After the storm there is some calm...

I can't believe is already September. On last Monday, Diego became 19 month old. That means we met him 7 months ago and he has been at home with us for a little more than 5 months... Few days after my last post his stuffy nose went away, but then he started his round of antibiotics for an ear infection... It's has been more than a week out of meds and healthy again...

But sadly, the stormy days (specially last Monday) came once he got back to strong and healthy. And it seems his insecurities and needs for controlling things came back very strong too. Sad, very sad. Things that he had almost stopped doing (biting or hitting me) are back, but now he is targeting both Mark and I. After reading Ondrea and Heather's blogs we felt a tiny bit better and got ideas of what to do when the aggression happens. I guess we were getting used to see progress and improvements, but these past days where a reminder that Diego may take three steps forward and two back in the road of his attachment to us. At least this week it seems we have spent nicer days and the hitting has decreased.

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to embark in our first day road trip with Diego. We went to Prescott, AZ, which is only 100 miles north of Phoenix, but about 20 oF cooler! We decided to leave right after Diego's first snack, hoping that he was going to fall asleep in the car and wake up when we got there. Well, he only slept about 50 minutes, but it worked out fine because I was able to feed him some of his lunch in the car. The weather was really nice in Prescott, with few light showers here and there, but it was a great change from the crazy heat in Phoenix. We went to the art fair in the Courthouse park, bought few things, and just hanged out. Diego spent this time partly in the stroller, then walking holding our hands, in our arms and on Mark's shoulders!



Last week was also busy and a bit stressful planning our first big trip with Diego! Yeah, as you may noticed, we didn't take any summer trip to give time to Diego to get used to us. But due to my grandma's health and the opportunity to visit my dad using some great flight fares, we decided it was time for Diego's first trip to South America!! Yes, I am not kidding! You may think we are crazy, with all the precautions we have been trying to take to avoid getting Diego sick and now we are taking him to a third world country! We will be leaving on October 16, and by that time at least he will have the first round of 5 vaccines... We will spend 5 days in Ecuador (visiting my mom and grandma), 6 days in Uruguay and 2 days in Argentina with my dad and brother. At least we will be able to use the tons on miles we earned in Russia, so it won't cost us a lot of money to fly there! More details about the trip when it gets closer!! I haven't been in Ecuador (where I am from) in almost 2 years, so it is pretty exciting!

Last Thursday I took Diego to the dentist to check his front teeth and so far the two front teeth that got impacted (and one got broken) are still alive and the roots are still growing. Yeah!!! The next check up is in 3 months, so let's keep praying that they will be OK and continue being part of Diego's smile! Also, on the health side, we took Diego to an ENT to check his ears, and it seems to be he may need to get tubes inserted. He has liquid in his ears and if things don't improve by itself (of by putting the tubes) there is the potential for damage of his hearing. We will see the doctor one more time in 3 weeks, and then he will decide if Diego will have the surgery by the end of this month... Yeah, another surgery... Oh well, at least is not a huge ordeal, but still...

Oh, one more thing... I called the early intervention program in AZ again and tomorrow and Tuesday a speech and feeding therapists will come and evaluate Diego. Feeding Diego has become a bigger issue (he really fights and resist being fed) and we want to rule out if he has sensory issues with some food textures. I'll let you know how this goes...

And now few pics: trying dada's shoes, going out when dada got home from work, drinking from his straw cup, shooting hops at night, taking dada's hat off.





Have a great week!