I totally stand corrected! Or maybe it just happened so fast?
Yesterday, Stephen was home since he worked Thanksgiving and Saturday this past weekend. When we picked Brendon up from school we were greeted by his OT. She stated that Brendon’s entire body was in knots! I felt that heel cord was tight on Sunday evening and tried to stretch it but it wouldn’t loosen. I had worked on his hand over the weekend and his OT reported that it was the only part of little Brendon that wasn’t tight! Jokingly, she said Brendon must have had a long wonderful Thanksgiving- basically with no stretching. I feel awful because he won’t sit still for me to stretch him. She even indicated that the left side of his body was tight, too! Even worse, she could feel the tendons in the bottom of his right foot! So, here is my conclusion: I suck as a mother, the weather dropping below freezing has knocked him into knots, he was pretty much sick all last week (even though he didn’t act it), and he went a large portion of the weekend in his PJ’s and socks, no shoes with the bracing. The thing that TOTALLY baffles me is the fact that he never displayed tightness in his gate or movement. HE NEVER complained of ANYTHING! I always watch how his body moves to see determine if stretching is needed. He is such a tricky little guy! The one thing that Brendon does- and I hate this phrase- is he compensates EXTREMELY well! Not to mention the child has an AMAZING spirit about him and doesn’t let anything get him down!
Stephen was happy to be able to see his little cowboy yesterday at Hippotherapy. It is so awesome to watch. I have to remember to bring the video camera next week so I can show all of you how much he does and what he gets out of it! Thank you Café Affton because if it weren’t for them we would never be able to maintain this type of therapy for Brendon due to the expense!
After a VERY long day- school, hour drive to Hippotherapy, the therapy itself, the drive back, then speech with Miss Kristen- we came home and put up the Christmas tree! I’m exhausted today and Brendon should be too because he didn’t nap yesterday and then woke up screaming twice last night.
Brendon is at school right now and my plan is after school to go on an Angel hunt for the top of our tree. I have literally been looking for years for an Angel and they are all too big for our tree. Keep your fingers crossed!
Tomorrow, Brendon has school and then we head to the hospital to pick up his next round of bracing. His feet have gotten soooooo big. In fact, his shoes are really too small for him but I can’t purchase anything until after we pick up the bracing. The plan is on Thursday to head over to swimming early and stop off at the shoe store to buy our next round of shoes, usually two pairs for around a hundred dollars. I do have to admit that this round of bracing lasted him over six months so, that is AWESOME! At one point we were doing this every three months. My son wears a size eleven shoe- that is how big his feet are! I keep saying to him if you grow into those paws of yours you are going to be HUGE! He doesn’t get it and tells me, “Mom day are feet not paws!”
I am going to work on “Part II of Jenn and Jessica’s Girls’ Weekend in NYC 2008…wooo whooo” as soon as I can catch my breath! I really really want to share our story about meeting Mr. Jim LaPenna!
God’s blessings to all of you!
PS: Don’t forget to check out our little STROKE HERO of the month, Nick Deyo at www.BrendonsSmile.org.
PSS: I just read that on Nick's CB site that he is dealing with, yet another round of, pneumonia. Please keep him in your prayers and all of our little STROKE HEROES!
