Forward and Downward

We had a followup doctor's appointment to see how Christian's ear infections were doing.  The right one was all clear, but the left one still showed some inflammation but nothing to worry about, sometimes they take a little longer to heal.  His right foot turns out when he walks, hops, runs so at the last visit the doctor said maybe his legs were still weak from the lower vitamin D and iron levels he had. She suggested some gross motor skill activities to see if strengthening the legs would help that. So we just finished a soccer session, which he LOVED!  The doctor did some more tests and found he has a tibual torsion which is basically his shin bone is slightly curved, a sign from an awkward position in the womb.  There is nothing to do about it but it isn't severe, and she said many people with this condition in more severe cases have gone on to be very good athletes. The athletic part wasn't my concern, I was worried the turned foot was something to do with his hip which may then cause issues with his lower back, but thankfully none of that is the case....whew!  And he did really well in soccer and typically was first or second when all the kids ran from one side of the field to the other.

So he had some blood drawn to see how the vitamin D levels are progressing and we should hear back mid week.  His speech is still not as clear as it should be, even with the delay of being in his past environment and with English not being his first language.  So we are having a fully audio test done tomorrow to see if there is anything there that is contributing to the delay.  Then depending on what that test reveals, will determine what the speech therapist will do, because we have to see them after the hearing test.  I hope I'm not deluding myself, but I don't think there is anything wrong with his hearing, I just think he stubborness and being as busy as he his, he just could be bothered to stop, listen and learn.  At times when I try to get him to repeat something and ennunciate it more clearly, he will tell me, "don't teach me Mom."  Independent three year old :)

Today we headed to the park because it was a gorgeous day!  By the time we left he had two skinned elbows and a goose egg on his forehead.  The sidewalk was the culprit.  It slopes down toward the playground and he was running down, so excited to get there, he turned his head to see how far back I was and BAM! down he went on his elbows.  He fussed a little, I picked him up, said, "bummer," gave them a kiss and down he went on a run to the playground.....tears diverted.  Then on the way back to the car, up the slope, he wanted to race, and me needing to get some exercise in, deciding it would be fun. We used the sidewalk joint as our starting line, counted down from three and out of the blocks we shot.  We didn't get fifteen feet when he stumbled in front of me, I stumbled, tripping him in the process and down he went and bonked his head on the sidewalk.  Big screams and tears ensued as I hugged him, rubbed his back, telling him it would be ok.  I was finally able to peel him away from me so I could see if it was bleeding.....it wasn't.  He sobbed through his tears, "Mommy please carry me," so I hiked up this sloped sidewalk carrying a 33 pound kid.  He'd stopped crying right before we got to the car and I kept looking at his eyes to make sure he was ok.  We put the Elmo ice pack on his head when we got home and he was happy.

I soaked him in the bathtub with bubbles, applied the Neosporin and then we played with the matching cards.  So hopefully he won't have any injuries tomorrow at school, poor little guy, he went through the ringer today.
~Amy