9 Month Addendum

Porter turns 10 months old today and I've been thinking all month I need to add onto my 9 months list because he's doing so much stuff... I try to only do one of these every 3 month so I don't overlap, so we're calling this an "Addendum".

*Pictures at the end of this Post*

9 Month Porter Addendum:

• crawls in turbo speed
• will chase us around if we cry out, "Oh..NO!!! It's the Porter Monster!!!" (I'm trying really hard to teach him how to run away but he has no interest, yet.)
• moves in and out of sit without face-planting it or crying. This is a tricky, tricky thing to learn when you have short arms (a common characteristic of people with DS) It's so cute, he walks his arms up as far as they'll go and then throws his weight around to finish the job.
  
• will give you a high-five! It's so fun!
• Says, "Dad". It's officially his first word. He knows the meaning, he says it all by itself, and only uses it for his papa. Did I mention Porter's a Daddy's Boy?
• Has said, "MaMa" once when he wasn't angry and was asking me to hold him. It's a tender memory and one that may never happen again. j/k
• Climbs speakers, televisions (to my horror), tub, anything in reach. His climbing is limited to pulling up his upper body and then walking in on his knees. No lifting his legs to get up the stairs, heaven knows, he tries.
• Has pulled to stand a few times all by himself!
  
• Walks holding onto our thumbs, wobbles and stomps his way forward.
  
• Drinks from a straw but not a sippy.
  
• Says "De-ag" when he sees Syd. I'm thinking this is a pretend word, sorta, it sounds like a babble form of dog and he uses this babble when he encounters his K9 buddy.
• Changing a diaper and putting on clothing has turned into a wrestling match and Porter is pretty scrappy.
• Gives hugs.
  
• If he likes a beat he dances to it! We work sooo hard to see this, but it's very hit and miss.
• has 2 teeth front and center on the bottom. (They came in a bit on the front of his gum line, has anyone else had that happen? I don't know how people get pictures of their kids' teeth!)
• Has an aggressive gag reflex, stage 3 food have been HARD. Sometimes he gags so hard he throws up. Texture aversion for sure!
• Still loves story time, but has found another use for books... chewing on them.
• Is a good sport about every thing. Example: Today the nurse poked him 5 times to measure his iron. I'd just get him calmed down and she'd knock and say, "Sorry it was low we need to try again." Grr... I hate this worse than shots. Porter is a fast clotter so they'll poke him and squeeze the crap out of his toe/finger to get it to bleed. I guess the positive is they finally got a normal iron level!
• Has been called a girl 3 times this week... time for a hair cut. It grew way fast!
  
• Loves other kids, he's a blast to take to Sunbeams with us! We avoid having him in the cesspool as much as possible but when he's there the kids just love on him and he's more than happy to love back.
• Porter is always teaching us new things, how to love better, the real meaning of faith, positive attitude, the meaning of persistence & determination, and how to be better people.

Porter Boy may we just end by saying we love you very, very much! You were definitely meant for us! We have cherished and loved every stage of your life and to see another stage starting to pass us by makes us a little sad, but we're so excited for all that our futures hold in you! Loving every minute with you baby boy!

Love,
Daddy & Mommy

RSV Update and Pictures:

Porter had a wellness appointment today and I'm glad he did because we ended up spending 2 hours there while they decided how to continue to treat this gunk. Come to find out when we were in the ER with Porter, the staff really down-played how bad Porter's X-ray was... how am I suppose to react to finding this out from our Pedi? It totally bugged me that they weren't honest. This really concerned P's doctor and even though I think Porter is on the upswing of things his doctor wants to continue treatment in hopes of helping him get better faster. I can't argue with that. We ended up getting set up with a home nebulizer for breathing treatments.

{Yeah right, you want me to have this on for 20 minutes?}

{Just as I thought, not too hard to get out of!}

{Wahoo, it is a toy!}

{Chew toy that is, yummy!}

He doesn't actually have to wear this mask for his treatment. His father just wanted to see if he'd tolerate it. Let's hope he sleeps better tonight! Thanks for all the love and support. It means a lot, thank you!