December

We apologize for going so long without a post. One reason is that we've been busy with Christmas in general and the Loki Sky Holiday (NICU) Gift Drive specifically. It is a huge success. We have received over 140 items, 8 Whole Foods gift certificates (thanks to our friend Pia's blog), 5 gift certificates for healing massages (thank you Anastasia) and almost $1000 in cash. Each family will get 2 or 3 gifts, and the economically neediest few families will get the cash as gift cards of $100 each. We will hand them out on Thursday, which is Christmas Eve day. Of course we will take some pictures and update the blog. Many thanks to all participants, you made this a huge success.

Another reason is that Loki is stable. The other night I described Loki as having stable health but being labor intensive. We have a system of bandages and tape for keeping the tube in. His reflux and overnight pains come and go, and we experiment with our feeding patterns a bit. We are finding the limits of what he can take in, and it is not enough. He is growing, but slowly. A fundoplication surgery may be considered if his reflux does not subside in a few months, but this has not been discussed seriously yet.

The good news is that Loki has been developing well, particularly his receptive language. We ask "Where's the ____?" and Loki can point out perhaps 15 things, most of them in both English and Dutch. He can stick out his tongue, touch our noses and offer his pacifier on request. Finally, Loki will go get items on request such as his bird, duck and sometimes ball. This learning is a very fun and rewarding process to watch.

This week, he is fascinated by lamps. When we hold him, he points to and wants to be held next to any lamp. He likes to touch them, and gets a big kick out of watching them be turned off and on.

Also this week, we got a long-term visitor. Rebecca is the 18-year-old daughter of one of Mom's friends from high school. Thus Mom has really known her from day 1. Rebecca will stay here for about ten weeks, helping out a little with Loki. She's already been of great assistance, freeing some of mom's time to work on the gift drive

Loki's condition is reliable enough that we had our first day of recreation in San Francisco. Mom, Loki, Rebecca, and I did some holiday shopping at Union Square, under the big Christmas tree and ice skating in 60 degree weather, and then to Westfield shopping center. We then walked through China Town and up to Nob Hill. A really great day.

We have been negligent in taking photos and especially video. I'll try to dig some up in the next few days.