Sweet Seth

This is how I found Seth last night ....

After supper, Kevin got called out on an emergency. So it was up to me to get all the boys bathed and to bed and clean the kitchen. I gave Seth his bath first while the other boys were picking up toys. I got Seth ready for bed and put him in his exersaucer to play while I got the two other boys ready for bed. It took a little longer than I expected to get the two older boys ready because I ran into some discipline problems with a certain big blue eyed boy. After getting the older boys to bed, I went into the living room to rock and nurse Seth and found him sound asleep in the exersaucer. He didn't even wake up when I picked him up.

Seth hasn't been feeling well all month. Actually today, I took him to the doctor for the fourth time this month. We went for his 12 month well baby visit and three sick visits. And he actually wasn't "well" at his well visit. Seth has a terrible ear infection that he can not shake. We have been on two antibiotics and the infection has not gone away. So today, Dr. DeLisi pulled out the big guns. Seth is getting three shots of Rocephin over the next three days. And for the second time this month, he is on breathing treatments for wheezing airways and the deep cough he has.

At his 12 month visit we found out that he has fallen on his growth curve to below 10 percentile in his weight. He weighed 19 lbs 5 oz. He only gained 5 ounces in the three months between his 9 month visit and his 12 month visit. Dr. DeLisi was concerned about the drop. At 9 months we was between 20-25 percentile in weight. Seth eats solid foods three times a day and has a big appetite for his food when he feels good. But Seth hasn't felt very good since January. Dr. DeLisi didn't want me to switch him to whole milk because whole milk has less calories and vitamins/minerals than formula or breastmilk. So I am still nursing him some but I am giving him formula during the day. We will go back to check his weight at his 15 month well visit. So hopefully he will get to feeling better and put some weight on.

Dr. DeLisi was also surprised that Seth wasn't pulling up. Seth did start army crawling in January but he has yet to try and pull up or stand on his own. After discussing some concerns that I had, Dr. DeLisi thought it best to have Seth evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), a state program for families with children, birth to three years old, with disabilities and developmental delays. Seth had his initial ECI screening on March 11. Seth was tested on hearing, vision, nutrition, social, gross and fine motor skills, and cognitive learning. He scored age appropriate in everything but gross motor skills, which he scored extremely low. Sallie, the lady that evaluated him, thought he would qualify for the program on his delayed gross motor skills. He has a more comprehensive screening on Thursday of this week to see if he actually qualifies for the program. To qualify, Seth will have to be a least three months developmentally delayed. Next week, a physical therapist with ECI is coming to see if physical therapy would be beneficial to him. I am guessing we will know if he qualifies for the program and if needed, what type of therpy will be needed over the next couple of weeks.

He may not be breaking the scales with his weight or breaking records in physical development, but he is one sweet little boy -- despite that nasty infection he is still fighting. He has expanded his vocabulary by a few words. He can say clap, dog, and cat. He also can bark like a dog. It is simply the sweetest bark you have ever heard. You have to listen closely because he is a soft barker!

Our cup overflows here at the Dickey house with these three sweet boys!