Silas has had a big month. He is now 16 months old. February here was surprisingly warm and sunny, so he's spent lots of time outside at the park swinging and going for walks around the lake where there are lots of things to point at.
For daddy and grandpa's birthday weekend, we had a fun time at Morro Bay with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Dave, and cousins. We had good seafood and found lots of things to point at like sailboats, seals, and birds.
In the middle of the month, Silas returned to UCSF for his urodynamic study. Grandma came up from San Diego and did the drive with mom up to San Francisco for the day. The study went well. They filled his bladder with fluid to test its shape and capacity to see how he's doing now that he's 16 months old. The results showed that he has a healthy bladder and no longer needs to take regular antibiotics, which was good news.
Later in the month Silas spent an afternoon on the beach with his cousins, Aunt Michelle, and Grandma at Avila Beach.
The highlight of February was our big family trip to Colorado to see Aunt Rachel, Uncle Jeeva, and the cousins. Silas loved all the action and quickly made himself at home with all the toys. He loved all the extra cuddles and his cousins played with him for hours, always asking if we could put his Passey-Muir valve on his trach "so he can talk", which usually became hooting and howling and laughing sessions. Here are some pictures from the trip.
Playing on the playground:
Aunt Rachel is about as encouraging as they come.
Silas loves his daddy.
Fun at home. Nathan loved being involved with Silas's care, asking how all the contraptions worked and offering to help with everything, including breakfast.
Caleb teaching Silas to kick back and watch the game.
A visit to see some horses.
Silas enjoyed watching the cousins feed the horses. Cousin Rayne is fearless.
At the cousins' basketball game. Rayne spent hours on the floor explaining the way of the world to Silas, seeing as she has almost a year more of experience. Several times a day she greeted him with "Helloooo Baaaaayyyybeee" and a sweet kiss.
Caleb and mama made a customized onesie to cheer for the the Blue Bombers (Go Caleb!) and Blue Broncos (Go Nathan!).
Silas wanted to scoot onto the court with all the action. Mostly he wanted the basketball.
It's been a great month to watch the little man grow in size and personality. He loves everything with wheels, any size ball, trying out new sounds, pushing buttons, pointing, reading his books (and pointing to everything with wheels), swimming in the bathtub (we can't wait for his "blowhole" to be removed), whatever you're eating, and drums.In a few weeks we return to UCSF to meet with Silas's ENT surgeon who will put a camera down his throat to see if his vocal cords are functioning properly. They don't use any sedation so the discomfort makes Silas cry, which is hard to watch but good if you want to see his vocal cords moving. If his vocal cords work well enough, we can start down the road to decannulation (removing the trach). There are several other considerations, but this is the first, so we are eager to receive the green light to start hoping for decannulation this summer. We'll keep you posted.
