Saturday In The Park

It's been a very long time since my last post, but I thought I'd sneak one in about our first trip to the local park a couple of weeks ago...

We've been living here for over 5 years, and until two weeks ago, had never even thought about going to a park, but we finally did, and Sophie had a lot of fun!

A few days earlier, I was cleaning out the garage, and Sophie wanted to climb up on my yard tractor. Since it was in gear and I had the keys, I let her up there and she pretended to drive...



In ten years I'll be asking her to mow the lawn - we'll see how much she smiles about it then :)

Anyway, we went first to get Sophie's hair trimmed (you can see how long her bangs are in the above picture), then we hunted down Mark Park, which is about two miles from our house. They have a splash park there too (not pictured), but we were interested in the playground equipment...



This is the larger of the two main pieces, there are also two swing sets at the park.

Sophie on the bridge to the slide:



And here she's sliding down the aforementioned slide:



Like many playgrounds, a steering wheel attached for no particular reason is included:



Mommy helping Sophie up after coming down the big slide:



Sophie sliding down yet another slide:



And climbing a spiral ladder:

You can see from all of the pictures that Sophie loved the park. Next time we'll bring a swimsuit so she can play at the splash park.

It's also important to note that with very few exceptions, Sophie did all of the climbing and sliding completely unassisted. She's getting better coordinated every day, and playing like this definitely helps build more strength too!

Stacy should be popping in here in the next day or so to give a report of their trip to the local nursery, where Sophie fed some deer and pet some puppies!

Later!

Larry

New Leg Fitting

Well, Sophie's had her current leg for just under a year, and she's really outgrown it.

We were told that typically, these prosthetics last around 18 months, but of course it all depends on how the child grows. Since Sophie is growing like a weed, she's ready now for a new leg! (actually, she was ready a few months ago - we won't let it get this tight on the next one).

On Tuesday we had the check-sock fitting for her second leg, and it went very well.



Sophie's leg had changed / grown / mutated since they made the cast a few weeks ago, so her doctor Dick, had to make a piece of the socket adjustable to be able to fit her properly.



Of course in Sophie's typical "Help!" and "Fix it!" approach, she had to help Dick adjust the screws on her leg. She was very well behaved here, listening to what Dick told her, and was actually effectively turning the screwdriver, not just the typical back and forth most kids do. Yes, I've been teaching her that :)



Here they are checking the height of the socket to make sure that once the prosthetic is finished and her foot is attached, Sophie's hips will be level and her legs will be where they need to be.

As I said earlier, Sophie was very well behaved. She didn't cry or have any tantrums, and she was responding to Dick's questions about how it fit (if it was tight or hurt).

We are expecting to have a follow-up fitting in a week or so, and then have the finished product in two to three weeks.


Last night, Sophie started gymnastics, and the report from Stacy was good! Sophie had a lot of fun, but she still needs to learn to focus on the teacher (which we will keep working on). Also, the crab-walk was tough for Sophie, which is understandable, considering she has no right hand and her right leg doesn't have the flexibility that her left does. Again, we can practice at home and let her figure out how to best do it.

On the potty training front, Sophie is doing better each day. I think she is going in her chair twice a day on average, and is getting better at knowing when and telling us she needs to go.

Sophie is also getting better at saying multiple word phrases, and has even given us a couple of small sentences, so her language development is coming along nicely as well!

I will be posting a video of Sophie's dance recital, I just need to get it down to size.

That's all for today,

Larry