5 easy bullet points ...

mornin' y'all ...

first off let me apologise for not saying hi earlier. when Harlow got signed off, he became "just another boy" and this became "just another blog" about "just another boy" ... i kinda figured there are a million blogs about a million boys, so i would give it a rest for a while. well, a while has gone past and i now realise that there is a bit more to talk about after all.

so ... here goes.

1/. crawling.

it had to happen, as it happens to all children. they become mobile. in january he started to crawl and has not stopped since. he crawls everywhere, pulls himself up where ever he can, nothing is safe anymore. you should have seen how pleased he was with himself after crawling up all 16 stairs! grinning like a loon he was. he will pull himself up on anything and everything and he can also climb. i got a phone call at work the other day, it was Justine, laughing so hard she was having difficulty talking, asking if it was ok to take a photo of Harlow with his head stuck down the loo and his feet in the air before going to rescue him. heh, go for it `:)

once again, the high water mark in our house rises.

2/. Jill.

for a year we had the pleasure of a carer for Harlow. Jill would come in three days a week and look after Harlow for the morning so that Justine could do the school runs and get out of the house for a while, stave off the cabin fever. well, in may, Jill had completed her tour of duty and we have sadly said goodbye to her. she came in, looked after Harlow (you should have seen him welcome her in, he loves her), lent the boys books to read, made the best damn pikelets this side of anywhere ... she is welcome here any time she chooses. we are poorer for her not being here.

3/. glasses.

yeah ... glasses. Harlow has to have them. apparently he is extremely long sighted, a plus 10, with an eye that points in more than it should. heh, it its funny to see him with them on, they last for about 5 seconds before he starts to pull them off and chew them. we tried the glasses for a while but with him refusing to wear them, we've been told to hang fire for a few months. it will be interesting when we put them on again, to see what he does.

4/. hospital visit

last weekend was interesting, we had sickness though the family the previous week and Harlow had been sick. he was full of snot and congested, rattling when he breathed. sunday afternoon (the 12th) Justine realised he was sicker than he appeared and took him to wellington a&e. he was admitted and spent two nights sick in the hospital. he was also refusing both solids and liquids so, you guessed it ... back in went the NGT. bugger!

i tell you, it was very quiet at home for those two days.

he came home on the tuesday, looking so much better (and leaving the NGT behind). he had had two doses of strong IV antibiotics which must have kicked whatever it was that he had. he has continued to get better since then but is still a little rattly. he also slimmed down a bit, but that may have something to do with hospital food `:)

5/. cerebral palsy.

with all the bullet dodging that Harlow has done, we feel pretty lucky to have such a normal boy. but ... not too normal it turns out. he had a paediatric visit today and it was confirmed that he has a mild case of cerebral palsy caused by his extreme prematurity. if you don't know what it is, there is a good explanation here. his case is mild, he seems to be affected in the left leg only. we just have to keep reminding ourselves, it could be much much worse. still ... it was pretty hard to hear.

with this news, we also received a walking frame and a pair of gnarly shoes, both aimed at helping him stretch the tendons in the affected leg and get him interested in walking. he can use the frame really well, but unless he chooses to, he will not. he's stubborn that way... a matriarchal trait.

and there you have it, almost five months development in five (mostly) easy bullet points.