Not so bad.

We think Amos has had a cold this week. I say think because it's been a really really mild cold. He sneezed on and off all day Friday, Saturday and yesterday and only last night did we finally figure out that he may have a cold. Up until then, it's been a question of sickness or allergies. I did dust and sweep up all the dust bunnies yesterday morning, so he must just be sick. But it has been so so mild. He's had NO cough--that's right, none! This is a huge blessing because most of the time, he gets the cough first and then comes the cold. But since his dr appt, he's been on .5 mL of pulmicort a day so I think it's really protected his lungs from additional phlegm. He also gets a probiotic spoonful every night with evening snack and I think that's helped keep the cold to a minimum. I've also been swabbing his nose with zycam every four hours, so maybe that's helped too?? Either way, he's been minimally bothered, sleeping through the night and minimally phlegmy so I hope that this is how we can get through winter!
Also, he's gaining weight! At the neurosurgeon's office last week, he was up to 21 lbs, 10 oz, which is up from 20 lbs, 5 ozs, three weeks ago. I confirmed this weight with our scale at home, which is less fancy and was so excited that the pound of extra weight was true! (Sometimes the scales can be really different).
We have been really working hard to get him to gain weight: he eats a hard boiled egg and half a bagel (with butter and cream cheese on it) for breakfast. He gets to drink juice or smoothie (which is milk and pediasure mixed together) and I try to get him to finish most or all of his food. For lunch he gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (usually we're out and about) and for snack after nap, he gets roast beef and cheese, again, with smoothie. For dinner, I've been giving him what we eat, but give him sour cream or something extra to eat it with. And last week, we had spaghetti with ground beef, which he really liked. And before bed, he gets yogurt and applesauce so he'll sleep through the night!
So for the past few weeks, we've realized how we can get him to take a few more calories and fat at each meal and then, how we can get him to eat most or all of it! Most of the time we have to interrupt his pretend playing to have a meal and I think that he gets bored in before he's done eating, but wants to go and play. So we've been letting him bring a truck or book to the table which deters from him feeding himself and becoming a better and more self sufficient eater, but he eats more and puts on the pounds. I know this isn't a good habit to necessarily start but I also don't feel like we have any other option at this point.
Either way, he's doing well and is learning to eat so he can have toys with him at the table. I also have to sit with him for every meal, which I used to just stick him in the highchair and get stuff done. The result has been pleasant meal times and I've begun using that time to read to him or go over counting or the alphabet. We're waiting on a kids' bible, coming in the mail, so I think at breakfast time, we'll read Bible stories.
The last thing to report on is that Amos is learning how to express possession. It used to be that he would point to something and say the name of the person it belonged to. If he saw Nathan's shirt hanging up somewhere, he would happily say, "Dada!" Now, if he can say the word, he'll put the name and word together. Like, "Amos, wah!" for Amos' water, etc. It's kinda cool to see him grasp that concept and now we have to work on appropriate pronouns! Fun!