"Now What?"

My Mom and sister, Chrissie, watched the boys yesterday while I was at work. We all met for dinner at a small deli in St. Clair Shores called "Uncle Harry's".

The boys started out doing great at what they call Uncle "Cherries". After drawing, eating many snacks, and pounding a juciebox, Dominic was done. He has never acted up in a restaurant, but last night something got into him and he started shrieking and crying to leave. He then took his placemat and tossed it at my Mom. There are only about 10 tables in the whole resaturant and I swear everyone was looking to see how I would respond.

I am really lacking experience in disipline, so I am not always sure what to do. I thought, should I take him out or stay and try to make him behave?

I decided to take him out and give him a "time out" We headed to the minivan and I explained to him he cannot act like that and he was in a "time-out" I turned around and tried to ignore him for a few minutes. He played around in the van for a few minutes and must have gotten bored. He came over to the edge of the car and sat next to me and casually asked, "Now What?"

I almost feel over when he asked me this! Where did he learn this expression, and how did he know when it was appropriate to us it?

I was trying not to laugh and I said now we are going back into the restaurant to behave and eat our dinner. He said, "Okay".

I could not believe he was understanding and responding to this behavior modification method so well.

On the way back into the restaurant he stopped and looked at me and said, "Bad...Sorry". Sometimes I swear he thinks he is 20 years old and not 2 years old!

Although this moment was not one of Dominic's bests, it is a moment I like to savor. These moments are sarcred moments in parenting. Moments you wish time would stand still so you could always enjoy these silly 2 year old questions.

New Shoes Soon??

I have spent the past few days on the phone trying to get Dominic a larger size shoe for his Dennis Browne Bar that he wears at night. I just do not understand why it is so difficult and time consuming to get these type of things through insurance. His shoes are WAY too small. I now have to use the thinnest socks to even get the shoes on.

The Orthotic company is telling me it will be at least 2 weeks to get new shoes! I have decided to take things into my own hands and call the insurance authorizer myself, Linda. As a customer I am not suppose to call Linda directly, but someone I know, knows some she knows... and long story short I got her direct line. Linda is wonderful to work with as she also helped me get Joseph's second helmet authorized. Linda told me to have the Orthodic company fax over a medical authorization form and hopefully she could get things expedited. Sad but true, it is sometimes about who you know.



Dominic has been so good about wearing his Bar at night and during his nap. We have a little stool outside his bedroom that we call his "special chair" and as soon as we tell him to sit down he does so without complaining. He loves Nemo so it also helps I decorated the shoes with Nemo decals.



Tonight the boys found this old foot massager and loved it. Before I put Dominic's shoes and bar on, he wanted a foot massage. A little spoiled or what? So darn cute!

A little about Dominic...

Dominic since birth has always been "raring to go" (notice his feet are off the ground in the above picture!). When the boys were born at 30 weeks, the doctors told Matt to expect the boys to stay in the NICU for about 6-7 weeks. The doctors told us the earliest they start nippling a premature baby is around 33-34 weeks. At 33 week Dominic had mastered nippling his bottle and was and on his "terms" ready to be discharged home. Of course the doctors wanted to wait until he was 34 weeks and he gained a little more weight. The day he turned 34 weeks he was "outta there"!

I remember the day before Dominic was discharged home, Matt and I were at the Pancake House taking a break between the boys feedings. The Nurse Practitioner called me on my cell phone and said are you ready to take Dominic home tomorrow? I knew it was coming with the quick progress he was making but all of a sudden I panicked. How could I take Dominic home and leave Joseph in NICU? It was a difficult 2 weeks having the boys in different places, but in retrospect it was probably good to get used to one baby at a time.

Dominic has always been an explorer. He is and always has been so intrigued by how every object/toy works.

He is definitely the dominant brother. He always wants whatever Joseph is playing with. He will go get another toy to "trade" with Joe so he can have Joe's toy. Don't get me wrong, he is so sweet and kind when he does this "trade" with Joseph. It is like he tries to "sell" his toy to Joe for the "trade". He is so good at this we rarely have any fighting.

Dominic has always been so concerned about Joseph. Whenever Dominic is first to get a snack and Joe is somewhere else he yells "Joe-eee snack". If there is no response he will go find Joseph and give him his part of the snack and a juice cup.

Dominic also loves fruit and vegetables! He cannot get "matoes" (AKA tomatoes) fast enough in his mouth.

Dominic is very sensitive. He loves to kiss all his toys and "babies". He has always been more shy than Joseph. Although he is really becoming more outgoing these days.

Dominic is not a complainer. He needs to have leg stretches 3 times a day. At first this was a little difficult. He could not understand why we were stretching, pulling and pushing on his legs. So we made it into a game. He loves raisins so we sing a song we made-up called "Stretches for Raisins" set to the tune of Frère Jacques . At night we do "Stretches for Stickers". He is now getting to the point of reminding Matt and I to do his stretches.

When he first got his braces the Dr. said he would probably be upset and not want to walk for a day or two and definitely not walk up stairs. In the office, as soon as we put them on for the first time, he took off running for the stairs down the hall. NOTHING holds Dominic back. His motto should be when there is a will there is a way.

Dominic riding his "Moto cycle" with his cast-



He also has to wear this contraption on his feet at night called a Dennis Brown Bar. This is for a condition called tibial torsion. His lower leg bone is slightly twisted so this will hopefully straighten it out. My sister Marji had one when she was a baby. The thing that makes Dominic different is he is about a year older than most babies that are treated.

When Matt and I first saw the bar we were thinking how the heck will he ever sleep in these shoes and bar? I swear he is such a champ. We got him a special frog stool to sit on and we just slide his feet right in, and lay him on his belly. Not a word out of him.

Dominic's will power and passion for life melt my heart.

Dominic's New "Boots"

Dominic's Physical Therapist decided to cast him today. The process is called serial casting. The casting will help stretch Dominic's heel cords which are tight. He will wear this set of casts until Thursday morning. I will remove them (just unroll) and bath him and then return to PT in the afternoon for another set of casts. Each time they change his casts they stretch his foot a little more. This whole process could take a few weeks.

It takes about 45 minutes to cast him as he lays on his belly. He did a great job he did not move once. He just played with his matchbox cars and Barney computer. I was so surprised at how he tolerated the procedure.

As you can see from the pictures, so far he does not mind the casts. He calls them his "New boots". When we got out of the car, he was excited to show Daddy and Joe his new casts. He walked into the house yelling, "Joey...new boots!"

Dominic decorating his cast's with Nemo stickers-


Dom saying "Cheese"




Of course Children's Hospital did not have the right size walking shoes. Matt being so handy, rigged up a slip proof bottom until his shoes come in. Matt used the rubbery grid usually used to prevent rugs from slipping and duck tape. What do ya know...it works great.



Dominic is such a trooper! He is an inspiration to me. It really reminds me not to complain so much over little things.