New Orthotics

JP got his new orthotics today. While they seem really big to me, they're probably what he should have had all along, because there're making a huge difference in his ability to walk and walk well.

JP's old Sure Step SMOs on the right... His new Cascade DAFOs on the left.

Here are his new DAFOs on his feet. He chose the swirly rainbow colored plastic. I talked him in to blue straps, rather than lime green. (I guess it's all about high fashion... :))

This is a picture of his old SMOs for comparison. They did a lot to help his pronation, but not much for his stability. He already loves his new DAFOs.

Challenger Ball

JP is ready... is the league ready for this? Lookin good, big guy... lookin good.



Spring IS Sprung!

Finally, finally... after way too many cold days for my taste, Spring weather has hit the East coast! It's been nearly 80^ here and we are LOVING it! JP and Mike spent yesterday afternoon at the playground. JP returned home absolutely filthy ... Happy, but filthy.

The kids are back to school after a nice long Spring break. I managed to take a few days off and we spent them at a local water park and hotel for a three day "staycation". Everyone had a wonderful time.

Spring also means it's IEP season if you have a school aged child with special needs. JP is transitioning out of preschool into Kindergarten this fall. Our IEP team, who are really terrific people, are conducting a battery of tests, although we've already determined that JP will go into mainstream Kindergarten, at public school, with an aide (we are still not sure if he'll be sharing an aide with another student, or if he'll have his own one-to-one...) The IEP still needs to be written and I'm still hopeful we'll get all the Braille services we've requested to date.

Cami is doing a lot of dancing and preparing for her recital. She's in the home stretch for third grade. I'm very proud of the work she's done so far.

Spring sports start this coming weekend. We're excited for Challenger Baseball which begins this Sunday and TOP Soccer which starts April 27. It sounds like a lot, but baseball is played on Sundays at noon for about an hour, and soccer is played on Saturdays at noon for about an hour. JP had a lot of fun playing Challenger Soccer this past fall, so I've decided to let him try TOP Soccer. It's a little different program with a different Soccer club. But he loves to run and I'm not certain Challenger Baseball will be a quick enough game to maintain his interest. We'll have to see. I want him to try as much as possible to see what he really likes.

Put that down, please.

I ask my children, both of them, not to play with my iPhone. I know, I know... It's an attractive nuisance. They are both experts at working it, and I do have games available to mitigate the occasional melt down when we're out in public.

Sometimes, I find a little evidence... and it makes me smile. Here's the latest "self portrait" by JP...