the eric update - day 545: odin's epicurean adventures! cranberry orange muffins!

and i guess while we're waiting for the venison summer sausage to cure, it's as good at time as any to let odin have his first taste of homemade cranberry orange muffins! the recipe is from the new england cranberry company and it's a great recipe if you don't like your muffins too sweet.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of milk (a higher fat content will make muffins more moist)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.

Combine dry ingredients, orange peel and cranberries. Whisk together milk, egg and oil and slowly add to flour mixture until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.

the eric update - day 544: odin's epicurean adventures! venison summer sausage.

since i'm not a buckless yooper we have lots of opportunities for new and interesting wild game epicurean adventures for odin. first off, we thought we'd try a venison summer sausage recipe that's quickly become a family favorite. it takes three days to cure properly so we haven't had a chance to taste it, but we can smell it; if you've ever smelled raw venison, you'll know what i'm talking about :-)

10 lbs venison burger
10 tsp curing salt / tender quick by morton
5 tsp mustard seed
7 tsp cracked peppercorn
7 tsp garlic salt
4 tsp hickory smoke salt by mccormick
7 tsp seasoning salt

in a large container, combine venison with all the above spices. knead for 3 days, on the 3rd night, shape into small loaves.

place on baking sheets in a 180 degree oven for 12-14 hours. let them cool and wrap in wax paper and then tin foil.

the eric update - day 544: odin's pidgin

odin has been working on his pidgin baby sign language and i don't know if it's a coincidence, but the more signs he learns the more he also tries to sound out words which is a big reason why he wasn't deemed delayed in his language at this previous assessment.

this is his sign for all done/finished - as in, "i'm all done with my snack!" this is his most used sign, second only to "more". and if he really, really wants more of whatever you might have, perhaps a chocolate chip cookie, he'll vigorously sign please with both hands rubbing his belly in circular motions.

he's even sporadically signing bed when he's tired. when he uses the sign and then we ask him if he'd like to go to bed, he runs for his bedroom door!

it really is amazing how much you can communicate with just a handful [ sic ] of signs and i think we're all a little happier with less communication confusion.

the eric update - day 542: on becoming a Grazing Toddler

during odin's developmental assessment in addition to being chastized for letting odin drink from and walk around with a bottle we were also gently chided when it was discovered that we let odin eat meals while not in his highchair. the mantra seemed to be that as a parent you determine where, when and what a child will eat and they determine how much they want. and grazing away from the table is not something to be encouraged since it can lead to endless snacking and poor eating habits.

but our increasingly on-the-go toddler seems less and less interested in being constrained in his highchair and it seems like it can't be that detrimental as long as you're providing healthy eating options.

although the developmental specialist was adament about the issue, opinions are split at babycenter on the topic and another site encourages grazing as a healthy habit as does dr. sears.

so, is grazing away from the table A Good Thing, or not?

the eric update - day 540: the leapfrog generation?

even before christmas, odin was already quite familiar with leapfrog products and has had endless hours of fun with his fridge phonics set and his little touch leappad. and if today is any indication he'll be having endless hours of fun with several new toys from the prolific educational toy maker, including this new leapstart learning table that was given to him by a very nice grandmother :-)

so many leapfrog toys were unwrapped by so many family members that a few commented that we should collectively purchase some stock in the company.

and i guess we're not alone according to a recent profile of the company, leapfrog's wild rid, in wired magazine. apparently sales of just the leappad family of products have been nothing short of astonishing:

"Winner of Toy of the Year from the Toy Manufacturers of America, it was the best-selling toy in the US in 2001 and 2002, and was knocked from the top spot in 2003 only by the books and cartridges sold separately for the device. Powered by the LeapPad and its accessories, LeapFrog's sales soared from $160 million in 2000 to $680 million in 2003. It was the fastest-growing toy company in history."

my only gripe with the otherwise excellent series of products is that they seem to re-use the same voice files across products so you end up hearing a lot of repetition throughout the day if your child plays repeatedly with two or three of the toys. but on the other hand, i guess repetition is good for learning, so as long as they continue to get the odin seal-of-approval, i'll grin and bear it.

the eric update - day 539: christmas!

maybe christmas is more of a "video" holiday. or maybe i need to work on my skills at capturing candids during the chaos. in any case, here are just a few moments from christmas 2005. as is almost always the case, odin was a super trooper even without his afternoon. and although he doesn't really understand the ritual of opening presents, he does understand having a great day with cousins, especially when there are new toys involved!

the eric update - day 538: 'twas the night before christmas!

we're trying to start a family tradition of reading odin a new, special book each christmas eve. last year, appropriately enough, he heard the night before christmas and this year we thought we'd go with something more modern with dream snow by eric carle.

in the past, odin hasn't really seemed interested in "pointing" which might make people happy who think it's rude to point, but it's a nice way to judge that an infant is able to engage in shared experiences; in fact, not engaging in "pro-declarative" pointing by 18 months is one of the early signs of autism.

so it's nice to see odin using his pointing finger much more frequently :-)

in any case, from odin and us, happy festivus, hanukkah , christmas, kwanzaa or whatever else you might be into celebrating!

the eric update - day 537: the bestest christmas gift, ever!

assessments. assessments. and more assessments. because of the micropreemie odds of developing "invisible disabilities" there are a seemingly endless number of developmental evaluations scheduled for as long as people might think there's a risk for missing a problem that might best be addressed earlier rather than later.

it seems like a only yesterday that odin had his prior assessment which is performed by a case worker from a county "early intervention" program that provides services services for children who are developmentally delayed, or at risk of developing delays. but the county is not the only party interested in odin's well-being ( presumably to help reduce the costs of expensive "special needs" services when he gets older ) - the neonatal intensive care unit also likes to keep track of odin's progress so they have their separate assessment program which has the added benefit ( for them ) of tracking outcomes.

not surprisingly the nicu assessments are a little more nerve-wracking because they're performed in a colder ( atmospherically speaking ) clinical environment, which odin associates with painful shots and immediatly puts him in a mood that might be characterized as uncooperative since his experience tells him that at any moment two people are going to come in and hold him down and poke him in the leg.

regardless, we walked into the assessment fairly positive that we'd see results similar to those found during his early intervention assessment - namely that when you adjust his age to 14 months that he's probably about on track in gross and fine motor skills, problem solving and socialization, but probably just a bit "behind" in language.

but after answering all their questions and watching him and poking and prodding the specialist concluded that not only is he not behind in any areas when compared to his age-adjusted peers - she thought he was all "caught up" to kids his actual age!

yes, that's right, when looking across all the measured skills - including language - in her professional opinion odin is officially and finally a boy like any other, which is quite a big milestone for him ( and us ) because the professionals will almost always "adjust" the age of a 25 weeker for at least the first two years.

so i guess in a funny way it makes sense that while i was trying to capture a shot of him before his assessment in the exam room, i just about gave up on the mission impossible. he's so big and fast that it's proving increasingly difficult to capture him in enclosed quarters without cutting off his head and feet. he really is just like any other rambunctious, roving toddler and we couldn't ask for any better christmas gift.

oh, and if anyone is wondering, we were chastized for letting him walk around with a bottle ( hopefully it won't go down on permanently on the "parents" section of the assessment ). yes, we know it's bad for the teeth and we don't usually let him, but he slept in and didn't have time for breakfast so cut him some slack. that said, i also didn't know the current recommendation is that a child should be 100% bottle-free by a year. so we're going to have to work on that ( he self-weened from "the font" months ago ).

i must admit that i faced a bit of a conundrum with this post because while many people enjoy following along with odin's stupendous progess, lots of other people find that i have a knack for providing educational information that they might not otherwise had known. i added the following bit of additional information that i had originally deleted because i thought it might seem overly cynical ( or maybe just overly skeptical ). but in retrospect i think some people might find it informative. i can't stress strongly enough that we have no evidence that anyone performing odin's assessments is biasing the outcome in any way and they all seem very professional.

while we're fantastically happy with the great assessment, i almost feel remiss to not add that there is some debate about the differing incentives of each of the groups performing the assessments. some people believe that the county early intervention programs have a vested interest providing "negative" conclusions because it helps them when it comes time to apply for funding from the state - i.e. they get more money if they have children in need of their services ( and somewhat relatedly, i was surprised to learn that some states are having a difficult time sustaining funding for their EI programs in part because their is evidence from long term research that early intervention basically has no effect on cognitive and academic skills of very low birth weight ( < 2000 grams ) infants. )

but still others claim that the nicu has an interest in providing overly "positive" assessments because it helps them bolster their outcomes claims - i.e. they get more beds filled if they can "prove" that their outcomes are as good or better than other competing nicus.

is the difference between the assessments evidence of the differing incentives? who knows, but it's holiday season so we'll choose to accentuate the positive :-)

the eric update - day 535: advanced stairmastery!

while i was just commenting on odin's rapidly developing walking skills, it's almost easy to overlook just how quickly strength and balance are improving as well.

is seems like just yesterday that he a was teetering toddler and now he's so confident in his skills that he seriously thinks he might have a shot at pulling his walker wagon up the stairs!

he couldn't quite manage it this time but it wasn't for lack of trying and i'm sure it won't be long before he'll be lugging it to the top and trying to ride back down.

a caffeine allergy?

i've begun to suspect recently that i might be allergic to caffeine. at first i thought the asthmatic-ish response that i could repeatedly self induce it might be specific to coffee but it seems that caffeinated tea and soft drinks also produce the effect, albeit in milder form.

interestingly ( at least to me ), i only noticed it after once again attempting to go wheat-free to alleviate the effects of my presumed wheat allergy. what's amusing is that as i've previously written i've always been a little suspect of people who claim to be allergic to foods:

"i've always binned food allergies and intolerances in roughly the same category as sick building syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome. i won't deny your right to claim that you might suffer from these broadly defined and difficult to prove maladies, but i was quiet sure i'd never suffer from them and was always a little suspicious of people who claimed to fall victim to them."

but it's hard for me to deny that if i don't eat wheat and cut down on the caffeine i don't have to take supplemental allergy medicines and i can breath much easier.

and beyond all that, why-oh-why does it need to be wheat and caffeine, which were two staples of my diet? maybe next i can develop a response to eggs and nuts and make it effectively impossible for me to eat anything.

i suspect that the conspiratorial homunculus has somehow figured out how to confound me once again.

the eric update - day 533: santa's little helper.

we were a little hesitant to go on a family outing to celebrate christmas consumerism not because kris and i have vastly different and conflicting shopping styles - which is, in fact, true - but rather because we weren't sure how odin would tolerate the long lines and the noisy, boisterous atmosphere at a local shopping mall.

but much to our surprise, after becoming quickly annoyed with being constrained in the stroller, instead of attempting to dodge this way and that while we shopped, he instead took it upon himself to help us push his stroller around and was generally oblivious to all the people stopping to smile as nothing it seemed could keep him from his appointed task.

needless to say, his walking skills have been rapidly developing in the past few months with most of the progess happening quickly after thanksgiving. it's nice that he's so focused on being a Little Helper because i think sooner rather than later he'll be able to outrun us :-)

wings of desire

in our earliest days in the nicu a family member gave us this christmas ornament well before we had completely decided on odin's nickname.

it was always falling off his radiant warming bed, which is how it acquired all the cracks that you can see if you look closely, and led to "fallen angel" and "the angel fell down on the job" jokes from the nicu staff. i was always quite sure that it'd get lost in the daily chaos, since it was so small and always falling on the floor.

but it never was lost in shuffle and in a strange way the battered angel always makes me smile a sad, slightly sentimental smile and for reasons that i can't quite articulate makes me think of wings of desire and its "Song of Childhood ".

the eric update - day 531: the morning commute.

the eric update - day 530: hooked on fridge phonics.

odin has had his fridge phonics set for quite some time, but it has only recently become one of his favorite toys; with his recently mastered simple shape sorting he's now adept at puting the letters in the toy with the correct orientation which initiates a song that teaches letter names and letter sounds. there's also a little red button below the letter that plays the alphabet song, which never fails to get get odin to dance a little jig.

although i know the toy is popular with "civilian" parents, it's particularly popular with (micro)preemie parents whose children often have speech delays of some sort or another. in fact, when i looked for amazon reviews of the product, the very first one that i currently see is written by a micropreemie parent and is entitled Great for Speech-Delayed kids!. which is appropriate because other than his fondness for "no!" he still isn't saying anymore words than he was during his developmental assessment. which while the issue is not a dire concern, it is notable that during our pediatrician visit for rsv shots he gave us a "furrowed brow" look when we replied that odin wasn't speaking more words.

but he does love the phonics. especially the letter "M", which is probably and not surprisingly because it's the first letter of mauja and mamma.

in addition to the interest in phonics, we are having some success with teaching him baby signs which is quickly becoming an invaluable communication skill.

more on that when i can actually catch him signing when i also have the camera at hand :-)

( not our ) little man - the documentary

i just learned of a film entitled "little man" that documents the nicu rollercoaster of the surrogate child of filmaker nicole conn. nicholas was born 100 days early ( odin was born about 105 days ) and weighed about a pound.

it's won a bunch of awards and the reviews look mostly positive. but i'm not so sure i'd be up for seeing it just yet since most of the reviews seem to describe it as "raw", "devastating" and "challenging".

maybe it'd be a good recommendation for friends and family of (micro)preemie parents who don't fully appreciate why they might suffer from post traumatic stress disorder :-)

the eric update - day 528: odin's epicurean adventures! beef and barley soup.

that's right - it's time for another of odin's epicurean adventures!

this time we decided to make homemade beef and barley soup. the base is the same as bone soup, except after you take out the bones you add beef, cooked barley and carrots.

if you're a card carrying carnivore, it's really, really tasty.

the proof that mamma makes the best soup in The Entire Universe? odin devoured it.

you will perhaps note he is skillfully wielding a Big Boy spoon, which is yet another of his new talents.

of course, being the genius that he is, odin knows that it's wise to blow on a bowl of soup fresh out of the pot before taking the first bite.

the eric update - day 528: rsv shots are officially No Fun when you pack on the pounds.

while we were quite happy to have odin approved for shots for another rsv season i can't say he's very happy about receiving the monthly shots. instead of casually tolerating the pediatrician's office each visit, he now apparently remembers quite vividly what is going to happen and expresses his unhappiness as soon as he enters The Room.

adding insult to injury, since he's gaining about a pound a month ( whooohooo - 24 pounds/10.9 kilos! 75 percentile on the age-adjusted very low birth weight charts! ) the volume of the subcutaneous bolus is now so large that he must have two shots. the nurses subscribe to the theory that it's best to get the deed done quickly by giving him both shots at the same time - one in each leg.

no sir, odin does not like to be held down against his will, especially when it's by two strangers who are going to stick him in his leg.

at least he doesn't seem to hold a grudge against us for allowing him to be put into such a predicament. yet.

the eric update - day 527: color picker!

i think we might be in the midst of the burst in cognitive capabilities that we've heard can occur between 15 and 18 month, which i guess makes sense since odin is 17 months "actual" and 14 months "adjusted".

quite recently we've noticed that - in addition to honing his Food Finding Heuristic, learnin' lefty loosey, righty tighty and practicing simple shape sorting - he's also getting quite accurate at picking objects out by their color!

so, although he still seems unmotivated to practice his verbal skills and we're not sure at what distance he'd still be able to see the objects - at least we know he's right on track with identifying colors which can be expected by around 18 months :-)

the eric update - day 526: evidence of an advanced Food Finding Heuristic?

certainly there's little doubt that we humans are very adept at using pattern recognition to create rules as we attempt to create order out of chaos, enabling what some refer to as rapid cognition.

since odin doesn't need to concern himself with using his rapidly advancing cognitive abilities for basic survival, he apparently enjoys using his pattern recognition powers to hone his Food Finding Heuristic.

even though we try not to eat much "processed" foods ( or at least we try not to give him much of the processed foods that we oh so occasionally have around :-) ) that hasn't stopped odin from getting very good at picking through new grocery bags to find The Good Stuff; even if he's never had the food in question, such as these fig newman cookies - he is increasingly confident in his judgement that whatever is inside must be absolutely positively super tasty.

the eric update - day 525: learnin' lefty loosey, righty tighty.

when he's not doing simple shape sorting and trying to put one thing into another, odin has been spending a great deal of time mastering the complexities of putting on and taking of lids; i think he may only be days away from stumbling upon the "lefty loosey, righty tighty" rule, which is quite a complex concept to grok.

but sure enough, he can now spot caps and lids of all shapes and sizes - from pop bottles to jugs of laundry detergent - and if he can't quite untwist the top, he'll bring it to us and plead for us to give him a hand untwisting it so he can gingerly attempt to screw if back on as he attempts to figure out why it doesn't stay on after one applies an equal number of twists in either direction.

holy crap. has the long rumored site redesign finally arrived?

i'm toying with a new site design that's been sitting on my computer for, well, a loooooong time. if anything appears broken you might want to try to force your browser to reload the page.

or maybe something really is broken since i've only tested the design on an ibook with firefox and safari. i mean, does anyone really use windows and internet explorer anymore :-)

more seriously, it was about time to more more accurately reflect the fact that ex machina has become a space to chronicle odin's adventures and i tried to make it a little more hospitable for all the new visitors who find the site by googling for information on prematurity and can't figure out how to access the archives. i'm not sure i've made things better or worse with the "about" blurb in the sidebar, so suggestions on wordsmithing and content/structure changes are welcome.

the eric update - day 522: preemie play group! and a contextually appropriate sign!

after struggling with the Continuum of Cautiousness during cold and flu season, some may remember that we decided after his previous developmental assessment to schedule odin in a play group sponsored by our "early on" organization ( which also performs his assessments ). although the group is not exclusively for preemie parents, it appears that all most of the attendees are (micro)preemies and their parents.

while we initially had some reservations about exposing odin to the unwashed masses - even though he's getting rsv shots - we couldn't be happier with the group. there's usually only one or two other preemie kids in attendence with 4 or 5 case workers. thankfully, all the parents and staff are conscientious about preventing the spread of germs.

we've gone every thursday for the past three weeks and after some initial typical shyness, it's fun to watch odin gain confidence in playing with people who aren't mamma and pops! he loves impressing everyone with his walking skills, climbing in and out of the pool filled with lots of balls, pushing his preemie play buddie ( 27 weeker, 9 months actual ) around on a swing and - maybe most funnest of all - playing in another pool filled with beans. i think there's some theory or another about the sensory experience of a pool filled with dried legumes, or maybe it's just a whole lot of fun.

and today, when it was time to go and odin saw everyone packing up, everyone was very happily surprised when he started signing "all done/finished" and started walking for the door! ( i'll write more on our experiments with baby signing, but suffice to say that he's picking it up very quickly. )

this group is mostly unstructured play, but in january i think we'll enroll him in a class run by the same organization that is specifically for preemie kids that are walking which provides a little structure along with the fun.

the eric update - day 521: a possible contender for the holiday card that we swear will be in the mail before march.

unfortunately you can't experience the best part - hearing him look at the lights and utter "ooooooh" and "ahhhhh" with very earnest delight.

the eric update - day 521: 1/30th of a second before falling face first into the snow.

so, i had the bright idea that i might be able to capture a photo for the holiday card that i swear we're going to get in the mail before march by going outside for a walk in the fresh snow in his ubercute sherpa/fleece "bunting" ( a.k.a. The Bear Suit ).

except i failed to fully appeciate while taking the picture that if you look close you can see that his arms are not actually in their the sleeves. which makes it challenging to keep one's balance.

and impossible to use one's hands to cushion the falls when one trips and tumbles face first into the snow.

sigh. and no, it hasn't escaped my attention that you can still see his recent bathtime bruise which also happened on my watch.

the eric update - odins wishlist, revisited. again.

we've added a few new items to odin's christmas wishlist ( direct link here ) because a few people asked for additional recommendations for gifts after they discovered that many of items were snapped up so quickly.

so if were wanted to get him something other than a book or cd, go take a peak at the new stuff and don't procrastinate this time :-)

the eric update - odin's library

for kelli amanda and others who were wondering what was in odin's library collection if they decided to stray from the suggestions in odin's christmas wishlist.

of course, he's read many more books from the library, but these are the ones that have made it into his collection.

i'll try to find the time to list all the titles, but i think if you look at the large, original image you should be able to read them all.

the eric update - day 519: getting past no.

the Incredible Interestingness of the laptop power supply has provided us with many opportunities to practice the meaning of the word "no" and it's been quite obvious for awhile that he understands the general intent of the word to mean approximately "please don't do whatever it is that you're doing at the moment"; of course, like all children, sometimes he complies and sometimes he just pretends to ignore you.

but today while we were engaged in yet another lesson about not pulling the laptop power plug forcefully out of the computer, after i firmly stated, "no, odin.", he proceeded to pull it out anyway and then turned towards me and smiled a big smile as he firmly said, "no." before attempting to chew off the end of the plug.

while we're happy to see that he's developing his language skills, we fairly certain that we're quickly going to have to develop a strategy for getting past no, since we suspect that this probably not his last experiment with actively disobeying a request from mamma and pops.

as always, suggestions are appreciated!

the eric update - day 518: egads, almost occular ecchymosis!

o.k. sure. a little ecchymosis or bruising is almost certainly guaranteed as toddlers begin to explore their surroundings and of course, odin has already had his share of Really Big Ouchies.

but it's still difficult to not feel really, really bad when your the one giving your child a bath, enjoying the moment as he walks around the tub and splishes and splashes and giggles and laughs only to watch in horror as he slips and falls head-first into the bathtub water spout resulting in a solid, loud "thud" and a cry that's starts with long, silent attempt to catch one's breath.

after i determined that he hadn't lost any teeth or had a gaping gash in his head, i thought is was a certainty that he'd at least have a black eye that would be perfectly timed for the all the holiday season photo opportunities.

but it appears that he really only ended up with a slight bruise under his eye which, although it looks less worse in a photograph than "real life", is really not nearly as bad as the other bruises i've perpetrated.

kris doesn't mention it, but i suspect that she secretly is keeping track of the fact that no bruising has yet occurred on her watch :-)

the fourth "born on the fourth of july"?

having a long-time blog with a respectable pagerank means that one can often find people ending up at your site intending to find something completely different.

it's funny to think how long ago it seems that i was engaging in long "arguments" about whether or not i was actually clogging up the search the results for galaxie 500 window crank.

for quite some time, i've noticed that i get a non-trivial amount of traffic from people searching for information on thge movie "born on the fourth of july" and being completely surprised to find that out of 15.5 million results, google thinks my account of odin's birth - which i also titled born on the fourth of july - is the 11th most authoritative link for the search terms ( if you search with quotes then it actually breaks into the top ten ).

it's all pretty silly, but i secretly hope that it'll make it to the number one spot.

or at least the fourth.

the postcard project: charlotte, north carolina.

so you might think that because i haven't uploaded any new postcard project postcards in over a month that it might be because there aren't anymore postcards. it's a reasonable assumption, but it clearly underestimates my powers of procrastination.

and proving that the cards are no longer in any semblance of any particular order, i present "exhibit a" from odin's aunt candy ( and here ) and family; from the date on the postmark i'd guess that it was probably one of the first cards we received in the nicu.

the card is from candy's adopted hometown of charlotte, north carolina which we hear is lovely and someday we'll probably give in to the persistent pressure to pay odin's aunt, uncle and cousins a visit :-)

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - odins wishlist, revisited.

wow! in about 24 hours almost half of the items on odin's 2005 christmas wishlist have already been purchased!

unfortunately, it appears that a couple of the items have been purchased more than once. i've never used amazon wishlists before so i'm not quite sure how it happened. by default, when you click on his christmas wishlist link you should only see unpurchased products but double check by looking at the "selector" right above the listing of products ( you can see the selector here ).

also, before you purchase anything please be sure to refresh the page before adding anything to your shopping cart. i'm guessing that in the time people were browsing the selections, other people were already buying the items.

if you happened to buy one of the multiple gifts and it's already shipping or it can't be undone, don't fret - we appreciate your generosity and will give the extras away to local organizations such as "toys for tots" who provide toys for kids who might otherwise not find any presents under the christmas tree.

the eric update - day 515: a budding musical savant?