Therapy Today

We had therapy this morning. OT went really, really well. We reevaluated his goals that Stephanie had made for him. He is still doing so good cognitively, which I am always just so thankful for. He is such a smart little man. He is past all the "baby" test now. He can stack blocks, put shaped blocks in the right hole, do simple puzzles, color. Now we are officially in the more advanced toddler toys and some of them will be challenging for him. Snap beads, he can put the snap beads on but has a hard time pulling them apart. Throwing a ball with TWO hands is another one of the "new" goals. Also stringing beads on a shoelace. Sammy can do that if someone is holding the string. So while I am so happy he has met all the old goals, watching him trying to work with new toys it makes his "disability" more apparent. I have said this on here before, but first Sammy does a new trick then with practice he perfects it. Makes it look graceful. So I know he will get there eventually today I was just feeling sad about it.

Next PT. I love Karen. A million times over, she has been a HUGE support to me. She gets what I am trying to achieve with Sammy, and nine times out of ten, she feels the same way as I do. Sammy is walking everywhere. He has a harder time walking with shoes on his feet. Karen feels this could be because they are heavier or he can't feel as much with the shoes on. OK, so we have him walk three different ways, with his brace on, with shoes on, and bare footed. This is hard to explain everything that she told me today. Basically the brace isn't working AT ALL. It is forcing him to turn out his hip, which is not a good thing. He is not using his ankle when he walks with the brace at all, and it is changing his gait all together. Sammy has not had any tightness in his hip UNTIL now when he is walking. So basically, today I felt like not only is his ankle tight which it has always been, and his foot is still weak but now his hip is tight. Karen literally was cringing when she watched him walk bare footed and with the brace on. She actually was pretty happy with the way he walks in his shoes. However, they don't give him enough arch support and ankle support. So we are back on the hunt for more shoes. I know that all of these "problems" would come up whenever he started walking. Today for the first time in a really long time I felt like Sammy was disabled. I hate that we just can't be happy that our little guy is walking, we have to worry about him turning out his foot, his hip. That he isn't putting the right weight on his ankle, the list goes on and on. In my head I know that we are so lucky that he is walking so well and so early for a hemi kid. Karen told me today that he is walking so much earlier then even she expected and was amazed watching him standing up and turning around, squatting down to pick things up and carry toys while he is walking. I know he is doing so good. I just hate that we have to be so worried about placements and alignments. But we can't not worry and do something about this, because as he gets older these small issues will bring lasting damage especially right now to his ankle joint. It is just so hard to know what is the right thing for him to do. I am glad to not have any more guilt about not wearing the brace. The brace is horrible. Anyone with a hemi kid DO NOT let them give you a non-articulating brace. There is nothing good about over bracing a child. So, right now the game plan is for him to continue to wear the brace at night. It gives his ankle a great stretch which he needs. And to get him ANOTHER pair of shoes with more support in his ankle and mid foot.

In cuteness, Sammy has taken it upon himself to remind every noisy person to "shhh". He sticks his little pointer finger up to his mouth and says "shhhh". On Sunday at church some of the little kids were getting quite chatty, so he kept telling all of them to "shhhh". My little church class I teach thought he was pretty cute. Yesterday, he would scream and then say "shhhh" to himself. He thought it was the funniest thing. Again, I am so happy that he is such a bright little guy and that he is talking so well lately. "Mine!" is getting a bit old though.

Last week I wrote about him feeding himself with his left hand without being prompted. He keeps doing this consistently. This picture is of him feeding himself an apple slice. It makes my day to see him do these small things that are HUGE milestones for him.