Hello folks.  We are still around.

LBJ Ranch

Air Force One (Above). He had to fly this plane on a runway on the ranch from Austin or San Antonio.

The Texas White House (Above)

LBJ and Lady Bird's graves (Above)

His birthplace (Above)

This is his school-house (above)

Right, Left, Right

Life has been full of ups and downs here at Casa De C'ville Rental. We have had lots of fun living without heat, watching water shoot from our hot water heater, and figuring out our next move. Both literally and figuratively.

Rowen has continued to struggle with infections. He was home for two days last week and stuffy over the weekend. As most of you know, his surgery was cancelled due to concern for his pulmonary issues. We have rescheduled for 3/18/2011. However, if we can not get some non-sick days, I am not sure we will be able to go forward. Although, nothing happened- Rowen did an amazing job preparing for his surgery. He appeared to understand that his thumb is crooked and he wants to have it "fixed". He was very excited about his Dino Arm. He has not said much about it since the surgery was post-poned. But I do feel we laid some good ground work.

Rowen Quips and Tidbits

1) "Mommy...the sky is moving!" (Rowen exclaimed while watching the clouds move across the beautiful blue sky this weekend).

2) Mom: Did you have Candy today (Valentines day)
Rowen: Yes
Mom: What color was it?
Rowen: Red Candy
Mom: How much Candy?
Rowen: TOOO Much!!

3) Rowen loves to state exactly what he is doing. His favorite thing right now is to say "Mommy- be right back". He then runs away and comes right back. Over and over and over again.

4) Rowen is really getting into dinosaurs. After mastering all of the naturally occurring birds in C'ville he has begun to tackle dinosaurs. He is able to correctly recognize and identify: T-Rex, Velociraptor, "Long Neck" dino, Triceratops, and the favored Iguanodon. He is also able to identify a few others if you say the name- he will point to them.

5) In the same theme of stating just the facts- Rowen will often tell you what he is doing. Eg. Daddy, eating cheerios. Mommy, playing with dinos.

6) He will also recall events that have recently occurred. When he gets home, I will say how was your day and Rowen will say, "Daddy's car go home".

7) He now easily puts together several words together all the time. A common one heard around our house is "Daddy (or Mommy), come here!"

8) We have a light that turns green when Rowen can get up in the morning. Then we bring him to our bed for some early morning snuggles. One of his favorite bedtime stall tactics is to tell us about what is going to happen. Eg, "Mommy, light turn green. Snuggle bed. Daddy pillow, Mommy pillow and Rowen's Pillow. Mommy, light turn green, snuggle bed- lovey, blanket, and paci......two paci. Yellow paci, white paci, purple paci. Mommy, light turn green snuggle bed." Yep- Got it! Now fall asleep so the light will turn green.

9) Rowen got a play kitchen from Papa and Grandma Benz. He loves to go to the kitchen. "Daddy cooking...oatmeal". Most food items emerge from the microwave....not sure what this says about his mothers cooking!

10) Potty Training: On two occasions Rowen has pulled down his pants and said- "Go Potty". On one occasion we took off his diaper and he sat on the training potty. He asked for a magazine to read while he was sitting there. But nothing to speak of. The second time, he pulled down his pants and said, "Go Potty". I took off his diaper and he then proceeded to run around the house naked. So although I can imagine a world where my child might once be potty-trained....I do not see it in my immediate future.

11) When last consuming an incredible amount of fried chicken- Bryan said you Rowen, "You are not a bean eater". To which Rowen replied, "Lucie not bean eater too". Not sure where he pulled this from his memory banks....But it clearly was incorrectly imprinted. Don't worry Lucie you are still a Bean Eater!

12) Rowen has learned his right and left. The most completely mind bending amazing incomprehensible part is that he appears to understand that if he is facing you or holding his stuffed animal - THEIR RIGHT is the OPPOSITE of his!! I find this truly ASTOUNDING!

Here are some videos for your enjoyment!

Strum Thumb

Back to the beginning....Rowen has always favored his thumbs to be in a flexed position. Of course this is normal in a newborn. I did notice last summer that he kept his thumbs flexed, but as I was able to passively extend his thumbs, I did not think much of it. Fast forward to December. I noticed Rowen never straightened his right thumb. This was particularly noticeable when he would give us a "thumbs up".

When we noticed Rowen's thumb we brought it to the attention of our family doctor. She had never seen something like this in a child and decided to get some x-rays to make sure the hand bones were normal (see above, Rowen's little flexed thumb). She was not sure what the underlying problem might be. It appeared that this had occurred since he started playing his guitar for hours at a time. Therefore, our doctor referred to it as his "strum thumb".

Within 3 hours of the x-rays, I had gone google crazy and discovered what is called, "congenital trigger finger". I quickly became convinced this was Rowen's diagnosis. I spoke to my resident's husband who is an orthopedic resident and he confirmed this was the likely diagnosis. We were scheduled to see Dr. Bobby Chhabra in 1 week. Life being as it is, Dr. Chhabra and I are connected by 2 degrees of separation and I knew him on a casual level, but did not realize he was the top hand surgeon, reportedly "in the country".

We saw Dr. Chhabra today and he confirmed the Rowen has "congenital trigger finger". He reassured us that this was not due to his extensive rockin' guitar playing. But was just natures course. This occurs in 3/100,000 births (approximately). The condition is quite rare. When it occurs, 30% of children have both hands affected. Rowen's left hand appears to be normal. However, Dr. Chhabra says we should keep a close eye on it.

Much to my relief, he said that even if I had brought Rowen in over the summer when I first noticed his preferred flexed hand position, we would not have avoided surgery. He also reassured us that we had identified the problem very early. Bryan and I went back over the last 6 months of pictures and videos and are quite certain that Rowen had normal extension of his thumb, possibly into November.

Many parents do not notice this problem until children are 3 or 4 years old and can communicate that their hand hurts them or have difficulties with writing. Rowen, interestingly, is able to functionally use the hand without difficulty. He prefers his right hand for eating, drawing, and of course strumming the guitar. But after a long session of guitar strumming, he has told me the last few days that his thumb hurts.

It is very good that we identified the problem early and Dr. Chhabra recommended surgery in the next few weeks. The longer the thumb stays in a flexed position, the more possibility there is for joint damage. If the joint becomes damaged, then even after surgery, the thumb may not have normal recovery. At this time, he is very optimistic that surgery will fix the problem. But, he wanted to do it sooner rather than later.

We are planned for surgery 2/11/2011. This will be an outpatient event. Rowen will come in at 6am and go under general anesthesia. Little people have to be put under because they can not hold their hand still. Once asleep the procedure is very "simple". I guess that is hand surgeon talk for boring. Anyway, should only be about 30 minutes. Then Rowen will get a cast from his finger tips to his shoulder to keep the thumb extended and the wound protected. This my friends....I think will be the hardest part. I can already see my frustrated little boy tyring to feed himself with his left hand and just finding the whole thing impossibly unbearable. But....this too shall pass.

During our visit today, I took off my academic, dedicated the shaping the young minds and skills of future physicians hat and put on my Mommy hat. I requested that a resident not participate in the actual surgery. So although surgery in a 2 year old is never desirable, with Dr. Chhabra we are in good hands....get it "hands"....

Rockin' Rowen

Rowen's babysitter, Priscilla, gave him a guitar for his birthday when we returned from the hospital. Priscilla is very musical and has been playing instruments with Rowen since he was very young. He appears to be a complete natural. Since getting his guitar, he plays it constantly. He began with singing familiar songs. It is amazing that, although his speech involves only fragmented sentences- he can sing the full verse of twinkle twinkle with complete ease. Other favorites were ABC's, Old McDonald, and Bingo.

Over the last few days he has begun to sing songs about everyday events. The first Rowen original, was "oatmeal with milk". This has variations of just "oatmeal" and "oatmeal in Elmo bowl". The equally catchy but not yet adequately captured on video is the diddy- "I have stink pants" (rough cut below). For an official Glee-style "Mash Up"- please check FB. I have been unable to load this on blogger. Instead, I offer you dancin' with Jingle Bell Elmo!

Enjoy!

Petting Farm Fun

We had a great day today at the Petting Farm. This is a farm near our old house that has many animals and allows the kids to feed them. There were real Turkeys walking around and Rowen heard a real "Gobble Gobble"!

They have a fun Train to explore adn several antique like Horsey rides. Just like the one at Grandma & Papa's house!

Rowen was not to intersted in feeding the animals by hand. But he did instruct Bryan and I, which ones to feed and threw some food to the pigs. Which gave the phrase, "eating like a pig" clarification! Wow those piggys are loud!

Hear Rowen days, "Ride the Horsey, OK? And off he walks to ride the plastic Horsey"

Here is Rowen petting the Horse.

Other Tidbits....

Rowen's Turn!

We are all settled into our new home and everyone is doing well. Rowen gets to spend lots of extra time with Mommy and Daddy in the mornings and evenings. We still visit the house from time to time on the weekends. Mostly to trade in and out items that we want to use.

We had Rowen's school conference and he is doing excellent. He is ahead of the curve on all measures. They are very pleased with how he is doing. We had several questions for them. I was specifically interested in how Rowen was doing with eating. At home we sometimes have issues when Rowen gets frustrated using a fork and he will throw his fork and get very upset. As I described this to her she looked at me in amazement. She said, "I can not even imagine Rowen ever getting frustrated or acting out in anyway!! We never have any issues with him. In fact, before he does anything- he will often look at me to check in and make sure it is OK." Huh? My Kid?

Rowen continues to expand his language and motor skills. Below are two videos of his new fishing puzzle. You can see his eye/hand coordination is great. He has begun to use common phrase like "here you go", "there it is", "I got it".

Rowen is into his "me Do" phase. However, due to some miracle, instead of saying- "Rowen do" or "me do" as the books often describe, Rowen says- "Rowen Turn" or "My Turn". This makes the whole thing so much better!! It makes a perfect segway into Mommy's turn- which sounds so much better than "No, Mommy Do". I am not sure how he came to think of it this way- but it is great. I guess I should not be surprised since his forth word was "Thank You". He has always been polite, if nothing else.

Rowen is also really into his play-do and likes to make numbers and letters with his play-do. He informed Jan (our sitter) last night that "S" is his favorite letter. How cute is that!

Here are some videos for you to enjoy.