15 months!

Otis is 15 months old today!

It's been almost exactly a year since Otis was diagnosed with Epilepsy/Infantile Spasms (September 7, 2011), although it's been such a full year that sometimes it feels like it's been 10.

Here is what Otis is up to these days--he's a VERY busy fella:

• Was baptized at Plymouth Congregational Church here in Lawrence on August 23, and had a fun day hanging out with all 4 of his awesome grandparents, his aunt Diane and cousin Taisley, Uncle Taylor, his great aunt Karen and 2 great grandmas (emphasis on GREAT on all 3 of those!), and cousin Jaime. He mercifully saved the poop explosion for after the service.
• Rolling rolling rolling--so much so that we're using every pillow and cushion we can find to line the perimeter of the living room to keep him from wedging himself under the furniture...which I'll admit, has happened once or twice
• Experimenting with a lot of new sounds--squeaking, squealing, and jabbering away. We think there may have been a couple of times recently where he's mimicked noises we have made!
• Playing with toys--mostly with his left hand, although we try to help him engage that right hand as much as he can. He especially loves toys that spin, make noise, and light up, and has even begun to grab and turn the pages of board books when we read to him. He's also begun to pick up small toys--like hoop-rattles--with his left hand from the tray of his high chair to shake them around, and toss them over his shoulder onto the floor for mommy and daddy to pick up....over and over and over again. It's a fun game!
• Swinging at the playground = guaranteed smile. We try to take him as much as possible in the evenings.
• Working on using his mouthful of teeth to learn how to chew new foods, including keto pancakes made with egg and ground macadamia nuts. We add a tiny bit of stevia and blueberry Bickford flavoring drops to the MCT oil he has to have with the pancakes and voila--fake blueberry pancakes!
• Exploring our faces very thoroughly with his left hand whenever we pick him up, and trying to shove his entire hand in our mouths, (and his entire thumb up our nostrils)
• Eating popsicles made from Powerade Zero
• Helping to hold his spoon, bottle, and the handles of his sippy cup
• Yanking his glasses down to wear as a necklace. I'm pretty sure this is his favorite game now.
• Working on putting weight on his hands and knees to get ready for scooting and crawling
• Putting his plug in his mouth all by himself
• Working on sitting up all by himself, which he's done here and there for as many as 15 seconds at a time!
• Resisting sleep. Why sleep when you can roll and roll and roll?

Including his entire first set of molars which he spent the month of August cutting (and drooling...and chewing on anything he could get his chompers on...including mama's cheek and Grandma Reed's shoulder...and everyone's poor fingers, including his own), Otis now has 16 teeth.

At his last weigh-in 2 weeks ago, he was up to 26 pounds, 10 ounces. They didn't measure his length, but we know that he is definitely longer than 32 inches, which means that he has outgrown his handy infant seat, and we now have to strap him into a big car seat which stays in the car. We've started bringing the stroller with us everywhere we go, since Otis isn't yet able to sit up by himself in a shopping cart. Caravan grocery shopping!

Otis is looking forward to his very first plane ride as we head off to the Cleveland Clinic next week, and has promised to keep any impending poop explosions at bay until we reach our destination. Such a sweet boy!

Last EEG at Children's Mercy, early August

"Well, isn't that special?"