Toot is Two!

Exciting things to report: Greyson is two! Yay! Another successful healthy year with our sweet boy. However, I am a bit nervous if I’m suddenly expected to hit a terrible twos patch in our lives. Grey is quite the handful as it is. Seriously, I’m not exaggerating at all. This baby keeps you on your toes every minute of the day. I received a phone call today from Gigi who usually reports on her daily thrills and scares produced by the one and only. Today Gigi was talking to a neighbor while G played in the yard. After getting a view yards away Gigi noticed Grey had climbed into the power wheel and was off! Speeding through the neighbor’s yard while rolling through their mulch and taking a quick right toward the road. Gigi immediately abandon her conversation with the neighbor and kicked off her flip flops for the sprint. Sadly, these stories are very typical. Matthew just sprinted down our hallway the other day when we both heard unexpected running water! Grey had climbed into the tub and turned the HOT water on full blast. He was soaked in his jammies and looking at us like we were the crazy ones.

We had our follow up visit at the preemie clinic on Tuesday of this week. Grey was evaluated by several people throughout his assessment every one of them commented on how he was “busy”. I guess busy is a nice way to say this baby has destroyed our evaluation room and unplugged every piece of equipment we use! Grey was given the Bayley assessment. Bayley scales of infant development are used to describe the current developmental functioning of infants and to assist in diagnosis and treatment planning for infants with developmental delays or disabilities. The test is intended to measure a child's level of development in three domains: cognitive, motor, and behavioral. Grey passed all areas, with our lowest score being 83 and our highest being 100%. Of course the 100% was scored in motor assessment. His fingers may look like little slugs but they are making things happen! And his dexterity is pretty impressive. Often times he is frustrated because his ambition outweighs his physical ability – like the determination to lift a heavy object.

The area of concern is weight – nothing new to the Stokes household. A constant everyday challenge is getting G to eat! He is still on pedisure – 3 bottles a day along with 3 meals and snacks. However, he still hasn’t reached the charts. He used to be in the third percentile for height but he has fallen off again. He weighed in at 20.6 pounds minus shoes. Not very impressive for a two year old. This past weekend he was wearing 6-12 month pants that were 3 inches to short! We actually received a referral from the clinic to see a feeding therapist/specialist. There have been some recent concerns – unexpected gagging and vomiting. Chewing foods and spitting them back out – which he has done for quite some time. I’m open to any advice or assistance in this area of weakness. It’s obvious he isn’t malnourished and he looks completely healthy to strangers but we were really hoping he would have closed the gap by now. Our dietitian recommended a different kind of pedisure that has more calories per ounce. She forgot to mention it is not on the shelves at any local stores and is cost $100+ for 24 cans, which would get us 10 days. We already pay over $100 a month in pedisure and this new form would cost a lot more. And this is where the frustration lies. I plan to place a call to BCBS tomorrow to see if my insurance will cover any of the expense but the typical answer for all this preemie stuff is no. I work hard and pay hefty insurance premiums and I find this so disappointing.

On a happier note, we are Marching for Babies on March 17th @ Centennial Park in Nashville. A wish that one day all babies will be born healthy. Please walk with us or donate to this wonderful foundation.