Jake Plays the Piano!

Here's my big guy reaching out to hit the piano keys while supporting himself with one arm. What a strong boy! In the last two weeks, we've noticed a huge improvement in Jake's cleft. The two sides of his lip are almost touching and his nostril is really taking shape. Tomorrow we go in to Dr. Yamashiro's to get the nose post added to Jake's NAM. Hopefully it won't bug him too much. He hardly even turns away when I have to put the rubber bands back on anymore. Well, depending on his mood! I can't remember if I mentioned it, but we've started using the sign language gesture for "all done" every time we finish doing his tapes. He will usually calm down a little bit, or stop crying altogether once he sees that. It's so helpful! Even if he's still mad, at least I know he understands that it's over.

Jake and Lily have started playing with each other now. They will look at each other and smile, try to grab each others' clothes or limbs! When they're apart, they will look for each other. Lily seems fascinated by Jake's NAM and tries to pull on it, so we have to watch her. But they both have also discovered the joy of playing with toes! We still swaddle them but as soon as they get unwrapped, up go the feet! It's awfully convenient having toys attached to the ends of your legs! This is such a fun time.

I want to get a professional portrait taken of Jake before his surgery (kiddie kandids is having wicked good specials right now!) But I don't want to have it taken with the tapes all over his face. If I take them off, it takes a good long while for his skin to heal and the red splotches to go away. We started using A+D ointment instead of Eucerine because it works a little bit better. (Doesn't smell better though!) Even so, it'd be at least a day until his skin was better. But I can't leave his NAM out that long because he doesn't eat well without it anymore. So I don't know. Maybe I'll just take a blotchy picture anyway. I just want a nice portrait of how he is right now.