We're back!!!

Wow. I did not realize how long it had been since I had updated! I guess that is what happens during the busy summer.....you lose track of time! We had our share of good things and not so good things going on the past two months.It seems everyone is getting back to healthy now. Just trying to keep a good attitude and get through.

Jojo has decided that he no longer wants to go to therapy because it is way too much fun with Daddy and Dominic home in the summer. This has made three mornings per week very challenging. He has cried so hard when we get into the therapy rooms that Mommy or Daddy has had to remain in the room a few times. This is very unlike Jojo who since beginning before age 2 was not at all apprehensive about going in alone. I think it is probably just one of those phases kids go through. He never had any separation anxiety before so I guess he is just doing it late:)

His speech has still been improving, both clarity and length of utterances. He still prefers to speak using one/two words unless we ask him to expand. However, many times he uses very long sentences to express very complex thoughts!! The big "apraxia" problem is that he sometimes cannot find a word or cannot get things out quickly because of the motor speech trouble. He still cannot sing a song and gets very upset when he is put "on the spot" to answer questions. He has some issues with word retrieval and sometimes needs a prompt.

He has started to pronounce the "w" in words somewhat regularly which really has improved the clarity of his speech. In therapy he is still working on that sound along with "y" and "h" sounds. His therapist says he also has what is called a lateral lisp (different from a regular lisp). She said he may have extra trouble with some sounds because he has an open bite. (his dentist made us aware of this at his first visit)

He is currently taking a creative movement class once a week. It is a dance class that focuses 2-3 year olds on moving to a beat, counting music and basic body movement. I thought that this was a good option for him. He still has some balance/coordination issues because of his hypotonia, this should be good for him.

I never updated about his 3 year check up. (can't believe he has been 3 for 2 months already!) Everything checked out fine.....but he still needs to try to gain some weight. He is only 28 lbs still. He has been for a while. He is about the 50th percentile for height (just right!) and he is about the 10th for weight. The most important thing is that he is still growing!

His pediatrician said to have his feet looked at again by a podiatrist, his feet are rolling in, the braces he had are too small and no one is monitoring this since he is no longer in physical therapy.

We had that visit this week. The doctor was a little baffled by his issue. The x-rays were normal. He doesn't have flat feet (as I thought) or any bone abnormalities. He probably has invertor weakness (muscle wraps around ankle) because of his low muscle tone. However as he watched him stand, then walk, then run he saw a couple of things. First, when he stands still, his feet appear normal. Once he starts to walk everything falls apart. He also agreed with me {no one else has yet (doctors/therapists)} that his left leg/ankle/foot is definitely worse than the right. He noticed his knees are hyper extended and that he seems to have some rotation of his legs coming from the hip. He is not sure what to do because he thinks if he wears braces that will help his feet/ankles but may not allow his leg muscles to get strong. So he wants him to go see a ped/orthopedic doc at Children's hospital for 2nd opinion. We go next week.

We are having lots of fun this summer and really enjoy all the time we are spending with friends and family!