Dylan Henry Jones - Month 19

Sunday - 8th September 2013
This week we have been putting Dylan to test!
On Tuesday we started the study to find out whether he has reflux.  I think the technical term is silent reflux as most of the time he's fine, just every now and again, usually at bedtime it gets a little spectacular (last Sunday it was over Grandma and down the stairs, not ideal in a house you're trying to sell and have just had repainted. Who'd have thought blueberries could be so messy?!).  So the study essentially involves putting a tube down the nose into the stomach and monitoring the stomach contents (for acid) over a period of 24hrs.  Needless to say that Dylan wasn't wholly impressed with someone putting a tube down his nose especially when he hadn't had breakfast and it was past his morning nap time.  Good job toddlers have short memories! 

Dylan causing carnage in the kitchen completely unperturbed
by the tube up his nose and a bag around his neck

We were a little perturbed by how we were going to keep Dylan from removing said tube at the earliest opportunity and also how were going to manage with the monitoring box which wasn't small and attached to Dylan's nose by about a metre or so of tubing.  Not really long enough for a boy that likes to run around in small circles.  Somehow we managed to survive and the tube remained in with the use of socks on his hands during his naps.  I don't know how long we have to for until we get the results back.

Also on Tuesday we picked up a blood pressure monitor so that we can keep an eye on his blood pressure which has been high and is cause for a little concern amongst the cardiologists given the condition of his heart.  We haven't decided how long to monitor for (and haven't been given any guidance).  We'll probably give it back at the end of this week, numbers at the moment are still quite high which means he'll be on drugs to reduce it.

Beyond that, his vocabulary is increasing every day, and often even if he can't say it, he can point at it when asked.  And he's mastered the stairs.  Well going up them at any rate, down is an entirely different issue...

oh, and it appears he doesn't like bubble bath...



Monday - 26th August 2013
An important milestone has been reached.  Not only is Dylan 18months old, but it's also a whole 6 months since he was last in hospital!  Hurrah!  Not sure how tall he was when he came out of hospital but he's now 73cm tall.  I do know that he's grown 3cm in 4 months.  The glorious Summer that we have had has certainly helped keep him out of hospital as he's had several colds and shrugged them off reasonably well.

Safe under the high ball AND making the mark. 
Clearly an international (Welsh) full-back in the making!

Dylan Henry Jones Month 18

Monday - 12Aug13
Technological issues.  Meh. (and Yay!!).

We've acquired a few new toys over the last few days with mixed success.  We've needed to upgrade his car seat for a bit and we finally got round to sorting that out last week.  The reason for the slowness was that we wanted a rear-facing car seat which although proven to be safer for toddlers than forward-facing in an accident are a ball-ache to get hold of in this country.  A very good source of information on where to get them is here and through there we got a car seat by mail order from here (Securatot).  They were very helpful with lots of useful information and I recommend them.  The issue is that our main car is too small for a rear-facing car seat.  Or rather, it will fit but not if the person in the front passenger seat has legs.  Despite it being a (old) Focus estate.  Which is an arse.  We didn't even tried to see whether it would fit in the Mini.  So we've had to send it back and get a forward facing one.  Meh. What I suspect has happened is that since our car, all cars have got longer with more space in the backseat and whilst we will be replacing the car soon'ish, getting a car to fit the car seat is a little excessive.  On the plus side, we had to have Dylan weighed to check he was heavy enough to warrent the next size up in car seats and he's now about 9.5kg.

Our other toy was a bike seat - which we like except he's a little small for it so we have to put a cushion under him so that the straps actually hold him in.  I'll get in trouble if he bounces out whilst riding down the road.  It's an interesting experience riding with an extra 12kg on the back of the bike.  I had to upgrade the brakes as old-school caliper brakes are an "experience" in the wet* and using shifters on the downtube whilst maintaining balance with the extra weight (not helped by wriggling from the passenger) is best learnt on quiet roads.  But he seems to enjoy it and the extra load will help with the training!

 

"Dad, I'm not sure about this... I know you've just upgraded the brakes but.."

The big success however was a present from one of the newly installed Godparents.  Clearly a bubble machine is all an 18month old (and his Dad) requires!

 * and to be honest the ones that were on it were pants in the dry as well!  And no, this isn't a new bike (new to me).  I've had it for almost 10years...


Thursday - 08Aug13
 Well the big news this week is that the hat is finally off.  It seems to have exceeded everyone's expectations of how much improvement would be gained.  He's still a bit flat at the back and there's lots of lumps and bumps but not much different to anyone elses (especially his fathers which has been hit several times with an ice axe - accidently obviously.  Self-inflicted as well...).  We'll get the full scan results in a week or two and this will show the before and after scans in all their glory*

 

"you made me wear this for how long?!"

In all honesty, he doesn't appear to have noticed.  Even better he has very quickly (we think) learnt not to smack his head against the side of his crib.  Not sure I'm used to it yet.  I picked him up from school yesterday and had a brief panic when this child started to move towards me and I wondered who it was...

A day of ensuring that a small boy doesn't tread on your tail wears a cat out...

His cold went away much quicker than the Mother's.  Both are better now.  Thankfully.


* the LOC has a new funky bit of kit to generate their 3d analysis, rather than using a handheld laser scanner they use a pair of cameras (ie a stereo pair) and a turntable.  Boy gets spun (slowly) on the turntable and cameras take lots of pictures in rapid succession and these are used to build up a 3d image.  Joys of photometric stereo.  The LOC was doing some research with people I also used to do research.  We were looking at 3d facial recognition for passport control.