Disappointment

After cutting open this grapefruit, I felt cheated. The tree must have been in the middle of a cow pasture.

I found this info online:

THICK SKIN ON CITRUS FRUIT SYMPTOMS

When you have thick skin on the fruit of a healthy citrus tree it is usually an indication of a nutritional imbalance. This is normally caused by too much nitrogen and not enough potash. This is a common problem where animal manure has been completely substituted for a complete fertilizer.

Speech Therapy

Today we met Wade's speech therapist for the first time. Her name is Liz Johnston and her official title is "Speech Pathologist". She gave us some pointers on how to start working with Wade to exercise his cheeks, mouth and tongue muscles. She wants us to check with our pediatrician to see how soon we can start supplementing his feeding with a spoon. They like to start Down's children with a spoon earlier than normal, to start stimulating their mouths in different ways.

She probably won't come back until we do start spoon feeding him. She was very nice, helpful, and told us to call her anytime we have questions or would like for her to come back out.

Liz Johnston - Speech Pathologist

Six milkbones for whoever can tell me why she is wearing one purple glove and one white one.

April (Occupational Therapist), Liz, Karen & Wade

Randall & Christopher

Since I've been posting a lot about Wade, I thought I would post a few more pictures of the other two boys. Some of them go back almost a year.

Before haircut

After haircut

Randall with baby chicks

Christopher practicing his drawing

Who doesn't like "Calvin & Hobbs"?

Making Christmas cookies

Randall has been sewing mittens for the preemies at the local hospital. He has sewed over 400 pair in the last year. He taught Christopher to pull the finished product off of the machine and stack them.

1st Post of '07

In this photo, Wade is doing a good job sitting up by himself. Back in October I posted a similar photo of Wade sitting in the same chair. However, in that photo the chair was actually lying on its back on the floor, so even though it appeared he was sitting in the chair, he was actually lying on his back. Now he can sit upright. At least long enough to snap the picture.

On January 4 we were pleased to be visited by the Milford & Joyce Yoder family from N. Dakota along with Joyce's parents, the Harry Brenemans. Milfords have 3 children and their youngest son also has Down Syndrome. His name is Kerwin, and he's 2 years old. We had a very enjoyable time visiting and hearing of their experiences dealing with Downs. Kerwin is doing well. He just recently learned to walk. He was a real cute guy and fun to watch how he interacted with others. I meant to get a picture of them while they were here, but I forgot.


On the 9th we took Wade back to see Dr. Flannery at the Children's Medical Center at the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Flannery is a geneticist. He thought Wade was doing exceptionally well and wants to see him again after we have the hearing test, etc. done in Feb. Dr. Flannery said that if everything looks good then, that we won't have to see him anymore.

Video Montage

Here are three video montages that I found and enjoyed.

I like the words to the song that accompanies this one.
A Life Worth Living

This one shares one father's feelings about having a child with Down Syndrome.
Down with Gabriel

This last one is pretty long. It has lots of pictures of children.
D is for Down Syndrome

Apologies to all of you dial-up folks.

Occupational Therapy

Meet Wade's occupational therapist, April Evans. She came out to the house on Thursday for another session with Wade. She thought he had progressed a lot since the last time she was here. His muscle weakness is mild and she thought he seemed on target with the rest of his development.

Family Photos

"Mother & Child" - Especially for Mary

Wade has found his thumb

Wade & Christopher

Supper time

Christmas with the Strite Family

Wade sleeping with doggie

Wade, Grandpa, Cousin Jenna

Wade's Update

Wade converses with Cecily G.

We have been waiting to hear from Wade's ENT doctor regarding his upcoming hearing test. Dr. Vickery did call recently and told us that he had been in contact with the audiologist at University who will be performing the test, and they were in agreement that Wade would have to be sedated in order to do the test. They generally don't like to give infants anesthesia unless absolutely necessary. Dr. Vickery's advice was to wait until Wade was 5 or 6 months old to lessen the risks of the anesthesia.

The procedure is scheduled to be done soon after Valentine's Day.

Wade also has a problem with silent reflux. Along with that, he makes these funny squeaking noises during and after nursing. When he is sedated for the brainstem hearing test, they will also look down his throat to evaluate what is going on with his esophagus and voice box.

One of his therapists recommended that we have Wade's eyes checked also while he is sedated. She said two of her Down's children had to be sedated in order to have their eyes checked at 6 months of age. I am waiting to hear back from Wade's ophthamologist to see if he wants to do that or not.

New Dogs in Town

In a recent post, No Dogs = Deer, I spoke of the demise of our two dogs.

I thought about getting some puppies from the pound, but after finding out the cost would be $80 - $120 each, I gave up on that idea. I found someone with a litter of mixed Lab pups that we could buy for free. I brought two of them home. Karen doesn't think they are as cute as the others we had, but is willing to adopt them as long as they perform their job of keeping the deer chased away.

Gus & Sam

I named the black one Gus. When we were deciding on a name for Wade, I wanted to call him "Gus". That would be short for "Augustus George". You know, since we live in Augusta, Georgia. Karen didn't think that was nearly as cute as what I did. So now I have a dog named "Gus".

Sam & Gus are also the names of two characters in one of Christopher's favorite books.

Randall's 8th B-Day

We let Randall invite his friend, Randy Heatwole to come home from school and spend the night. Randall is 12 days older than Randy. They are 2 1/2 cousins. We went to Pizza Hut for supper, then came home and had birthday cake.