Healthy Heart

Malcolm had his heart checked out this week. He had an ECG and echo (ultrasound of the heart) and then we talked to his cardiologist. Everything is fine. The pressure on one side of his heart is still somewhat higher than normal but not high enough to be a concern (unless the heart muscle starts to show signs of degrading) so no further intervention is required. He still has a small VSD and ASD - the VSD causes an audible murmur but these small holes are not expected to cause any problems. Malcolm will be seen again in one year. We expect that he will be checked out annually by a cardiologist throughout childhood and possibly for the rest of his life (because of the PDA they repaired in his heart and because of possible long term side effects from the chemo). But it seems like for all the jargon etc the bottom line is that he has a very healthy heart that is expected to stay healthy. It was a good news day.

Mary Ellen

Family Fun Day

Saturday was the annual Family Fun Day put on on by the boys' daycare, Allegro. They provide live entertainment, A Pig's Jig, which as you can see was very entertaining for Malcolm (they let him keep the tambourine!). It is held at Dingle Park (aka Sir Sandford Fleming Park - not sure why it is known by two names but it really confused us the first year we were here...). There is a hotdog BBQ and parents bring salads and desserts - this year's spread of food was great. The main event is a fundraiser run - the kids all do a loop around the park. Donovan ran the whole way and was one of the first to cross the finish line. Malcolm and Daddy were a team and kept pace with a couple of Malcolm's little friends. All the kids got medals and prizes. The rain held off and everyone had a good time.

Happy Father's Day to all you great dads out there,

Mary Ellen

Pirates

Donovan had a special day today. He got to dress up like a pirate with a friend and several other little boys, board a pirate ship and have a water fight with pirates on another ship! It is a fundraiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Donovan was on the Mar II, the one that looks like a pirate ship in the first photo. The other ship is Theodore Tugboat. Malcolm got to watch with Mommy from shore and had a really fun time at the playground afterwards. It was a great event.

Malcolm's OT visited him at daycare on Friday and thought he was doing really well. He is being followed by OT every few months but there are no concerns with his fine motor skills at present as they are developing really well in tandem with his gross motor skills. Donovan had an orientation session at Sir Charles Tupper School which he will be attending this fall. They do not call the first year "kindergarten" out here - it is referred to as "Primary". So he will be in grade Primary come September. He is really looking forward to it.

Mary Ellen

Developmental Update

Malcolm's physical therapist and early interventionist visited him at daycare last week. They both feel he is doing really well. Here is a sample of what his P/T said:

We had a great visit with Malcolm at daycare this past week and I think he loved having us there. He is doing great - he transitions well between activities, is engaged and sits quietly in circle time, is using signs and making sounds - he is such a delightful little guy!

We talked about how to structure long walks with the class -We don't need to put an expectation of how long he should walk as every day will be different and depends on any number of things. I feel that starting off in the stroller or walking until he has had enough is reasonable right now. This means that when the class has reached their destination (especially for outdoor play), Malcolm will have plenty of energy for navigating more challenging surfaces and situations to help him with development of those higher level balance skills. On the return walk, allow him to have a ride in the stroller if he requests it and then let him walk after a rest with the rest of the class.

It is great to see Malcolm gradually getting steadier on his feet. He is trying very hard to jump and is determined to run. He loves playing with balls and going to the playground. He had a lot of fun tonight playing on the sidelines while his big brother played soccer.

Malcolm had speech therapy yesterday. He is making good progress with his signs and vocalizing (babbling) a bit more. His speech therapist intends to visit him at daycare later this month and will see him again in July. In September, she wants to see him a bit more often, every 2-3 weeks, which is fantastic.

Mary Ellen