Little update on little feet...

So little mans feet didn't improve with physical therapy like we had hoped it would.  He did gain a lot of strength in his abs and legs, which is great!  But his left heel is still not in the position it needs to be in and his PT says the foot is starting to curl in slightly. 

So back to ortho in a few weeks to see what our next step will be and in the mean time he wears "bar bar" at nap time (thank God he still naps :-) and bed time.  Fully loaded with big socks and tape so he can't get to the buckles and take everything off.

 Although we don't see it, we think his feet look fantastic!! 
He has two speeds- FAST and FASTER!!!

Bikes, Bikes and more Bikes

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge started today in Colorado Springs so it was a weekend of bike festivals, 3 to be exact.  Today we went downtown to the end of the race and got there just in time for the winners to get their jerseys.  So much fun for us since we're big fans of Tour de France!

Syd and James with Bob Roll, cyclist and commentator. 

Giant picture of the top 3 winners of the Tour de France.

Random thoughts from Syd...

"I wonder if I have any annoying "real" brothers or sisters?"

 "I bet my "real" mom is small just like me."

She wonders what her "real" family would look like in China and we talk about how her birth mother and father probably wouldn't be tall like me or daddy, how they would have dark hair and beautiful eyes.  She says that she would like to meet them some day if she could but how she would be very nervous.  She would tell them all about hockey and how much she likes school.  She would share all of the medals she's won.

 

One of her friends asked if she and Alex were "real" brother and sister and Syd told him no, we're not from the same tummy.  So we talk about what makes a "real" family, people that love each other and that are there for each other are what makes a "real" family.  I gently change the terminology to "biological brother" or "biological mother".  I ask if she knows what biological means and I get that fantastic eye roll that she is so good at.  "Yes mom, it means that the kids would be from the same tummy."  

Does it hurt my feeling that she doesn't refer to me as her "real" mom?  Not really, I know what she means, she just doesn't quite know how to verbalize it.  She knows who her "real" mom, dad and brother are and lets face it, biological mother is quite a mouth full.

                                                               

First day of 3rd grade.

...and you have to admit, I do have the cutest "real" kids around!

Ace is in da house....

We have a new addition in the Dahl House.

Syd has been wanting a pet for quite a while, so after a ton of research on different critters, she decided she wanted a guinea pig  (I wanted a Labradoodle but didn't have a spare $1000 bucks laying around ).  We told her that she would need to help pay for the guinea pig and supplies with her allowance and extra chores.

So little Miss Smarty asks Oma and MaaMaa if she has anything she could do to earn money to help pay for everything and Whamo-the kid has $30 in 2 days.  That went a little quicker than we thought :-)  We got a bunch of stuff at a garage sale, a free cage from MaaMaa's co-worker and found a guinea pig rescue place up in Denver that sold them for a reasonable price. 

After waiting for 2 weeks for our appointment, we drove up to Denver in horrible traffic to find out that the lady we were to meet with had been rushed to the hospital and we couldn't get our guinea pig :-(  Poor Syd!  I felt soooo bad that she had been waiting so long but she was such a trooper and said she was just really sad she couldn't get her pet and that she hoped the lady would be all right.

Since we really had no idea when we would be able to get back to the rescue place I let her make the choice of going to Petsmart to get a guinea pig and boy did she jump on that in a heartbeat!  So we found this adorable little guy who was on sale because he was "old" at 6 months.

So now we have a guinea pig named Ace who is so sweet, already chattering and is really messy :-)  Just how much is a guinea pig supposed to poop anyway?  

Syd loves her new baby.