Spring Cold

Mason has been doing really well lately, with the exception of catching a bad cold yesterday. Actually all of us caught it. So far he seems to be handling it well, just extra tired with a runny and sneezy nose. He has a lung function test scheduled for Thursday, but we may have to reschedule due to his cold.

Over the past week he has become a full-time walker for the most part. He is still having some trouble standing up on his own without the use of a wall or object, so if he falls in the middle of a room, he will crawl to the closest thing to help him up. Mason is also going to receive some extra PT at UofM. A HUGE thanks to Jeannie and Dan for moving mountains to get us in! He had an evaluation on Thursday and since then we have been working on throwing and kicking balls, stepping over and around objects on the floor, carrying large objects while walking, core strength, balance, etc. Right now Mason's gross motor skills (according to the Peabody test) are at the 13 month old level. He is really interested in playing with the other neighborhood kids his age, but can't keep up with them yet. Six weeks of extra PT should really help him catch up to his adjusted age of 19 months.

Mason's occupational therapy has been going pretty well. He now has a few summer months off before we go back. We are at a stage where he just needs exposure to a variety of different foods and textures, something we can do at home rather than at the hospital. He is still drinking lots of water which is great. He is also starting to take some tasts of our lunch and dinner with a fork, as long as it is a sauce or gravy texture. Our next step is to get him comfortable with squishy and slimy solids like cooked veggies and fruits.

Update

I thought I would post a little general update on how Mason is doing.

First, the mysterious skin bump is well....still a mystery. It did pop and drain about a week after I last posted about it, and now it looks much better. Since then, we visited the Pediatrician again, tried a stronger antibiotic, and were referred to a Dermatologist. The Dermatologist said it didn't look to be bacterial or infectious which was good news. She did say it could be a number of things and we would not know for sure until we took a biopsy. She did say it does not look to be dangerous or bad and is probably a harmless growth. The biopsy will leave a scar and since Mason doesn't need any more scars we made the mutual decision to wait an additional 6 - 8 weeks to see if it will heal up on its own. If it doesn't, then we will proceed with a biopsy. The good thing is that it appears to be healing on its own, ever so slowly. We are hoping that it will be gone by the time the 8 weeks is up.

Mason is also walking around a lot lately and we have noticed that his balance is improving each day. I still stare in disbelief when I see him walking. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Here is a video we captured over weekend.



Mason has been working with puzzles quite a bit lately. He really likes his wood stacker and is getting pretty good at putting the pieces back on after he takes them off. We also just started with a shape puzzle that has colors on it. Mason has done really well with matching up the colors which helps him find where the shape belongs. He just has a little trouble getting the puzzle pieces to fit perfectly into the hole and will become pretty frusterated. Once his fine motor skills catch up, I think he will have an easier time. He has also become really interested in his Sesame Street alphabet cards, I think mostly because there are pictures of Elmo and Cookie Monster on them :)

Here are a couple of recent pictures taken over the past couple of days:

Playing....
Watching cartoons with his snuggly blanket.
Helping with the kitchen remodel.

I thought I would end this post with a video of Mason being goofy.

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