Zack had the pleasure of his mummy and daddy with him all week. Dan took a few days off work. We hadn't planned to go away anywhere, but we managed to keep the week free of appointments so that we could go out and do lots of nice things together as a family. The weather, on the other hand, had other ideas. Considering it was a really crappy, wet, windy week we managed to have a rather good time.
We popped over to Chester on Monday for a spot of luncheon and a whizz round the shops. It will also be known as the 'Chilled out Zack Day'. The Pants isn't really one for sitting in his car seat, he can take so much but then if he decides he's had enough, he's had enough, same with being pushed about in his pram. Lately he has started to be, lets say, more accepting of his car seat and pram. I don't know whether he had words with them, or if he has just resigned himself to the fact that he's always going to get plonked in one of them but he seems to not mind so much.
However, on Tuesday, he decided he really loved his pram. Yep, liked being pushed round the shops and was even kind enough to go to sleep for a good hour whilst we had a nice lunch and a bit of a relax. Even when he woke up he just lay there, holding Weedy (no we aren't giving our child narcotics, its a mini mobile that's shaped like a large flower, it reminds me of Little Weed off the Flower Pot men). I was so concerned that I even questioned Dan's dose of his anti-epilepsy drug that he had given him that morning, which led Dan to question if he had in actual fact given him 2.2mls or not.
I don't know what was up with him but he was a little lethargic to say the least. But not to worry an hour after we got him home he was back to his usual self and kicking off because he wanted his food.
Wednesday was Swim Day. Zack got to become duh-ta-daaaaa........AQUA ZACK. We took him for his very first day at the swimming baths and to mark the occasion I had bought him a special little baby wetsuit. It's like a body-warmer, so they don't get too cold when swimming. Dan said he looked like a baby action hero and christened him Aqua Zack, I suppose that would make Dan his side-kick, (suggested names in the comments section please).
Zack, aka Mini Rocky Balboa before his swim session
We went to the Tadpoles session, which is basically the teaching pool with all the play toys thrown in. It wasn't too busy and reasonably clean for a public swimming pool. We think Aqua Zack quite enjoyed it. He had his curious face on, it's hard to describe but it's almost as though he knows that something different is going on but he can't quite work out what it is. He seemed to like the water and being bobbed about, he liked the lights in the pool but couldn't be doing with the toys. Aqua Zack has no time for swim toys he's just there to save the planet!
Fifteen minutes later and the frown appears, followed by pouty lip and then crying. Swim time was over.
Aqua Zaaaaack!! Oh and daddy.
Aqua Zack takes a nap after his swim.
Friday was Sensory Room day. I've mentioned this before, I take Zack along, he watches the bubble lamp and then falls asleep. Well, Friday was no different. We got in, bubble lamp on. Bubble lamp fun to watch.......fibre optics...mmmmmm....quite interesting.....oooooh bubble lamp.......goodnight! So that just left me looking at the bubble lamp and Dan dozing off on the big bean bag with one shoe on and one shoe off. I took the opportunity to do a little of Zack's Scotson therapy whilst he slept, well, best not to waste the hour completely.
I think I need to note down in these entries any small changes that we see in Zack so that I can remind myself of how far he has come along. You see, usually we could measure Zack's abilities by milestones that most babies would meet, well so far we can put down a big fat zero for that as it is going to take him a lot longer than most to meet them. For us we have to look at the finer details, the small stuff that I suppose most parents would miss with their children or even take for granted. For example, most recently we have noticed that he is making more purposeful movements to try and get hold of things in his Little Room. I bought him a little musical rattle with bells on it and the other day he kept hitting it until he very slowly tried to control his left arm and hand in order to touch it and hold it. He didn't do this once he did it a few times. For Zack this is a good step forward.
He is also improving with trying his little bits of food. He is starting to open his mouth a little for the spoon and even sucking some of the food off, messing it around in his mouth and swallowing it. The other day I gave him a little bit of apple puree on my finger and his sucking was really strong. In fact, I was amazed at how good it was, it was continuous and not at all weak like it used to be.
He is taking notice of more sounds now when he has his hearing aids in and when he doesn't have them in he startles to noises a bit more. By far, I think the hearing aids are greatly improving his understanding of the world.
Finally we have managed to get Zack's feeding down to four times a day. He is taking much larger amounts of food so that means we can get him to bed my 9.30pm and he sleeps through until about 6am. No more feeding at midnight. However I say that now, no doubt the dietician will increase his food soon so that may need re-thinking but for now we have a great routine and he is sleeping really well.
