Sleep re-training is not working so well. We can get through most of the bedtime routine ok, including peeing on the potty, but as soon as I say "Ok, mommy is going to leave and I will come back" Matthew comes running out of his room crying. I have to close the gate and he stands there screaming, crying and shaking the gate with me telling him "I will come back when you're in your room and quiet". Eventually he goes back to his room to wait for me. I come in and he bear hugs my neck for a while. When I get uncomfortable, I tell him I'm going to leave again and Daddy will come back. We take turns coming and going until he finally goes to sleep or cries himself to sleep. It's been this way for ... I don't even remember. A month? Two? I have no idea anymore.
I went to a feeding workshop last week at ErinOakKids (the same place we do speech therapy at) and came to a revelation. Matthew's speech language pathologist (SLP) noticed a lopsidedness in his mouth when he talks. I explained that he had some nerve damage at birth that all the nurses thought was due to a forceps delivery. No one was able to explain what caused it, but they seemed to think it would correct itself. I attribute it to being posterior, engaged in my pelvis (causing me excruciating pain) for the last 6 weeks before delivery. When he was a newborn it was really noticeable, especially when he cried, but as he got older, I stopped noticing it. When my SLP mentioned it I realized it had affected him more than I thought. Due to this nerve damage, Matthew has trouble articulating some words. He can't pronounce words with a different consonant sound in the beginning and the end, even if he can say the sounds individually. So words like duck and up sounding like "cuck", and words like snowman end up sounding like "ho-man". During the feeding workshop I realized this same nerve damage has led to an oral hyposensitivity. Since his nerves are damaged in his mouth, he needs more stimulation, which is why he drools a lot, likes sweet food, overstuffs his mouth and constantly wants to chew on everything, still, at 2.5 years old, including his own shirt, or the pillowcase. This can help explain some of his strange eating habits, and hopefully we can investigate this further with ErinOak and get some occupational therapy to help him overcome this issue.
Tomorrow night I'm going to a sleep workshop put on by ErinOakKids. I'm not expecting miracles from this workshop, but maybe I will have some sort of revelation like I had with the feeding workshop. Maybe not, but I'm willing to try.
And now for the BIG news! It's been so long since I blogged, and a lot has happened. For starters, I'm pregnant! 20 weeks to be exact! Yeah. That's how long it's been! We had an ultrasound at 18 weeks and the ultrasound tech was 70% sure the baby is a girl. Roland isn't comforted by the 70%, but I'm going to run with it. We didn't see any boy parts, that part I'm sure about. Baby girl is due April 10, 2013. Matthew will be 2 months away from 3. The age difference is a little more than we had planned, but Mother Nature has her own timetable. In the end, I think I'll be pretty happy with the age gap and hopefully Matthew will be potty trained before baby arrives (if not by Christmas). In other news, all our decor for our new home has been chosen and the closing date is May 16. Yep, that's right, one month after baby is due. This is one occasion where I'm hoping the house is a bit late.
So that's it. Just a little update. Maybe I'll be able to keep up. Maybe not. If I have any major revelations tomorrow, I'm sure I'll blog about it.
Sneak Peek at 2017!
7 years ago
