Hiya!

So, while the UK suffered from the big freeze this past week, Mom and I suffered from colds and sneezing, hence this week’s blog title. Notwithstanding our colds and snotty noses, Mom and I still managed to pack in a whole bunch of activities this week, which started with our going to see Dr Sonja where I had some alignment done of my back and neck. Afterward I felt much more mobile and comfortable. The rest of Monday was a quiet day for Mom and I, as we stayed home and chilled around the house. As mid-afternoon arrived, the study was filled with exercise balls, my inflated barrel and tonnes and tonnes of toys – I immediately sensed it was exercise time. I was not wrong; Mom spent the rest of the afternoon supervising and helping me exercise, stretch and roll, all to build up my strength.

I’ve also noticed that Mommy is reading lots of books at the moment, and most of them are with me in mind. The books she is reading are mostly about sensory development and illustrate how to wake up all the senses and their development that I missed on while in hospital. My Mom’s studying and implementing of these topics is really paying off, as I’m really doing well on the sensory side. This is confirmed by the fact that I’m eating my solid foods really well now, and I’ve really taken to them greatly since last week. Furthermore, I can fall asleep anywhere, based on the fact that my routine is not time based, but a serious of events that happen in a certain order. I’m also sleeping through the night, and I no longer wake up every hour like I did in the hospital; I just sleep my sleep, whether it’s in the day or at night. Another exciting thing for my parents is that I can now send myself off to sleep if left in the cot with my dummy and my blankie. My sense of touch is coming along nicely as well. Whereas before if you touched me softly I would absolutely freak out, now I’ll let you tickle me for a few seconds before I commit to a scream. Sadly this is as a result of the medical practitioners always touching and holding me gently, before jabbing me with a needle or a drip, or something just as unpleasant. So I typically associate soft gentle touch with pain!! To overcome this sensory defensiveness, Mommy still brushes me to desensitise me to the world of touch and of course the baby massage is also helping a great deal, even though I sometimes could do with out it. My other little buddies from ICU suffer from the same malady with tactile defensiveness.

Tuesday we headed back to Morningside to see Zhan, my dietician, but not before I had been to Tracy for physio. Tracy is looking after my physio needs because my regular physio Dianne is on a two month sabbatical to study and teach. However I have grandiose plans to show off to Di on the 14th of February, when I see her again. Zhan is very passionate about people eating right and enjoying food. She gave me two scores, one is a normal wellbeing growth score, which put me on the 50th percentile on the length chart and the 10th percentile on the growth chart. The second score is my z-score, which statistically plots me against my peers, particularly given that I’m unwell. Based on this, it means that I am still stunted and underweight, so I’ll be sticking to the Infatrini for the next two months, which will also make sure I get through to the next procedure in March. Zhan did all these lovely drawings for me about the 7 natural food groups and what kind of foods can make my muscles and body grow stronger.

While at Zhan’s offices, Mom couldn’t resist showing me off to Dr Nicoletta, she hasn’t seen me for about 8 weeks, so we pushed into her office in between consults to show off. She was very happy to see me, and both astonished and thrilled at how much better I look. She says I look just like my Dad – what do you think?

Wednesday morning I went to Bellies and Babies for our last massage class. It was rather sad, but our Mommies are making coffee arrangements so I’ll see, Joseph, Ryan, the other Jarrod and Matthew very soon. During the class a new lady arrived and we were suddenly doing music and playing the Caracas and running around the room with our Mommies. Awesome stuff, then we ran around with coloured cloths; it was such fun. Next we all got real African drums to play on. Mommy helped me, but I could feel the rhythm in my bones – it’s called BSharpBeetles. It was such fun that I convinced Mom I needed more, so we signed up and I go for my first music lesson next week. Back home I snuck to the laptop to send an SMS to my Daddy to tell him that I missed him and to tell him all about my musical debut; he seemed very chuffed that I did that – I heard him telling Mom later on that its what got him through the day. Unfortunately I got snapped by the camera while doing it – now I know how those cars feel when they are driving too fast and get photographed.

On Thursday Mommy was beside herself, she was so excited. We went to my occupational therapy session and when we had finished, Lauren asked if she could see me sit. I did this on cue, and although Mommy was a little worried, as sometimes I won’t let her show off with me. I did it, I sat for Lauren. Up until now, Mommy has been forcing me to do crunches when I get up in order to strengthen my core tummy muscles. Because I felt I was making such good progress I thought I’d show her. I even tried to get out of my car seat unaided. Next after I got home, Mom put me on my mat to do some playing and while I was sitting there with my toys around me, my ball moved away so off I went after it. As Mom blinked I went forward, onto my knees and onto my tummy. I would never go willingly onto my tummy before, as my MIC-Key gets in the way and hurts me but it really wasn’t too bad. I heard Mom saying that I’m her new party trick.

Friday we had no appointments, so Mom and I went grocery shopping in the morning, and we popped into the vet to get some Rimadyl tablets (or Rimmies for short) for Jake. Because he is almost 15 years old, and the weather has been a little more chilly and damp, his doggy arthritis started flaring up again, making his movement slow, laboured and most of all, painful. We got home from shopping and immediately popped a Rimmie into his mouth. Within an hour his was running around playing with Roxy again – it was such fun to see them cajoling on the front lawn together. Just after midday Opa arrived for a visit and we sat in the lounge chatting. A short while later Dad popped in to have lunch with us – he was working in Randburg for the day so it took him a few short minutes to get home and back again. By early evening Mom and Dad were discussing dinner plans; as both Mom and I still had our colds, we decided not to go out for dinner, rather collect take-away Sushi (obviously fully vegetarian because of Mom’s fish allergies). An order was placed, where after we decided, as a family, to collect the take-aways. As we drove past the Sushi place, Dad hopped out to collect and pay; by the time Mom and I had driven around the block, Dad was standing at the roadside waiting for us to pick him up again. I guess Mom and Dad must have been ravenous, as I noticed some of the Sushi didn’t make it home as it was devoured in the car. Once home, Dad, who got some tuna Sushi, shared it me. It was a little scary for all three of us; although we know that allergies aren’t really hereditary, Mom and Dad braced themselves to rush me to hospital should I have go into anaphylactic shock, as Mommy does with fish. But there was no such reaction and I discovered I liked tuna!

Mom and Dad got off to a little bit of a late start on Saturday (actually, Dad got off to a late start) where after we headed off to Parkhurst to do some shopping and stroll around the stores. Our first stop was Polly Potter’s, which must be the most awesome toy store ever! The toys are all imported and high-quality, and most of them are made of natural materials like wood and fabrics. As we were getting into the browsing mood, Fiona arrived! There were big hugs all round and pretty soon we’d taken up friendly conversation. Fiona held me and was amazed at how well I looked and how I had developed. Fiona, Dave and little Emma last saw me briefly before Christmas, also while shopping, so it was really cool to catch up with Fi. After we finished chatting Mom and Dad bought me some cool goodies, including my first drum (how could I go to music classes and not own a musical instrument), a wooden mobile, and a wooden chain to clip my pacifier to my clothes. We paid and rushed back home, as Granny was scheduled to arrive soon. Mom and Granny started getting industrious by working through tonnes of Mom’s magazines, looking for useful recipes, home décor ideas, etc. Those pages that proved useful were torn out and filed, while the rest of the magazine was designated for recycling. Before long the task was starting to reach finality, and Granny had to go home again.

Later in the evening we headed to Barrett and Jackie’s place for pasta. As it was such a pleasant evening, we spent the time sitting outside on the patio. I snoozed for a while, and once I’d built up my second wind I decided to join the party. We chatted and had drinks and spoke about all sorts of things. The moon was almost full, so Dad walked me around the garden while all I could do was stare and be mesmerised by the moon. I was convinced that I had seen the moon before, but on this evening it held a spell over me!

Today was a pretty quiet day; we hardly left the house, but just mulled around the house. Mom and I both caught up on some much needed sleep as we tried to lose our colds. Later in the afternoon we went for a stroll and bought some groceries at the store.

Well, that’s it for this week. It seems the rain has finally let up, and the sun is starting to make an appearance again. This has made Dad really happy, so that he can go to work by bike again, with less chance of getting wet coming home. On more than one occasion this week he’s arrived home resembling a drowned rat!

Bye for now.

Lots of love, hugs and snotty & sneezy kisses,

Jarrod

Figure 1 Looking funny

Figure 2 Prof. Jarrod

Figure 3 Sending Dad messages

Figure 4 Getting ready for baby massage

Figure 5 Tummy time

Figure 6 My friends & I at baby massage class

Figure 7 Colour circles

Figure 8 Here I am mesmerised by the fabric circles above my head

Figure 9 Writing my name in the condensation on the window

Figure 10 Going for my ball – an attempted crawl

Figure 11 Another try

Figure 12 Hey dude!

Figure 13 Little cherub

Figure 14 Wiiings

Figure 15 My Opa!

Figure 16 Tasting some chicken (and enjoying it)

Figure 17 Drumming

Figure 18 After some heavy jamming, I passed out in my Jolly Jumper!

Figure 19 Checking out my new mobile from Polly Potter’s

Figure 20 I can’t help reaching out to touch Mommy when she sings to me

Figure 21 Have a great week!

Leave a Reply