Well, after having my website up and running for over two months, I've finally decided to add another entry. I really don't know what's taken me so long. I was so excited about having my new website. I couldn't wait to keep my out of town family and friends updated on Tanner. I was just hoping to make some changes and add a few things to my site, but since I don't know what I'm doing, I'll have to move forward.

Here's the latest on Tanner. He took his first 3 unassisted steps on February 27. It probably took him the whole month of March to "practice" walking on his own. He really didn't need our help for very long. My the beginning of April he was walking great and ready to hunt Easter eggs. Now he's practically running all over the place.

In fact, he's doing so well that I've asked his physical therapist with ECI if we can reduce his appointments from twice a month to once a month. And, I think next month I'm going to ask if we can stop his physical therapy all together. The nutritionist discharged Tanner in April. He's been on whole milk now for some time and eating regular "people" food without any problems. His favorite food is Mexican. Go figure !! He saw the speech therapist last month and we'll see her again next week. Probably for the last time. ECI was concerned because Tanner wasn't drinking from a cup or straw. We were already working on the sippy cup, but ECI insisted on a straw. I just don't think he was ready the last time we tried the straw thing. By the time the therapist came out, he did great for her !! Now he can drink from a straw or sippy cup and he's even been off the bottle for almost a month !! I just wish the speech therapist would focus more on his speech rather than what kind of cup he's drinking out from.

Tanner just had his last appointment with his Pulmonologist until October when he'll get a flu shot. He's finally off the breathing treatments and will most likely not have to have them again in the fall. His reflux is also doing much better, especially since he's been walking. He was taking two medications for reflux, but I just recently weaned him from one and now he's only taking Prevacid twice a day.

He also still only had 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. But he's getting a few molars on each side. He constantly has his hands in his mouth chewing on his fingers. He prefers chewing on this fingers to any teething accessory I give him. I can't get a good look in his mouth, so hopefully at his 18 month check up next month Dr. D can get a good look for me to see what's going on in there.

I can tell Tanner is starting to be more vocal now that he has the walking thing down. He can say Go very well. He's been saying Ger for dog for some time now. He's also been saying DaDa and I think now he knows who DaDa is. I noticed he just started pointing his finger a few days ago. We're working on lots of words and he often says the last syllable for several words. I tried to get him to say Pasta and he says Ta, Ta, Ta. He's also pretty good at making a G sound. Almost everything is Ga, Ga, Ga. Oh, he can also wave Bye-Bye now, finally. We've been waiting for that for a long time. He also gets very excited when we have visitors. He actually just gets excited when you open the front door.

On another note, Marcus quite his job last Thursday and starts his new job tomorrow. He's pretty sure the hours will be long and now he has to wear a shirt and tie, which he's not too thrilled about. But we're hoping this will afford some better opportunities for the future. He will also have Saturdays off and will work Sundays now. I'm hoping our social life will improve now that we'll be available on Saturdays.