The Update

End of the "golden" weather.

Ok, well I have so much to share about Elijah (who is now a big 3 and a half.)  He has gone from very slow and steady improvements to leaps and bounds and is a complete character I might add.  He has gone from taking months and month to say things like 'mum' and 'bye' and can now string together basic words with his most complex being "Can I have num num mum."  Just the other day he even said "Can I have Auntie in bath?" now that's pretty advanced and he's saying a new sentence everyday.

Elijah is full of beans, loves attention and playing with the other kids.  He is still not walking but freely alternates between bum shuffling and crawling.  He can also bring himself from a sitting to standing position as well as a bit of cruising around furniture.  He has even mastered the art of climbing our inside stairs and can now complete the circuit of lounge to outside, to down stairs, in and out of sandpit, into our bedroom, up the stairs, down the hallway and back to the lounge, all with big smiles as he knows we are going to tell him how great he is for climbing the stairs all by himself!

Easter weekend

Because Elijah's left side is very weak his muscles have become quite tight which makes it difficult for him to put weight on his left foot so we have been put on the waiting list to get botox injections into his left foot and possibly arm/hand as well.  I don't know too much about it yet but I hear that it relaxes the muscles while still allowing them to be stretched and strengthened.  So along with some new splints to hold his foot in a better position we are hopeful that Elijah's walking will improve this year and he may even learn to walk all by himself!



My big boy

I know I always say in my blog updates that Elijah is sleeping better but he always seems to go through periods of sleeping better and then more unsettled times.  He has times now where he'll sleep right through the night and then other nights where he'll wake a few times but now that we are actually having nights where we don't have to get up to him it has made life 10 times better.  I feel like a normal human being again!  I've even taken a three day trip away from Steve and Elijah these past school holidays knowing that Elijah will be alright without me, now that's a nice feeling.

Bum jumping!

Some more exciting news is that Elijah has been accepted into a special needs preschool at Carlson School in Three Kings.  It is going to be the best place for Elijah to get stimulating interactions with others during the day and a lot of their focus is to get Elijah up and moving so I'm very excited about it.  I hope he's a good boy for the teachers as he can be pretty stroppy and strong willed when he doesn't want to do something.  So Elijah has had his first three weeks at "SMILE" which is 3 mornings per week and has settled in superbly.  He's even happy to say bye bye mum when I leave which warms my little heart, I am so proud of him!

In my last blog entry I wrote about a growth hormone issue that was worrying me as the medication to take for it can aggravate tumour growth which is not a dilemma I was wanting to face!  It so happens that Elijah i producing a hormone that he should be producing but much too early so he has already started the medication to counteract it.  This monthly injection will slow down his premature growth spurt amongst other things.  The good news is that the injection he's having is not shown to aggravate the tumour and since he's already producing this hormone it means that he doesn't have to go on the replacement hormone which is the one I was fearing, so praise God for that!

Elijah getting sucked down the drain pipe...
I wouldn't usually add a photo of Elijah in the nuddy but this one is just too cute! 

Ok, guys I hope your hanging in there because I have some more good news to come.  This has been an especially hard update to write.  By the time I got my draft down it was two days before Elijah's MRI so I typed it up and hit save so that I could add the news about his MRI.  So the MRI was on Tuesday the 1st of May and everything went exceptionally well.  Elijah was like a little angel and everything went so smoothly.  I got a call on Thursday the 3rd to say that the scans look good, tumour stable, no growth, yippee!  Then that night  Elijah woke at 12:30 so upset and crying/complaining for the next two hours before he finally went back to sleep again.  When he woke up the next morning crying I wasn't about to waste any time I had a shower and took him to A&E at Starship where they gave Elijah some good pain relief.  Elijah had a good sleep and they continued with various tests with no positive results and Elijah was hardly even showing any symptoms but he definitely wasn't himself.  Anyway, there were concerns for his tummy area but Elijah had been improving by the afternoon  He was laughing and playing and by 7pm Elijah still wasn't "allowed" to eat anything and we were still waiting for the Neurosurgeons to do an examination on him.  (Please note... that I am not complaining here, just stating a fact... ) So we were taken to the ward to be kept on observation for the night.  On arriving at our room I notice two beds, one empty one for Elijah and the other contains a writhing, crying baby.  A man slumped at the bed side doesn't acknowledge the new room mate, TV blaring, Elijah now tired, hungry and upset some more faffing around and the next thing I know I'm signing 'leaving against medical advice papers' and making a b-line for the van.  This is the first time we have ever done that and it felt good knowing we were making the right decision as a parent.

Where's Wally?

It is important that parents follow their parenting instincts and don't always rely solely on the opinion of a Dr.  My heart has grieved for the few times I have ignored my parenting instincts and followed the rules.  Best not to dwell on those times.

I think we have finally come to the end of this long awaited update. I've managed to find some random pics of Elijah along the way but will leave you with the most recent one that I took on Saturday with my beautiful sister, Georgia before her ball and Elijah....

much love.