Hear me out!

Mama and papa say that I have a mind of my own. Well, what do you expect; I am two years old now! I just know what I want. And I try to make that clear to them, they just don't always understand me. Bit frustrating at times.

I'll be glad to tell you that my parents are no longer trying to feed me baby stuff. Have you tried it? It's soooo boring, both in structure and taste. I'm quite up to eating the same as mam and pap, I love new flavors. My favorites are fish and spinach. I'll try anything, although it is sometimes still a bit difficult for me to handle certain textures. I don't have full control yet, due to my CP, but am getting much better at it. The same goes for drinking from a cup.

In return I go to bed without making too much of a fuss. As long as I get my evening porridge, the proper song during brushing teeth, my bedtime story, a few minutes with my music box (mom, dad, change the batteries please) and a big smootchie kiss.

I can't help that I'm still waking up a lot during the night. It bothers me more than anyone else, hey, I just want to sleep, but the cramps in my legs are a real pain.

I've been getting medicine to top off the peaks of the impulses which cause the spasms. The medicine helps, but some spasms still come through. Of course it isn't a sedative or sleep medicine, so I still need some help to get back to sleep.

Beginning of April I had Botox injected. No, not in the face. In the muscles on the inner side of my upper legs. These muscles were very short and tight, because I have been tensing them so much by the spasms. Because of these over tension on the inner side, the outer side muscles were long and weak. And because of this imbalance plus the fact that I wasn’t getting enough pressure into my hip bones by lack of standing, the curve of the hipbone which is still very much under development, could start growing flat, causing a great risk of my legs getting of my hip joint.

To prevent that from happening, the Botox was injected into the designated muscles, to temporary paralyze them, so that they can be stretched and the outer muscles be trained. I have a brace that keeps my legs in the right position. I started with a white one, which turned out not to be sturdy enough. And now I have a blue one, very sturdy and cool.

I’m okay with the brace during the day, but after it had been adjusted to a wider spread, it has been bothering me during night. I had cramps almost every half hour! Poor papa who had to come to the rescue. Papa adjusted it again so that it is a bit more comfortable and I managed to sleep straight from 8 in the evening until 3 in the morning! Hurray!

We’ll have to see how much effect this whole Botox and brace procedure has had on my legs and hips. There’s a chance that I need to go through it again not long from now. At least the hospital event was not a bad experience and we now have the proper brace right from the start!

What else is new...? Oh, yeah, I’ve started at a new specialized daycare, called De Schavuiten. I go there two days per week now. I’m still getting used to this new environment, the new caretakers and the new kids. Now that I see a bit better than before and am more used to being around unfamiliar people and sounds, I suppose it will not take long before I’m all settled in. There are nurses under caretakers, because there are more kids who need medical attention amongst my playmates. The kids are very sweet to me, welcoming me as the newbie by offering me toys and stroking me. I like that.

Meanwhile, my therapies at the rehabilitation centre continue and it’s more fun than ever. As I said, I see a bit better these days, so I’m comfortably exploring the world that became slightly bigger. I love making music, got some pretty awesome musical instruments for my birthday, and I love painting with my fingers. I’m bound to take a permanent position in papa’s art collection.

Oh, listen to this. I have discovered that mama is carrying my little sister in her belly. I’m about to become a big sister! Isn’t that amazing? Of course nobody told me anything. They seem to think that I’m too young to understand. Well, puh, I found it out all by myself. No need to tell me. I can sense it. And for that I reserve my real kisses, not the air kisses, just for my little sister. She’s still in the belly now, so I plant the kisses on mama’s the tummy.

Funny that mama and papa thought that I was old enough to spend a few days at opa and opung! My parents took a train somewhere, where they didn’t do much. I could tell that mama found it very difficult to leave me behind, especially since I had a cold and a fever. But I am in good hands with my grandparents and even though the nights were rough on me and even more on opung, I had a fantastic time. Sure, I was happy to see my parents coming home, but I wouldn’t have mind to stay a day longer with opa and opung.

So now, we’re gearing up for summer, with more visitors from Norway in July. It will be great to play with my cousin Aurora and to see Andreas again. And then we patiently wait for my sister to come into the world, while we enjoy great weather on the beach.

This is me, with mam, starting on my next work of art at the rehab nursery: shaving foam, later paint is added, on a mirror, which will be pressed on paper. Check my cool braces, too!