Popcorn Please!

Zeke loves PopCoRn! Whenever he wants popcorn he goes to the cupboard and grabs the popcorn bowl and signs popcorn. This time when he wanted popcorn he did this cute thing where he moved his entire upper body side to side while signing popcorn. It was so cute. After he gets the bowl he goes to the pantry and waits for me to grab a bag of popcorn and after I put it into the microwave he sits on the floor with the bowl between his legs signing popcorn with his entire body moving. He is such a smart little guy.

Lately he has been putting 2 signs together which is very impressive for a 16 month old. He saw his goldfish crackers and signed fish then cracker. He also does please and thank you and more after some words. It is darling and I just love how he tries to figure out how to use his little hands. It is amazing to me. If I teach him a sign he will usually try and do it right away.

Zeke's new favorite thing to do is watch the movie Bolt. He will sit with a bowl of cereal and just eat and watch the movie. When he gets activated with his implant it will be interesting to see if he still likes watching it. He might like it even more then he does now. In 2 weeks he will have sound! We are so excited but so nervous to how he will react to it. I have heard of many kids throwing tantrums, shaking because they were scared and some just very silent. It will be interesting to watch our baby boy hear for the first time.

Zeke also has a fun little game that he loves to play. I will hide is binky or another object and sign where and binky. He loves looking for it. Now when I go to get him in the morning he will hide his binky under his blanket in the crib and sign where and binky. It is so adorable. One day I was driving to my mom's and we usually see horses on our way and I always sign horse and point to them so Zeke will see them. This one day he saw the horses first and he signed horse and then where. He was asking me if I knew where the horses were!

Recovery!

I can't believe it has been over a week since surgery! Zeke is doing excellent. He is back to his normal funny, busy self. I have been so paranoid that he would hit his head because he is so busy and is such a little dare devil. He is constantly climbing on the chairs to get onto the table and other dangerous things like walking down the stairs. He thinks he is a big boy and can just walk down the stairs without holding on and he actually did take a tumble down 1 stair and hit his head a little, but he is fine, thank goodness. I am constantly chasing him around because I don't want him to get hurt. I am just so grateful that the recovery has been so fast and that he is doing well!

These pictures were actually taken before surgery, but I thought they were cute. I have these crocheted flowers that I got at Ikea that I was going to embellish a pillow or something with. Zeke thinks that they are hats and whenever he sees them he puts them on like a hat. He thinks it is so funny and he concentrates very hard to try and put them all on at the same time.

Surgery

Zeke had his surgery on Friday. He was scheduled to be at the hospital at 1:30 p.m. and into surgery by 2:00. We got a call that morning and they told us that the Dr. was behind schedule and we needed to be there at 2:30 instead. Zeke wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight except for apple juice, water or pedialyte until 1:00 p.m. Poor little guy was starving. We got to the hospital around 2:15 checked in and waited until the nurse called us back. Finally around 2:45 the nurse called us back checked Zeke's vitals and gave him a gown to change into. She said surgery was scheduled for 3:00. We went into the 2nd pre-op waiting room where they had a lot of toys for the kids to play with. We waited in there for 2 hours because the Dr. was so far behind. Zeke was such a little trooper. He only complained and whined a few times when he saw my diaper bag and he would sign milk. We pushed him around in the hall in the little cars for a little while to try and pass time. At 5:00 PM the anesthesiologist came to get us and walk us down the hall to the doors where we would say our goodbyes and give hugs and kisses. Zeke went with no problem to the stranger. Brandon and I went to eat after they took Zeke. I was starving because I pretty much fasted along with Zeke because at home if he saw me with food he got pretty upset and wanted it. I don't think I have ever shoved food down my face as fast as I did. I was starving and I was an emotional wreck! In the waiting room we watched America's Funniest Home Videos which helped the time to fly by.

Around 7:00 I was reunited with my sweet little man. He had just woken up to strangers and was sitting in his crib crying. When I got there he stopped crying and reached his arms to me. He quickly fell asleep in my arms. He pretty much slept for the rest of the night, waking up for pain medicine. We had to stay over night in the hospital because he is under 2. They brought in a bed for us to sleep on which was only big enough for 1 person to sleep on so Brandon let me. He slept in the uncomfortable hospital beds that pull out to a bed. I slept so well, I think because I was so exhausted emotionally and physically. In the morning the Dr. checked on Zeke and said he was doing great. Zeke just had to keep some food in his stomach since he hadn't eaten anything and the anesthesia makes him nauseous. He drank 9 oz. of milk in like 5 minutes. He kept it down, but we had to wait for the Resident to bring Zeke's Rx since the surgeon forgot to give them to us at the pre-op apointment.
When we got home Zeke went straight upstairs to our bedroom and kept signing that he wanted to watch signing time. I made some pancakes, Strawberries and String cheese for Zeke to eat and he was so happy to eat it. He was starving for food and not just liquid or milk. While he ate he had his eyes glued on the computer watching signing time. He slept a lot of the rest of the day and slept really well that night. He has been really good not to try and pull off the tape, but he loves to stick his fingers in his ears. Because of the tubes in his ears they drain blood so we try to keep a cotton ball in his ear but he always pulls it out.

I am so grateful for all of the prayers and fasting for my Zeke and I am grateful everything went so well! Thank you everyone. Zeke will be activated on July 8 and July 9! We are so excited for him to hear. It will be quite the adventure.