Naked Baby!

Well, sort of. Naked legs, anyway. A few weeks ago, we started serial-casting Oliver again (putting casts on his legs for a week, taking him back, changing the casts) because his feet had started migrating back to the club foot position. For two weeks, it worked great. Then, on Saturday, off slipped his left cast. This has always been our problem -- when he was being casted from August-December, his casts always fell off. After his surgery in December, his casts didn't even stay on a week before they slipped off. Same thing with his AFOs (braces), which is why he hasn't been wearing them, which is why his feet have turned back. A vicious cycle. Since I had to work yesterday, Tim had to take him to King of Prussia (far, far away in PA) to get the cast replaced, because that is where our orthopedist was yesterday. When Tim got there, he waited (as is customary when visiting this doctor). While he was waiting, the nurse took off Oliver's remaining cast, saying that the doctor would just replace both casts today so that we didn't have to come back Friday.

Fast forward to the doctor coming in, looking at Oliver's feet and saying "I give up." Um, excuse me? Seriously, that's the last thing a parent wants to hear. I get what he is saying, but his delivery/attitude could be a bit better. This is the same man who called Oliver's legs obese (UM, EXCUSE ME?!), so we have to take it with a grain of salt. What he should have said was that his feet aren't in much better position than they were when we started this round of casting, and the casts weren't staying on, anyway. Without the casts moving his feet into place, the AFOs won't fit. So what is there to do? A good question. His upper legs are "obese" because that's where his working muscles are. His calves and feet are smaller because he has no muscle tone there. So what are we going to do? What do other people do? The answer for now is to stretch, with probable surgery in the future. A totally unsatisfactory answer, because stretching alone is what got him back in the casts.

There are a few upsides to this. 1) Oliver is thrilled to see his feet again. You should see him kick them up when he is laying down. Very happy -- loves his feet. 2) Now that he is eating table food, I would find all sorts of food in his casts. Gross! This latest set was stained with orange ice-pop, anyway. 3) He can have bathes and go swimming! 4) We don't have to drive him to Philly every week.

We still have a great physical therapist, and hopefully, she will be able to help us compensate. I know that I am thinking too far ahead by wanting him to stand (for which he would need flat feet) since he isn't crawling yet. But now that he is officially falling behind in "regular baby" stuff, I am anxious to get him moving ahead. I guess this will be a constant tug as he grows up; balancing hopes and expectations with reality. But I would rather hope and push than wait and see.

My Son Plays with Dolls -- and that's OK!

In the middle of sleep strikes, attitude problems, and messy dinners, my kids are able to break out with some pretty cute stuff. Oliver almost had me in tears last night. When I was getting the kids ready for bed, I put Oliver on his new couch (a little Sesame Street foldout couch that we bought him for his birthday). I left him there so I could go help Mac brush her teeth, and put one of her dolls next to him so that he could play. When I came back in, he was holding the doll across his lap and stroking her head. He was so tender and so cute. It was quite possibly the cutest thing that I have ever seen. I had no idea he could do that -- to me, it shows that he is capable of applying learned behavior to new situations. In the middle of worrying about his development, you have no idea how comforting that is. And even more importantly, it shows that he has compassion. Yes, I realize that I am probably the first mom every to be proud of her son for playing with dolls.

Not to be outdone, Mac later "read" a book to Oliver that I used to read to her. She is getting so good at memorizing books and reading them back. The book that she read to him was Moo, Ba, La,La,La by Sandra Boynton. It was her favorite for a long time when she was just a little bit older than he is now. And now she is "reading" it to him. Last night, the little peanuts made me proud. 

The Little Man Turns 1

It had to happen some day. My little one has turned one. And what a happy, sweet, and special one he is! So much has been going on lately that I don't even know where to start. Our biggest news is, of course, Oliver's birthday. I spent yesterday in a mix of emotions; happiness that Oliver is growing up and progressing, wistfulness over the fact that he isn't so little anymore, gratitude that he is just doing so well. We spent part of yesterday at CHOP (where it all began!) because Oliver is back in casts so that his feet (hopefully) move back into a position in which he can comfortably wear his braces (they had started to move back because his braces always fell off, so nothing was really "holding" his feet in position). Now that he is one, I'm really hoping that we can get him to stand soon. Being at CHOP made me even more emotional, because it was so easy to picture the early days when Oliver was in the NICU. I wanted to peek in for a visit, but I thought that might qualify me as "crazy," so I just stuck to orthopedics and the cafeteria.

So what else is there? Oliver is also being reevaluat

ed for a shunt, because the MRI he had back in July showed that his ventricles are significantly larger than they were in his previous MRI (taken the week he was born). The neurologist at St. Peter's thinks that there is some urgency to getting a shunt, but the doctors at CHOP feel that as long as he is acting fine and acquiring new skills, he is okay for now. They said that he can have larger ventricles and more fluid, but as long as the fluid is "calm" and not putting pressure on his brain, things are okay. So I remain on "double secret alert," watching the poor guy fora host of symptoms, including crankiness, lethargy, skill loss, or missed milestones. Poor Oliver; one bad day and I'll probably have him back in the hospital for brain surgery. 

We also had a whirlwind trip to Disney in which Mac met all of the princesses and Oliver fell in love with Mulan. We ate at the Princess Character breakfast, and the kids got to meet Belle, Mulan, Jasmine, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. I really only booked the breakfast for Mac's benefit, since she is a huge fan of the princesses. But one kiss from Mulan, and Oliver was hooked.

And so goes our summer. My semester starts next week. Nothing says fall is coming like pre-season football and the beginning of fall semester. Still chugging along on my dissertation. I wonder what will happen first -- the Jets get to the playoffs or I finish the dissertation. Now that we have Brett Favre, it's really anyone's guess...