This is Ayub at one week old.
He was born with congenital pneumonia. Twenty minutes after birth his lungs collapsed and he had to be incubated. He spent eight days in the NICU and was pumped with antibiotics that were so strong they had such devastating side effects. So he was given more antibiotics to treat the side effects.
There was high probability that he wouldn’t make it.
Poor baby Ayub. He’s a fighter.
Doctors were worried that during his lung collapse, his brain was starved of oxygen for too long. This obviously could lead to brain damage. Two years of regular hospital check-ups and it was determined that Ayub was a-ok.
Though his speech has been delayed, we’re not sure if that has to do with his very early life, or if it’s just him.
Ayub’s first word was “no” at the 11 months old. This was shortly followed by “dirty.” And those were his only two words for what seemed like an age.
He’s a little weirdo, my sweet Ayub.
I’ve never worried about his delayed speech because he surpassed a ton of milestones before his peers including kicking a ball at the age of 9 months (most babies will bend over to pick it up), and heaps of other physical milestones (running, jumping, hopping, somersaults.)
We call him a jock.
I am in awe of Ayub’s imagination. He spends most of his time in another universe and sees the world from a whole different perspective.
Ayub doesn’t care for toys.
When we first moved to our new home, there was no tv, not internet and no toys. All I had to give him to play with were empty plastic bottles. He used them as bowling pins, guns, swords, buildings, spaceships, aliens, zombies, good guys, robots, angry birds and a microphone.
Ayub is never bored.
Ayub’s interests include angry birds, lego, guns, fighting, swords, video games, bowling and babies.