Saturday, August 1, 2009

Double Digits!

Riley is 10 months old today! Where does the time go?

If I had to come up with a slogan for the past month in the life of Riley, it would have to be "ostomy? What ostomy?", because there is nothing slowing this kid down or holding him back.

He can pull up a little bit now. His favorite position to be in is standing. He is very stable when sitting, although he "cheats" a little bit with his legs, and that is something physical therapy is going to help him with. He cheats with his legs by sticking them out straight adn then using his hamstrings to maintain balance. This is because his trunk muscles aren't strong enough to maintain balance on their own. This is not unexpected in a baby whose abdomen has been sliced open from one side to the other above the belly button. So our goal is to get his trunk muscles stronger before he goes for his next surgery, with the hope that it will help his recovery, and help keep him from being too delayed afterwards.

He can get up on his hands and knees and then rocks a little bit before flattening out to his belly. From there, sometimes he rolls to where he needs to go. He has been able to roll over for months now, but rolling to travel places is new for him. As of Thurs/Fri of this past week, he can now do the army crawl, and will take off for wherever he wants to go like this also. The army crawl is cute and pitiful all at the same time I think. This is also the one move the ostomy nurse at Duke told us "be thankful he isn't doing the army crawl" when we were consulting with her about ostomy troubles. We'll have to see how this plays out, but I forsee more bag changes in our future. Hopefully no poop on the carpet though!

Speaking of Riley's ostomy, time is rapidly counting down to his next surgery which will get rid of the ostomy and make him "normal". We are planning to have this done in September, and while we don't have a firm date yet for the surgery itself, September is only a month away, so in the grand scheme of things, this is happening SOON. I can't even begin to explain the range of emotions over this surgery, but it has to be done.

He can say Ma-ma, Da-da, bye-bye (and wave), hey, and has said several times "buh duh" which we wonder if maybe he is saying "brother" but we aren't for sure about that yet. He loves to dig through his toy basket and empties it out completely, then bangs the basket itself around on the floor. He absolutely LOVES to be in the water, but we have begun to limit swimming time as his ostomy bag just POPS right off when he's submerged now and well, that just makes life difficult for us. So we try and let him splash in his sand bucket and limit actual swimming now. Next summer, he can do all the swimming he wants! :o)

Enjoy the pictures of my sweet, sweet 10 month old!

Did I mention he is a happy baby?

No? Well, he's kind of a happy baby.

Still only 2 teeth.

Yep. Happy.

and curious.


His new way of sucking on his paci.

I could just eat him.

Happy.

Curious.


Want to see how cute and pitiful the army crawl is? Click on these pictures to watch a few short videos!
(click picture to watch video)


I may have bribed him with a puff. (click picture to watch video)


No bribing when Travis is around! (click picture to watch video)

4 comments:

*super dude and super dog* said...

Too much cuteness! I can't stand it!!! We have to see you guys soon.

Anonymous said...

Riley on the move! Way to go Riley. You are so cute and precious! And, so, so, sweet! Love to you all, Pauline

Anonymous said...

Happy, curious, sweet and cute! You can't ask for more then that, oh yeah, absolutely precious also!!!!
As soon as he learns to bend his knees, watch out, he will be every where. Really cute videos.

Hugs to all,
Dale

Anonymous said...

Very cute! Keep moving, Riley!! Love, Debbie and Gary

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