I managed to get there early, which was good. Didn’t get lost. I did get off the expressway too soon, because the exit the directions said I should take said it went to Miami, whereas the exit one number off said it went to the road that the neurologist was on. I stopped at a Save-a-lot to pick up the formula and things Declan needed and double-checked with them, and yes, right road, just keep going. So, that was good.

The neurologist sounded like “Mr. Eko” from LOST, but was a lot smaller, and more animated. He and Declan got on famously. He was joking around because one of the reaction tests they do involves this little monster finger puppet, which normally induces crying in babies, but Declan just giggled and tried to take it to chew on it. Ah, yes, he is OUR son, no question. But he said, all of Declan’s reflexes and everything are normal. The fact that he’s already trying to sit up is perhaps a little ahead of the average, but is fine. He was shaking his head that such a happy, healthy beautiful boy was his patient, which almost made me cry.

He told me to look up ‘breath holding’ on the internet, because he thinks there’s a 95% chance, that what happened is that he got so wound up from pitching such a fit that morning that he sucked in his breath and then freaked himself out and started flailing and such, but he’s given me a script for a CT scan and an EEG, so I have to call around our local hospitals and see which one will do this and get it done before going back on Nov 21 for the follow-up and they’ll go over the results with us just to make sure everything’s going okay.

So, I’m all ready to leave for the neurologist already, and I don’t have to leave for about a half an hour. Go me. Even then we’ll still be early, but I have to swing by Publix and pick up a thing of formula to tide us over until I pick up the WIC checks tomorrow, as we’re all out, even with giving him less than usual because of the semi-solid food.

D can’t come with me because the PD has a meeting right around the same time as the appointment, which he can’t miss. Normally the schedule meetings on Friday so I was little put out when he told me yesterday, but I know it’s not his fault. I just get nervous going places like this when I’ve never been before. Too many instances of getting lost in unfamiliar surroundings. Anyway the directions say 40 minutes. I called them up the other day and they did give me some landmarks, but the landmarks are from the opposite direction coming in from Lees. but at least I’ll know if I passed the place. I have been on the highway they’re on before, just not quite in that section, usually from the otherside going to the Oriental supermarket or a certain mall.

Declan has been VERY whiny all day and my temper is about shot, given he had me up before 4 a.m. I hope these teeth get in soon.

But in good things he’s starting to be able to hold himself in sitting position, and he hasn’t had another seizure since the one which is getting us to the neurologist, so it really looks like it was because of his temperature.

Anyway, I will sign off and check his diaper before we get on the road.

Declan is getting a LOT more coordinated. Now he knows where things are, and how to reach and grab for them…this is both good and bad. If he manages to get a hold of something I didn’t think he could get, by pulling something down off the coffee table, and I take it from him, he will then try to get it back. He’s also perfected the ‘grab a person’s leg as they go by’ trick, and just last night discovered that if he kicks on the backboard of his crib it summons Mum, because well…it reverberates off the wall and through the closet which backs onto the wall adjoining our two rooms.

He’s managing very well with solids, to the point that he’s trying to feed himself, and is also becoming quite the escape artist, getting out of chairs and so on. Soon we’re going to have to take his crib bumpers out, and also lower his mattress I think. He’s also making more word-like noises, and just noises in general, one of his favorites is ‘The Pterodactyl’. probably again because it makes Mum and Dad twitch.

D is working nights again. So far it’s going fairly well. Although the schedule is taking some adjusting to. Declan does not like going to bed when Daddy is not home, but well, he does anyway.

My grandmother died on Saturday. She was, I believe, 95. It’s been anticipted, expected, mentally prepared for, because she had a stroke several years ago, and was never quite right again after that.

So, in many ways I’m relieved, and glad that she’s not suffering any more. Now she’ll have her faculties back, and can see Grandpa again.

Something I hadn’t posted about before, because we wanted to wait until all the immediate family here knew that things were okay.

All is okay now, and we have a follow-up neurology appointment on the 26th, four days before his six month wellness check up. This is because we wound up at the E.R. with Declan on Thursday.
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The solid food introduction is going so-so. He likes pears, but only if they’re made by ‘beech nut’. He threw a complete fit today when I gave him ‘gerber’ pears, but calmed down when I gave him formula instead. He decided after the third try that maybe bananas weren’t so bad, and is about 50/50 on applesauce.

We’ve found out he’s almost 20lbs now. I still have to make his six month check-up appointment for shots and wellness check. I forgot to do that last week.

On Friday, he finally got to meet my sister and brother (who was down from MN) that went well, although he fell asleep around 7 p.m. so we came home a little early. But I’m glad that they got to meet him, especially before R went back to MN for who knows how long, given I doubt we’re going to be able to afford to go anywhere further than the occasional movie for a good long while as we adjust to being a family rather than a couple.

Today we tried Declan with real food for the first time. Mashed pears. The reaction was a bit mixed, every other bite he liked, the alternate ones he looked confused or disgusted. Some very interesting video, which I will convert in a few days, if I have time.

D’s birthday went well. I made a chocolate mint swirl cake, at our friend’s house. She helped mix the various colors for the swirl, and we ordered pizza, and I ran Whitewolf. I’m still playing around with layouts and things. Will see what else I can do with this wordpress.

Health things are going well, and D’s going back onto nights with the PD in the next few weeks. That’s going to be a bit of a readjustment, but we should manage. He was on nights before.