Learning to Talk

Liam turned two earlier this month. He's officially a late talker, I guess. At his 2-year well child visit he was pronounced healthy in every way and we were told to encourage his talking. So, we've been trying. He understands everything, it seems like, and can follow pretty complicated instructions (e.g., go get your shoes in the kitchen and bring them to Daddy), but he uses only about 15 words and maybe 6-8 signs.

He uses his version of what animals say for both the noise an animal makes and the name of the animal. So, a dog says uh-uh and a dog is uh-uh. Except for my parents' SWD, he learned her name (Emma) and says it all the time. He won't say Mollie's name to save a life even though he can say both "mama" and "ollie" so he ought to be able to manage it. Similarly airplanes, airports, and the noise airplanes make are all the same sound "brrrrfpt." Some of it is, I think, just being stubborn. He says "gogo" for Grandpa, but won't use a word beyond "eh" for Grandma or GG (what we call Will's mother).

Lately the big thing has been learning his colors. He can say yellow, blue and (sort of) red and green; and he recognizes all those four colors and will pick them out and say his words for them if you ask. He also knows black, sort of. We're also working on recognizing and naming feelings, with an emphasis on happy (he'll say "happy, happy" but I'm not sure he's connected it to the feeling yet exactly) and sad. He is fascinated with pictures of people crying in books (e.g., the boy in this delightful book who cries because his pet kitten is hungry but won't eat the piece of birthday cake he is trying to feed it).

One really nice thing about this learning to talk is that now we can talk about what happens in the stories. This is neat. If you ask Liam what happens in the kitten/birthday cake story, he can pretty much tell you with his funny combination of words, sounds, signs and gestures.

One of the strangest things about raising a child is the realization that you really do have to teach them all this stuff: colors, feelings, names of stuff, numbers, letters, and those are just the easy lessons to contemplate. It's something.

Will is doing okay. The testosterone shots aren't making as huge a difference as we had hoped, but they are helping. He's starting to feel a little congested, so that's a worry, as always. The patio is done except for cutting the half blocks for the edge and putting in the edging. We'll get to that whenever, I guess. Similarly, the kitchen is basically done except for painting (who knows when that will happen) and patching the floor (also not likely to be a near term priority). So, we're enjoying our new spaces and all the sunshine we've had here lately. I'm off to Hanford at 0-dark 30 tomorrow, so Liam is at my parents' for the night. Sure is quiet without him.

Sooner or later it will be done

Work continues on the back patio and the kitchen. It is at that very dangerous about 80% complete stage. This is the stage in any project where it is really easy to say: well, if this is good, think how much better it will be if we only added this, that and some other stuff. And before you know it your house is all torn apart again and your budget is shot. I'm trying to resist.

In the kitchen, what remains is: set the rest of the cabinets (this is mostly two small fill in base cabinets I got to, well, fill in after all the cabinets we already had were moved around); put the counter top on the rearranged cabinet areas, we're going to reuse the counter top we tore off a part of the "old" kitchen; put up shelves for mixing bowls, etc.; re-hang the pot rack; paint; figure out a way to match the tile or do something on the small new area of floor where the back stairs used to be. That's it, I think. I hope. Outside, it is mostly sweeping sand into the cracks between the new pavers and finishing the edges of the patio which will involve renting a special saw, I guess. Liam loves the patio. Previous to this he wasn't allowed in the back yard really at all because it was dangerous, filled with junk and I didn't like to go there. Now he can't get enough of it! We owe great thanks to grandpa DM, grandpa DH and the amazing Auntie Chris who worked and worked to make this a reality for us. Thank you! I'll post project pictures soon.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

It's hard to believe that it has already been 2 years since you arrived on scene. You're so big now, and so able to do things on your own (run, jump, eat cupcakes); it's not like when you were tiny and just slept in our arms. We love your funny sense of humor and your interest in all things musical, and that you eat peas straight from the garden, and how you're busily imitating Auntie Chris by measuring and drilling and helping to put the kitchen back together. Most of all, we just love you. We love you more each day.

Zoo update

It is reported that Liam had a good day at the zoo with Grandpa DH and Will, although some of the animals were on strike and couldn't be seen. Particularly owls and polar bears. Luckily Liam already knows all about polar bears as documented here and here.

This is the photo in which Liam looks like his daddy:

This is the photo in which Liam looks like his mama (who also can get pretty excited at the prospect of ice cream):

I will spare you a photo of my new crappy hotel room. One airplane ride and 300 miles of driving and. . .what appear to be exactly the same atrocious drapes as the last place. Oh well, at least Wenatchee offers the prospect of bringing home crates of fresh cherries and apricots and who knows what else on Friday evening.

It's working! And, I'm working.

Will reports that he feels "significantly" better. Will is the understated type, especially when it comes to good news, so this equates roughly to shouting from the rooftops, I think. He was up before 8AM this morning and done with his breathing treatments and out working on the patio by 10:00. Tomorrow he and his father will take Liam to the zoo. (I hope they take pictures, and if they do I will post some.) This is wonderful and we hope very much that it lasts, well, forever.

My work travel is what it is. Today Hanford, tomorrow Hanford then Wenatchee, Thursday and Friday Wenatchee, and then Friday night home. Many miles to smallish towns in not so many days: it's what I imagine working in sales is like, or something. I am tired tonight and unhappy because we lost an important bid today, and even thought we lost it (I think) based in part on the competition having recently hired a former political appointee and all that blah, blah, there are always excuses, still, damn, I need to win these things.

I leave you with a photo of my crappy hotel room. I think this is exactly the same crappy hotel room I had when I was here 2 weeks or so ago. Same desk light that doesn't work and same phone message light that is broken (flicker, flicker, but no message). While I'm sure it's has some nice features, and the work has merit, on balance, I really don't like Richland; it's the city my father died in and I hate coming here. Tomorrow -- on to Wenatchee with no more whining, I promise.

Sigh

Kitchen remodel (which is really more a rearranging of, well, everything in the kitchen, more than a replacement project) and back patio work continues. I can see now that I will really love it, most especially when it's done. My wonderful sister is here on her 2 weeks leave between postings (she's a pilot for the navy but is going to post-graduate school for her next thing. . .yay!) and she kicks butt on all things project related, so, I know the end is in sight. I unfortunately have to leave for 4 days of work-related travel tomorrow (curses!) and feel, well, tired and not prepared at home or at work and most of all just not wanting to go. And Liam's birthday this weekend to finish preparing for; and Father's day. You know how it goes. This weekend/early next week Liam turns 2 and this space turns 1.

Will had a somewhat productive doctor appointment today. The endocrinology doctors have decided to treat for primary hypogonadism, basically, low testosterone. This is most likely brought about as a complication from chemotherapy and/or just as a result of all the health challenges Will has had over the past years. So Will will take replacement testosterone shots once a week for a while and see if it makes him feel better. He's hopeful this will address a lot of the fatigue and mood problems. Let's hope.

Belated Health Update

Will's clinic appointment went okay on Monday. His lung function tests are a little bit up. They show his lung function to be about 48% of what is normally predicted for someone of his age and height. Not yet back to his baseline of 55% or thereabouts. Will's pulmonary doctor says that we won't know if this 48% is the new baseline for at least 6 months or so. He doesn't have any reason to suspect that this is a slow-speed-rejection-related "step off," but of course he can't rule it out and that is what it will be called if Will's lung functions don't recover. He advised increased activity and better nutrition, mainly. Also trying to get the depression/mood addressed better (maybe with a second opinion since it doesn't seem like the current approaches have been working) because this should help with activity. He said there's reason to hope that Will's lung functions will recover in time.

Will goes back to endocrinology on Monday to see if his para-thyroid and related levels have stabilized and to get some more testing to see if there's anything going on there contributing. Hopefully they'll see something fixable. It has been a pretty tough couple of months, and Will certainly feels crummy. He has been reading Denis Johnson again and told me the other day about a story about a double amputee who was in a nursing home but not because of the amputation, "he was there because of extreme sadness." I think Will can relate. (I think the Denis Johnson stories are amazing, but mostly unrelentingly sad. Also, I was really surprised not to find anything more interesting written about him to link to; you'd think there would have been lots of stuff from when he won the National Book Award, but. . .not.)

Today, though, was a pretty okay day for Will, I think. Did some things around the house with all the house projects. Went out to dinner with Liam and me and then to the park and for ice cream and running around after. So, we'll take that and call it good.