I wonder if she' ll give me a sticker next time.

Have been continuing with the torture routine and Zack is now getting used to it which means less screaming and carrying on.  He is doing well but I still can't help but think that when I am doing his stretches he is deliberately not allowing me to move part of his arm or leg just to show he's the boss. 


Managed to get back to doing his Advance therapy which has been hindered due to his reflux. In fact have managed to do quite a bit thanks to having some home appointments rather than outside visits. 


We had the physio round this week and she has put in the recommendation for Zack to have some Piedro boots fitted to give him some more stability in his legs. She mentioned that he might be better having leg splints to keep his feet and legs in-line as they are turning out slightly. I am not so sure about them, not because it's more "extra" special needs equipment but I not sure I like the thought of his legs being held in a position all day by splints. However having spoken to other people whose children have splints it seems that they are a good thing and some wearers aren't bothered by them at all and actually stand better in them. For now I think we are going to try the boots and see how we get on.


Zack's new car seat has arrived. The Mini Carro. I sat him in it in the house as a trial run and he was very happy. I took him out in it in the car and he HATES it. Oh my lord I thought he was going to explode or have a heart attack. Still, he was a little better on the ride home and as usual I will persevere as it has to get better. His mood improved when I started singing to him, but how many renditions of the Wheels on the bloody Bus do I need to go through to stop him having a fit of rage in his expensive car seat. 


In defence of this seat I have to say it is much better than our other one, more supportive and comfortable for his highness.  Maybe he just hates cars. I think it's the one time I wish he could talk and tell me what the problem is, I am not giving up though, he will get better. Fingers crossed. Either that or I'll just have to use public transport. Oh the thought of it.


We had gone to the dentist in the new car seat. Dentist likes to see the children early so they get used to them (early in their lives that is, not early in the day). She was very gentle and had a little look in his mouth and feel of his gums. His teeth, all three and a bit of them, are fine. She told me to brush them twice a day and that she can feel the other bottom four coming through. And that was it, see her again in six months.  Don't know about getting him used to it but I think by the time we finish visiting I'll have gotten over my fear of dentists. I wonder if she' ll give me a sticker next time. They had a nice selection.

Success. No hand grabby.

So far so good. We have used the new pump a few times now. It has become our special friend. It's so easy to use and best of all Zack usually falls asleep when being fed which frees up some more of my time to do some pottering about. 


As for stopping his vomiting it has minimised it somewhat, much better than before. I just don't think we have the timings quite right yet. We have tried to up the speed a little to see if that is any better as at first, I think we were far too slow. I will say it is so nice not to be sat holding a 60ml syringe in the air for twenty minutes. I feel that we should give the pump a name she's such a great addition to the household.


We even took our new friend out with us at the weekend. We went on a trip to Southport. Which for the record is like the nearest place to us but takes an age to get to and I just can't work out why, it's a regular X-file.


We packed up Zack's little rucksack with his machine, milk and giving set and off we went. As we got stuck in traffic Dan started Zack off on a lunchtime snack and it was great, no messing whatsoever. Now we can go out for full days and not have to worry about feeding sessions. 


Zack is still a bit unhappy with his car seat and pram. He is still getting a bit wound up in the car seat but not to the extent where he was clinging to the straps and crunched up like he has done on recent trips. I put a folded up blanket underneath his bum to try and boost him up a bit more and that seemed to help a bit. On the journey back from Southport he was a little annoyed but eventually calmed down. I think it also helped that I held his hand and chatted to him.


Zack has a lovely Quinny pram which he is okay in but only for short bursts. I got to thinking maybe I should try him in a cheap little stroller and see if he is any better mood wise. With a plan in place we both went off to Babies r Us to check out the strollers for today's hip babies. I found a nice cheap one that let the seat recline back into various positions, had a little shopping basket and was easy to put up and down in an instance. At £39.99 with a £5.00 off coupon I thought to hell with a named brand, this is either going to work for him or he'll hate it so I am not spending a small fortune on one.


Got us both home and thought right lets test out the new wheels. It was a lovely day which often gives way to people feeling rather jolly and positive. Amazing what a bit of sunshine does for us. I fixed the stroller up, put all the accessories on, popped my letter for the postbox in the shopping basket (novelty for me as we don't have one on the other pram) and stuck Zack in the stroller. He looked at me, I looked at him. Fastened his straps and then the hands started the grabby motion. "Right" I said, "this is the way it's going to be, we are going for a walk, you are not going to get carried back up the road, you are going to stay in your new stroller and we are going to give it a go." Yeah, that'll do it, he understood everything I just said. Zack carried on with his hand grabbing, I shoved a blanket over his legs and off we went. Round 1 to Mummy.


Hahahahahaaaaaa! Success. No hand grabby. Just one little boy being pushed down the road in his new stroller. Cheap it may be but he likes it. Okay, he had a little bit of I don't like it but on the whole much better than the other one. We took him out again today. Dan hadn't seen him in his push chair and thought he looked like a proper little grown up boy in it. Again, he didn't seem to mind it. Dan said it's probably a novelty to him and he'll decide he's going to hate it in a few days time. I said too bad, he's staying in it for good now. I am hoping that he remains happy with this form of transport as I am fast running out of ideas.