Friday marked the one year anniversary of Barrett’s first time in the hospital post-birth. The three of us were at Children’s Hospital, sitting patiently {okay. anxiously.} for Barrett to go into surgery. When I think about that day, I then think back to the day that he was born. The minute they told me his fingers were webbed. I know. It seems like a small thing, right? But that wasn’t the only news they sprung on us. I was so confused. I had just looked at his hands before they whisked him away. I didn’t even notice any duck-like features. But sure enough, upon further review, Barrett had a full syndactyly on his left hand and a partial on his right. His little fingers looked perfectly formed with a piece of skin connecting them. In the one short year that Barrett lived with his fingers connected, it didn’t make one bit of difference. And, thanks to the excellent handy work of Dr. Jason Miller, it never will.
- Words pour out of Barrett’s mouth and just like any two year old, he has a great affinity for certain words including “Pleeeeeese”, “Bah-bee”, Daddy, “K”, “Moolk”, “uh ho”and any animal sounds. We have to be careful what we say as he can be heard saying shoot and darn on occasion.
- Though we’re not anywhere close to thinking about potty training {and everyone seems to have an opinion on this}, Barrett has started to tell us “pooop”. About 75% of the time, there is poop. About 25% of the time, he’s full of poop. If he ever gets anywhere near dry in the morning, we’ll visit the potty training party but until then, it’s pamps for us.
- Rolling, giggling and doing headstands are three of Barrett’s favorite past times.
- He has a wee obsession with Mickey Mouse and when he does his breathing treatments, gets to watch Mickey. We say “Barrett. It’s time for a treatment” and he walks around saying “Mickey. Mickey. Mickey”.
- Barrett’s favorite toys of the moment are puzzles, cars and his bah-bee.
- He drinks from a cup most of the time. He started this around Thanksgiving when he switched rooms at school and they no longer use sippy cups.
- B still loves books and I would say if he could just read all day long, he’d be happier than a hog in mud. He likes to have us read to him and also likes to go through the books himself … babbling the whole way through.
- Food-wise, B is as fickle as ever. He still rarely eats meat and even more rarely eats veggies. Fruits, dairy and grains are always safe bets. A Flintstone vitamin will have to make up the rest.
- It is a must that I record this for my own reference… Barrett is a great napper. He takes one 2 hour nap a day and goes down beautifully. If you ever read back, you’ll see that I’ve had many a hair-pulling moment over naps so this is very important for the sake of posterity.
- B loves music and claps and moves along with the crazy songs we sing.