The March 2012 Post

Maddy Smothering Milo - as usual. December 2011

It's been a while, and much has happened since the last post back in December before Christmas. In a nutshell, lots of sickness (cold & flu); a major scare (Milo was tested for cystic fibrosis); and we had some good times too.

Some of you may have already seen my post on Facebook, but a couple weeks back the kids had to head to the pulmonologist for another check-up. They weighed Milo and he came in pretty light -- still under 30 lbs., where he's been hovering for a while now. He seems to eat well, and that fact combined with his size and some of the coughing issues he has lead the doc to want to test for cystic. Elaine and I felt pretty sure that wasn't likely, but I have to admit as the days went on it started to feel like it made more and more sense. Of course, from there I did the inevitable research and learned just what an awful disease cystic is. Luckily, the drama ended pretty quickly -- we were able to get the boy tested early the following week and he came back a resounding negative. It was definitely a big relief, and it's solidified my feeling that my kids, along with all preemies, have more than paid their dues and are owed a free pass on every other shitty, life-threatening disease out there. Who's with me?

In other testing news, we also just received the results of Milo's latest speech testing. The results were a bit troubling, though not completely unsurprising. By comparison, Maddy is definitely more verbal than Milo and has an easier time with language in general. With all of the budget cutting and limitations on special education services, it's sometimes hard to know whether the results of testing are completely legit, or whether the evaluator might have massaged the numbers on your child to ensure a result of at least a 30 percent delay. As it turns out, 30 percent is, more or less, the magic number to qualify a child for special education services. In this case, Milo came back around 37% delayed in several areas of speech (receptive language, expressive language, and symbolic play). Though his articulation (speech production skills) was actually quite advanced - he tested at the 5-year-old level in that area. We haven't had a chance to discuss the results yet with the therapist, so it's hard to know exactly what it means right now. Ont he plus side, his teachers seem very happy with his progress. Hopefully there's a big break through around the corner - there usually is.

The Run Up to the Holidays

M&M at dance class - December 2011

As most of you know, the kids love music and dancing. We figured it would be nice to enroll them in some kind of dance class. Poor Milo. Even here in the Bay Area, he was the only dude in the room. The class was supposed to be a dance and movement class, so we figured it would be fine for a boy and it basically was. He had a great time, and while M&M were clearly the boldest and (if I may say so) the most gifted dancers in the room, they were also pretty chaotic and hard to control. That's the price of their gift of dance I guess. On the final day, they were supposed to do a recital but for some reason Milo decided he wanted nothing to do with it so he and I spent the session outside on the playground with Dad. From what I gather, teaching 3-year-olds to dance is better left to the pros.

This being the kids 4th Christmas and the first that really seemed to click, I took every opportunity to use the old cliche of Santa as a omniscient deity who was always watching and ready to impose charcoal for any act of misbehavior. Maddy still occasionally reminds me (as recently as today in fact) that "Santa is always watching." So it was a special treat when the big guy himself paid a visit to our neighbor's house a few weeks before the big day. The kids were completely impressed and not at all frightened. I'm glad to report that neither peed on his lap - which was nice for him.

Maddy & Daddy Ride the Giant Slide at the Six Flags Great American/49ers Holiday Party

We also discovered that the kids love giant slides more than just about anything else, except maybe a giant bouncy house. Through a stroke of luck, we managed to get invited to a big holiday party the San Francisco 49ers put on for service members and their family. M&M spotted the giant slide, and after one trip Maddy had decided that this was her new purpose in life. Milo was almost as enamoured with the thing.

M&M and Mom - Christmas Eve 2011

We did the whole program this year, including cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We even bought the matching jammies.

Of course, Grandpa was on hand for this year too.

In case you haven't detected the theme, Milo is pretty into fire trucks and firemen. His final present was a pretty sweet vintage fire truck I found for him. This thing was straight out of the 50's - made of heavy metal and sharp edges all over! I'm not even sure how this thing manages to get to market in the current age of safety recalls. I'm sure this truck will be around for years to come. Definitely built to last!

All in all, a great Christmas...

Amusement Parks - the Next Frontier

Maddy & Grandpa - Happy Hollow, San Jose December 2011

One of the things I've enjoyed most about the kids becoming 3-year-olds is their new found love of amusement parks. Sure, they liked the zoo when they were in their twos, and they've liked going to playgrounds for a couple years now. Still, it's only recently that Milo was willing to get on a merry-go-round. But these days they love rides in a big way!


By the way, I think I've mentioned it before, but if you have kids age 3 to about 9 or 10, Happy Hollow is about the best park I've been to. They give a substantial discount to folks with Oakland Zoo memberships and parking is free (or seriously reduced) for military. Really nice place!

Milo finishing one a dozen (or more) trips down the massive slide at Happy Hollow.

Maddy takes one of her first roller coaster rides with Grandpa at Happy Hollow.

One of the most impressive moments came when M&M spotted a mini roller coaster and demanded to "ride the train." And ride they did... The moment the roller coaster would pull in, the kids would jump off and sprint around to the entrance again to score another ride. I'm sure we'd still be there now if we didn't eventually carry them away.

Milo goes with Dad for his first roller coaster ride.

Milo conquers his fears and tames the merry-go-round in impressive fashion.

M&M at their first swimming lesson. Jan. 15, 2012

We've wanted to get the kids into swimming for a while, and we finally managed to get them going this past January. Despite a well heated pool, poor Milo was still shivering with bluish lips after the first lesson. He is one skinny boy. Maddy kept a bit warmer, but we ended getting toddler wetsuits for them both. It's pretty amazing to see how independent they are now; before the start of each lesson they have to walk around the pool to their station and line up along the wall and wait a couple minutes patiently while the other lesson finishes. If only we could get that kind of compliance at home. Well, with any luck they'll be swimming like champs by summer just in time to try out some whitewater boating.

Maddy kickin' it old school at home. February 4, 2012.

Milo relaxes on the throne and contemplates an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I know what you're thinking, "Rob, you really shouldn't let him watch so much TV." True, but in my defense he spends most of his time on the potty staring at Elaine's copies of the New Yorker. Sure, it's not the Economist, but it's impressive nonetheless.

Maddy climbs on a giant fiber glass whale in front of the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, Feb. 2012.

Milo, Maddy (under Milo), & Mom having fun on the slides. The kids' friend Chris is coming down just behind Elaine. January 2012.

The kids other favorite pass time, digging in the dirt. Luckily, we managed to find the one stretch of grass in the Bay Area that isn't choked with the poo from Canada Geese (the most vile and hated of all water fowl).

M&M on their first trip to Monterey Aquarium, March 2012.

If you follow the blog, you probably recognize the wooden lion Maddy is sitting on above. I seem to include a picture or two of them sitting on the thing every few months. It's located in the visitor's center at Tilden Park near the petting zoo. Great place and completely free - that means we go there a lot. You just can't beat free. What can I say? It's hard to resist taking a picture of your kid on a big wooden lion.

M&M hanging out together at the park down the street.

Probably my favorite shots of Maddy. Amy, our baby sitter, snapped this one a few weeks back.

Milo takes us out.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

M&M are gearing up for their fourth Christmas, and the whole experience is much different this time around. Unlike last year, they get the gist of the naughty and nice list, and my threats to rat them out to Santa no longer fall on deaf ears. I've gone ahead and purchased an Elf on the Shelf in order to hammer home the idea that Santa and his minions are always watching. I may need to hide the Elf under one of their beds to drive home the point. Just kidding of course....

Milo & Maddy decorate their first tree. They went a little crazy with the red beads but a fine effort nevertheless.

Of course, holidays being a time of reflection, I thought it might be fun to have a look back at the kids over the last few holidays.

First Christmas - 2008

Ah, Christmas 2008. Fun times! We dressed the kids up in the above outfits with the hope of snapping a few nice photos for a holiday card. After taking something like 40 pictures, the above one was about the best we could come up with. That entire period is one giant, sleep deprived blur to me now. Thank goodness we documented things in the blog because I have nearly no recollection of the period from October 2008 to roughly March 2009. I seem to recall waking up twice each night (per baby) for feedings, though Elaine had the more difficult end of the arrangement. I also recall being in a constant state of worry about everything with the kids. Recall that this was the period when the kids could not go to any places that might have even small crowds of people due to their risk of contracting a virus or the dreaded RSV bug. Our big day out was the occasional trip to a small restaurant.

Christmas 2009

The following Christmas the duo become much more cooperative. It still took a while but I eventually managed to get a usable picture. The kids were about 18 months in the above shot (14 months corrected age). They were both walking at that point -- Maddy had just started walking a few weeks before. Pushing that wagon around was about their favorite thing in the world. I must have a hundreds photos of Milo running down the sidewalk with Maddy shrieking (happily) as she rode along. By this time, the kids were long since eating solid foods -- in fact I think they ate a much broader variety of food then than they do now. This was our last Christmas living in the cottage on Santa Clara Avenue. I also recall that the kids had to open their presents in two rounds since they still took two naps a day at that point.

Christmas 2010

By last year, M&M were full-on toddlers if not little kids. The above photo required about 12 attempts. Maddy still isn't smiling but close enough. They were starting to get the whole idea of Christmas: they liked presents a lot and for a change they were more impressed with the gifts than with the boxes and wrapping. As typical 30-month-olds, M&M were down to about 12 different non-fruit/non-candy foods they were willing to eat -- a condition which still persists.

December 2011

Bigger, more social, occasionally better behaved, but still not fully potty trained, M&M enjoy hanging out with their friend Chris who live a few doors down. Maddy especially loves Chris (who is also 3) and asks after him all the time. The kids are finally big enough to stand on a regular scale too, which is nice. If it's to be believed, Maddy now weighs in at nearly 34 pounds, and Milo still trails her at 30 pounds. Still, that'd be a big weight gain for Milo, who up till a couple months ago was tipping the scale at just over 27 pounds.
Two great pictures from this past Saturday at the play ground. Amazing how much bigger they are now. Notice too that Milo was finally willing to sit for a much needed haircut.

While I'm thinking about it, thank you very much to all of you who have contributed to the Alta Bates NICU Family Advocacy Counsel. The FAC has managed to raise over $3000 this year, and Mustache-A-Thon 2011 donors have contributed about $600 of that. Contributions are still greatly needed. If you have a few bucks to spare -- and no amount is too small -- please consider making a donation to help out a family with a child in the NICU. Very easy and tax deductible - just visit this link to learn more or donate: http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/fac.html

Thanks very much and happy holidays!

Mustache-a-thon 2011 - Stop the Madness!

It's that time again! Yes, that time of year when I hold my handsome face hostage to try and pry a few bucks out of my friends, family, and anyone else who finds their way to the M&M Blog. It's your chance to to give a few bucks to a very worthy cause and help Elaine and the kids (and everyone else forced to see me each day) to rid my upper lip of the third bushy eyebrow that has taken up residence on my otherwise exquisite kisser.

What's the cause? I'm glad you asked... We're headed into the holidays and right now many families have a very sick baby or multiple babies in the hospital. Milo and Maddy spent about four-and-a-half months in the Alta Bates NICU, and we know first hand just how difficult it can be for these families. Elaine and I were relatively lucky - we had great insurance, great friends, financial security, very supportive employers, and benefit of having each other. Take away any piece of that puzzle and, well, an incredibly difficult time would have been nearly insurmountable.

NICU parents want nothing more than to be able to spend time with their child in the hospital. That means daily travel costs, parking, loss of income, and many meals out. Add to that the normal costs of having a child, and you can imagine the financial toll. For most families it's overwhelming.

So how can you help? Easy, donate a few bucks to a great cause. Any amount will help! Last year, the Alta Bates NICU started a Family Advisory Council (FAC). Among our several goals, we raise funds to help support families with sick babies -- it's very important and even more so as we head into the holidays. Please visit http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/fac.html to make a donation and to learn more about FAC. Why yes, all donations are tax deductible.

And if that's not enough to get you to give a few bucks, well, just remember this: the mustache stays until I raise at least $1000. Take a look at the photo below and decide if that's tolerable. ;-)

We're all counting on you!

Halloween 2011 and the "Movember" Campaign Kick-Off

Halloween 2011 marked the first real trick-or-treating outing for the duo and it was a hit! Easily the most fun we've ever had with them, and that's saying something. Their costumes were not the most original -- Milo was an astronaut and Maddy a princess -- but that's what they asked for. We figured the kids would only last about 30 or 4o minutes at most, but we ended up staying out for close to an hour and a half. Pretty successful outing and way more candy than they'll ever be able to finish!

Milo, Maddy, and Dad get ready to hit the street.

Little Cinderella poses on the stairs.

So where are all the other pictures? Unfortunately this is it. We got carried away with the moment and didn't get any while we were going door to door. We tried to wrestle the kids back into their costumes to take a few in the backyard with the pumpkins (like last year), but Milo has refused to play along. We'll try again next year.

By the way, you may have noticed that dark area of lewdness between my mouth and my nose. It can mean only one thing. In honor of "Movember" I'm kicking off another NICU fundraiser in advance of the holidays. Set aside some cash and standby for more details on how you can get me to shave off my disgraceful mustache and help support families with premature children at the same time!