. I was sitting in the family waiting room and received a call on my cell phone from the beloved Dr. Gloom. He simply told me, “I’m sorry, the EEG is abnormal” and then he paused as if I was supposed to know what that meant. I appreciate compassionate, optimistic honesty when I’m getting medical news. I don’t want things glossed over, but I don’t want to be left in the dark either. Apparently that’s hard for doctors. I guess there is no good way to give bad news, so why not throw out the fuzzy term “abnormal.”
Okay, and One More Thing...
Writing this entry, it has struck me how every inch of our body is so important. In a child’s development, small things lead to big things. It’s kind of a snowball effect. It’s not like a child wakes up one morning and starts to walk. The walking happens because that child touched their toes and sat and stood and jumped, etc. - long before they took their first step. I know that God cares about every inch of us. This week I’d appreciate the continued prayers for Elijah’s development and if you wouldn’t mind, a small prayer for me too. :)
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