A Randall's Ramblings: September 2009

Saturday, September 5, 2009

"I gots rhythm"

Men out there, look away, and my deepest apologies to my brothers; my son is a dancer.

His exersaucer has a tree that plays music if its buttons are pushed enough times. Caden was pushing them deliberately to get to the music, and then as soon as it would kick up he'd start jivin - bouncing his feet, smackin his hands on the edge of the saucer, grinning. I managed to get the camera in time to catch him in the act. He'd stop when the music did, reach up and push the buttons, and then boogie once the music started up again. Absolutely hysterical. Honestly, when does this child not make us laugh?

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Bouncy mattress + hilarious 8 month old =

...this. Last night I'd undressed him in preparation for bath time and had him in his crib. Well he discovered that his mattress is both soft and bouncy. He can sit up mostly on his own and now only tips backwards when he wants to. And he wanted to. Every time I sat him up, he'd flop backwards, bounce as he hit, and then laugh. Dunno if you can see it in the video (you can on the camera cause it's a little less grainy) but he's got little ab lines on his tummy from hoistin the casts and now his bar around. My kid is ripped! (and I'm kinda jealous!)

Camping...kind of

So the family camping trip to the cabin came and went a little faster for me and Nugget than it did the rest of the fam. We got the okay from the pediatrician to go up, and on Thursday he did just fine. Thursday night to Friday, not so much. He was up 4 times through the night (for a kid that's been sleeping through the night since he was 2 months old) and then wouldn't nap at all on Friday. After a trip to Mirror Lake on Friday afternoon, he threw up everything so I called it quits and he and I came home Friday night. We did manage to get a few fun shots of him though. This first one is when we just got there and I pulled him out of the car. He loves the outdoors:

This was a little later that day, Thursday. I put him in a back carrier and toted him about. LOVED it...obviously:

Thursday night. Both him and I are beat:

About Caden

Caden is a ridiculously happy little 3 year old. He's also our hero. He was born with two orthopedic abnormalities. Bilateral clubfoot, or congenital talipes equinovarus, and two forms of Arthrogryposis, a condition in which the joints of the extremities never fully develop in utero, never flex or 'exercise', leading to contractures of those joints (if you look closely at some of the pictures of him as an infant and even now, his wrists bend down, he never makes a fist, and the knuckles areas of his fingers are completely smooth because he doesn't have those joints). The clubfeet were a surprise, they were never detected on ultrasound because of the way he was positioned breech the entire 9 months. The Arthrogryposis was diagnosed about a year later. And in late September of 2011, he was given a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is currently in the nighttime bracing phase of his clubfoot treatment, in regular physical therapy for the joint contractures in his hips and legs, and full leg braces at night to keep him stretched, and while his autism is considered on the mild end of the spectrum, he has just graduated from Early Intervention (which he's been in since he was 6 weeks old) and will start a new preschool soon. He's had casts, surgery, more casts, blisters, a plethora of braces for his feet, ankles and legs, therapists and specialists and long car rides to Salt Lake City and yet through it all he stays happy. He just adapts to whatever is thrown at him and simply goes on with his life in the way he wants regardless of what he has done to him. He's a trooper, our little Tough Guy, a true gift from our Heavenly Father, and we wouldn't have him any other way.

A Randall's Ramblings

Saturday, September 5, 2009

"I gots rhythm"

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Bouncy mattress + hilarious 8 month old =

Camping...kind of

People who give a hoot

Family 'n' Friends