Durham Museum of Life and Science

This is a tribute to one of my favorite places in Raleigh...OK, it's actually not in Raleigh at all. But it's only about 20 minutes from our house. We try to go at least once a week, with friends or just Ollie and me. It is so much fun for Oliver and I never get bored (amazing!!) They have a fascinating insect exhibit with all these strange insects and spiders, also there is a butterfly house that is in a beautiful (IPM-managed) conservatory. The plants are almost as amazing as the live butterflies...they have a Theobroma cacao (chocolate tree) that is covered with fruit. Oliver particularly likes the outdoor area where they have all sorts of pipes and drums to bang on. Here are some pictures from some recent visits.

Weighty Issues

I added these pictures after I wrote this post to remind myself of how cute Ollie is and how much we adore him even though we get frustrated and wiped out by our attempts to feed him. Here he is feeding himself pasta sauce. The last picture is a set-up. Oliver thinks his "nose" is located somewhere far inside his nostrils, so whenever we say, "Ollie, where's your nose??" he sticks a finger way up inside...our laughter probably hasn't done anything to discourage this performance.

I took Oliver in to get him weighed at his 18 month birthday (August 17). Turns out he hasn't gained any weight at all this past month. He seems to be stuck at exactly 17 lbs. 15.5 oz. I've been taking him in to his pediatrician every month around his birthday to be weighed on their scale--so we have an accurate record and so I won't drive myself crazy constantly weighing him more often. He has gained less than a pound and a half since we left Richmond 7 months ago.

Before this weigh-in I consciously tried to steel myself for disappointment in case he didn't gain much weight but in my heart I was sure that he had gained at least a few ounces since he seems to be growing out of his clothes (evidence that at least he's getting taller). But even though I had given myself that little pep talk I still started to cry when the numbers came up exactly the same as they had the month before. It is so bitterly frustrating.

He just won't eat. His doctors can't figure it out since he doesn't seem to have problems with his metabolism or with absorption of nutrients. He just isn't interested in food. We have run out of tricks. The "Pandora's Box" distraction scheme doesn't work anymore. He still likes playing with the stuff in the box, he just doesn't open his mouth for food. He doesn't even eat crackers anymore, he just sucks them and spits them out. It is totally crazy. The only thing he consumes is juice with Duocal (powder that adds extra fat and carbs). He seems to like drinking from a straw. Maybe it's because it's something that he can do himself and has total control over. With that theory in mind we are trying to let him drink more calories but he's stopped drinking kefir and yogurt shakes (both of which are quite nutritious and full of protein and great pro-biotics). We could never get him to drink whole milk or formula or even Pediasure. So, we're kind of at a loss as to how/what we should try next. Ryan's suggestion is thin black bean soup. I think I'll give that a try. We can put it in a cup and let him sip it through a straw. Sounds kind of weird but Ollie doesn't know that the rest of the world doesn't eat black bean soup through a sippy cup. We'll see how that works.

First Haircut

We gave Ollie his first haircut on Monday night. Believe it or not these are the "after" pictures! He was getting a pretty shaggy look so we decided to give him a trim in the back and around his ears. Ryan wanted to keep his hair long on top, which is pretty cute, but it's also why it's hard to tell that he has gotten a haircut in these pictures.

The haircut itself was a total fiasco. Ryan has been cutting his own hair (notice his newly shorn locks) for the last few weeks. He is down to the #2 blade every Saturday morning. So, naturally, he thinks he's a pro. And then I think I know what I'm doing, too (based on no prior haircutting experience, just a deep-seated, and in this case misguided, sense of know-it-all-ism.) Anyway, we cut very few hairs, just enough too look sort of strange and uneven in the back. Although, I must give Ryan his props, he did a good job, and any errant clips are definitely my work. The good news is that we didn't cut too much so it's not very noticeable

Ryan starts snipping while Oliver helps out with the clippers (they were off!)
The shirt comes off and Ryan gets down to business
Mid-way through the haircut things get a little crazy...
squirmy toddler + sharp pair of scissors = high anxiety
The inevitable melt-down marks the end of the haircut

Ollie is satisfied with the results and gives that cute boy in the mirror a kiss.

Ollie the Builder

Ollie's favorite activity these days is building block towers. He loves to stack 'em up and then knock 'em down. I tried to get him to look at me and smile, but he was totally absorbed in his building.

He is really adept with his hands. He also loves to put washers on screws and nuts on bolts. In fact, pretty much anything that can be nested, stacked, stretched, twirled, opened and closed or otherwise manipulated is fascinating to Oliver. This comes in handy especially when we are trying to feed him. Ryan has discovered that the most effective way to get Ollie to eat is to distract him by keeping his hands busy. So Ryan introduced "Pandora's Box" which is really an old shoe box that we keep near the table that is filled with fun things to examine like kitchen gadgets, items from Ryan's tool box, an assortment of PVC pipe fittings, tire pressure gauges, a tape measure, nuts, bolts and washers large enough not to be choking hazards (like we really need to worry that he's going to voluntarily put anything in his mouth. ha!) It keeps Oliver busy while we sneak bites of food into his mouth. It's amazingly effective.

Language Explosion

Ollie signing MORE
Ollie signing CRACKER
CRACKER again
Ollie signing WATER

Ok, maybe that's a bit overblown, since what I really mean to say is, "OLLIE SAID HIS FIRST WORD!!!" What an exciting day. Ollie can now say, clear as day, "bubbles." It's interesting that his first word wasn't "mama" or "dada" but "bubbles." Of course he has his own little words for things, like an extremely high pitched "didi" for dog, which maybe should count because that isn't just a random babble, it's just his way of saying dog. (He is very interested in dogs. I think I helped encourage this so that I'll have an ally in a few years when I mount my "we need a dog campaign" in earnest.) Ollie also can sort of say "ball" but it sounds more like a very breathy, reverent, "ba".

Where his communication has really taken off is in sign language. In the last two weeks he has picked up so many new signs. He even signs to us things that we haven't tried to teach him in months. He must have been absorbing it all waiting for a chance to bust 'em out.

The funniest sign he does is for HELP, which is usually right hand in a fist, supported by the flat, open palm of the left, and then both raised up together. Ollie's version of this sign is a very imperious single clap of his hands...as in "I couldn't possibly be bothered to climb down the stairs today, pick me up now!" Clap! or "I need to check out the contents of this baby-proofed cabinet, open it for me now!" Clap! I came home from a Young Women's activity last night and a somewhat perplexed Ryan said "Ollie's been doing this weird clap all night. Is that a sign for something?" I can only imagine that Oliver was equally perplexed that Ryan wasn't picking up on his requests/commands for HELP!

Ollie's favorite sign is his sign for CRACKER, which unfortunately is now a general term for anything he'd like to eat, so interpreting what kind of "cracker" he's in the mood for takes a certain amount of trial and error.

We are particularly excited about Ollie's language skills because our nitwit pediatrician had said that the reason he wasn't talking yet was because his brain was starving. She thought that he wasn't getting enough calories to support brain development and suggested that we start giving him nasal tube feedings at night. That was extremely upsetting, to say the least! My theory is that the same delayed oral-motor skills that are giving him such a hard time chewing and eating, are also giving him a hard time forming words. Anyway, now we know that he doesn't have cognitive deficits just because he's a featherweight contender. As Grandpa Ford would say (and in fact has, with no irony, on more than one occasion,) "Ollie's not retarded at all," ...as if the matter were under consideration.