al...lakazam...allakaZOO....

So, this post should have happened almost a week ago. Last Monday we went back to Dr. Tuten, Alder's orthopedist. This was the first visit in six months and though we feel comfortable with Alder's progress, we are always a bit anxious to hear what doc says. And we always remember the fear and crossed-fingers that we carried in that office with us the first few times... Dr. Tuten said his feet looked great. Not much more to say. He did some firm pushing and bending, felt no popping or clicking, Alder was unphased, and wham, 'keep doing what you guys are doing and come back in 6 months'. A bit more than that, of course. We asked for his opinion on mobility and doc said that club feet kids are typically a month behind the 'average' and then boys are another month behind that. Said that he looked like he would be just fine moving through stages but of course we are always aware to keep a eye on things to make sure they are staying straight.

We also asked about how Alder's feet will sometimes get sort of purple or blue, especially when cold and moreover when in a carrier on us. In fact, Les had someone notify her in the grocery store once, that her child's feet were blue. It does look sort of crazy. Interestingly, doc said that club feet kids tend to have only one artery per club foot rather than the normal two per foot and that there are no adverse effects caused by the missing vessel. This was good to learn. Think we would have heard/read by now...

So anyway, more and more now when we leave his office we realize how fantastic a doctor he has been. Beyond just doing a good job with Alder, but by just being positive along the way and making sure that we had all our concerns aired before he walks out. He's obviously very busy but not too busy to realize where we are as new parents, with such a question mark hanging, be it small or large depending on the time.

Anyway so that's worth some celebration to say the least. But the "magic" comes into play now, and ironically, speaking of mobility. It's interesting how before you have a kid you have this scheduled string of events in mind. At 6 to 8 months they will start moving around, probably army crawling, then they crawl the old standard way on all fours, then pulling up, then cruising, then walking at about a year - or something like that. But it is not always that way, we now know.

It was that mosquito-larvae-whipping-about-on-the-rug first to get around. This lasted a couple of weeks - I don't really remember to tell the truth. Then army crawling for a week or so, maybe two. Then almost two weeks ago he cranked out his first several 'steps' of "crawling." And in the past two days he's pulling up on various furniture, poking his head up into another dimension of this world, his world. So, while on one hand we are happy for this to validate that he is coming along well re: his feet, but at the same time, we shudder at how our ideas of how things will progress are completely frayed before our eyes. All fun stuff!! So, some pics.

A crawling pic. With a glimpse of toofies number 7 and 8 on the bottom. Molars must be coming because he is still slobbering copiously and randomly grinding his fist into his face.

Here's a shot of potty time. EC (elimination communication - see earlier post(s)) is still going well though we feel pretty certain that the biggest obstacle for us is the fact that he spends 4 days a week at the sitter. It's hard to get him used to peeing and pooping in the potty all the time when he is basically used to peeing and pooping in his diaper during the majority of the week. Besides, many of us might know first hand from college years that its hard to restrict potty time to the weekend - or was that ...? (Sorry, had to.) But no worries; whatever we catch is cool and we are still pretty successful with catching poops because we can very much tell when he is about to go. I guess a goal here is that as he begins to understand what he is doing (i.e., peeing and pooping) he will not be scared of the potty and will therefore transition more easily.

The duo...smiling (above) and thumb-sucking (below).

It is more amazing every day how that little noggin of his is like a sponge. He is constantly remembering more words and objects, even when we aren't intentionally trying to teach him. We said the word bird today and he whipped his head to the window. He points at things. We gave him a wooden car Friday and today when we came home from a walk, we asked him where his car was. He immediately searched, found it and went for it. I only wish I could remember things as swiftly as he does.
Little pic of a lettuce harvest from our little garden. Its finally pushing out good amounts of greens so we don't have to buy them...and I be derned if they are so much more tasty!!!

Here's one of the first bipedal moments.
Splinter time. He loves to bang stuff together and when we do with any amount of rhythm, he starts his little dancing.

OK, that's enough for now I guess.

Everyone have a wonderful week.