Truett – 35 Months

Snuggles with mommy

Snuggles with brother

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I was watching a western one day and looked over to see this. His gun is tucked in his waistband!

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Brotherly love

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Tru asked me to take this picture – little ham!

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Truett’s birthday is just a meer 6 days away. 3 years old. When did this happen? Seriously though. 3 years ago I was pregnant and worried sick waiting for my baby to come. And now my baby reminds me multiple times a day “Mommy, I big!” “I strong.” “I tall, mommy.” It’s such a beautiful thing to watch your child grow. It happens almost without me noticing and then one day I realize, he couldn’t say that last week… he couldn’t reach that a month ago…. these pants were falling off him last time he wore them and now they fit perfectly. 
Sorry, not trying to get all sappy on you. Anyhow, I always planned to stop updating with the months once Tru turned 36 months but I do still plan to do random updates on my biggest baby boy. 🙂 

What’s new with Tru? Hmmm, it’s more his personality developing that takes me by surprise all the time than anything else. He’s become even more snuggly and asks me to hold him several times a day. Even falling asleep next to me for a nap occasionally! This would have been almost unheard of last year. He talks a lot! He tries to sing occasionally. Sometimes he likes for me to sing, especially in the car and loves to listen to a playlist of Children’s Christian Music than I compiled from ytube. The “God song” is what he calls “This Is The Day”. 
If I tried to write down all the funny stuff he says, I’d be writing half the day! But when I sit down to write it on here, I can’t remember. One thing is, last night I gave Tru a haircut and he always says “I look yike a lion” when he needs a haircut because his hair stands straight up all the time. When I was cutting his hair he said “Now I look (like) a tiger!” He does know his animals! He’s always impressed us by pointing out animals and actually giving the correct names for them. Even ones that I’m not that familiar with! He used to watch a great deal of Wild Kratts and that is probably where he learned so many animals. He has such great retention!  

His interest in watching shows has declined a bit but he still loves Wild Kratts, Curious George and Odd Squad. His love of Sesame Street has faded now but he still loves the individual characters and talks about them. I bought him a bunch of preschool workbooks for his birthday that are SS characters. They look really fun. I think I am going to start preschool with him now. He seems very interested in learning. My sister gave him some birthday gifts early and one of his favorites is Nat Geo flashcards with animal pictures and letters. He carries them around everywhere, even in the grocery store and puts them in his little shopping cart he pushes. Adorable! Anyway, he asks me all day what the letter is that he is holding up. I’m sure it’s starting to sink in now. For ages now he has been able to recognize a few letters like ‘O’ and ‘T’ and a few others. I have been drawing large letters on paper and having him glue on items like cereal, noodles, split peas, beans etc in the shape of the letter. Tracing the letter with the items. He loves it. 🙂 
One more SS story… I was playing a game on my phone where you guess the logo with parts of it removed and Tru loves to watch. He saw the SS logo with the words removed from it and said “Look mom! Sesame Street!” I feel like he’s really smart but I know I’m crazy biased. 

This booger can be a bit crazy at times. Like a bit times a thousand actually. And he pretends he doesn’t understand the actions/consequences concept. But he does! Oh, how he does. We were driving in the car the other day and he was talking in the back seat playing with a straw or something. Side note: he does this a lot where he uses an object to portray himself and he acts the part of mom. Anyway, DH and I were listening to his narrative and it went something like “Eat all your food or you can’t have ice cream. No ice cream. You didn’t eat your food.” Or something along those lines. Definitely not the first time he’s done this which just proves that he really does understand what we are asking of him and what will happen if he refuses. Which actually, he usually will do what we ask but often times I have to ask a number of times. But when he finally accomplishes whatever it is, he is really proud of himself. Like today, I asked him to pick up toys because his cousins were coming over. I had to ask him several times because he would pick up a few and then stop but eventually he finished the task and was so proud of himself and telling me a list of the items he picked up. And then at supper he wouldn’t eat on his own but I fed him bites off his plate and when he finished, he was so happy and bragging on himself to DH. 🙂

 
Maybe our biggest struggle is his repeating when he’s angry. He will get stuck on something and keep saying it in excess of 25 times. It doesn’t matter how many different ways I try to explain why it won’t work or whatever and ignoring doesn’t work either. For example: Tru “I want ice, please.” (He is polite. Says please all the time) Me “We don’t have any ice. I’ll have to make some.” Tru “I want ice.” Me “See Tru? The trays are empty. We don’t have any.” Tru, crying and melting down “I want iiiiiiiiiiiiicccccceeee!!!” Repeat times 20+.  The last few days I’ve started waiting till he’s repeated his request for whatever he wants (not usually ice, actually) about 5 times and then “Tru, if you keep saying ‘I want ice’ you are going to have to go sit in your bed.” It hasn’t really worked so far but I’m trying to be consistent. 

That’s not a good story to end on. I really feel like I can never capture in words how very loving this sweet boy is. Tru tells me he loves me all the time. He hugs Levi and tells him the same. He asks “God wuvs me?” at night when I put him to bed. He tells me that he loves other people and is extremely fond of his aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. He keeps close tabs on them when they come over. My brother A was here last week and every time he left the room Tru would ask “Where’s uncle?” Tru was burning up with a fever at 4:30am and his only concern was still, uncle. 🙂 He’s just so precious. I am so thankful for the little person that he is and for God’s graciousness in letting me love him. A gift. He really lives up to his name; True Gift Of God. 

Dear God, thank you for these 35 months of loving and raising Truett. God I pray that You will help us to always raise him according to Your will and I pray that Tru will always know of Your love for him and love You all the days of his life. Please protect and watch over him. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Self Potty Training – Is That A Thing?

It’s probably too good to be true. I’m trying really hard not to get too excited but guys, Levi keeps going in the bathroom, taking off his diaper and asking to sit on the toilet. AND THEN (!!!) HE PEES! Yeah, I know. No way this is going to actually turn into an early potty training, right? He’s only 1.5 years old. And it’s not like he’s doing it all the time but it’s happened fairly often lately. Even over at my parent’s house. I know Levi wants to do EVERYTHING Tru does and he thinks this is way cool right now. Fingers crossed he keeps it up and self potty trains. Because, AWESOME! 

Fever Is Finally Gone And A Referral

After my last update, Tru’s temp reached 105.3 at about 6 hours since his last dose of ibuprofen. We got him cooled down to 102.5 and went to bed. At 3:45am I woke up to him shaking and talking confused. He kept asking for his cup but he was holding it and asking for a blanket but it was right there touching his leg. His temp wasn’t terribly high like it had been before bed but I gave him his dose of ibuprofen since it was due and then I got in the shower. I really started to panic because of how weird he was acting (granted, it was 3:45am) and the shaking and the fact that it had been 3 days of high fever. So we got in the car and dropped Levi off with my half asleep family and drove the almost 2 hours to a children’s hospital emergency room. By the time we got there Tru was acting tired but like himself and his temp was only 100.4. The Dr basically said he looked fine, not dehydrated and to call his pediatrician that afternoon to get the results of all the blood work Tru had gotten done the day before. Basically, we wasted their time but it was good to know Tru wasn’t dehydrated. The fever was gone when we left but came back about a half hour later. We stopped and got breakfast then we went home and all napped for hours. Tru kept a fever all day but it never went high. Probably not over 103. Yesterday I checked his temp in the morning and it was 99.7. He played and ate like usual and is fever-free today! Praise God!! 🙂 
Over the last 2 days we got all his results back. 

•No step throat which we already knew but wanted to be absolutely sure

•Chest and belly xrays are good. Some distention from gas in his belly. He’s taking miralax now to see if that resolves.

•Most of his blood work was perfect. He does have low iron (10.4) which is no surprise because he’s always showed low iron. We just have to add the iron supplement back in. 

•I don’t know what these results mean. His Dr wasn’t concerned about them from what the nurse told me: low lymphocytes %, high neutrophils, high alkaline phosphotase, low calcium.

•His c reactive protein is high which is what prompted the Dr to refer Tru to rheumatology. From my extremely limited understanding , CRP shows inflammation in the body. 

•We are keeping a fever diary until his appointment. Basically we are just trying to rule out Familial Mediterranean Fever or some other Periodic Fever Syndrome. Both are not contagious. From what his Dr said, they are treatable.

•His blood glucose was 144 which might just be high from the fever and the fact that he just ate but to be safe, we are supposed to check it at home 3 mornings over the course of a week. 

I’ll say, this has been super stressful to watch him looking and feeling so pitiful. Poor little guy. I absolutely hate it when his temps go into the 104-105 range. Scares me so bad! I ended up with 2 sores in my mouth and one on my lip (haven’t had one of those in YEARS) from being so stressed out the last few days. By day 3 of the fever, it felt like it was never going to go away. I was so concerned for Tru, he’s such a skinny little guy to be missing meals and not drinking much. This morning it thrilled my heart when he picked out a yogurt, fruit pouch and asked for a peanut butter shirmps (sandwhich) saying “I very hongy” (hungry). And after that was all gone, he asked for cereal!! It will be interesting to see if another fever pops up in the next 11-13 days like the last few have been. Thank you for all the prayers. They are much appreciated. 🙂 

Long Day For Truett

We spent a fair amount of the night up with Tru dealing with this fever. This morning I made an appointment with another pediatrician in our group. He was actually my pedi when I was a kid. 🙂 He saw Tru at 3pm. We got there and his temp was 104.8. They gave motrin which brought it down some. We discussed the fact that:

•Tru is frequently passing ketones (which I knew from testing his urine at home a few times) and 

•always has high specific gravity which makes no sense because he drinks a ton. The Dr confirmed this with their tests. Normal during a fever but not ok when Tru is well. I’m to continue monitoring this at home.

•He soaks through even *overnight* diapers several nights a week and 

•recently drank so much one morning that he threw up. He has near panic attacks when he has to wait a minute or two for me to get his cup.
•The Dr recommended that I buy a glucose monitor and check his blood sugar occasionally. I told him that I’d actually already checked it with a borrowed meter and his fasting sugars have been 114, 119 and 82. The Dr wasn’t concerned with these numbers even though the first 2 are a little high. We can just keep an eye on it from time to time.

•Mostly we talked about the fevers which seem to be happening every 11 to 13 days or thereabouts. A few of them may have been actual colds but surely not all of them.

•The Dr didn’t like how distended his belly is and the fact that it is often that way. He said to give him miralax and sent him for a belly xray. If that comes back good, he will probably send him for an ultrasound. 

•We also went for a chest xray while we were at it to rule out any problems there. 

•The Dr ordered a whole array of blood work on Tru, checking his liver function, immune panel of some sort and sedimentation rate amongst other things. I can’t remember all of them. I think it was 4 vials.

•The rapid strep came back as a maybe faint positive. The Dr felt it was wrong so sent off a culture of that as well. 

•He is most likely going to send Tru to a rheumatologist after the blood work comes back. He suspects it could be cyclic fevers such as Periodic Fever Syndrome, which if I understand correctly, is genetic. And treatable. 

•We also talked about Tru’s belly pain which has been going on since may (?). He tells me almost daily and sometimes multiple times a day that his belly is “hot”. Which also means it hurts. I brought it up at his check up in July and was told to bring him in if it continued, which it has.

•His only symptoms today are lethargy, pain in his knee, tired and very clingy. All day he’s been having me carry him and saying “I hold you.”

•Lastly, we discussed Tru’s crazy night sweats: ​

That is sweat on the pillow.

Tru did great through the whole appointment, never crying even through 2 throat swabs, 4 xrays and the horrible blood draw. He really just wanted a turtle bandaid (TMNT) and loved his stickers. 😉 Everyone was shocked at how calm he was and I told the Dr that when I checked his blood sugar at home, he actually said “danks” (thanks) after I poked his finger. 
Hopefully we find something out in a few days that makes sense and is easy to treat. I’m definitely nervous and so is DH. It’s hard watching our little guy hurt and feel bad so often. Keep him in your prayers please. 

Fell asleep next to me with his sucker. Sweet baby.

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Yet Another Beaver

Truett gets fevers all the time. He calls them “beavers”. Sometimes I almost think he can sense one coming on. Lots of the time there are no other symptoms and no one else gets sick. Even though he often sleeps in our bed while he is burning with these fevers and Tru and Levi continue to share sippy cups all throughout the time Tru is *sick*. So they seem to be his own thing and that really concerns me. I’ve started tracking the fevers and I think now is the time to make him an appointment with his pediatrician. The intensity of the fevers is scary for me because they almost always go over 102° and have went as high as 105.8°. That I know of! Tylenol usually does nothing for them and today ibuprofen isn’t helping much either. His temp was 103.8° today just 3ish hours after his last dose of ibuprofen. Aside from the intensity of the fevers, the frequency is really concerning. His last fever was just on sept 5th and it’s only the 18th now. I just don’t know what to think about this. 

I Bought A Pig, I lost A Pig

So, DH has wanted a pig for years now. Yes, a pig. As in, oink oink. He talks about it pretty often and loves to look at all the pigs at the fair etc. 

2 years ago at the fair. I mean, that is one happy pig-pettin man!

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Well, last saturday we went to a small animal sale because I wanted to look for a milk goat to buy my mom for her birthday. (She has wanted a goat forever but that’s another story.) When we were getting ready to leave the house to go to the sale, DH remarked that if there was a pig there, he was buying it. I was like haha, whatever, no. But we got to the sale and of course, piglets. Adorable little baby piglets. I didn’t find a goat in my price range so we got ready to go. DH could hardly pull himself away from the piggies but he kept talking himself out of buying one. We had another errand to run and we drove by the sale again later. DH talked about the pigs the whole time. At home he went to mow the yard and came in talking about them again. He was saying “There just really isn’t a reason NOT to get one!” DH had to leave the house for a few hours so I snuck back to that sale. (You knew I would, didn’t you?!) Sure enough they still had the piglet that had been DH’s favorite. I paid the man and drove the pig to my parents house so I could keep him there overnight to surprise DH the next day. I opened the cage to get piglet out and… piggy took off running. He ran into the corn field and myself, my dad and 4 of my brothers and 1 sister spent basically the whole evening running through acres and acres of corn fields. (I haven’t done that in years. I don’t recommend it. It’s clastrophobic and itchy in there.) We sighted the piggy many times but never actually caught him. 5 days later and we have had multiple pig sightings every day since and even near catches with actual contact but that booger always gets away! Even with live traps set. I’ve come to really regret that pig purchase. And my surprise for DH was ruined when I had to go home and tell him…. “I bought a pig. And I lost a pig.”