4 Years

Today we celebrate four years of Malachi's life. What an interesting year we've had. I saw someone else do this and thought it would be a great idea. So here's my letter to Malachi.

Dear Malachi,

Today you turn four years old. You've grown and matured so much this year. You grow so often that people frequently say that you've grown since they last saw you - even if it's only been a couple of weeks. The transition to 4T clothes happened before your birthday which is a first in your life.

We've had some adventures the last few months of your life. On May 23rd while you were visiting Grandma and Grandpa in MN you had your first seizure. After a trip to the ER, some blood work and a CT they couldn't find anything wrong. After coming home and following up with your pediatrician we decided to not worry about it. 10 days later you had another one while my good friend Melissa was babysitting. Another trip to the Dr's office and we decided you needed to see a Pediatric Neurologist. But by this time we were three weeks away from our move to North Virginia for daddy's new job as a Foreign Service Officer.

After our three day drive to our new home (you were a champ by the way) and settling in you had three more grand mal seizures. You also had three partial seizures where you would throw all limbs out and your head back. It would only last a few seconds and the grand mal ones lasted 1 1/2 minutes to 4 minutes. We did finally get in to have an EEG done but I couldn't get in to an actual appointment with a Neurologist.

On July 8th after the four minute seizure I called 911. It was the longest one you'd ever had, plus your post-ictal period was 30 minutes long instead of the normal 5 with vomiting and blue around your lips. Neither of those things had happened before.

We got to the hospital and by the time we were in the ER the Dr's and Nurses were very confused because you were acting like a normal 3 1/2 year old boy. The on call neurologist requested you be admitted, so you were sent up to the Children's floor at the hospital. You were treated very well, the Dr's were very thorough, and you had quite a bit of testing done. You had an over night EEG. The application of the leeds for this test took three hours and was quite traumatic for you. To this day you still get sensitive when people touch your head. You also had an MRI which you were put under general anesthesia for. You had an EKG which was normal. All of your tests were normal. You passed everything with flying colors. Even when the neurologist did her exam she couldn't find anything wrong.

You were prescribed some medicine, Keppra, that we give you two times a day. You were released and we came home. That seizure on the 8th of July was the last one you had. We're now celebrating 4 1/2 months of you being seizure free!

You've adjusted very well to being in North Virginia. You always make friends quickly. You're very outgoing so you'll walk up to kids and ask them to play. You've also won the hearts of many of daddy's classmates being voted the unofficial class mascot of the 146th A-100 class.

I'm pregnant with your little brother right now and you're already a sweet older brother. You talk to him, "pet" him, and love on him already. You have a very tender heart, you're so sensitive. Usually your sensitivity is directed towards the people you love. If you're told that some one's coming over and they end up having to cancel it brings you to tears. It also makes you cry when people don't sit next to you in the car.

You are so, so smart Malachi. I have to give daddy the credit for this. He's always teaching you. At this age though, your curiosity is quite apparent. You very, very frequently ask us why or how something works. You'll ask us to explain it a couple of times even. Then a couple of days later, you might explain to us how that thing works. Everyone who knows you, knows you are smart.

Life with you is amazing. We love being your parents and I love being your mom. You are amazing Malachi and I love you so much.