What is up with this?

While his feet and hands are not this pretty shade of purple all the time, they do take on this contrast fairly often. Here are the questions I think you will be tempted to ask:

When his extremeties take on this lovely shade –

1. Is he cold? No. If he isn’t wearing socks, he always is a tiny bit chilly but not to “turning blue” extremes by any measure.

2. Was he just standing on his feet? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I thought that weight bearing was triggering this initially but his hands take on the same contrast.

3. Do they do this after sleeping? Quite often yes but not necessarily that purple.

4. Does the finger imprint last more than a couple seconds? No. It returns to purple fairly quickly (which apparently is the good news:).

5. Do his feet turn blue when you are holding him? Yes. His circulation gets cut off very easily. I remember Tanner did this too but I don’t remember it lasting after he was a year old.

Ty’s PT suggested we get his heart checked in case there is a circulatory issue but he has already had an ECHO and his heart appears to be fine. His home health care nurse this week said she thought it was an immaturity in his para sympathetic nervous system.

I don’t want to take him into the Dr. office and expose him to sickies if I don’t have too so I wrote the Dr. a note and mailed these pictures to him yesterday. We’ll see what he thinks.

Am I over reacting? 🙂 I am not too concerned yet because they are not like this all the time but that is pretty purple don’t you think?

RSV Season

Ty had his last RSV shot of the season on Sunday (April 3rd). His nurse told me that the Dr.s are declaring the season officially over on April 15th! Yeah!!! We may be out in the big wide world very soon! Yiiiiippppeeee!!!! I am especially excited for Tanner!

Eating

On Sunday, Ty weighed 21.3 pounds and 31.5 inches long. I was relieved that he is still gaining because based on his eating habits I was concerned. Now that my little man has learned to self feed, he doesn’t like being fed. He will often let me feed him about 1 to 2 ounces of food but after that he is done. His fine motor skills need some help so while he enjoys self feeding, he isn’t very good at it. The result is far more food on his lap and the ground than in his mouth. He is still gaining though so no worries at this point.

PT

Ty’s PT is great and I am so thankful for her knowledge. She observes him so closely and explains his behaviors in ways that I would not have put together on my own. Here is an example:

I hosted Jodi’s Baby Shower last Sunday and I had the BLESSING of seeing several of my friends who I have not had the opportunity to see in several months. Ty’s “best friend”, Beau, was at the shower. Beau is technically 3 weeks older than Ty (based on their due dates). Beau is a little darling too and it was so good to get to see him. He is taking a few steps now and walks pretty well when his mommy holds one hand. I (naturally) observed this all very closely and than studied Ty trying to determine how far off we are from walking. I know I shouldn’t “compare” but also understand I rarely see other babies so it is “reality check” time when I do. For the most part, Ty is doing awesome and I think has progressed wonderfully. He doesn’t seem to have “met” his legs yet though:). His army crawl is very dependent on his arms and he ignores the left leg almost entirely. He will use the leg and it isn’t stiff though so I don’t think he “can’t” use it, he just doesn’t.

When the PT was here on Monday, I explained the following to her:

(1) If I hold Ty’s hands he just stands there. He has no idea how to take steps. If I am holding his hands and he is desperate to get at something, instead of stepping, he picks both feet up. I assumed he was trying to get me to let go so he could crawl.

(2) If he is standing at the coffee table and he wants to walk, he does move his feet but he steps really high. Looks pretty cute.

The PT observing this told me the following:

Just as Ty had no idea how to use his arms against surfaces, he still struggles with the same issue with his legs. The good news is, the developmental switch did turn on with the arms and he figured it out. Where he used to pull, he now knows to push.

The reason Ty pulls his feet up when I hold his hands and the reason he high steps with his feet at the table is because instead of pushing against surfaces, he pulls from them. At some point, he will (I hope) turn a developmental corner and understand how to apply pressure against surface. When that happens, I have confidence that he will be off and running. There doesn’t seem to be anything else holding him back.

Talkin’

Yeserday Ty said “Dussy” (Dusty). Sorry Uncles (and grandparents)…Dusty scored in with a first again! He was the first sibling to hold Ty too. He copied Sweetie saying “Yum Yum” as well. Such a little mima bird. I think he is trying to say Tanner as “Ta Ta”. (Time out – Tanner’s “coke isn’t working”…interpretation, he needs another Capri Sun – be right back:)

General Mischief

Let’s see….he has spilled countless drinks, bit and destroyed at least 3 CD’s, destroyed several books, eaten Tanner’s breakfast (he hijacks Tanner’s sippy cup with chocolate milk and goes for his cinnamon toast too:), and many other attempted misdimeanors that I intercepted just in the knick of time. Every phone conversation I have had this week, I have heard “Do you need to go?” as my phone partner listens to all the background noise in my home. I very calmly say “No it’s fine”. Then in my own head I mutter “Except that I have no idea what you are saying because if I take my eyes off my little monkey for one second there is no telling what he might do next!” If you talked to me this week and thought “she is not IN this conversation”….sorry!!!! Brooke and Daniel are LOVING this of course. I am on the move all the time following Ty from one thing to another. He just never rests. His attention span is pretty short and he is ALWAYS moving. Right now he is drinking a bottle in his swing…thus a few complete thoughts:) LOL.

Hair

Check out the back of his head! He is getting a little more hair finally! Yeah!

Kissin’

Ty is starting to scrunch up his nose when I am kissing him. He is acting like a BOY. He even tells me “no” about it sometimes. He likes to give mamma kisses when HE feels like it. He and Tanner both give me the “aw mom” thing about kissing. Sheeeeshhh! Life of being a mother with boys! My goal though is for my kids to give me that scrunched up “aw mom” look because that means their love tank is full!:)

Biting

I have been bitten a few times this week! I thought he would leave a bruise too! Hate to see the reaction when Ty takes a bite out of Tanner. Hasn’t happened yet but it is bound to eventually. That will be a fun day…NOT!

P.S. Added more pictures to the March Album.