June!

Happy summer! ...where did May and June go?? These last couple months have flown by! Judah is 10 months old! He's quite the adorable little boy, if I do say so myself.  He does a very quirky "say cheese" face, gets from point A to B by propelling himself backwards and diagonally on his tummy, pulls himself up on *some* things, is starting to cruise furniture and push things around the room... And is still blonde! He gives high fives, claps with vigour and is very enthusiastic about most things - except Merlot, our new chick (whose name was inspired by her breed, Silver Laced Wyandott, and not a drinking habit ;)), who is overly friendly and tries to climb all over Judah with her sharp little feet. We're working on their relationship though because heaven forbid Judah have a negative animal experience..!

As for Judah's neck and head... Ugh. It's been a discouraging couple of months.  He's been sick or teething since May (he's had about a week of being back to his normal self, yay!) which is evidenced by the exaggerated tilt of his head; he just didn't have the strength to hold it straight or to do his exercises.  We've been a bit disappointed with physio because even though we've been working on the same two exercises for months, we've seen very little progress. Barti the physiotherapist reassures us that this is normal during teething/illness, but it's difficult for us to not see any change.

Because Judah had been so sick with fever, and he was sporting a nice goose egg from smashing his head against the stroller bar when he was sans Helmut (he doesn't realize yet that his head is soft underneath that perma-hat), he has been Helmut free for most of the month - or it's been on-again-off-again at best. Currently Helmut is off because the goose egg has returned randomly, after his head was healed and happy for two weeks! I spoke with the orthotist this afternoon and he's stumped too. Unfortunately when we were at ortho earlier this month the measurements showed that Judah's head, which had progressed at an amazing rate and was showing great improvement, had regressed. The measurements from the previous appointment displayed that Hawk's head was only 5 mm off the ideal shape, which is within the normal range! However, last appointment it was back to 6 mm... Just outside "normal". We've seen significant improvement but the double set back with his neck AND head have been a little rough on my mama heart. I just want him to be free of all these appointments, stretches, fittings, exercises, rashes... Hopefully by September! Please pray with us! Specifically we are praying for his fluid-filled bump on his head that is a mystery to us all. Our doctor is on holiday so I might end up taking him to the clinic for a professional opinion.

If you haven't seen Judah recently you really are missing out! He's such a joyful, funny little monkey. He talks to himself and looks royally embarassed when I catch him in the act; he yells at his food; he calls all animals and vehicles "car!"; he throws his head back when he laughs and sometimes falls over in the process; he tries to play the harmonica by shouting into it; he walks himself up and down the window, banging on the glass like a chimp; he gives slobbery, open-mouth kisses; he practically explodes with glee when he sees his buddy, Nathaniel; he licks the cat (I DO try to prevent this); he eats sand and rubs it in his hair; and (TMI warning) he has discovered his boy parts and is utterly perplexed that his wiener doesn't detach from his body.

Boys are great :).