Visiting Hours

Roy is looking a lot better than his Dad in the photo. Roy's first lesson that biking can be dangerous. A thumb reconstruction and a deep gash to the knee both needing surgery. Will be OK in a couple of months.

Roy-Roy

Roy had a wonderful Christmas and new year. His biggest bonus was that he has not had an ear infection since early December, so he is much more bubbly and engaged His nick-name that Sheena gave him of Roy-Roy has caught on, and his friends, creche carers, and family all call him Roy-Roy.

At 19 months he is slow to talk except for door, car, jar and our names, but is also signing a few words including 'more', 'banana' and 'biscuit'. It is natural that the frequent ear-infections have impacted his speech.

This boy is busy! He loves exploring how things work. Unfortunately he is going through a throwing stage, where he casts off blocks, grapes, toy animals in all directions. I packed away the blocks, because the crash bang was very annoying and he was encouraging Sheena to get in on the act, which only made it doubly irritating. He has started pretend playing like brushing dolly's hair and putting its hat on. He is also trying to put on his own shoes. He'll follow little instructions like 'go to the kitchen' or 'lets get your nappy changed', and best of all he walks himself to bed when its bedtime.

Roy and Sheena have quite a few antics that they like to repeat on a daily basis.

Roy has his milk while sitting on the kitchen floor, and Sheena snuggles in next to him to keep him company.

They jump like crazy monkeys on Sheena's bed so we have to keep her door closed while we're at the other end of the house as it defintely requires supervision.

They run around the couch and do a series of 'quickly', 'stomping', 'leap-frog', 'side-step', 'clap hands', 'roll-arms', 'slowly', and whatever else I can think of to keep them going. A good one to wear them out before bed-time.

November Notes

Roy has his own potty in the bathroom seeing that Sheena is learning, but he'd prefer to roam the room rather than sit. He's 17 months now. I am so glad I finally got his hair cut short.

Up Up and Away

Roy is up and walking. Both my kids started walking on family holidays - must be all the excitement of being in a new place.

Roy is still on his allergy elimination diet, but continues to have very bad ear infections, and laboured breathing. Today, he had a blood test, and ear, nose and throat swabs to see if it is a particular bacteria that needs a more specific antibiotic, because normal antibiotics are not working. The allergist changed his prescription formula to a different brand, but I think his breathing has gotten worse. Very hard all this allergy stuff, especially when we have made such little progress. He rarely looks so pale since he has gone onto the prescription formula, and his eczema has cleared up, but the other symptoms remain.

He is loving the outdoors, and bolts outside whenever the door is opened. He is still fascinated with light-switches, and always asks his dad to play with them when he gets home from work by pointing up at them. Funny how they associate different activities with different people. Hubby gets swamped by Roy and Sheena when he gets home, and they both want a big cuddle and get upset if they have to take it in turn.

Boys and their Bikes

Roy was looking a bit nervous about his first bike ride, but he loved it once out. I think he was nervous of getting the helmet put on as much as anything. He is going to a bike show in a couple of weeks, getting well groomed future days in the saddle.

Cook Up

Roy's afternoon: sleeping from 12-3.45 and still going.

Mum's afternoon: cooking horribly bland allergy sensitive meals suitable for a 1 year old. I should be more positive about it, but this is hard work using the limited ingredients, and lets face it the food is bland +++.

I have, however, found a brand at the supermarkets called Orgran. All of their products exclude everything that Roy is not to have, except some of them contain citrus, so he can't have those ones. Their products include an egg alternative, a gravy mix, and bread crumbs made from corn so at least I'll be able to bind some recipes together.

The EleCare formula must be very high in calories. He's only having 400mls a day, whereas on the goats milk he was having 600mls. He's not really eating as much either, but he is definitely sleeping well.

Dieting Do's and Don'ts

Roy has a lot more spark and is more animated since he was put on Bactrim antibiotics after 2 ear infections in a row. He is more ready to smile and laugh, and more energetic as he races about the place on all fours. He is keen on getting his teeth brushed (handy), very keen on food, and his goats milk. He'll quickly tell you if his needs are not being met just so, and if his sister takes a loved toy away he'll get equally upset. He has taken to walking his scooter around the house whenever his sister is not scooting around on it herself. He is fascinated with light switches and tries to reach them even though he's over a foot away from reaching them from ground level. He is sorting rings onto a post, and is sorting shapes with a bit of help.

He has seen an Allergist for all of his allergy symptoms. He is to go off milk, soy, wheat, rye, yeast, and citrus for 2 weeks - including his be-loved goats milk. The allergist has given us some EleCare Hypoallergenic formula to substitute milk -ugghhh. Smells yuck, but it is worth a try. Goats milk made such an improvement when I switched him onto it at 12 months, but he still turns a dreadful sickly color like in the second picture which we know is not right. His digestive system is also not right yet, so it will be an interesting.