Happy 2nd Grader and Sick of Casts!

Syd finally finished school!  Gotta love being the last district in town to get out of school.  She is super excited to be a second grader now and she is acting the part of being older and wiser, mixed in with the little girl who still needs babying.  I personally prefer the babying and cuddling part of the new second grader!  I've signed her up for short classes throughout the summer instead of summer camp, so we're pretty busy already.  Hopefully having things spread out will curb the boredom that is inevitable. 

Alex is doing well.  He was the hit at Syd's end of the year party, the kids love him and he loves the attention!  As far as his feet are progressing, the left foot is still not dropping so they want to give it 1-2 more weeks before deciding to send him back to ortho to discuss the minor surgery needed to help his heel drop.  I'm getting a little frustrated with the added weeks of casting but I understand why they want to wait.  I'd rather not have to do the surgery and keep him in casts for 3 additional weeks, but I really want to get things moving.  He's on his seventh set of casts and it's summer!  Poor kid should be able to play outside in the water or even just play in the grass.  His casts or his little toes get so torn up when he plays outside that we don't take him out much.  I guess we need to find some old knee hi socks to cover everything up, make him a little hotter that he already is.  On the good side, he is really working on walking, spends most of his time standing and looking like a bowlegged cowboy!  He's climbing stairs by himself (still working on the down part!)  and he just wants to go, go, go!  Gotta love the energy of my kiddos :-)  And I can't stay down when I see the first rainbow of the summer!

3 months

It's hard to believe that we first held our little guy 3 months ago today!  Alex was quiet, easy going, observant and not able to crawl 3 months ago.  Today he never stops babbling, laughing or watching everything that goes on around him.  He crawls really fast now but mostly stands and walks along furniture or his big Tonka truck.  He can't even move his legs and he still does all of this.  He is such an inspiration for not giving up and living life to the fullest no matter the circumstances! 
3 months ago, big sister was pissed at the world because this little person suddenly appeared and took all of mom and dads attention.  Syd felt like she didn't exist and everything was only done for Alex.  Now she loves playing and reading to him, explaining the world of a first (almost second) grader to a 15 month old.  It's a wonderful thing to see!

Finally, summer weather!

We skipped spring and went

straight into summer! 

Syd has been playing outside constantly and

both kids are turning brown. 

Syd still has 2 days left of school, bummer! 

We are definitely ready for school to be DONE! 

                                          













Alex is in purple casts again.  It seems way too hot to be in two full length leg casts, but he doesn't even seem to notice.  His left heel has dropped enough that they could put him in braces but his right heel is being stubborn and is moving slower than the other.  They should know in the next two castings if he'll need the surgery to loosen the right side.  Hopefully it will drop on it's own and we'll start braces within the month.  That would be fantastic!!!  Alex is doing great with the casts and I'm getting super tired of them!  Wednesdays are my least favorite day of the week because it's casting day and the poor kid's even crying when I put him in the bathtub, he knows what's coming.  He takes comfort in his love of food-glorious food!

Piano Recital

Syd had her piano recital last weekend and did really well.  She said was nervous at first but as soon as she started playing everything was good!  We went out to dinner to celebrate her success and pigged out at a buffet, her favorite kind of foods.  And she even wore a dress! 

Alex has blue casts again.  James finally got to take him to his appointment to enjoy the fun of the screaming and flailing while I got to go to the zoo on a first grade field trip.  Who had more fun???  It's a toss up.  His heel has been dropping on his own so he may only be in the casts for 2 more weeks and then into the braces!  WooHoo!!!

Bye Bye White

Thank goodness the white casts are off!  Nothing like a constant reminder on how badly our carpets need cleaned!  So we're back to Broncos orange.  This is his fifth set of casts and his feet are coming along great!  His heel has started to drop which is really good news, so they'll keep an eye on that over the next couple of castings to see if they will continue to drop.

First day of casts

and 

3 days ago!

WOW!

 

 

Happy Mother's Day

Alex and Pap Pap

Alex is really working on standing.  He looks like Forest Gump when he was a kid in braces teaching Elvis the hip moves!

What to do with white casts...

So our new casts are (were) a nice shiny white that lasted about 5 minutes.  So I took Alex to Syd's class and let them sign away!  They had a great time and Alex is so easy going that he just sat there and tried to "beep" everyone's noses.  It's amazing how easy going and mellow he is.

Getting the casts on however is a different story.  After fighting with the casts for at least 30 minutes in the tub, we go to get the new ones on.  So he gets about 1 1/2 hours of free legs.  He always starts to whimper when we get to the casting room because he knows what's going to happen.  I tried holding him in my lap while they cast him but he fights sooo much I can hardly hold onto him.  This week we lay him on the bed and he still fought but it was easier for the therapists to hold his legs still. 

In 2-3 weeks they're going to evaluate his feet to see if he'll need the minor surgery to cut his tendons, he most likely will need to have this done.  Then he'll be in casts for 3 more weeks, so we're looking at being cast free in 5-6 weeks and then into braces.  He's such a little trooper and is doing really well with standing and starting to try to walk.