One Month, Cleft Appointment, and "China cookies"

One Month 

Today Ben has been with us one month.  It's funny how much the same and different he is since our first week in Zhengzhou.  He is still funny, loves to laugh and make you laugh.  He still eats well and sleeps well.  He seems to be growing but I am not sure if it is just my imagination.

I don't even know when his obsession with his blanket started in China, but the 4 we have are so hard to keep clean (he often wants more than 1, and puts them in his mouth, even a few minutes after eating, so you can imagine...today he scowled at one when he realized there was food on it) I bought 4 more at Target that are similar, they are not his preferred but will serve as back up- this is when I showed them to him-

A few minutes later...

 

Things that have changed- he wants me to hold him All. The. Time. The little adventurer now wants to be even closer to me. Which mean- I hold him. All. The. Time. I was beginning to worry that it might slow his development a little (walking less) but I know it is more important that he and I be as physically close as much as possible.  Two days ago, I finally pulled out our carrier and put him in it because my arms were so sore I was worried I would drop him!  Voila!! He actually liked it and FELL ASLEEP in it two days in a row.


Other new things- he wants things, and throws a minor fit if he can't have them. Right now he loves light switches- so much that Tom made him this, and yes it really works:

 He definitely is babbling up a storm- the only words we have recognized is "Moo" (as in, the cow goes Moo) and he definitely calls me "Ma" but he also uses Ma for other random things.  He "rarrs" like a lion as well, and says "num, num." for food when we are getting dinner ready. We aren't pushing the talking too hard because it will all change after his cleft surgery.  Yes, the cleft surgery...

Cleft Appointment 

We saw Dr. Bruce Bauer on Wednesday for our cleft palate consult. I had my heart set on having it done at Lurie Children's, but after I read about Dr. Bauer we decided to have him do the repair.  Dr. Bauer had been the head of plastic surgery at Lurie (then Children's Memorial) until a few years ago.  Our meeting with him was pretty quick, he looked at Ben's palate, looked at his lip, and talked about a game plan.  He feels the surgery should be done as soon as possible, which we knew, so it does not impact Ben's speech too much.  In the U.S., cleft palate closures are usually done at one year of age, so we are not too far behind.  He will repair both the hard and soft palate at once, and will revise Ben's lip.  The lip repair that we all thought looked OK, Dr. Bauer called "pretty bad."  For good repairs, they wait a few years to do any cosmetic revisions, but for Ben, he said it makes sense to fix it now, because there is no question it needs revision, and the recovery for that surgery is similar- soft arm splints for a week, and a soft diet for a few weeks.  the good news is that the cleft in Ben's aveolar (the bone that holds your teeth) is surprisingly small compared to how wide Ben's cleft is.  I had noticed this too.  At some point, a bone from Ben's hip will be grafted into that spot. Dr. Bauer talked about doing it sooner (as in this year) because the cleft is so small, but I think we will cross that bridge when it comes.

We then saw Dr. Gerber for an ENT appointment, and as our pediatrician had suggested, Ben's ears are clear. This means no tubes in his ears!! We thought we were going to need tubes, because the cleft can cause fluid build up in the ear.  If we did, they would have done this during the surgery as well.  We then had Ben's hearing tested by an audiologist- it was kind of fun, Ben and I went into a sound proof room and she checked Ben's responses to various sounds. Hearing is perfect too!

So, the only thing left to do is set up the actual surgery, which I will do tomorrow.

China Cookies

Today we were out running a few errands when I decided to stop at the Korean grocery store near our house to see if they had the cookies Ben was in love with in China. I had never been there before, and when we went in, we definitely stood out like a sore thumb- EVERYONE was Korean, and almost everything  was written in Korean.  Ben chose this moment to have a small meltdown (not his fault, it was near naptime) and demand everything he saw.  First we put oranges in the cart at his insistence (but he was right, we were out of them at home).  Then I took him out of the cart while he pushed it while I was holding him.  I wanted to say to him, "Stay inconspicuous buddy, we already look like we don't belong.." By the time we got to the noodle aisle we only had oranges and I was worried there would be no cookies, so I threw a few packs of noodles in the cart.  Ben meanwhile, was screeching for seaweed... I actually am not sure if the somewhat familiar labels had anything to do with him acting out kind of wildly, at least for him.  Finally we found the cookie aisle, and there they were!!!

Three bags, in the cart! We also grabbed some vegetable pot stickers that ended up tasting identical to the pot stickers in  Zhengzhou.  By the time we got to the check out, Ben had his cookie and was happily waving to everyone like he was royalty.

Putting away the stuff we bought, I had to laugh at myself because everything else for Ben is organic, whole grain, pasture raised, etc. but I also buy cookies that  do not even have an ingredients list I can read!! This goes right along with the 2 bottles we use because Ben had them in China. I have no idea if they are BPA free, and one is so old (the one the orphanage gave us) I really worry about it, but I cannot bring myself to take it away from him. As my dad would say, "it's good enough!"