Little Zachary

An update: Zachary is now almost 17 months old and weighs just as many pounds. The last time I posted about him I said he was 20 lbs.....well...that was according to the scales at the allergist's and he was on pediasure back then. After finding out he was allergic to milk and eggs, we had to stop the pediasure. Now, my poor little guy is only 17 lbs 10 oz and hasn't gained a single ounce in the past 2 months, which has now earned him the label "Failure to Thrive." He is a very picky eater and refuses to let us feed him anything. He must do it himself!!!! I don't know where he gets that control issue???? ;-) Being in the high chair seems to cause him much anxiety and we don't want eating to become even more of a negative thing, so we've had to let go of our 'eating at the table only' rule and break out the vaccum on a daily basis to sweep up the cracker crumbs and pretzle pieces which stand out like dandruff on a black shirt against our burgundy rug. This also makes dinning out a challenge and we always have to get a booth so he can stand next to us and eat.

We've ruled out diabetes and celiac disease and are continuing to test him for other possible causes. He's on a probiotic and immunity boosters to help grow some good gut bacteria that has been damaged by the numerous antibiotics he has been on for all his ear infections.

Now for the positives: He loves his big brother who he calls "MyMe" and is always trying to be just like Mikie. One of the best days was watching them climb around a McDonald's playland together. Mikie would climb up the stairs very slowly and make sure Zach wasn't far behind before they both slid down the tall curly slide one after the other. Zachary is very adventurous and fearless. He loves to tumble and do somersaults in gymnastics and on the cushions of the couch at home. Whenever Mikie talks about or watches Monster Trucks, Zachary says "Vroom, Vroom". We have tickets to see Monster Jam in January in D.C. I can't wait to see their reactions! Zachary is following in his brother's footsteps and is already a fan of Thomas toys and can't get enough Barney. Lately, he has been saying more and more words, but isn't as articulate as Mikie was. You really have to know what he is talking about in order to understand the words he is saying. One thing he does do better than Mikie is SCREAM! Boy oh boy my child has a scream that can shatter glass! He loves animals of all kinds and can make all their noises. I wish I had a video of him "snorting" like a pig. It's so cute!

I did manage to snap a few photos of him with Mikie's 'fur real' pet "Wilbur". Zachary loves this thing! He hugs it and kisses it and carries it around on his shoulder smiling every time it grunts or squeals in his ear. It really is precious.

The next picture was taken at lunch time. I was talking with Mikie and turned around to find:

Poor little guy fell asleep even with Barney on T.V. ....now you know he is sick.