rubenpants.com - a journey…

This is an update that’s been almost a week in the making, and now that I’m sitting at my little terminal, I find I actually have fairly little to say. In a word, our trip was AWESOME. Lynn and Dave made us feel completely at home. And Tay was, in a word, recovered. Not “approximately normal with just a few lingering issues” recovered, but completely recovered. Über-recovered, in fact. He’s a happy, healthy, precocious little boy who’s incredibly charming (especially when he wants something from you :-) It was an unbelievable pleasure to get to know him, and gave us more hope for the future than a thousand empty words from well-wishers.

In addition to being a gracious hostess, Lynn was a treasure trove of information, and the ability to pick her brain for two solid weeks (both for intervention ideas and recipes & food brands) helped us immeasurably. She and her family made the prospect of returning to Michigan for the next 2.5 months a profoundly depressing thought. Lynn, can we come back and live with you instead?

Sonoma itself is a wonderful place to be, especially if you’re a foody. Not a single chain restaurant to be found anywhere. One night, Lynn was kind enough to watch over Rubén’s sleeping form so that María José and I could hit the town. We had a lovely meal at the Girl and the Fig. And the twice weekly farmer’s market about 30 minutes outside town was a treat (we went three times in two weeks). We had overcast skies and rain much of the time, but the beginning and end of the trip was marked with gorgeous weather. On the final day, Rubén had the opportunity to bathe outside. Not bad for the beginning of March.

We had two visits with a local naturopath with whom we had previously consulted long-distance. He was a kind gentleman who doted on my son and spent considerable time with us discussing his intervention. He (& Lynn!) finally convinced me that my initial assertion regarding Rubén not being a “gut kid” was entirely false, and that we needed to get MUCH more aggressive with the probiotics. We have done so. So all you candida and klebsella pneumoniae currently taking up residence in my son’s gut, beware; I’ve got your number.

One day, we hit a local attraction called Train Town, which sports a miniature train taking its mostly miniature travellers on a trek through the woods, stopping off briefly at a little petting zoo. It also offers rides on an old carousel and an amusement park style airplane ride, where two children (say, for example, Tay and Rubén) sit in each little plane, which goes around similar to a carousel. There’s a little joystick in each plane where the children can manipulate their planes up and down. Tay had our childrens’ plane aloft the entire time. Rubén was constantly checking back on us. Not as if to say, “I’m scared and need your reassurance,” but rather as if to say, “Hey guys! Look at me! I’m flying!” It was one of the biggest highs of our trip.

I could go on and on about how great it was, despite Rubén’s generally disagreeable mood throughout the first half of the trip (which, strangely enough, began to dissipate when we ramped up the probiotics). I’ve attached some pics of the trip, with captions. Click on the picture to the right to get in on all the fun.

Our little boy, sleeping in a big boy bed for the very first time.	Another change in routine during the Sonoma trip (which we've kept up even after our return) was an uptick in the duration, frequency, and salt content of our Epsom salt baths. Devil in, angel out...
Rubén watched Tay tossing pebbles into this fountain just outside a lovely restaurant in Napa, and thought that it would be cool to follow suit. Weird. He doesn't imitate US that readily...	Another remarkable first. Rubén had formerly only been able to handle being in a 'carriage-style' swing, as the idea of actually holding on to the ropes (or chains) seemed to elude him. But this time, he finally got it. My little boy, swinging on a big boy swing for the very first time...
Enjoying the slide with Mamá.	Rubén ascending the stairs to the slide. He seems to be growing stronger. I think the L-Carnitine we have him on is doing something...
We had a blast at this park, but the kid was a tad tuckered by the end.	No, the wine glass isn't his. We went a little overboard on his carb count this trip, and one side-effect of getting so many treats is that he craves them more. He's reaching for the bread in this shot. Even though he's had no bread for an entire year, he appears to remember liking it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 13th, 2005 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Milestone (yea!), Pics!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.