2 Brothers Layne

Today was a day of trudging.  Just trudging on in the process of potty training.  Today was much the same as yesterday the only difference was that Jonah was able to go 30 minutes between each trip to the potty. Jonah is still in good health (knock on wood).  He is still enjoying Mommy Preschool and isn't fighting us too much on going to the bathroom!

Today marks day 2 of serious potty training at the Layne household.  Jonah has made amazing progress!  He went from 11 accidents yesterday to 5 today.  By this afternoon he was able to tell us that he needed to pee and so long as we were quick about it he would pee in the potty!!!  It was amazing to see the light come on and to see him start to recognize the sensation.  He is really enjoying mommy preschool and the fun stuff we do.  He still mentions his friends at school and that he misses them.  With any lick he'll be to school for a week or more before they start Christmas break.

Jonah did great with our first day of Mommy Preschool.  He really enjoyed doing the snowman activities and calendar time.  In fact we had to do calendar time 5 or 6 times though out the day.  We did 12 hours of potty training and all in all he did very well.  At he end of the day he had 1 pair of dry undies left in the drawer so that's a plus.  Maybe tomorrow he'll have 2 dry pair.  Tomorrow I'm going to chart out his feeds and his urination to see how they correlate.  By the end of the day I was seeing a definite pattern.

Jonah's Shiny hat.  Made of tinfoil.  We had fun this morning. Jonah gave us quite the treat this morning.  He slept until 8 am.  What a delight to wake up to silence this morning.  I woke up Tanya and to her surprise. . . silence.  She said the morning must have been quiet enough that Jonah could sleep. Tanya started putting up her Pre-school stuff today as we will be keeping Jonah home for two weeks and don't want him to fall behind in his progress.  Some of her goals for Jonah while he is home:  Potty training, dressing himself, more oral stimulation, and some listening skills.  Jonah struggles with transitions.  Enjoy the video of Jonah hopping.

 It has been a fantastic day.  We had a big breakfast then got to work on cleaning out a corner for the Christmas Tree. Jonah enjoyed pushing the giant tote we store the tree in across the floor.  He also got a kick out of helping Daddy vacuum the floor. Jonah did well with helping "Fluff" the tree.  Amid the tree construction Jonah suddenly yells, "I need to Fluff my toenails!" while lifting his foot.  We all had good laugh at that one. The finished product Our cutie pie with bells on his ears!  It was the only way we could get him to hold still long enough to take the pic. Since it is Saturday Daddy and Jonah enjoyed some college football.  They also enjoyed some Sesame Street.  Love this video.  Jonah LOVES to sing!

 So, today we spent the day inside recovering from our over indulgence of food.  Jonah took a huge 2.5 hour nap.  I asked him if he was getting sick or growing?  He said, "Growing."  Molly got a bath and a hair cut while we had our friend Jeneah over.  She took great pleasure in accessorizing Molly.  The head band look!  The piggy tail look.  A closer look.  The unicorn look Molly's "Messy Buns" Molly was very patient throughout the whole process.  She seemed to enjoy the attention she got from all of us.  It's always fun to have Jeneah around!

 Tanya and Jonah doing dishes before making the final touches on lunch. Jonah sitting at the table just before dinner. Today was a lot of fun.  It started off with football, and we were able to watch a couple of football games today also.  We had a great dinner!!!  Tanya soaked the turkey in a brine solution over the night.  This turkey was the most delicious turkey I have ever eaten.  Good job sweetheart!!! The videos are of Jonah playing football with us.  Not much happened really, I just held him and played a little bit.  He was excited just to be apart of the game.

So Tanya has spent all day baking and making preparations for the Happy Dinner tomorrow.  In the am I have a Turkey Bowl, flag football game, to attend.  Then make the final touches on dinner and get fat and happy.   enjoy the video of Jonah learning to steer his crocodile walker.

Lately Jonah has a lot to say about school.  Information starts to bubble out of him while we are doing random things in the afternoons.  Stories about how Anthony puked on the floor and Ms. C said "No Anthony!"  Or how Xander made good choices and sat in his seat at circle time.  Or how he tattles on himself when he's not listened to the teachers.  I just wish that he had a better concept of time.  As it is the stories could be from earlier in the day or from the first week of school.  Oh well! Tomorrow will be Jonah's last day of school until he has recovered from his surgery.  I'm excited to do Mommy preschool for the time he is at home.

Today was Jonah's Pre-Op visit.  The doc said he had two options for removing the tonsels, and we will take the more serious approach to try and prevent the regrowth of Jonah's tonsels.  This will cause a little more soreness in the throat, but hey, Jonah doesn't eat.  While he is under they are also going to scope his vocal chord.  If they do find it still paralyzed, we may want to inject some botox into the vocal chord to beef it up.  This will help improve the volume of Jonah's voice, and also allow him some more protection of his air way when he eats. 

I spend the day doing some Pre-Thanksgiving baking.  It has Jonah all excited about "Thanksgivin' " as Jonah would say.  We looked through the refrigerator and talked about all the special foods we eat for Turkey day.  Holidays are so much fun to celebrate with Jonah now that he is old enough to understand and to actively participate!

Nothing out of the ordinary happened today.  Although it will be the last Sunday we attend until after Jonah's surgery.  This week we look forward to a Turkey bowl on Thursday at 8 am. 

This is how we found Jonah when we went to start his night feed.  He had been pretending he was a cowboy all day long!!! Today we went shopping to gear up for Thursday.  Although it will most likely only be the three of us, we still want to have a great day.  Daddy hasn't been feeling well and spent most of the day sleeping.  Mommy has been working with Jonah to improve his listening skills during transitions.  Jonah is not listening very well at school, so we are trying to fix it at home.

The big new today was that Daddy made rank... meaning he advances from an "Airman" to a "3rd Class Petty Officer" in the US NAVY.  Yes this does come with a pay raise and the new title of  AE3 Layne.  We are all so excited and I'm so proud of Daddy.  He has study hundreds of hours and worked very hard for this.  Jonah has said "Petty Officer Daddy!" over and over this afternoon!  So much fun!

So over the past month or so I have totally slacked off on Jonah's oral feeding.  He wasn't interested and I got tired of trying to force the subject but today I decided that enough is enough.  Over the course of the day Jonah has eaten nearly an entire container of stage 2 peaches, and 5 bites of ground up lasagna.  The lasagna was a much harder feat than the peaches because it has a lot of texture.  Texture is what weird-s Jonah out but he was very brave tonight! 

Jonah had his first trip to the dentist today.  I've been concerned for a while now that he might have a cavity.  Turns out it wasn't!!!  Thats right, Cavity FREE!  Jonah and I have talked a lot about his this visit and what he could expect.  He was pretty scared and did do quite a bit of crying, however, he did allow Dr. Reynolds to examine his teeth and to brush them.  The final thing she did was apply fluoride ( it was a sticky coating that just wares off after a while).  All afternoon Jonah has been tapping his teeth amazed that they stick together.   Jonah and Dr. Reynolds as he shows off his minty fresh teeth!  What a trooper! On the way home from the Dentist we stopped off to search for some tennis shoes that Jonah can wear over his braces.  His school PT feels that he could use the extra traction of shoes and that they are necessary because all of his friends at school wear them...  Not sure I...

First of all I HUGE thanks to Daddy for picking up my slack last night.  I'm surprised he could make any sense of my half asleep babbling about the Dr. visits.  There are a few other things that we covered at the appointments.  The nutritionist says that Jonah's BMI is at the 50th percentile range, his height and weight are both in the 10th percentile.  So that means that he is small for his age but right on track (BMI wise).  Keeping him at 50% is the goal.  We pickup a box of this new high calorie formula on Friday to try it out to see if it makes a difference and if so we'll gladly switch. Jonah on the awesome exam table in Dr. Chartrand's office. Our second visit was to Jonah's new Developmental Pediatrician Dr. Chartrand.  She seems like she will be a fantastic advocate to have on our side and I'm so pleased for the change.  Dr. Chartrand did suggest/recommend that we pull Jonah from school and revert back to house arrest at Thanksgiving ...

Today Jonah stayed home from school for a couple of reasons.  One, he still has a cough, and two he had a doctors appointment at noon.  Anyway, at the visit, the nutritionist, is going to change Jonah's formula from a 1 Kcal/ml to a 1.5Kcal/ml.  This should help alleviate Jonah from the large volume of feedings.  Also at the visit she suggested we keep Jonah home from school after Thanksgiving until he recovers from his surgery in December.  Jonah also had a Pre-Evaluation for his surgery today.  I guess it went well, Tanya didn't pass on much of anything to me about it.  Poor Tanya was super spent today.  When I arrived home from work she was asleep on the couch.  As I was washing up in the kitchen sink I heard he wake with a start.  She was stressed because Meds haven't been drawn, and Jonah was not being fed.  I told her it wasn't a big deal and forced her into bed, tucked her in and attended to Jonah.  She was unwilling but...

It's always difficult to see the ones we love so much have to go so far away.  Early this morning Nana and Papa left to go home.  As I walked back into the house to give Tanya a kiss she said, "Hurry and leave, my brave face is about to fail."  We both laughed a little but new the truth to it for both of us.  It was amazing to have my parents out here, bowling and playing cards has been on Jonah's mind a lot lately.  After his nap he cried a little because papa was no where around to sing with.  Other than missing our family, we had a couple of great skype sessions with grandma raine and gaga, and also nanny and papa.  We did not make it to church today as we all have been feeling under the weather with runny noses, and sore throats.  

Today we played, and played, and played.  At least Nana, Papa, and Jonah did.  It was fairly cold today so we decided to hang out at the house.  Tanya reminded us of a scratch and dent sale going on at the NEX.  Jonah was not feeling well so we left he and Tanya home and ventured out to see what was there.  All the freezers were sold on Thursday, but the bikes were 50% off.  We bought two for $90.  We are very excited. When we got home and showed Jonah, he wanted to go for a ride!!!  So a helmet and a seat are on the agenda in the near future.  Maybe December some time.  Tomorrow Nana and Papa have to go home.  We are sad and will miss them dearly.  It has been such a joy to have them here.  Jonah has learned a lot of new words too, but I will leave that to Papa and Jonah. 

  Today we helped Sister Shee' lee set up tables for her wedding tomorrow, came home, played some games, and finally went bowling.  The morning was filled with Tanya finishing up ironing all the tables cloths and small things, while Jonah played hard.  Hard enough he fell asleep in his high chair as he ate lunch.   Bowling was a ton of fun enjoy the pics and videos.  The first ramp we used didn't work so well.  The people next to us were kind enough to let us use theirs.  A very excited little boy after his first turn at bowling.  Nana and Papa Dennis  Blowing kisses  we also flossed today.  we played hard enough Jonah passed out in his high chair.

Today a visit to Jamestown was in order.  Mom, Dad, and Tanya went up to see what was going on.  They all had stories to tell.  Tanya was hit on by an old man who wanted a picture with her, he even propositioned her to sit on his lap.  I had a good laugh when I learned about this.  Dad jumped every time a gun was fired, about every thirty minutes he said.  He was also impressed with the design and workings of an old flint lock gun.  After arriving home they ventured out to P. F. Changs.  Jonah did great.  He loved licking the soy sauce off his chop stick, and even ate some of Tanya's noodles. Jonah has been sticking his fingers in his mouth to gag himself.  He is doing this to get attention.  It is really bad at school, so here we have our first of many more challenges to come.  Breaking bad habits.  He is doing very well in school other than this negative attention seeking behavior.  Jonah excited abou...

The highlight of the day was definitely dinner!  Papa Dennis made us his famous dutch oven potatoes and steak.  It was delicious!  Then Ms. Carla brought flan for dessert!  Again, delicious!  We all ate way too much and are now enjoying a movie on TV while Jonah sleeps.

 For breakfast today we had Teddy Bear Pancakes made with Jonah's teddy bear frying pan.  He was very excited to get to help Nana and Mommy  Having fun in the kitchen with Nana!  Turning the pancakes. Say Cheese! This afternoon we canceled Jonah's nurse and went to the aquarium.  We all had a good time then we made a grocery run.  Jonah thought it was GREAT shopping with Papa since he could name a food and Papa would find it and put it in the cart! This evening Daddy out Jonah down for bed while we were still making dinner.  As a result Jonah started screaming/crying during dinner.  Mommy predicted that if someone were to open his door the fit would stop immediately and would be followed by a cheerful greeting.  Papa put it to the test and sure enough Jonah stopped crying and said, "Hello Papa, Hello!"

Today Mommy took Nana and Papa to the boardwalk and to walk near the beach.  The weather is fantastic!!!  This evening Papa and Jonah were reviewing what all the animals say.  Papa asked Jonah what the Rat says?  Jonah looked at him with a totally blank stare.  Papa told him they say, "You dirty guy!"  Jonah thought that was soo funny and has been saying it over and over! Tomorrow we plan to take Jonah to play in the sand at the beach.

What a day it has been.  Jonah awoke to having Nana and Papa.  He was SOOO excited.  We went on a family walk (Molly included) through the neighborhood.  Jonah had to have Nana and Papa in sight the entire time.  He has kept very close tabs on both of them all day.  I think that he's afraid they may disappear as easily as they appeared. Church was especially touching today.  Jonah closely watched Daddy as he bore his testimony, as Daddy walked down the stairs and back down the isle Jonah yells, "Jonah wants to stand and talk like Daddy, PLEASE!"  So, Mommy took him to the podium amid many smiling faces in the congregation.  When we approached the microphone Jonah bravely stated his name then smiled at all the people and looked to me.  I prompted him to tell everyone that he knew that Heavenly Father and Jesus loved him and that hey loved everyone of them.  The spirit was very strong and there were a few tears amongst the congregati...

Nana and Papa Dennis are almost here.  One more sleep and Jonah will get to see them.  As for Tanya and I we spent the day shopping and cleaning in preparation of our visitors.  Later in the evening we decided to go for a walk.  Jonah wanted to go in his walker.  We told him it was going to be too far for him to walk so he settled for his stroller.  We had a good time on the walk and went about a mile or so.  After Jonah went to bed we invited our neighbors over for some hot cocoa and games.  It is a bummer they are leaving in a few weeks, in December when the boys get out for Christmas break.

Tonight was the chilli cook off at church.  Jonah informed me that he did NOT want to take his wheelchair only his Crocodile Walker!  It was so great to see him keeping up with all the kids!  The only problem was when they'd suddenly change directions Jonah would get lost in the dust as he isn't very proficient in turning yet! Amazingly enough my "chilli" (My parents baked beans recipe) tied for best chilli and it also won the best looking award!  To make a good night even better Ms. Carla, her son Micah, and Ms. Joy came along too!  We had a great time chatting and eating yummy food!

Not much happened that was out of the ordinary.  Jonah's teacher reports that he has been a great model for the new student.  We were very glad to hear this.  This evening when we got home from a quick grocery run we saw our neighbor in his garage practicing his MCMAP (Marine Corp Martial Arts Program).  Jonah was excited to visit with him and after the initial greetings were exchanged Jonah states that Mr. Donavon practice fighting.  I had to pick my chin up off the driveway.  Can you say SUPER OBSERVANT.

Jonah's tonsillectomy (and adenoid removal) is set for Thursday December 8th. We won't know what time until the night before.  I admit I'm a bit nervous for Jonah to undergo surgery again but I'm also grateful.  This may be what it takes for Jonah's pulmonary hypertension to really start to improve.  What a blessing that would be! Today I got caught up in organizing the clutter on my bookshelf and boy am I glad I did!  I have been wishing to find a dentist that I know can handle Jonah and his oral aversion.  Today amongst all the JUNK I found a postcard that our Service Coordinator gave me nearly a year ago that advertized a female pediatric dentist that specializes in kiddos with special needs.  Dr. Reynolds also does dental procedures on kiddos at our local children's hospital so that they can be sedated (if the child is unable to tolerate such procedures awake).  I hope that this isn't the case for Jonah, but it's nice to know that if it is necess...

Jonah's visit with ENT went well this morning.  Dr. Gallagher reviewed the results from the sleep study and decided he wanted to confer with his associate on what was best for Jonah.  He told me to expect an email by Friday with whether or not they wanted to do surgery.  Imagine my shock and delight when the email arrived just before 5 today.  He said that they do want to remove the tonsils and adenoids.  Dr. Gallagher is planning on Jonah spending at lease 1 night in the PICU following his surgery to ensure that things go well (based on Jonah's lengthy medical history).  I get to call the surgery scheduler tomorrow to set the date. For fun this evening we dressed Jonah back up in his wolf costume, made a pan of rice crispy treats, and headed to Daddy's work.  Daddy was sure surprised to see us!  We told him we were making one last stop trick-or-treating but that we'd provided the treats.  A co-worker rummaged through his bag and brought Jo...