Asher's Big Adventure

I've written before about Asher's food allergies. A year ago, he was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, which is a fancy word for food allergy.

Traditionally, when you think about an allergic reaction, you think about, perhaps, watery eyes or sneezing or itching. Those are reactions that occur on the outside of your body. Asher's allergic reactions happen inside his body: his esophagus, and perhaps his intestines and bowel. The reactions do not occur immediately - we find out about them about two weeks after he's eaten a food when he vomits or stops eating. It makes diagnosing very difficult. We have some ideas, but we don't know exactly to what he's allergic.

Eosinophilic esophagitis is a relatively newly discovered disease - about 10 years old. Prior to 10 years ago, they simply thought that it was reflux that didn't respond to medicine. There is a lot that the medical profession still doesn't know about it. And there are only three centers for pediatric eosinophilc disease in the country. We've been seeking medical help nearby, but we need more. So we're taking Asher to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for further medical help.

For the past seven or eight weeks, I had been trying to make an appointment at Cincinnati Children's. I was just about to give up and make an appointment at one of the other two EE centers when I received a call late Monday afternoon. There was a cancellation next week; can we make it? A resounding YES was the reply and we've been scrambling to collect medical records, biopsy slides, arrange travel and hotel and prepare for the trip.

We decided that Raj and Asher were going to make this journey alone. Logically, it makes sense. With all kids in tow, it becomes a zoo and then we can't concentrate on Asher. We wouldn't be able to ask the questions we need of the doctors or help Asher with his medical procedures. Best for Raj to take Asher alone.

So now Raj and Asher are making their way to Cincinnati. Asher has appointments all week long there. On Monday, he'll have an endoscopy and colonoscopy - to examine the extent of the damage. (We had just assumed that the allergy is strictly in his esophagus, but as we answered the nurses questions, it seems like his allergy might also be in his intestine and bowel.) Tuesday is the allergy testing. Wednesday they have a day off, then Thursday they get the allergy tests read and get a plan of action from the doctor. Friday, is the result of the patch (allergy) tests. Then they'll make their way home on Saturday again. Phew!

For those who suffer from this disease, I'll chronicle Asher's journey here. I hope it helps you.

Leila at Four Months

Leila just had her 4 month check-up. She weighed in at 17 lbs, 4 oz. That's in the 97th percentile for weight. What a fatty!

In comparison, Simi was 17 pounds at his 9 month check-up.

I'd tell you her length, but she measured shorter at four months than she was at 2 months. Since there is an obvious mis-measurement, we'll just wait and see how long she is at 6 months.

Leila's doing great in every way. She's right on target developmentally. She's such a happy girl, so easy going, yet undeniably fights for what she needs. That's my girl.

Bad Parenting

Usually, I try to write about the good side of my children. They really and truly are good kids, although sometimes, like all children, they have their moments. Lately, however, they've been the biggest brats on the planet.

Since Leila's arrival, Simi and Asher have been spending all their time together. Seems like they're spending WAY too much time together and are starting to feed off each other's badness/get competitive with each other/get on each other's nerves/fill in the blank here.

The other night, during a celebration dinner for their Aunt, Simi and Asher turned into THE BIGGEST BRATS. They've never behaved so poorly in their lives - and they did it in front of a big audience. After the usual parenting techniques failed, I resorted to dysfunctional behavior - I screamed at them to stop. And at one point, to get Simi's attention when all else failed, I picked him up, put him on the couch, and YELLED at him to stop. I'm not proud of my behavior and the whole scene really shook me up. It shook up Simi too. He started to cry and the look on his face was just horrific. Yet it didn't stop his bad behavior. I hated the way Simi and Asher behaved and I hated the way I behaved. In a word, it was horrific.

The next day we went to a friend's 5th birthday party. While there, the mother of a little girl was screaming at her daughter. I recognized that behavior in my own actions from just the night before. So THAT'S how horrible it looks. From the outside, the screaming was as bad as it felt from the inside. I hope to never ever do that again.

Stay tuned while we figure out how best to conquer these new challenges....

Toddler Humor

Jokes by Asher (age 2):

Have you ever seen a fish go fishing?

Have you ever seen a train go training?

Toddler Soccer

Finally, Asher is playing soccer. He has been begging to go for quite awhile; ever since he realized that Simi plays and he doesn't.

Today was his second soccer session. At this age, they don't have games or even divide into teams. Instead, everyone has their own ball and they play activities designed to strengthen muscles and teach basic skills.

Toddler soccer is adorable. It's a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds who are running around clueless. Normally, some are crying, some are banging themselves into walls, and some have the potential to be the next Pele.

Considering that Asher has only kicked the ball once before, he did great. When practice first began, he ran out onto the field without me and I felt this tinge of emotion, watching my baby acting like a big boy. Emotion got me even more as he dribbled downfield and upfield and followed the coach's directions. And then, as much emotion as I felt, perhaps he felt it too. He ran up to me, took my hand, and led me to the field to continue. Together, we had a wonderful time jumping in and out of hoola hoops and weaving in and out of cones. And just about the time when he was ready to leave, the session ended and it was time to go. Perfect timing. I can't wait to do it again next week.

Next time I'll bring my camera.

Back from the Beach

My apologies for the lack of entries lately. We just returned from a week at the beach.

The beach vacation was a lot of fun. We went to Emerald Isle this year. Truthfully, while we like to go to a different beach every year, we always seem to return to Emerald Isle. So far, we prefer that beach to all the others. Well, Ocracoke probably is a clear winner if we went without the children.

We asked Simi and Asher to list their favorite bits of vacation. Number one for both of them was the aquarium. It just re-opened and it's absolutely awesome. In fact, the boys loved it so much that we went twice. One of the exhibits of the aquarium is a very large tank filled with fish and sharks. At a specific time of day, a pair of scuba divers swim into the tank and talk to the children, who assemble in front of the tank to watch the divers. For Asher, the divers was, hands-down, his favorite part of the vacation. He was both terrified and awed by them. And he hasn't yet stopped talking about them.

For Simi, the next best part of the trip was making a shape from a penny. I'm sure you've all seen the machines where you plop in two quarters and a penny and the penny comes out all flattened with some sort of print on it. For Simi, that flattened penny was one of the highlights of the trip.

Leila looked absolutely stunning in her bikini and sun hat. The beach didn't excite her, nor did the divers in the big tank. Her favorite thing was having her brother Simi make silly faces at her all week long.

Asher gets goofier by the day. I think anything would have been fun for him, as long as he had all of us with him. He's such a goofball.

For me, the best part was spending time with my wonderful husband and sweet children. The second best part was viewing all the phenomenal photos Raj took. Perhaps we'll be able to share a couple of them with you here - soon.

Sweet Dreams

If I could, I think I'd be one of those moms who sleeps in bed with their children all night long.

Truth is, we have a house rule: everyone sleeps in their own bed. Except for the Leila, because her bed is our bed. And now, it seems, except for Asher, who quietly sneaks into our bedroom in the wee hours and quietly climbs into bed next to me. And then when I find him, I'm just so tired and it's so nice to cuddle with him and smell his sweet smell...I just can't resist. And then along comes Simi, who finds out that Asher's no longer in his bed and runs in to join in. And then we all have to get up and go back to our own beds again....

Brag

I try not to brag about my children, but sometimes I just can't resist:

This brag is about Asher, age 2. Without any help at all, he's managed to figure out how to play with his brother's Leapster (ages 4-10) and play all the games in it. Since my 4 year-old needed instructions, it's quite the accomplishment that a 2 year-old could figure it out on his own.

While we're on the subject of brags, please allow me to continue. This one's about Simi, age 4. We pulled into the gas station to fuel up and he says, "Mommy, I know what that sign says: Stop Engine, No Smoking".

And since I'm on a roll, let me tell you about the Leila, who does a really great job pooping and having it escape her nappy and go up all the way to her armpits. Now THAT's talent!

Phew, I'm glad I got that out. Thank you for allowing me to brag...

The Leila

Leila is 3 months old now. With each day, we begin to see more and more of her personality.

When I was pregnant with Leila, we had gone through Asher's EE diagnosis and Simi's open heart surgery. I had also gone through an extraordinariy stressful time at work. It was stressful all around. I worried that my stress would affect her "forma de ser", her way of being.

Leila is the most easy-going, happiest baby on the planet. She is seemingly unaffected by stress while in utero. Phew!

What's Up With This?

In the past few days, I've found about 10 gray hairs on my head. Now, what's up that all of a sudden my hair is turning gray?

Harumpf!

You Know You're a Veteran Mom When...

You have two children vomit on you and one poop on you ...and it's no big deal.

Leila and The Boys

I felt sorry for Leila even before she was born.

Leila is the third child - with two brothers just two and four years older than she. My concern is that we'd have to protect her from their accidental "mishandling" of their baby sister.

Turns out that she loves it. She loves it when Simi gets right up in her face and talks nonsense to her. She loves it when he waves his body all around - within milimeters of her face. She smiles and laughs and can barely contain herself.

Simi and Leila in the car: Simi gets all silly and Leila just laughs and laughs and laughs.

What does this mean for when she's older?

Allergic Asher

A year ago, I posted that Asher was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. That's a fancy word to say that he has a food allergy.

When he was first diagnosed, the Dr. gave him a prescription for Flovent and sent us on our merry way....

The Flovent has worked great. Asher stopped vomiting and started eating solids almost immediately. We're truly thankful for that. And we haven't had to worry about his allergies while we worked to fix Simi's heart or prepared for Leila's arrival. That was nice.

But during this past year, Asher has gradually began to struggle with eating again. So much so, that we started investigating how to deal with his food allergies.

Our most recent stop was to see the head of the department of pediatric allergy at Duke. Since he has food allergies, we thought it best to get the advise of a pediatric allergist. We couldn't have been more wrong. This doctor, after keeping us waiting for three hours, told us not to restrict his diet/avoid any food which may trigger his allergy. Instead, he said, just keep taking the Flovent and not worry about it. Truthfully, he made me feel like a terrible mum for restricting my child's diet.

When I asked about skin testing to determine the offending foods, the doctor said it wouldn't be helpful. He did agree to do blood tests, though. The blood tests revealed a mild allergy to wheat. Doctor told us not to restrict wheat from Asher's diet.

We followed his advice. Asher was thrilled. He started eating yogurt and things with wheat and things with soy. And within two weeks, he started vomiting. Then, he stopped eating completely.

After doing a bit of investigating, I learned that this doctor gave lousy advise.

We also visited our pediatric gastroenterologist, who told us that kids with EE don't usually grow out of it, and that he'll probably need to take the steroids forever. Hmmnn..

So...off we go in a quest to find more help. I'll chronicle our adventure, in the hopes that it may help someone else. Right now we're awaiting an appointment at the Eosinophilc Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Yes, indeed, there really is a place like this. We're told that our appointment will probably be in August or September. They only take 3 new families a week and that's when the next appointment will be available.

In the meantime, we've gone back to restricting Asher's diet and he's back to eating again. Phew!

Mothers do know best. We may not have the medical degree, but we know our children.

Hungry Girl

When Simi was first born, he and I would lay in bed together and alternate between sleep and eat (he would do the eating). He'd sleep so gently and peacefully, then start smacking his lips together (like Winnie-the-Pooh. I could just imagine the sweet thought in his brain saying something like, "oh, I'd like a little smackeral of something.") and then turn to me with mouth open, just like a little bird opening his mouth wide open to get a worm from momma bird. And then we'd lay together with him nursing until he was done and fell asleep again. And I'd wish we could lay there - just like that - forever.

Same with newborn Asher. When hungry, he'd open his little bird mouth and bump around looking for his booby. And he'd find it, nurse until satiated, then fall back to sleep again.

Not Leila. Leila has never given me a little bird mouth. Nope. Instead, she rams her entire body into me to wake me up and feed her. And she just keeps ramming until I wake up and shove the breast into her mouth. Sometimes, she doesn't even wait to find the nipple, just starts sucking on a random part (ouch!), until I get the right part in the right place. And then she sleeps soundly, sweetly, again, until it's time to become a battering ram again.

My sweet, delicate little flower...

Easter Week-end

I'd like to tell you about our very special Easter week-end. The boys woke up on Saturday to find an Easter egg hunt awaiting them in the living room. They quickly got dressed and came downstairs and scooped up all the eggs.

Now, you may be wondering why a Jewish/Hindu family would ever even think of celebrating Easter.... Truthfully, I fail to see a connection between the Easter bunny and Jesus. It's really just a fun way to do something special (color eggs, hunt eggs, eat chocolate) and fun. No religion is really involved.

We did tell them the story of Passover, though.

Now, back to our week-end...

Saturday morning, while at breakfast, we were talking about what to do that day. I mentioned that I'd like to go to the zoo, but it's a good two hour drive each way. So we decided to go to the Museum of Life and Science, which is about five minutes from our house. They have a great playground, which we never have a chance to go to because the boys are always busy doing something else there.

When we showed our membership card at the front desk, one of the museum staff told us to be sure to check out the new exhibit - which just opened up that day. Off we go to the playground...which is completely empty. The boys had a blast running up and down the structures.

At the playground is a caboose. Yes, a real train caboose. Raj fondly talks about the days when his parents took him and his sisters to the museum and they played on the caboose. I think it was one of his favorite things at the museum. And now here he is, taking his children to the museum and they're playing on the same structure that he enjoyed as a kid....

And then we decided to go check out the new exhibit...

Dang, this thing isn't just an exhibit, it's like a whole new entity! We walk onto a boardwalk structure to the most beautiful overview of a lake/marsh. The view is breath-taking. In the exhibit are bears, wolves, and lemurs. The enclosures for the animals seem fun and comfortable for the animals and the boys enjoyed watching the bears frolic in the water and jump on the trees. More than anything, they really enjoyed the deck full of interactive activities. They threw sand in the stream bed, swam like tadpoles and like ducks, and watched the Canada Geese sit on his nest. In fact, we couldn't get them away from this deck; they had way too much fun.

It was so much fun, we went back on Sunday for a second visit. And the boys are still asking when they can go back again.

I suspect we'll be there a lot this summer.

Oh, and that Easter basket? Both boys have quickly forgotten about it - and it's still full of candy.

Simi's Drawing

As Raj and I were preparing dinner, Simi was at the easel drawing and Asher was playing with a Rescue Hero toy. Leila was in her bouncy seat, taking in the scene. Simi called me over to ask me how to spell his last name. He wrote his first name on the drawing and wanted to make the name complete. Raj and I looked at the drawing. Simi had drawn a picture of two boobies, complete with the area "where milk comes out" (Simi's words). He had drawn it so well, that it was easy to see what he had drawn. Simi had obviously seen me nurse Leila a few times.

After laughing so hard that tears ran down my face, I was finally able to compose myself enough to help him spell his last name.

Tobor

We now have another new addition to our family: Tobor. Tobor is a robot created from our set of Tinker Toys.

The boys regularly play with the tinker toys and Simi loves to build robots. He loves robots that fly and robots that kill bad guys and robots that crash. OK, really, he just loves to build robots. And after we build them, we take them apart and put them back into the tinker toy container.

Except for Tobor. He's our only creation who has remained "outside the canister". In fact, he now has a personality, a background, and a history. He comes from the continent and/or country that Simi learned about that day, and takes all different types of transportation, based on what Simi is learning.

Welcome, Tobor, to the family.

Fun Toys

The weather cooperated so perfectly this week-end. Both Saturday and Sunday were the perfect spring days. We celebrated them by spending as much time outside as possible. We had gotten a play structure last summer, so we spent a lot of time in the backyard, playing on swings, slides, forts, and sand boxes.

But the most popular activity this week-end by both Simi and Asher was filling up the watering can (or small container) and watering whatever they could find. They entertained themselves for hours with the water.

Glad we got that play structure.

First Shopping Excursion

Looking back on my own childhood, I remember fondly the shopping trips my mum and I used to have. We would drive to the mall on a Friday night, look around at the clothes and accessories, perhaps buy an item or two, have some nice conversations, and drive home.

Hopefully these fond memories are beginning with my own daughter. Leila accompanied me to the mall to shop for "back to work" clothes. I think she loved it.

Laden down with large quantities of clothes to try on, Leila and I strolled into the dressing room. She smiled and laughed as I tried on each outfit. Then, as we left, she began to cry. Is this an indication of a future shopping companion?

Oak Trees

The day before we left Boston, MA after getting Simi's heart fixed, the boys picked up acorns in the park across the street from our apartment. According to Simi, it was one of his favorite activities of the trip. He loved it so much that he continued to pick up acorns once we returned home.

One of our friends suggested we plant the acorns as a remembrance of the trip/experience. We loved the idea and Raj searched the Internet to find instructions on how to get them to grow.

The Simi and Asher helped us plant the acorns in soil, and we waited...

We now have more than five little oak trees growing in our window box. Lovely reminders of this time of rebirth.