One Day (or Night) at a Time

First time at the dinner table together.

Kellin has been home for six days now.  It has been quite the experience having him here!  The trip home was a bit rough on him, especially with the time change.  It is taking time for him to reemerge from his shell.  Day-by-day he is getting more comfortable and having more playful time with us at home.  Kathleen still does not think he is quite where he was behavior-wise compared to before the trip home.

The biggest issue is he is having a hard time sleeping during our night.  He ends up being awake for a good part of the night..  Then we spend the whole next day trying not to let him sleep too much so that he will hopefully sleep more the next night.  So of course, he spends a good part of his day very tired.

Experiencing the texture of rice cereal.

Once we get him on a good sleep schedule, the next order of business is to start expanding his food.  He was only ever fed from a bottle, and he is very resistant to having anything else put in his mouth.  So we cram everything we can into bottles: formula, rice cereal, and baby food.  He can be very picky with what he eats as well.  Kathleen tried giving him some pediasure today, and he was not having any of it.  Not only that, but it took quite a bit of convincing to get him to trust that the next bottle was back to the regular stuff.  We need to get this kid to eat!!

With Daddy and Pooh

With Tigger

With Rabbit

Of course not every moment has been a battle.  It has been great playing with him and watching him interact.  Rabbit has been especially doing a good job with Kellin.  She loves to play with him.  And it works out so well to have her around to keep him occupied when Kathleen or I need to get something else done around the house.  Tigger and Pooh will play with him for short amounts of time, but they quickly get bored because he doesn't want to play what they want to play.  I think this is a pretty common occurrence with young siblings though, it is the same way that Tigger has only recently starting playing much with Pooh.

Working on sitting while playing.

Kellin is stimming himself much less than when he first got home. He used to hit himself in the eye a lot, and that has stopped except for a rare occasion.  The other one is playing with his lips.  In and of itself it is not too bad, but he would end up covered with saliva!  He still does that one fairly often, but for the most part he has pretty good control over it, and only does it when he is really checked out.

He's a happy boy!

I think the best growth I have seen from him is he is more willing to be cuddled!  He still doesn't want it at all when he is trying to go to sleep.  But he'll take it when he needs comfort other times.

He can be such a goon at times.

He loves the light!

I keep feeling like I am not painting an adequate picture of what it is truly like to finally have him home.  Maybe it is because I am sleep deprived, maybe it is because words just cannot describe it!  The family definitely feels complete.  And even though he has been here for only a very short time, it feels normal, like he has been with us all along.