Charming as ever

We took Wyatt to the craniofacial clinic today. He weighs 18lb 12oz. I don't know what percentile that is. Most of the clinic was taken up by speech therapy. I found the whole discussion overwhelming. Part of the problem was between Wyatt and all the other babies it was hard to pay attention. There are all kinds of things we should be doing to help him develop speech, like pursing his lips together than he makes an 'A' sound to get him to make an 'M' sound. There are a lot of things we are NOT supposed to do or encourage either. When we told the the ST that Wyatt often made a particular sound, she said that was not a good sound and we shouldn't encourage that. Rus says he paid a lot of attention during the speech section, because it is something he has been concerned about, so hopefully he can fill me in.

There was a couple there that were giving their daughter orange pieces which I thought was so strange because it is so acidic. I wouldn't give a child with a cleft palate anything so acidic.

Another kid hit their head on the table and nearly choked on a piece of strawberry.

One kid was fed by bottle and the rest was fed though his g-tube.

The first person to come in and speak was a social worker. She asked if we had people coming us and asking us a lot of questions about our children. I thought that was a strange question because no one can tell Wyatt has a cleft palate (although they might be curious about his bottle). Some parents said yes though. That is when I really looked around the room and saw there were two children with obvious genetic syndromes. I almost felt bad having Wyatt there.

Not only is he super-cute, but he was REALLY hamming it up. It was hard not to react to him. None of other kids were half as cute as Wyatt or as charming. He just ate up every little bit of attention. I am afraid he is going to be a prima donna! He would stand on one of our laps and make noises at whoever was speaking, mostly the speech therapist because she was the one who spoke the most and reacted the most to him. He even sought the attention of other parents!

As I predicted, the speech therapist thought that we should see about getting Wyatt's surgery moved up, particularly since he is almost 19lbs and we has to be 20lbs for the surgery. I thought he had to be 20lbs AND a year old. Today they said OR. So Marie Waters is making a referral to see Dr. Yoko again so see about getting a firm surgery date.

I can't say I am excited about having his surgery moved up. I am losing some sleep over his upcoming MRI. With David's death I think a lot more about things going wrong with Wyatt.

I went to the Oakland Medical Center grief support group last night. The session is run by a little old troll of a man. He wasn't much of a moderator. Between me and another couple whose son had been murdered, there were a lot of tears. I don't think that the group is usually so sad.

When it was my turn to talk about David, I did for a few minutes and then I felt something well up in me. I wailed. I have never made that sound ever in my life. I can't stop thinking about David lately. The way he leaned on things. The way he spoke. I was thinking about the next time I would see him and then remembered he was dead.

Because I went to the appointment today, I will have to go in to work for a half day tomorrow.